Chilcott / Ramirez / Fanshawe
2025-03-22 19:30 - 22:30 UTC | Bedford Corn Exchange, Corn Exchange, 13 St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SL, United Kingdom
Bedford Choral Society, accompanied by Bedford Sinfonia and conducted by Ian Smith, will perform:
Bob Chilcott Little Jazz Mass
A highly original and effective concert setting of the Latin Missa brevis, in which the various movements embrace a variety of jazz styles.
Ariel Ramirez Misa Criolla
In 1963 Ramírez created his widely popular Misa Criolla on a Spanish translation of the traditional liturgical text, including folkloric interpolations such as the “lara, lara” passage in the Credo. Each movement of the compact mass is based on specific folk material, particularly dance rhythms: the austere vidala-baguala of northern Argentina for the Kyrie, the carnavalito and yaraví from the same area for the Gloria, the obsessive chacerera trunca from central Argentina for the Credo, the syncopated Bolivian carnaval cochabambino for the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei is composed in the characteristic style of the southern pampas.
David Fanshawe African Sanctus
African Sanctus is a 1972 choral mass and is the best-known work of British composer and collector of world musics David Fanshawe.

Delius / Holst / Arnold / Vaughan Williams
2025-05-03 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | St Paul’s Church, St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SQ, United Kingdom
With a free pre-concert talk by Paul Harris at 6.30pm
Frederick Delius
On hearing the first cuckoo in spring
Summer night on the river
Gustav Holst
Country Song
Marching Song
Malcolm Arnold
Clarinet Concerto No. 2, Op. 115
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Symphony No. 5 in D major
Guest conductor: Ian Smith
Soloist: Paul Harris, clarinet
Delius’ On hearing the first cuckoo in spring will begin a delightful programme of works by English composers in Bedford Sinfonia’s concert on 3 May 2025. It will be followed by two orchestral songs by Holst, Country Song and Marching Song, which will then lead to the Arnold Clarinet Concerto No. 2 played by Paul Harris, an enthusiastic champion of Arnold’s music and author of the composer’s biography. Paul will also give a pre-concert talk at 6.30pm about the composer and the concerto. The programme will conclude with the warm and melodically extravagant Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 5.
Click here to book free tickets for under-18s

Bantock / Shostakovich / Tchaikovsky
2025-05-24 19:30 - 22:00 UTC | Bedford Corn Exchange, Corn Exchange, 13 St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SL, United Kingdom
Bedfordshire Symphony Orchestra will be performing:
Bantock The Sea Reivers
Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor Op. 74 ‘Pathétique’
Guest conductor: Bjorn Bantock
Soloist: Jakob Kullberg, cello
This Bedfordshire Symphony Orchestra concert will begin with Granville Bantock’s The Sea Reivers, conducted by the composer’s great-grandson, Bjorn Bantock. The programme will also include Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Jakob Kullberg, a professor of cello at the Royal College of Music noted for his collaboration with the Danish composer Per Nørgård, as soloist. Tchaikovsky’s most dramatic and tragic last symphony, Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathétique’, rounds off BSO’s season of concerts.
Click here to book free tickets for under-18s

Handel / Rose / May / Ireland
2025-06-21 19:30 - 22:00 UTC | Bedford Corn Exchange, Corn Exchange, 13 St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SL, United Kingdom
Bedford Choral Society and Bedford Sinfonia will be conducted by Ian Smith in a performance of Handel The King shall Rejoice, Michael Rose Songs of Innocence and Experience, Ireland A Downland Suite and a new piece commissioned by Bedford Choral Society from composer Greg May, titled Carved Anew. (Please note this is a change from the previously advertised programme.)
Composer and pianist Greg May was born and raised in north Bedfordshire and was a student at Bedford Modern School from 2014-2020. He studied at the Junior Royal Academy of Music, and in 2020 was a winner in the BBC Young Composer Competition, resulting in a commission for the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Greg went on to read music at Clare College Cambridge, where he graduated with a double first in 2023, and is currently studying for a masters degree in composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Mussorgsky / Mendelssohn / Dvorak
2025-11-15 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | Bedford Corn Exchange, Corn Exchange, 13 St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SL, United Kingdom
Join Bedfordshire Symphony Orchestra for a programme of well-loved classics:
Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain
Mendelssohn Overture and incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Dvořák Symphony No. 9 ‘From the New World’
Conductor: Bjorn Bantock
Free tickets for this concert are available for under-18s.

