MacMillan conducts MacMillan

The acclaimed orchestra continues its close relationship with the music of Sir James MacMillan as the composer joins them to conduct his euphonium concerto, following its premiere in Cardiff in 2025. The work brings together the sounds of the orchestra and brass band as MacMillan looks back to his upbringing in the small coal-mining Ayrshire town of Cumnock. The concerto is dedicated to both tonight’s soloist, David Childs, and MacMillan’s euphonium-playing grandfather. The evening begins with a mid-century neoclassical concerto grosso by Grażyna Bacewicz, dubbed “The First Lady of Polish Music”, and ends with an arrangement, in the 200th anniversary year of his death, of Beethoven’s extraordinary late quartet – said to be his favourite and made up of seven uninterrupted movements. Programme Grażyna Bacewicz Concerto for strings James MacMillan Euphonium Concerto: Where the Lugar meets the Glaisnock (English premiere) Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet Op.131 (arranged for string orchestra) Performers David Childs euphonium James MacMillan conductor Britten Sinfonia