01/07/2026

Elizabeth Alker showcases the best performances by BBC orchestras, choirs, ensembles and other great performing groups from Europe and around the globe.

This week, Classical Live presents exclusive live recordings from some of the best youth orchestras in Europe; we’ll also hear performances by some of the brilliant young musicians currently enrolled in the BBC New Generation Artists scheme, in a recent season of lunchtime concerts at St George’s Bristol.

Included in today’s programme, the Bavarian State Youth Orchestra performs Bartok and the Swiss National Youth Orchestra performs Tchaikovsky; also, we’ll hear Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte played by the Danish ensemble NOVO Quartet.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 1 in G minor, op. 13 ('Winter Daydreams')
Swiss National Youth Orchestra
Modestas Pitrėnas, conductor

Caroline Shaw
Entr’acte
NOVO Quartet

Benjamin Britten
The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Op.34
European Union Youth Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor

Béla Bartók
Concerto for Orchestra, Sz.116
Korbinian Altenberger, violin
Bavarian State Youth Orchestra
Ivan Fischer, conductor