BBC Concert Orchestra

The mission of the BBC Concert Orchestra is to bring inspiring musical experiences to everyone, everywhere, with the ensemble’s versatility as the key.

For BBC Radio 3, the Orchestra explores a wide selection of classical and contemporary music and is broadcast weekly on Friday Night Is Music Night. It has performed on many soundtracks, including Blue Planet, Serengeti and Wild Isles for BBC One, as well as recording new music for BBC Sounds’ Music & Meditation podcast and George the Poet’s award-winning, Have You Heard George’s Podcast? In 2022, it recorded Isobel Waller-Bridge's score for Charlie Mackesy’s Oscar winning animated film, The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse. It performs in BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room Month for BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, which featured over 20 collaborations with pop artists, including Raye, Stormzy and Petshop Boys.

The orchestra appears annually at the BBC Proms and regularly at London's Southbank Centre, Alexandra Palace Theatre and Nottingham Royal Concert Hall. It has a formal partnership with the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, which provides world-class performance, composition, and production experiences to students and local communities.

Highlights coming up in 2025 BBC Proms include Soul Revolution with presenter Trevor Nelson and conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser; Classic Thriller Soundtracks by Bernard Herrmann with BBC CO Principal Guest Conductor and Curator Edwin Outwater; Viennese Whirl, celebrating music from Vienna’s Golden Age with Chief Conductor Anna-Maria Helsing.; and a celebration of the Great American Songbook with Grammy superstar, Samara Joy.

The BBC Concert Orchestra takes a leading role in Create Yarmouth, a three-year residency with Orchestras Live, which aims to engage and inspire young people and adults in the Great Yarmouth area.

The orchestra offers enjoyable and innovative education and community activities and, in addition to Create Yarmouth, is also involved in BBC Ten Pieces, the BBC Young Composer competition, and the BBC Open Music programme.