Chetham's School of Music

Part of our Sounds of Nature programme

We are delighted to welcome principal horn of the BBC Philharmonic, Ben Hulme. Brought up in Manchester, studying at Chetham’s School of Music, Ben was on trial for the principal job whilst still a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He plays the first horn concerto by Richard Strauss, who wrote it for his father, principal horn of the Munich Court Orchestra on his 60th birthday.

Welsh-born composer Adrienne Spilsbury’s Eyebright (2019) is inspired by visits to wildflower meadows in Cheshire, including Swettenham, Kerridge Ridge, and Swanscoe, where she helped to sow a new meadow. Her beautiful, atmospheric writing is part of the great British string tradition. The concert opens with Johann Strauss II – one of his finest waltzes with his most substantial and impressive introduction. Mendelssohn’s exhilarating Italian symphony, which he composed for him, the mature age of 22, concludes this box of delights.

The Northern Chamber Orchestra is Orchestra in Association at The Stoller Hall. The members of the orchestra (approximately twenty five in total) are distinguished chamber musicians who regularly appear as soloists. The 2021-22 season features pianist Steven Osborne, oboist John Roberts, cellist (and NCO President) Raphael Wallfisch, violinist (and NCO Artist in Association) Chloë Hanslip, horn player Ben Hulme and guitarist Craig Ogden.

Northern Chamber Orchestra website