Sean Shibe premieres a new guitar concerto at the BBC Proms

Anja Bihlmaier and Sean Shibe with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Anja Bihlmaier conducts the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

By Mark Valencia, 23 July 2025

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“an opening explosion that must have triggered alarms all over SW7”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 22 July 2025

Strauss R., Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), Op.24

Simpson, ZEBRA (or, 2-3-74: The Divine Invasion of Philip K. Dick) (BBC commission: world premiere)

Messiaen, O sacrum convivium!

Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique, Op.14

Sean Shibe, Electric guitar

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Anja Bihlmaier, Conductor

BBC Philharmonic’s bold but unbalanced Stravinsky and Adams

Leighton Jones, 1st May

Balance issues mar an otherwise compelling programme from John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

***11

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

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

Peter Connors, 24th January

Anja Bihlmaier conducts the BBC Philharmonic in a moving D'un soir triste and joyful Dances of Galánta. Bluebeard's Castle, despite some fine things. feels less satisfying.

****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

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Mark Valencia

Mark has worked in arts journalism for four decades, both as a writer and as a French-English translator. Nowadays he focuses his energies on reviewing opera and music. Mark also writes for Opera magazine and for Musical America as a correspondent for Europe and the UK.

Electric! Sean Shibe premieres a new guitar concerto at the BBC Proms