Bryn Terfel sings Schubert
Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-2025)
Impromptu
With the death of Sofia Gubaidulina in March 2025 the world lost a giant among composers. Her passionate, contemplative style was shaped by her religious faith, which made her the subject of continual harassment by the Soviet authorities. Gubaidulina insisted that persecution only sharpened her creativity. “If this book is forbidden for some reason, that piece of music restricted – when by some miracle you do manage to get hold of something, you throw yourselves upon it with an intensity probably not even dreamt of by the person who has everything”.
She composed Impromptu in 1997 at the request of another former dissident, the violinist Gidon Kremer, in celebration of Schubert’s 200th birthday. In her own words:
The formal structure of the work is determined by music by Schubert: his well-known and famous Impromptu for piano in A flat minor Op. 90 No. 4, or more precisely individual motifs from it. Some of these motifs, such as the falling triad passages in the flute, are used as source material (or even as a motto). Other motifs, such as the chromatic motif in the middle section of the Impromptu, appear hidden, like an unattainable boundary towards which the entire development strives. It is these two poles between which the musical action takes place.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Franz Schubert orch. Max Reger
Nacht und Träume
Gruppe aus dem Tartarus
An die Musik
Franz Schubert
Entr’acte No. 2 from Rosamunde
Franz Schubert orch. Anton Webern
Du bist die Ruh
Franz Schubert orch. Benjamin Britten
Die Forelle
Franz Schubert orch. Hector Berlioz
Erlkönig
Franz Schubert struggled to make a name, but he did have one regular outlet for his genius. Like young people in any century, his Viennese friends were a lively, sociable bunch. Money might be short, but for entertainment all they needed was a piano and a friend with a decent voice, and over the course of his short life, Schubert wrote more than 600 songs. Some he sold to publishers, while others were intended for performance in coffeehouses and at the social gatherings that his friends called “Schubertiads”.
Schubert composed most of his songs for voice and piano, but within a few years of Schubert’s death, a new generation of composers began to appreciate the scale of what he’d achieved. To many of his later admirers the piano seemed too small a vehicle for a vison as wild and powerful as Erlkönig (The Erl-King)(1815) – the 18-year old Schubert’s terrifying mini-drama of a father and son pursued on horseback by a malevolent spirit – or as playful as Die Forelle (The Trout) (1817). Today we hear four masters of the orchestra using their (very different) imaginations to “colour in” Schubert’s piano originals: Benjamin Britten, the French maverick Hector Berlioz, the Viennese modernist Anton Webern and the fin-de-siècle German romantic Max Reger.
And there’s a brief glimpse, too, of how Schubert himself might have done it. When in late November 1823 he was commissioned to write orchestral music for a new play, Rosamunde, Princess of Cypress, he could hardly afford to refuse. Alas, Rosamunde seems to have been a turkey and only Schubert’s music survives. This orchestral Entr’acte shows why.
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
Symphony No. 9 in C major ‘Great’
Andante; Allegro, ma non troppo – Andante con moto – Scherzo: Allegro vivace – Allegro vivace
Schubert never called his last completed symphony “Great”: in fact, he never even heard it performed. The nickname was coined long after his death, and in German it simply means “large”. But it stuck because it makes a point. This symphony is big. It lasts a good hour, and the orchestra – unusually for the period – uses three trombones. When Schubert completed it, in March 1825 at the age of 28, no composer except Beethoven was thinking on anything like this scale.
Schubert lays it out at the very beginning. A horn call opens up huge vistas, then leads into an expansive march that accelerates into the symphony proper. In the first movement the music moves in huge paragraphs, and the two inner movements are on an equally grand scale. In the Andante the oboe sings a bittersweet walking song that gradually builds to a story of passionate heartbreak; the Scherzo that follows is a huge, whirling dance with an unmistakably Viennese swing. And finally, a vigorous call to action launches a massive, high-speed finale whose driving rhythmic patterns never flag, hurtling the symphony onward with (in the words of Donald Tovey) “the momentum of a planet in its orbit”.
Dinis Sousa
Dinis Sousa is Music Director of Royal Northern Sinfonia, and Founder and Artistic Director of Orquestra XXI, an award-winning orchestra that brings together some of the finest young Portuguese musicians from around the world. He is the winner of the Critics’ Circle Young Talent (Conductor) Award for 2023.
With Royal Northern Sinfonia he led a complete Schumann symphony cycle in 2023/4, in addition to a performance of Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri which received a 5-star review from The Times. Other highlights have included a world premiere by Cassandra Miller, a UK tour, a return visit to the BBC Proms, and collaborations with soloists including Christian Tetzlaff, Steven Isserlis, Elisabeth Leonsksaja, Víkingur Ólafsson, Stephen Hough and Kristian Bezuidenhout.
