91Èȱ¬

91Èȱ¬ Concert Orchestra
Expanding Horizons

Days after its acclaimed performance at the 91Èȱ¬ Proms Sondheim At 80 celebration, the 91Èȱ¬ Concert Orchestra announced the dual appointments of Keith Lockhart as its principal conductor and Johannes Wildner as principal guest conductor.

Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra since 1995, will lead the 91Èȱ¬ Concert Orchestra to its 60th anniversary in 2012 and beyond. The American musician's work will be complemented by JohannesWildner's wide experience as a former violinist with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor in Prague and Leipzig.

Electronica
6 October 2010, 31 March, 1 April and 9 June 2011, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Orchestral programming with a difference comes as standard with the 91Èȱ¬ Concert Orchestra. Its three-part Electronica series opens with back-to-the-future sounds of R2-D2, wibbly wobbly theremins, Moogs and ondes Martenots featuring instrumental music by Goldfrapp's Will Gregory, Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, Oscar-winner Anne Dudley and the early electronic pioneers.

Next year there will be a new opera from Will Gregory and more unconventional orchestral rewiring with a twist.

Light Fantastic – A Festival Of Light Music
12 January, 24 and 26 June 2011, Radio 2 and Radio 3

The 91Èȱ¬ Concert Orchestra kicks off the 91Èȱ¬'s light music festival with The Light Brigade at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Leading the troops in an all-star performance featuring some of the greatest names in British Light Music is MGM Prom star conductor JohnWilson.

The celebrations continue later in the year with a live broadcast of Friday Night Is Music Night on Radio 2 and Radio 3 from the Royal Festival Hall, followed by a season finale in Plymouth Pavilions.

91Èȱ¬ Philharmonic
Noseda's Farewell Season
25 September 2010 to 16 April 2011, The Bridgewater Hall

For his final season as chief conductor, Gianandrea Noseda revisits works that brought distinction and attracted international acclaim to his music-making with the 91Èȱ¬ Philharmonic.

The partnership opens the season at The Bridgewater Hall with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, recalling their ground-breaking Beethoven cycle of five years earlier, and continues with programmes of works by Rachmaninov, Richard Strauss and Liszt.

Noseda's influential tenure closes in Manchester with a concert performance of Verdi's Otello featuring Barbara Frittoli as Desdemona. The Italian maestro will become the orchestra's conductor laureate from September 2011.

Manchester Welcomes Mena
15 October 2010, The Bridgewater Hall

Chief conductor designate, Juanjo Mena, makes his Bridgewater Hall debut accompanying Steven Osborne in Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto and with Bruckner's Seventh Symphony. The Spanish conductor, who deputised for James Levine at this summer's Tanglewood Festival, intends to programme Bruckner regularly with his new orchestra after he succeeds Noseda in September 2011.

New Year – New 91Èȱ¬ at MediaCityUK

In April 2011 the 91Èȱ¬ Philharmonic moves from central Manchester to its new home at MediaCityUK, in the 91Èȱ¬'s new Northern base at Salford Quays.

91Èȱ¬ North will be home to Radio 5 Live, 91Èȱ¬ Sport and 91Èȱ¬ Children's, who are all relocating out of London. They join the 91Èȱ¬'s existing programme departments in the North West.

Acoustic tests for the 91Èȱ¬ Philharmonic's purpose-built recording and rehearsal studio at MediaCityUK begin this autumn before the official launch next year.