Orchestra
BBC Concert Orchestra
- From
- London, United Kingdom
- Since
- 1952–present
- Releases
- 119
- classical
About
The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale symphony orchestra. The BBC Concert Orchestra is the BBC's most populist ensemble, playing a mixture of classical music, light music and popular numbers. Its primary role is to produce music for radio broadcast, and it is the resident orchestra of the world's longest-running live music programme, Friday Night Is Music Night on BBC Radio 3.
Members
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Tom Rumsby French horn
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Nigel Blomily cello
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Samuel Coles flute
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Roderick Elms additional
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Sarah Freestone violin
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Linden Harris oboe
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Benjamin Hughes cello
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Michael Jeans cor anglais
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Alasdair Malloy percussion
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Hamish McKeich bassoon
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Robert Nicholas cor anglais
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Michael Pearce clarinet
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Martin Loveday cello
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Malcolm Smith principal, trumpet, cornet
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Richard Watson double bass
Discography
Albums
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Lambert: The Rio Grande / Concerto / Horoscope
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Aspects of Andrew Lloyd Webber Apple Music
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D-Day: 50th Anniversary
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Hooked on Instrumental Classics
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Goodbye Mr. Chips / A Tale of Two Cities
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Faure: Pavanne / Martin: Mass for Double Choir / Britten: A Boy Was Born / Duparc: Motet
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Walton: Crown Imperial / Grainger: Molly on the Shore / Smetana: Vlatava / Borodin: Polovtsian Dances / Arnold: Concerto for Harmonica
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Britten: Spring Symphony / Bridge: Enter Spring / Summer
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The Last Night of the Proms Collection
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Soprano in Hollywood
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Milhaud: Double Piano Concerto / Symphonic Suite no. 2 (Protee) / Suite provençale (five movements) / Auric-Poulenc-Tailleferre-Honegger-Milhaud: Les Maries de la Tour Eiffel
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London Transport Suite / Petite Valse / Barbecue / Concerto Incognito / Mexican Fiesta / Duel for Drummers / Cresta Run / Going for a Ride
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BBC Concert Orchestra Plays Songs from The Musicals
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Master Works II for Organ and Orchestra
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BBC Concert Orchestra Plays the Hits From Broadway
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Under The Stars (17 Orchestral Miniatures)
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Robert & Clara Schumann
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The Essential British Light Music Collection
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BBC Concert Orchestra Plays Songs from "Crazy for Gershwin"
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The Enchanted Garden: 10 Orchestral Pieces
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Die Kathrin
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Waltzing in the Clouds: The Music of Robert Stolz
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Fantasia and Ceremonial Prelude, Trumpet Concertino, Four Movements for String Orchestra, A Song for All Seasons and other Orchestral Classics
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The Film Music of Clifton Parker
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Orchestral Music, Volume 1
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Orchestral Music, Volume 3
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Sea Fever: Roderick Williams Sings Baritone Songs by British Composers
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Gibbs: Odysseus / Dyson: Four Songs for Sailors
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Orchestral Music, Volume 5
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Greatest Hits
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The Film Music of Lord Berners & Constant Lambert
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Vaughan Williams: Heroic Elegy & Triumphal Epilogue / Alwyn: Prelude / Blackdown / Peter Pan Suite / Ad Infinitum / Overture in the Form of a Serenade / Bowen: Eventide / Parry: Hypatia
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The Film Music of Mischa Spoliansky
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Bowen: Rhapsody for Cello & Orchestra / Bush: Concert Suite for Cello & Orchestra / Brian: Concerto for Cello & Orchestra
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Songs and Orchestral Music
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Piano Concerto no. 1 / Piano Concerto no. 2 / Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre
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BBC Music, Volume 20, Number 11: Malcolm Arnold: Symphony no. 1 / Coates / Enescu / J. Strauss II
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Be My Love: A Tribute To Mario Lanza
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The ‘Longed-for Light’: Elgar’s Music in Wartime
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Piano Concerto / Cello Concerto / Overture to Pelleas and Melisanda
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Volume 2: Symphonic Variations on a French Children’s Song / Sinfonia Brevis / Suite from Der Gläserne Berg
