The highly acclaimed BBC Concert Orchestra is bringing some of television's best-loved soundtracks and tunes to Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall for a very special performance of BBC Radio 3's Friday Night Is Music Night, on Friday 28 March.
As part of the orchestra's ongoing partnership with the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, the performance will mark the end of a week-long programme of exciting events and performances in the city organised as part of its first residency week of 2025.
The concert, brought to Nottingham and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, will showcase a celebration of television classics.
Classical scores have been used for many television series. Sibelius, Prokofiev, Rossini and Saint-Saëns could never have predicted that their compositions would become the theme tunes to The Sky at Night, The Apprentice, The Lone Ranger and Jonathan Creek.
Other pieces were created for television but have become classics in their own right – the themes from Poldark, Downton Abbey, Inspector Morse and Game of Thrones. All will be performed at the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall performance, along with music from Pride and Prejudice, The Onedin Line, and many more.
The March 2025 Residency Week provides a packed schedule of concerts, collaborative projects, educational experiences, and talent and skills development opportunities for music students from both universities.
There are over 150 students involved in BBC Concert Orchestra events. On Tuesday 25 March, student creations will have been brought to life in the Royal Concert Hall performance Journeys, showcasing a selection of short original silent films with accompanying bespoke scores, created by talented students from both institutions. Screen Sounds, performed at Nottingham Trent University's Newton Central Court, on Wednesday 26 March, will be a journey through some of TV and film's best-loved themes with musicians from the BBC Concert Orchestra, the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University.
The BBC Concert Orchestra partnership with Nottingham launched in 2023 as part of the Universities for Nottingham commitment – a joint Civic Agreement between the universities Vice-Chancellors and further Nottinghamshire partners – which aims to develop and enhance cultural life in Nottingham; and the March 2025 programme of events is now the fourth residency week with the orchestra.
The partnership with the BBC Concert Orchestra, not only offers our students unprecedented access to world-class music, but it also brings thrilling performances - like BBC Radio 3's Friday Night Is Music Night - to the city for the wider community to experience and enjoy."
Amy Bere, Director of Culture at Nottingham Trent University, added: "This residency week is a wonderful result of collaboration between our universities and the BBC, and we are lucky to be able to share this passion and energy with the wider community of Nottingham in the form of awe-inspiring performances from world-renowned musicians."