Mendelssohn / Beach / Smyth / Price
2026-01-24 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | All Saints Parish Church, Iddesleigh Road, Bedford, MK40 4LQ, United Kingdom
Bedford Sinfonia performs a fascinating programme of works by female composers:
Fanny Mendelssohn Overture in C
Amy Beach Gaelic Symphony
Ethel Symth Overture ‘The Wreckers’
Florence Price Symphony No.1
Conductor: Ian Smith
Free tickets for this concert are available for under-18s.

Brahms / Sibelius / Glinka
2026-02-28 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | Great Hall, Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, Bedford, MK40 2TU
Bedfordshire Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of conductor Bjorn Bantock, will perform:
Glinka Ruslan and Ludmila Overture
Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor
Brahms Symphony No. 1
Violin soloist: Jakub Jakowicz
PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF VENUE FOR THIS CONCERT – the venue is now the Great Hall, Bedford School, De Parys Avenue
Free tickets for this concert are available for under 18s.

Mozart / Schubert / Arriaga
2026-05-02 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | St Paul’s Church, St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SQ, United Kingdom
A celebration of youth, learning and music education. Bedford Sinfonia will be joined by acclaimed soprano Carolyn Sampson and the winners of the Young Composers’ Competition, whose pieces will be performed alongside the greats below.
Schubert Symphony No. 3
Mozart Exsultate, jubilate
Arriaga Symphony in D
BOS Young Composers’ Competition winners’ presentation and performance:
Cerulean by Seth Garner
A New Discovery by Elias Demetrius-Louisy
St George and The Dragon by Ezra Bail

Soloist: Carolyn Sampson OBE

Conductor: Ian Smith

The Young Composers’ Competition is generously supported by The Rotary Club of Bedford Castle.

Wagner / Bruckner / Beethoven
2026-05-23 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | Bedford Corn Exchange, Corn Exchange, 13 St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SL, United Kingdom
Bedfordshire Symphony Orchestra ends the season with a programme of classics:
Wagner Prelude to Act 3 of Lohengrin
Beethoven: Triple Concerto for violin, cello and piano
Bruckner Symphony No. 3
Conductor: Bjorn Bantock
Soloists: Mike Gemmill (violin), Julian Metzger (cello) and Stephen Meakins (piano)
This concert is generously supported by Hatters Home & Style, Bedford and two anonymous donors.

Beethoven & Haydn
2026-10-17 19:30 - 21:30 (Europe/London) | Bedford Corn Exchange, Corn Exchange, 13 St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SL, United Kingdom
Bedford Sinfonia kicks off our 60th Anniversary season with the spectacular opening concert of a series where Bedfordshire Orchestral Society will perform all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies.
In the same approximate year (1795) that the great Josef Haydn’s last symphony was being composed and performed, the first sketches of Beethoven’s first symphony appeared.
Beethoven’s style owed much to Haydn (who was, for a time, his tutor), and so the classical torch was passed from one generation to the next.
We hope to see you there!
Programme:

Haydn: Symphony No.104
Beethoven: Symphony No.1
Beethoven: Symphony No.2

Conductor: Ian Smith

Rachmaninov, Beethoven & Borodin
2026-11-14 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | Bedford Corn Exchange, Corn Exchange, 13 St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SL, United Kingdom
The second concert in our 60th Anniversary Beethoven-themed season is ‘Radiant and Resolute’ – a title that truly encapsulates the three pieces we will be performing!
First up is a double bill from two Russian Romantic composers – Borodin’s ‘Polovtsian Dances’ from his opera Prince Igor, and Rachmaninov’s ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’. We are fortunate enough to be joined by ‘profoundly gifted’ (Gramophone) pianist Katya Apekisheva for this piece, and are both very lucky and delighted to perform alongside her.
These bright and sparkling pieces will set the stage for Beethoven’s third symphony, the ‘Eroica.’ Originally dedicated to Napoleon and the ideals of the French Revolution, Beethoven may have torn the sheet music to shreds when he heard Napoleon declared himself emperor, but the power behind the music still survives.
Programme:

Borodin: ‘Polovtsian Dances’ from Prince Igor
Rachmaninov: ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’
Beethoven: Symphony No.3 ‘Eroica’

Conductor: Bjorn Bantock
Piano: Katya Apekisheva (read Katya’s biography here)

