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BBC NOW's New  Home: The orchestra moves to  Hoddinott Hall (BK)

In January 2009 the BBC National Orchestra of Wales moves into its exciting new home, BBC Hoddinott Hall at Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre. Since 1967, the Orchestra has been based in Studio 1 at the BBC studios in Llandaff, Cardiff, but has long out-grown its old home. Now a new purpose-built studio has been added as Phase 2 of the Wales Millennium Centre complex in Cardiff Bay. BBC Hoddinott Hall will not only be the Orchestra’s base where all its rehearsals and studio recordings will be made, but also a new state-of-the-art concert hall seating around 350 people as well as a state-of-the-art recording studio named the Grace Williams Studio.

The Grace Williams Studio will provide auxiliary rehearsal space for the Orchestra and will be the home base for BBC National Orchestra of Wales’s education and community outreach work with the capability of hosting workshops, master classes, small-scale rehearsals and performances.

The main subscription and large-scale concerts will continue to take place in St David’s Hall, Cardiff, and Brangwyn Hall, Swansea, as well as the other concerts throughout the length and breadth of Wales. BBC Hoddinott Hall will add a whole range of concerts to the Orchestra’s output, from forgotten masterpieces and specialist concerts to works that are well-known and loved by people everywhere.  The new hall will enable the Orchestra to present more intimate concerts in addition to their regular performances across Wales.

The Opening Festival

An Opening Festival to commemorate the move will take place in  Hoddinott Hall from Thursday 22nd January until Sunday 1st February 2009. 

Two gala concerts will launch the new hall, opening with an orchestral showpiece by the man after whom it is named, Alun Hoddinott.  In these historic concerts there will be a celebration of music-making at its best.  Sibelius’ Violin Concerto and imposing and powerful choral and orchestral masterpieces by Beethoven and Ravel will feature alongside Hoddinott’s Badger In The Bag. The World Premiere of St Vitus in the Kettle by Simon Holt, the Orchestra’s new Composer in Association will complete the programme.

Members of the Orchestra’s conducting team: Principal Conductor Thierry Fischer, Principal Guest Conductor Jac van Steen and Tadaaki Otaka Conductor Laureate will all join the Orchestra throughout the festival and one of Britain’s best loved pianists John Lill, famous Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and presenter Aled Jones will also feature in the events during the festival period. Other highlights include the World Premiere of a new work by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’ Resident Composer, Guto Pryderi Puw and a live broadcast of BBC Radio 3’s music programme In Tune which will be presented by Sean Rafferty in the new hall.

Further festival events include a series of recitals and chamber music concerts.  Masterpieces from the piano repertoire will feature in a recital devised by Wrexham-born pianist Llŷr Williams recently hailed as “One of the truly great musicians of our time.”  

Shen Yang, winner of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World in 2007, will also feature paying tribute to one of the great giants of the last century, the baritone Hans Hotter as part of the celebrations.

Director of BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales David Murray said “For an orchestra to take possession of its own hall is a unique and very special experience; a rite of passage or coming of age that only happens once or twice in any orchestra’s lifecycle. A good hall not only provides a home for an orchestra but defines its character and, more importantly, embodies its sound.

For the last twenty-five years, the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales has given concerts at St David’s Hall, one of the best concert halls in the UK and we will continue to do that. But we are also a broadcasting orchestra and we need a studio where we work everyday. Now with the new BBC Hoddinott Hall, we have a space where we can rehearse, record and achieve an almost chamber-like relationship with our audience. Additionally we have the Grace Williams Studio that will act as a centre for our education and outreach work.

If there is one small sadness, it is that the composer Alun Hoddinott, who died last March and would have celebrated his eightieth birthday in 2009 will not be with us. I knew Alun well during his last years and his passion for excellence and belief in an international place for Wales in the musical world is, I hope, also reflected in our own hopes and aspirations for the future. 

One of the most brilliant and versatile composers to emerge from the explosion of talent in Welsh music after the Second World War, Hoddinott burst on the scene in 1954 with his dazzling early Clarinet Concerto. During his lifetime music in virtually every genre poured from his pen, and he also played a crucial role in the development of music in Wales, both as Professor of Music at Cardiff University and as a tireless organiser of festivals and concerts.

After the Opening Festival of events, the new season of BBC Hoddinott Hall Events will then begin on Tuesday 3 February with a Discovering Music concert at 7pm with Principal Conductor Thierry Fischer featuring Stravinsky’s Petrushka.

Bill Kenny


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