This afternoon, we’ll hear a selection of music that showcases and exemplifies the exciting breadth of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra's work, featuring composers with whom the orchestra has been working and championing. Chief Conductor John Storgårds takes to the podium at MediaCityUK.

We also journey to Storgårds’ native Finland with three of the composers on today’s programme. Outi Tarkiainen’s Midnight Sun Variations had its world premiere in 2019 when Storgårds conducted the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the BBC Proms, and Sebastian Fagerlund's essay for violin and orchestra, Helena's Song, was a co-commission for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Lotta Wennäkoski pays tribute to fellow Finnish composer Sibelius in Verdigris, a highly original work. Today’s performance of Verdigris is the second of two for the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra this spring, following one in April at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester.

Also on the programme are two British composers, Grace-Evangeline Mason and Piers Hellawell.

Mason earned the prestigious BBC Young Composer of the Year award in 2013. Just ten years later, her lush, painterly work ABLAZE THE MOON, premiered at the 2023 Proms with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Mark Wigglesworth.