Latest News
Latest News
BBC Proms to feature premiere of musgrave’s Bassoon concerto
April 22, 2026
The BBC Proms returns to the UK this summer with as exciting and varied a program as we have come to expect from the festival. Between plenty of the classics, celebrations of musical legends from Marvin Gaye to Morton Feldman, rock highlights from psych- to Turkish-folk-, there is still room for plenty of new BBC commissions, including Thea’s brand new Bassoon Concerto.
On Sunday, August 23rd, conductor Benjamin Marquise Gilmore and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields spotlight the French horn and bassoon in two concertos: one classic, one contemporary. With virtuoso bassoonist Amy Harman they will perform the World Premiere of Thea’s concerto, programmed alongside Mozart’s good-natured Horn Concerto No. 3, featuring soloist Felix Kleisner, Britten’s playful Simple Symphony, Elgar’s Romance for bassoon and orchestra and finally Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D major, ‘Haffner’.
Find out more here and be sure to check out the rest of the festival’s program.
San Francisco Opera announce their 26/27 season…
February 3, 2026
San Francisco Opera recently announced their program for season 2026-27, featuring a new production of Thea’s modern classic Mary, Queen of Scots among several staple works from Tosca and The Marriage of Figaro to Das Rheingold which features as a warm up ahead of the company’s planned performance of Wagner’s full Ring Cycle in 2028. Mary, Queen of Scots will take the stage from Sept. 20–Oct. 4, 2026, conducted by Clelia Cafiero and featuring soprano Heidi Stober, who also starred as the tragic royal figure in the English National Opera’s 2024 production.
Shortly after its composition, Mary, Queen of Scots made its West Coast premiere with San Francisco Opera affiliate Spring Opera Theater, marking the first time the company presented a work by a female composer. Returning now in an updated production, SF Opera’s general director Matthew Shilvock says of the work:
“It is also an extraordinary privilege to present Thea Musgrave’s Mary, Queen of Scots on our mainstage. When I saw this work in London last year, I was awed by the power of Thea’s dramatic writing. She brings the Tudor queen into vivid relief, revealing both the fierce determination and the profound vulnerability of an 18-year-old woman fighting to retain her agency against overwhelming odds.”
“This production updates the action from the Tudor period to contemporary Scotland, in which we feel the tension of sectarian violence playing out in a regular town," Shilvock said. “We are reminded of how sectarian violence can rip apart neighbors, families, communities — and we see Mary’s heroic struggle to hold onto her power amidst the fight for power, faith and identity.”
Phoenix Rising Received warmly in London and Bristol
December 16, 2025
Last week the LSO and Maestro Antonio Pappano performed Thea’s 1997 work Phoenix Rising in London and Bristol in performances which have gone down a treat with the UK audiences. Get a snapshot of the performances and a summary of reviews we’ve spotted here!
In a little over 20 minutes it enacts a journey from darkness to light, from turbulence to peace: the disruptive timpanist (shades of Nielsen’s Fourth) and four percussionists batter away at drums of various sizes, transferring – as the phoenix rose – to mostly tuned percussion and sounds of the utmost delicacy. There was a theatrical element, decorous rather than dramatic: the hero (the principal horn) began offstage, while the villain (the timpanist) ruled the roost; when the horn appeared on the stage the rest of his section stood (a briefly Mahlerian moment); and as he joined them the timpanist retreated offstage the other side of the platform, his distant drums reduced to a desultory muttering.
Musgrave’s music is never less than interesting, and often compelling, as it moves from jarring dissonance via romantic intensity to shimmering calm. It is skilfully written – even in the loudest passages we could always hear what the strings were doing – and there were telling solos for flute and piccolo, cor anglais and contrabassoon, violin and cello. Timpanist, percussionists and solo horn – virtuosos all – richly deserved their ovations.
Chris Kettle - Seen and Heard International
15/12/2025
A 23-minute rollercoaster, it pits a blackguardly timpanist and his stick-wielding allies against a devil-may-care hornist and his brassy backup band…
…Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra gave it a thorough workout with marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, xylophone and tubular bells creating a magical aura. The musicians certainly revelled in its prickly harmonies, though the theatrical elements might have been pushed further.
Clive Paget - The Guardian
13/12/2025
Phoenix Rising is one of Thea Musgrave’s most electrifying and adventurous scores, blazing an incandescent trail at the start of this concert of British music.
The Hackney Gazette
More News
The 2026 International Brass Band Festival hosted by the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester features an exhilarating line up of bands and composers including Thea’s wonderful Variations.