Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Dvořák’s New World — with Jess Gillam, Ben Goldscheider and Sheku Kanneh-Mason in a world premiere Triple Concerto.
Programme
Britten The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Gwilym Simcock Triple Concerto for Soprano Saxophone, Horn and Cello (BBC co-commission: world premiere)
Dvořák Symphony No. 9 in E minor, ‘From the New World’
Jess Gillam (saxophone)
Ben Goldscheider (horn)
Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Sakari Oramo
Sunday 6 September 2026 · 7.30pm–c9.25pm
Royal Albert Hall
Listen on BBC Radio 3 / BBC Sounds
Review
Gwilym Simcock loves the saxophone — many of his most popular tracks on Spotify see the instrument delivering the main material. That material apes a period too: early-nineties funk-inflected jazz, the last gasp of the late-eighties American cop-drama sax solo. Heavy duty stuff, not unlikeable, hard-core with a pop sensibility. Simcock retains a sense of humour about himself too, his website proudly stating work from 16 years ago as “voted the most memorable gig in 2010 by three out of five journalists in JazzUK”.
As a product, Simcock meets the BBC’s urgent need. A new triple concerto for Kanneh-Mason, Goldscheider and Gillam, finalists in a BBC Young Musician 2016 competition — apparently ‘now legendary’ according to presenter Katie Derham, though its founding presenter, the late Humphrey Burton, took a dimmer view of what it had become — is written by a former jazz Radio 3 New Generation Artist. It’s a work that helps reinforce the BBC’s credentials at a point in time when every division needs to prove its worth and secure its future. Little wonder this concert was heavily hyped before a note sounded. That not every invitation to interview came to be realised tells its own story about appetite versus bandwidth. And what was at stake editorially and reputationally.
Since his 2016 win, Kanneh-Mason has put in the work on the curated playlist-album formula record label Decca favours, and remains the most visible face of a family of musicians — touching performances, strong reviews, a career built in public. Horn player Goldscheider has taken a different, more conventional path, with less light on him and arguably more critical standing within his own lane. Gillam, meanwhile, has spent the decade pulling together the complete package: edgy, pop-infused, Bowie-loving, her albums nestle comfortably in the cross-genre land. She has a sassy, assertive likeability, invaluable in her role as musician-cum-presenter.
Entertaining kaleidoscope orchestration dominates in Simcock’s Triple Concerto. Goldscheider’s vulnerable tone — high-frequency vibrato — melds with the material Simcock has written for the cello. The sax line is demanding and delivered with characteristic rigour throughout, but does dominate in the fortissimos. Good as it is, well executed as it clearly is, its prog rock meets jazz fusion isn’t necessarily something I want to hear again. This is a soundtrack that underpins a narrative for young British classical musicians eager to position themselves, but who if you caught them off guard and promised everything was off the record, might concur that the material was as bewildering to play as it was to hear on a first listen.
This review will be updated in due course.
Gallery
Photography will be added once available.
