Just a couple of days ago on Saturday 15th October, we had the absolute privilege of watching our lovely client, the BBC Philharmonic, as the orchestra celebrated its centenary year with a concert at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall showcasing what it does best: sharing music with the masses by continuing to laud Beethoven’s enduring popularity and championing rarely performed and newly written music.
Conductor Eva Ollikainen and soprano Héloïse Werner presented the world premiere of a new work by Erland Cooper in tribute to Peter Maxwell Davies’s long and close association with the orchestra, in a concert including Gipps’s Overture ‘Chanticleer’ and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with soprano Tuuli Takala, mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately, tenor Steve Davislim, and bass-baritone Simon Shibambu and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
Unsurprisingly, the simply stunning performance received a standing ovation in the equally stunning venue from an audience that was evidently as blown away as we were by what they had just witnessed.
For the campaign around this concert, we wanted to celebrate the orchestra, its longevity, and most of all its people; the players that make the music possible. We worked with the amazing team at the BBC Philharmonic to find out about the incredible stories that existed within the group, of which there were many.
From the longest serving members of the orchestra and their experiences, to players whose parents had been been in the orchestra before them (and in some cases at the same time), to married couples who met in the orchestra and went on to have families – it was clear that music was at the heart of it it all, and was responsible for the palpable family feeling running through the orchestra.
After telling the media about these beautiful stories, we were inundated with regional and national support, and listings, previews and interview features appeared on I Love Manchester, About Manchester, Manchester World, YourMcr, The Manc, BBC Radio Manchester, and BBC North West Tonight, as well as yesterday’s BBC Breakfast.
Our work with the BBC Philharmonic is well up there with our most enjoyed; the people and the music make it what it is, and we love nothing more than to discover stories like these and share them out into the world.
If you haven’t been to watch the orchestra yet, we would advise making that change.
Tom x
