Haydn, Handel, Purcell and Mendelssohn on Radio 3 in 2009

Most ambitious year of classical music on BBC Radio 3 for four ‘Composers of the Year’


With its most ambitious year of classical music programming ever, BBC Radio 3 creates its first Composers of the Year to mark major anniversaries for Henry Purcell (1659-1695), George Frederick Handel (1685-1759), Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) throughout 2009.



Full details are yet to be announced, but selected highlights include the first complete cycle of Handel’s 40-plus operas on Radio 3, broadcast weekly in Afternoon on 3, alongside a complete cycle of Haydn’s 104 Symphonies, which neatly fit into the same programme at the rate of two per week during the whole of 2009.



The extensive plans include in-depth weekend and week-long focuses which build on the success of such events as The Beethoven Experience and The Chopin Experience; broadcasts of major performances by the leading artists, ensembles, orchestras and opera companies taking place during the year throughout the UK and Europe; specially-staged concerts, features, essays, discussion, dramas, debate, and commissions of new music inspired by them.



Roger Wright, Controller of BBC Radio 3 says:



“Building on the success of BBC Radio 3’s ground-breaking composer ‘experiences’, we are thrilled to celebrate the work of these four great composers. By telling their story through the year, and by placing their music in context, we can open up the worlds of much-loved composers to both new and existing listeners alike. This promises to bring much pleasurable listening to a wide audience with the rich background experience that only Radio 3 can bring.”



The main focus of the Purcell celebrations is through two weekends in March and November, marking 350 years since his birth. Highlights include two special Choral Evensongs, the first of which comes from Westminster Abbey where Purcell is buried and where he was organist for most of his short life; much of his keyboard music specially performed by Radio 3’s first period-instrument New Generation Artist, Mahan Esfahani, and top performances of best-loved operas including King Arthur from the Barbican, The Fairy Queen from Glyndebourne, and Dido and Aeneas from the Royal Opera House (which will also be televised alongside Handel’s Acis and Galatea).



As well as the year-round plans, Handel is commemorated with a week of in-depth programming surrounding the 250th anniversary of his death (14 April). Highlights include The Messiah specially staged at Westminster Abbey on the anniversary of his death, and a concert of his ‘Eight Great’ Harpsichord Suites played by Laurence Cummings recorded at the Handel House Museum.



The Haydn celebrations launch with a Haydn Day from the European Broadcasting Union on 31 May, the 200th anniversary of his death. The complete Symphonies, and a series of 17 concerts devoted to his mature String Quartets from Wigmore Hall are just two notable happenings in Radio 3’s Haydn programming.



Mendelssohn's symphonies are broadcast around the 200th anniversary of his birth (February), while explorations of his life and work dominate Radio 3’s schedule for a weekend in May, when, among other highlights, churches and cathedras up and down the country join Radio 3 singing O for the Wings of the Dove - as well as a new response to Songs Without Words from six leading young composers. There is also a major performance of Elijah and a live In Tune from Town Hall, Birmingham, where Elijah was premiered.



The same four composers are also the subject of a new four-part series for BBC TWO for spring 2009, The Birth of British Music. Here Charles Hazlewood tells the story of the building of our national identity through music between 1650 and 1850. Each episode focuses on one of the composers, and though only Purcell was born in Britain, Charles’s journey will show how the music of all four composers was fully absorbed into our musical life, forming part of the cultural melting-pot which makes us who we are.



Composers of the Year begins on 5 January when each of the four will be the subject of Radio 3’s regular Composer of the Week during January.



BBC Radio 3 will unite with the rest of Europe in celebrating these anniversary composers by broadcasting major events from around Europe on special days during the year and will in turn broadcast throughout the continent



The BBC is also joining forces with the Victoria & Albert Museum and other cultural organisations throughout the UK for Baroque ’09, a year of events celebrating Baroque music and culture inspired by the anniversaries of Handel and Purcell. Details of Baroque 09 will be available at bbc.co.uk/radio3/baroque09.



Composers of the Year will have a dedicated interactive website from December linked with both Radio 3’s Composers of the Year, and BBC TWO’s The Birth of British Music. Highlights of the site will include what’s on guides, video interviews and workshops, music streams, picture galleries, and blogs offering listeners and viewers the chance to comment and share knowledge around the four composers.

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