 A new clarinet concerto, Rainbow, will premiere on 5 March 2026, with soloist Mark van de Wiel and the Philharmonia, conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
The concert celebrates the clarinet, and the outstanding playing of Mark van de Wiel who first performed in the Royal Festival Hall as a member of the National Youth Orchestra, and was the Philharmonia’s Principal Clarinet from 2000 to 2025. Expressing feelings of wonder at the natural world, Dove's third concerto to feature a soloist scanning the skies (following Stargazer and Northern Lights), Rainbow showcases the soloist's virtuosity and lyricism. BERNSTEIN On the Waterfront Suite DOVE Clarinet Concerto, 'Rainbow' (World premiere, commissioned by Mark van de Wiel and the Philharmonia) — Interval -- COPLAND Clarinet Concerto GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue Tickets and further information  The 2025 Ivor Novello award for Best Community and Participation Composition went to Jonathan Dove and librettist April De Angelis' community opera Uprising, which was commissioned by Glyndebourne and Saffron Hall Trust. Jim and Hilary Potter initiated and generously supported the project. The work explores the power of activism and empowers young people to take action in the face of the climate crisis through a tale which follows a young girl in her journey from refusing to go to school to enrolling in a global movement in their fight for the future. The full-length opera has a cast of professional singers, youth opera chorus, an adult community chorus, professional orchestra alongside young instrumentalists and a youth percussion ensemble on stage.
Further information on the Ivors Academy website Solihull Choral Society will be joined by Sinfonia of Birmingham, the Choristers of Derby Cathedral, and Ryan Vaughan Davies (Tenor) to perform For an Unknown Soldier on 15 November. By setting an array of moving war poetry from a compendium of writers, For an Unknown Soldier focuses on a single soldier’s journey through the Great War, combining varying vocal and orchestral forces to present this terrifying and painful subject afresh. Tickets are available on the Solihull Choral Society website  The Enchanted Pig will be performed at Voltahalle Basel by Ahime Oper in September. For Flora, all expectations are turned upside down when the Book of Fate prophesies that she will marry a pig. But against all odds, she falls in love with the animal and is even willing to rescue it from the clutches of an evil sorceress. On her arduous journey from the sun to the moon, Flora not only learns about different forms of love and life, but also discovers herself. Performances on 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13 September 2025 Tickets can be booked at www.ahime.ch   The MIT Summer Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by George Ogata, will present the US premiere of Gaia Theory on 1 August 2025 at the Kresge Auditorium, Massachusetts. https://www.mitspo.org/2025-concert |