Sousa’s work with the Monteverdi Choirs and Orchestras has earned him the highest critical acclaim, most recently for a complete Beethoven symphony cycle in London and at the Philharmonie de Paris in May 2024. Among many 5* reviews, Hugh Canning (Operalogue) described the cycle as “an unforgettable performance”. In 2023, he won widespread praise (and further 5* reviews) for Berlioz’s Les Troyens at the Salzburg Festival, Berlin Musikfest and the BBC Proms, with The Guardian noting that “Sousa was electrifying in moments of grandeur, high drama, and emotional intensity.” In the autumn of 2023, he also made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in two programs of Bach and Handel.
His operatic experience includes Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, and in 2025 he lead a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte for Graz Opera.
With Orquestra XXI, recent highlights have included opening the Gulbenkian Foundation’s season, and a critically acclaimed tour of Mahler’s Symphony No 5 to celebrate the orchestra’s 10th anniversary. In recognition of his work with Orquestra XXI, he was awarded the title of Knight of the Order of Prince Henry in Portugal.
Bryn Terfel
Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel has forged an extraordinary international career, performing regularly on the world’s most prestigious concert stages and opera houses.
After winning the Song Prize at the 1989 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, Sir Bryn made his professional operatic debut in 1990 as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with Welsh National Opera. The following year, he made both his international operatic debut as the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte at Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and his American debut as Figaro with Santa Fe Opera.
Throughout his distinguished career, he has performed roles such as Méphistophélès (Faust), both the title role and Leporello (Don Giovanni), Jochanaan (Salome), the title role (Gianni Schicchi), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Balstrode (Peter Grimes), and the Four Villains (Les contes d’Hoffmann).
Recent operatic engagements include Scarpia in Tosca at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Royal Opera House, and The Met; Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore and Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Vienna Staatsoper; and the title role in Gianni Schicchi at the Verbier Festival.
In concert, recent highlights include recitals at the Herbstgold Festival, Staatsoper Hamburg, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Müpa Budapest, and Tanglewood Festival, as well as Belshazzar’s Feast with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Adam Hickox and a gala debut in Mexico with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería under Roberto Kalb.
Highlights of the 2025–26 season include Scarpia in Tosca at Opernhaus Zürich, as well as the title role in Boris Godunov and Captain Balstrode in Peter Grimes at the Royal Opera House. Upcoming engagements also include a concert performance of Der fliegende Holländer at Opéra de Monte-Carlo under Gianluca Marcianò, Tosca in concert with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Kazuki Yamada, and his debut with the Royal Northern Sinfonia under Dinis Sousa at The Glasshouse.
Sir Bryn was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2003, received the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2006, and was knighted for services to music in 2017. He holds the title of Austrian Kammersänger, was the final recipient of the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation, and in 2022 was honoured with a European Cultural Award at the Tonhalle, Zurich. He also received the Freedom of the City of London in 2015.
Royal Northern Sinfonia
Internationally renowned, calling Gateshead home.
37 musicians at the top of their game. Electrifying music, old and new. All the talent, determination, and creativity of the North East on a worldwide stage. From their home at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Royal Northern Sinfonia share the joy and wonder of orchestral music with thousands of people across the North of England – and beyond – every year.
From symphonies to string quartets, film soundtracks to choral masses, and original performances with awesome artists from Sheku Kanneh-Mason to Self Esteem, the orchestra’s members have got one of the most varied jobs there is. They’re always looking for fresh new sounds from up-and-coming composers, inviting local communities to share a stage, and doing everything they can to inspire and prepare the musicians of tomorrow to one day take their place.
They’re also working hard to smash the barriers that can stop brilliant people getting into classical music. They’ve teamed up with national partners to support women conductors to develop their careers, to help global majority musicians get vital experience in the orchestra world, and to celebrate disabled and non-disabled musicians breaking new ground together in inclusive ensemble RNS Moves. And they bring new musical opportunities to the region, headlining the first-ever BBC Proms weekend outside London.
Because they whole-heartedly believe orchestral music is for anyone – big cities and rural villages, tiny babies and life-long listeners, die-hard fans and curious minds – they travel far and wide to make sure there’s top-notch classical music on offer for anyone ready to say “I’ll give that a go”. You’ll find them in churches, castles, and community venues across the North, as well as leading the charge in Carlisle, Kendal, Middlesbrough, and Sunderland.
With 65 years of success to build on, they’ve signed a dynamic artistic leadership – Music Director Dinis Sousa, Artistic Partner Maria Włoszczowska, Principal Guest Conductor Nil Venditti and Associate Conductor Ellie Slorach – to lead the way into a bold, bright future.
Wherever the orchestra play and whoever they share a stage with, every performance is a chance to see, hear and feel the music.
