BOURNEMOUTH Symphony Orchestra’s 2026/27 concert season launches at Poole’s Lighthouse arts centre on Wednesday 30th September and Bristol Beacon, on Thursday 1st October, launching the orchestra’s two-year Beethoven series, Road to Joy.
The BSO has announced a four-year extension of its partnership with Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth, which sees him at the helm until 2032. And there is a further announcement that long-time sponsor Lark Music is to become the first sponsor of the digital concert series which reaches thousands more people beyond the concert hall each year.
The line-up of visiting soloists and artists includes composer Thomas Adès and Artist-in-Residence, pianist Boris Giltburg.
The launch of Road to Joy, marking the Beethoven bicentenary in 2027, embodies the BSO’s artistic relationship with Mark Wigglesworth as the series heralds both insightful symphonic performances and thought-provoking discussion-led events across the next two years. The programme includes Beethoven’s nine symphonies and introduces three immersive weekends, Beethoven Now, exploring the composer’s universal relevance to who we are today. The first Beethoven Now weekend [31st October-1st November] features guest speakers: musician Dame Evelyn Glennie, broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, author John Suchet and actor Samuel West.
The series opens this week with Beethoven’s First Symphony and The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure, Henk de Vlieger’s orchestral arrangement of Wagner’s defining work, at Poole and Bristol.
One of the world’s leading conductors, Mark Wigglesworth, who was appointed chief conductor in 2024, has introduced the BSO’s Celebrated Composer strand, showcasing music written by living British composers. In 2025/26, the BSO featured performances of Dani Howard’s music and this season it welcomes Thomas Adès.
Lark Music has supported the BSO over a number of years on initiatives including the BSO Young Associates programme, Symphony from Scratch and the BSO Music-Making Competition. This year, by sponsoring the digital concert series, Lark Music is helping the BSO support musicians and music lovers, who are unable to attend a concert hall, to experience live orchestral music from their own homes. Last season, the digital concert series reached an estimated online audience of 32,000.