BBC Philharmonic - Anna Thorvalsdottir’s ARCHORA

On Sat 14 Oct, the BBC Philharmonic present the third concert of their 2023-24 season at The Bridgewater Hall, featuring Haydn, Debussy and Mozart as accompaniments to Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s groundbreaking experimental composition, ARCHORA.

Following a critically acclaimed world premiere at the 2022 BBC Proms with Eva Ollkainen, Thorvaldsdottir’s ARCHORA draws on primordial energy and alternate dimensions to explore musical abstractions and discordant, clashing extremes. Described as broad and gestural in spirit, the composition follows Haydn’s L’isola disabitata’ (The Deserted Island) and Mozart’s vast, vibrant Eighteenth Piano Concerto led by Richard Goode as a final aperitif.

After Thorvaldsdottir’s innovative epic, the evening concludes with a rendition of Debussy’s sweeping La mer, presenting a fascinating orchestral juxtaposition to ARCHORA‘s strange sonic vistas.