Beethoven & Mozart
2027-01-16 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | Great Hall, Bedford School, De Parys Avenue, Bedford, MK40 2TU
Bedford Sinfonia presents a dedication to Beethoven and a contemporary we all know and love – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Mozart first stakes his claim with his Symphony No.35 – known as the ‘Haffner Symphony’ after the family by whom it was commissioned.
Next up is Beethoven’s gigantic Violin Concerto, longer than some symphonies, which was initially unsuccessful before being revived by the then 12-year-old violinist Joseph Joachim and the London Philharmonic Society. We are thrilled to be joined in this by critically acclaimed violinist Charlie Lovell-Jones, and we hope you’re looking forward to hearing him as much as we’re looking forward to playing alongside him!
Beethoven’s genial fourth symphony will end the concert – perhaps a bit of light relief after a blistering string salvo!
We hope to see you there!

Programme:

Mozart: Symphony No. 35
Beethoven: Violin Concerto
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4

Conductor: Ian Smith
Violin: Charlie Lovell-Jones (read Charlie’s biography here)

Beethoven & Sibelius
2027-02-27 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | Bedford Corn Exchange, Corn Exchange, 13 St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SL, United Kingdom
This is it, folks! Bedfordshire Symphony Orchestra takes on one of the most defining pieces of the classical music canon – the almighty ‘Beethoven’s Fifth’!
But before that, we first turn to Finland for Sibelius’ ‘Karelia Suite’, a homage to the titular region’s landscape and Finland’s national pride. These depictions of nature continue in Beethoven’s sixth symphony, nicknamed the ‘Pastoral’ due to it musically representing, in part, birdsong, a babbling brook, and even a thunderstorm.
But perhaps the true thunder exists within Beethoven’s most famous symphony, and within the first four notes that define it. Though the word is, these days, perhaps a little overused, Beethoven’s Fifth is truly iconic, having inspired countless musicians from multiple genres – it was even adapted into the disco instrumental ‘A Fifth of Beethoven’ in 1976 by Walter Murphy.
As we enter the second half of our 60th Anniversary Beethoven Symphonic Cycle, we’re also replicating how the fifth and sixth symphonies were premiered – in exactly the same concert!
Programme:

Sibelius: Karelia Suite
Beethoven: Symphony No.6 ‘Pastoral’
Beethoven: Symphony No.5

Conductor: Bjorn Bantock

Beethoven & Cimarosa
2027-05-08 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | St Paul’s Church, St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SQ, United Kingdom
The penultimate concert in our 60th Anniversary Season sees Bedford Sinfonia tackle a smorgasbord of scintillating song!
Our ‘overture’ to the concert is, in itself, an overture – to Beethoven’s composition for Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s 1804 tragedy Coriolan.
Beethoven’s eighth symphony is next, and is the shortest of the nine, with the composer himself calling it his ‘little Symphony in F.’
A work by Cimarosa – his overture to Il Matrimonio Segreto – is next, and continues the light and playful themes established by Beethoven’s eighth.
We end with Beethoven’s seventh symphony, which, like his third, is apparently another musical dig at Napoleon. It proved so popular upon premiere that the audience demanded an encore of its second movement, ‘Allegretto.’
We hope to see you there!
Programme:

Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan
Beethoven: Symphony No.8
Cimarosa: Overture to Il Matrimonio Segreto
Beethoven: Symphony No.7

Conductor: Ian Smith

Beethoven: Symphony No.9 'Choral'
2027-05-22 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | Bedford Corn Exchange, Corn Exchange, 13 St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK40 1SL, United Kingdom
What better way to commemorate our 60th Anniversary celebrations than with a truly astounding concert featuring two pieces of power and pomp!
Shostakovich’s grandiose and triumphant ‘Festive Overture’ leads the way, a celebratory piece commissioned for the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution.
2027 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of the composer around whom this whole season is structured – Ludwig van Beethoven. We thus see the season off in spectacular fashion with his ninth symphony. Regarded along with the fifth as a masterpiece of the classical genre, it contains many treasures – among them the 4th movement, more commonly known as the bombastic ‘Ode to Joy’. We are incredibly grateful to be joined in this by our friends in Bedford Choral Society.
So join us for our very own ‘Ode to Joy’ as we commemorate the Bedfordshire Orchestral Society’s 60th Anniversary, and the 200th anniversary of the death of a truly monumental composer. We hope to see you there!
Programme:

Shostakovich: Festive Overture
Beethoven: Symphony No.9 ‘Choral’

Conductor: Bjorn Bantock
Featuring Bedford Choral Society
