BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus Barbican Season 2023-24 Fantastic Voyages

Alice Mary Smith defied the expectations of 19th century Britain, and her musical imagination travelled without boundaries. Today, she sets sail with Jason and the Argonauts: just the start of a concert that voyages East onboard Ravel’s ship of dreams, before confronting Napoleon Bonaparte himself in Beethoven’s revolutionary Eroica symphony.

By any standards, it’s an incredible journey – but BBC SO chief conductor Sakari Oramo is a born explorer, and this is a long overdue chance to hear Smith’s spirited overture. British mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston is the soloist in Ravel’s Shéhérazade: an unashamedly poetic vision of an imagined Orient, sung by a singer whom one critic has described as having “one of the most generous and beautiful voices in the business”.