BBC Concert Orchestra at Reynolds Hall

Now led by conductor Keith Lockhart, also of the Boston Pops, the BBC Concert Orchestra has been entertaining audiences for an astonishing 60 years. Known for the world’s longest-running music TV show, Friday Night is Music Night, the BBC Concert Orchestra brings an evening of Walton, Haydn and Mendelssohn to Las Vegas. Renowned cellist Sophie Shao joins the orchestra to present an eloquent and powerful evening of musical inspiration.

Versatility is the BBC Concert Orchestra’s hallmark. The band thinks nothing of starting a week with a concert celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain at RAF Northolt, then a tribute to Oliver! composer Lionel Bart fronted by Barbara Windsor at the Hackney Empire, and finishing with a sell-out Queen Elizabeth Hall gig of avant-garde electronica by composers ranging from Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory, Andrew Poppy and Graham Fitkin to Bernard Herrmann on such outré instruments as rewired keyboards, theremins, ondes martenots and Moog synthesizers.

The orchestra’s commitment to BBC Radio 2 is genuinely legendary: they have been delivering the world’s longest-running music show, Friday Night is Music Night, every week for an astonishing 60 years. The ensemble also broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and has provided the soundtrack to many BBC TV programs, including The Blue Planet, Frozen Planet, Walking with Dinosaurs and ZingZillas.

In August 2010, Keith Lockhart was appointed Principal Conductor and Johannes Wildner its Principal Guest Conductor, complementing Conductor Laureate Barry Wordsworth. Keith Lockhart is also conductor of the Boston Pops and serves as the artistic director of the Brevard Music Center Summer Institute.

At the age of nineteen, cellist Sophie Shao received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, and has since performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Winner of top prizes at the Rostropovich and Tchaikovsky competitions, the New York Times has applauded her “eloquent, powerful” interpretations of repertoire ranging from Bach and Beethoven to Crumb.