BBC SSO 2026-27 Season Afternoon Performance: Mozart's Clarinet Concerto

Exiled from his homeland, Béla Bartók was jobless and dangerously ill. His response? One of the most original shouts of joy in all of 20th century music. Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra is more — so much more — than just a spectacular workout for a great orchestra at the peak of its game. It’s a salute to the human spirit, tingling with living colours and driven by the raw, unstoppable rhythms of Bartók’s beloved Hungarian folk music.

You wouldn’t guess that Mozart’s ravishing Clarinet Concerto was one of his last works, either, as BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Oleg Shebeta-Dragan brings a personal perspective to this evergreen favourite. Conductor Kalena Bovell opens with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Spanish spectacular, and you can almost feel the sunshine.

TICKETS: £16 Early Bird Rate; £19 within two weeks of the concert
(£6 for Students & Under 26s)