BBC Phil's Bluebeard's Castle eclipsed by Boulanger and Kodály

Anja Bihlmaier and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

By Peter Connors, 25 January 2026

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“as if a Hungarian gypsy band had been relocated to Manchester and transformed into a large orchestra”

Reviewed at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester on 24 January 2026

Boulanger, D'un soir triste

Kodály, Dances of Galánta

Bartók, Duke Bluebeard's Castle

Anja Bihlmaier, Conductor

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Jennifer Johnston, Judith

Kostas Smoriginas, Bluebeard

Wagner and Strauss from Sarah Wegener and the BBC Philharmonic

Leighton Jones, 14th March

Celtic legends and dramatic landscapes fill Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall in an evening of emotional and reflective music under conductor Nicholas Carter.

****1

Watery worlds, rhythmic fire from Brauß and Hickox with the BBC

Leighton Jones, 7th February

Elisabeth Brauß excels in Ravel with the BBC Philharmonic and brings and unexpected encore.

****1

Questions, answers and city nights: Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic

Leighton Jones, 17th January

In three hugely different musical voices, John Storgårds with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra move from the intimacy of Ives to the exhilaration of Adams, taking in Beethoven on their way.

****1

John Storgårds leads the BBC Philharmonic through Shostakovich

Rohan Shotton, 15th November

The BBC Phil's chief conductor led a relentless account of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony, paired with Dvořák’s Cello Concerto.

****1

Thunderous Mahler from Elena Schwarz and the BBC Philharmonic

Rohan Shotton, 8th November

Elena Schwarz conducts the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Mahler's First Symphony, Debussy's La Mer and a rare outing for a trombone concerto.

****1

Pulsating energy as Gabriella Smith’s Lost Coast receives UK premiere

Rohan Shotton, 11th October

Gemma New conducts the BBC Philharmonic in a lean account of Sibelius' Second Symphony to close a bracing concert under the title ‘Lost Coast’.

****1

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Peter Connors

Peter has been attending concerts and operas enthusiastically since his parents took him to see The Mikado in Liverpool when he was a boy of ten and to a “family concert” given by the RLPO a year or so later. Peter studied Modern Languages at Worcester College, Oxford and Law in Manchester. After spending twenty years as a pensions lawyer in Manchester, he retrained as a teacher of English as a foreign language, which took him to Germany and to Serbia. With the onset of the pandemic he returned to the UK and now works online and frequents concert halls and theatres in the North West of England.

Bluebeard's Castle from the BBC Phil eclipsed by tragic Boulanger and exuberant Kodály