Stephen Bryant

This year the 116th Prom season gets under way on the 16th July and kicks off with Mahler’s mighty 8th Symphony or ‘Symphony of a Thousand’ with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor,Jiri Belohlavek and a raft of soloists and choirs!

Even though I’ve taken part in about 140 Proms (to date!) I still get excited being part of this great annual event. As any Promenader worth his salt knows, the Proms are the world’s biggest music festival and were started back in 1895 by Henry Wood at the Queen’s Hall and then moved to the Royal Albert Hall in 1941 after the Queen’s Hall was damaged in an air raid. Although,acoustically speaking, not always the easiest hall in which to play, the Albert Hall is an aesthetically beautiful building steeped in tradition and atmosphere.

The Proms attract a huge selection of really top notch conductors and soloists but, for me, the best thing about the concerts is the audience. Prom audiences and the famous Promenaders are knowledgeable, informed, open minded and enthusiastic and since I’ve been doing the Proms for a long time now, I recognise many friendly faces each year!

Of course the BBC Symphony Orchestra is proud to play a major role in the Proms, including opening and closing the season with the First and Last Nights. This year I’ve tried to spread my share of the Proms around a much needed holiday! So here are the Proms I’m doing this summer!

Prom 31 August 8th 2010

Sir Andrew Davis (Conductor)  Louis Lortie (Piano)

Messiaen: ‘Un Sourire’-  Mozart: Piano Concerto No.17 in G, K.453-  Parry: ‘Elegy for Brahms’-   Brahms: Symphony No.4 in E Minor. Live Radio 3

I always enjoy working with Andrew-our Conductor Laureate and someone who will always hold a special place in the Orchestra’s affections for the time he was here as our Chief Conductor.He returns for a varied programme including Brahms’ 4th Symphony, a piece the BBC Symphony has performed with him many times. 

Prom 36 August 12th 2010

Lionel Bringuier (Conductor)  Nelson Friere (Piano)

Chopin: Piano Concerto No.2 in F Minor Op.21-  Roussel: Symphony No.3-  Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe Suite No.2.  Live Radio 3/Arte TV,France

Prom 42 August 17th 2010

Edward Gardner (Conductor)  Alina Ibragimova (Violin)

Britten: ‘Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes’-  Watkins: Violin Concerto-  Shostakovich: Symphony No.5 in D Minor. Live Radio 3/BBC 4

Ed and the orchestra have a very good relationship-we have just recorded a disc of Lutoslawski with him and are due to make a disc of Britten with him in the Autumn.I’m looking forward particularly to the Shostakovich 5th Symphony which is a tremendous work!

Prom 50 August 22nd 2010

David Robertson (Conductor)  Richard Goode (Piano)

Bartok: Piano Concerto No 3- Bartok: Cantata Profana- Haydn: Symphony No.102 in Bb. Live Radio 3

This is the first of two Proms with our Principal Guest Conductor,David Robertson.

Prom 54 August 26th 2010

David Robertson (Conductor) Gil Shaham (Violin)

Turnage: ‘Hammered Out’- Barber: Violin Concerto Op.14- Sibelius: Symphony No.2 in D. Live Radio 3/BBC4

This is a programme with a beautiful Violin Concerto played by the brilliant violinist,Gil Shaham and a great Symphony.The New York Times described David Robertson’s 2009 Carnegie Hall performance of Sibelius’s triumphant 5th Symphony as ‘the most transparent and riveting account of Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony in memory’

Prom 76 September 11th Last Night of the Proms

Jiri Belohlavek (Conductor) Maxim Rysanov (Viola) Renee Fleming (Soprano) Live Radio 3/BBC1 and 2

Its finally here! A smorgasbord of various repertoire and a Viola soloist! Jiri,our Chief Conductor will be conducting festivities with the usual list of suspects!Sit back and enjoy…

パラレル命：イジービエロフラーヴェクとスティーブンブライアント

Hitting the right note demands a good understanding of each other, reveals this team from the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Jiri Belohlavek, chief conductor, and Stephen Bryant, leader, BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Jiri: Every conductor has a great concern - the quality of his musicians and especially the leading ones. The leader is the closest the conductor gets to a partner, and this relationship is crucial for the whole collaboration to work. I am blessed to have a great concert master in Stephen. I love to work with him, not only for his excellent professionalism, but also for the way he approaches the members of the orchestra. He has a very specific style - calm but exciting at the same time - and he has a marvellous British sense of humour.

Stephen: Leaders and conductors need to trust each other in order to get the freedom they need to work. Jiri is not only a consummate musician but he knows how they tick. He never stifles the strings and therefore the sound he gets from the orchestra is beautiful. It’s inspiring. Best of all, there’s no ’side’ to him. What you see is what you get and there is none of the ‘bluff’ that some conductors employ and that orchestral musicians see through so easily. He even understands my peculiar sense of humour, although, admittedly, it has taken him quite a few years!

From BBC Ariel magazine 2008

スティーブンブライアント、BBC交響楽団のリーダー

Despite 13 years of performing at the Proms, Stephen still feels there’s nothing quite like it. As leader of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, his responsibility for the success of each performance is second only to the conductor’s. ‘I’m the link between the conductor and orchestra,’ he explains. ‘I sit right under his nose, on the first stand of violins, and have to bring my section in at the right place. I also play solos and prepare the parts beforehand, as well as pulling things to bits after rehearsal if the phrasing or intonation isn’t right.’

Before his current position, Stephen was co-leader of the London Philharmonic and before that led a string quartet, before deciding it wasn’t for him. Having found his true vocation, Stephen says there’s nothing quite like the famous last night. ‘It’s incredibly exciting, partly because the promenaders are such a good audience. They’re so enthusiastic and open-minded, it really lifts you as a performer. All in all it’s a wonderful experience.’

Visit: Dan Roberts Website

BBCプロムスOutとについて

On June 25th 2009 the BBC Proms went ‘Out and About’. For me, it meant leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a concert at Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherds Bush and playing string quartets in Lyric Square Hammersmith!

What has been dubbed ‘The Stephen Bryant String Quartet’ comprising myself, Caroline, Mary and Marie played a programme of light music in Lyric Square in what can only be described as less than perfect conditions thanks to the unpredictable weather! It was very hot and very windy – neither of which is good for outdoor music making! A couple of stands went flying in the windy conditions and although we had pegged our music to the stands the wind was too strong. One member of the quartet, who shall remain nameless (Mary - oops!) resorted to keeping the music in place with a foot! It was also extremely noisy with the hustle and bustle of people going about their everyday activities – many probably wondering what on earth was going on!

Later in the day the Orchestra decamped from our Maida Vale Studios to the new Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherds Bush. Luckily, we were inside for this concert of British music including – Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten and London Calling by Eric Coates. We also played the world premiere of Chelsea Reach by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett.

I enjoyed a good Italian meal and looked around the centre. Although the shops were enticing (shopping being a favourite pastime of mine) I managed to resist their allure and came away empty handed for a change!