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Divertissement espagnol / La Villanelle du Diable / Une nuit de mai / Divertissement in A minor
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Symphony no. 2 in D major, op. 97 / Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, op. 81
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BBC Music, Volume 24, Number 13: Best of British
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McCarthy: Codebreaker / Todd: Ode to a Nightingale
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BBC Music, Volume 25, Number 13: Opera Classics
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BBC Music, Volume 26, Number 12: Saxophone Concerto / Reflections on a 16th-Century Tune
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The Light of the World
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The Hills of Dreamland: Elgar Orchestral Songs
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BBC Music, Volume 26, Number 9: Enigma Variations / Cockaigne Overture / Organ Sonata
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Mademoiselle in New York
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Raptures
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Saint Nicolas / A Ceremony of Carols
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Simon: Piano Concerto in A-flat major / La Revue de nuit / Danse de Bayadère / Plainte élégiaque / Deux Danses de Don Quixote / Chaminade: Suite no. 1 for Orchestra
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The Dancing Master, op. 34
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Missa Sabrinensis
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Swing: A Benny Goodman Story
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BBC Music, Volume 29, Number 7: Malcolm Arnold: Symphonies Nos 2 & 4
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BBC Music, Volume 30, Number 13: Symphony no. 2 / Spitfire Prelude & Fugue
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Les Animaux modèles / Sinfonietta / Discours du général / La Baigneuse de Trouville / Pastourelle
Singles
Live
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Aethernal Score (Live with the BBC Concert Orchestra)
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Delta Goodrem (live with the BBC Orchestra)
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Friday Night is Music Night - Queen: A Friday Night At the Opera
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BBC Music, Volume 24, Number 4: Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad Rhapsody / MacCunn: Land of the Mountain and the Flood
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BBC Music, Volume 18, Number 7: Great American Classics: Gershwin: Second Rhapsody / Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
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BBC Music, Volume 18, Number 4: Britten: St. Nicolas / Howells: Three Carol-Anthems
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Live in London
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The Seldom Seen Kid Live at Abbey Road
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Concrete
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BBC Music, Volume 11, Number 6: Fiesta!
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The Best of Gilbert & Sullivan - Live
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Grainger: Brigg Fair / Delius: Brigg Fair / Irmelin Prelude / Norwegian Suite / In a Summer Garden / A Dance Rhapsody no. 2
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The London Concert
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BBC Music, Volume 1, Number 6: French Favourites
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Great Summer of Music: Sibelius: Symphony no. 1 / Mozart: Horn Concerto no. 4 / Dvorak: Carnival Overture
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198x-xx-xx: Princess Ida: [unknown location]
Compilations
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Complete Orchestral Works
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The Dam Busters
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The Music of Charles Williams
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Beethoven: Quintet for Piano & Wind Instruments / Jacob: Sextet for Wind Quintet & Piano / Hindemith: Sonata for Horn & Piano / Vinter: Hunter's Moon
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Pomp & Circumstance: An English Festival
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BBC Proms in the Park
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BBC Concert Orchestra Plays Disney Movie Favorites
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Litolff: Scherzo / Tchaikovsky: Marche Slave / Offenbach: Dances from "Gaite Parisienne" / Lennon-McCartney: Yesterday
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The Music of Eric Coates
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Instrumental Classics
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Golden Cinema Classics, Vol. 1: The Adventure Film
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The Jameson Collectiom
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Club Classical: Orchestral Chillout Sounds
Other
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Jack's Lament (From "Nightmare Before Christmas")
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49th Parallel: The Complete Music Written For The Film
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Friday Night is Music Night - John Williams 85th
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BBC Proms - Celebrating John Williams
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Spielberg - Soundtrack Highlights
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(Ocean) Bloom
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Frozen Planet
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‘Still Life’ at the Penguin Cafe
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100 Years of the Movies
Links
Conductor position
Also known as
BBC Concert Orcestra · The BBC Concert Orchestra
Tags
- orchestra
- uk
Identifiers
- MusicBrainz
- dfeba5ea-c967-4ad2-9cdd-3cffb4320143
- ISNI
- 0000000107293174
Data from MusicBrainz, saved 7 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.