Sunday Classics 2024-2025 - Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra

Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra
Carlo Tenan conductor
Pablo Ferrández cello

SCHUBERT Symphony No. 8 ‘Unfinished’
SAINT SAENS Cello Concerto No. 1 (Pablo Ferrández)
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6

It’s been half a century since a Turkish orchestra toured the UK. Discover the country’s rich history of performance in this rare opportunity to experience Turkey’s leading classical ensemble: the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra.

Since its founding in 1999, the Orchestra has become a cultural institution in both European and Asian sides of its home city, and has performed with a whole roster of world-class musicians at international festivals including Salzburg and the BBC Proms. With vibrant Italian-born Principal Conductor Carlo Tenan, the Orchestra’s exuberant musical personality has taken on ever greater passion and drama.

Orchestra and conductor are joined by the dazzling Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández for Saint-Saëns’s deeply Romantic Cello Concerto No. 1, music of powerful urgency and captivating melody – and the ideal match for Ferrández’s soulful playing.

Tenan opens the concert with what’s rightly one of classical music’s most revered and best-loved pieces. Nobody really knows why Schubert stopped his ‘Unfinished’ Symphony after composing just two movements, but they combine beautifully in high drama and touching serenity.

Beethoven’s hymn of wonder to the natural world, the Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral), brings the concert to a gloriously uplifting conclusion. With its chirruping birdsong, its babbling brook and the cataclysmic drama of its all-consuming thunderstorm, it shows the composer at his most evocative and most dramatic: immerse yourself in this deeply moving celebration of the power of nature.