Aurora Orchestra celebrates 20 years of musical adventureKey Themes & Highlights

Founded by its Principal Conductor Nicholas Collon, Aurora Orchestra gave its first public performance on 15 April 2005. Now, 20 years later, Aurora has cemented its position as one of the world’s most creative orchestras, renowned for its ability to surprise, entertain and inspire. Its inventive programming pushes the boundaries of traditional classical concerts, offering opportunities for audiences of all ages to experience orchestral music in thrilling new ways.

Made up of a roster of fearless musicians who have developed and grown with the orchestra, Aurora is never afraid to take on a new challenge. It is the pioneer for memorised orchestral performance and has performed entire symphonies from memory at the BBC Proms and beyond for the last 11 years, delving ever deeper into cross-genre dramatic and musical explorations that get under the skin of the music, devised by Aurora’s Creative Director Jane Mitchell.

To mark its 20th anniversary, Aurora today reveals full details of its 2025 season, featuring a host of memorised performances, creative partnerships and family offerings, underpinned by an ambition to reach new audiences through presenting classical music in unusual formats and venues. A celebratory birthday weekend of programming at Snape Maltings will offer audiences a deep-dive into everything the orchestra has to offer, while major projects Southbank Centre and Kings Place as part of its continued London residencies will challenge expectations through inspiring and creative projects which explore the broadest artistic horizons.

Nicholas Collon, Principal Conductor, Aurora Orchestra, says: “If someone had told me back in 2005 that this is what Aurora would have become in its 20th season, I would have been flabbergasted.

Before that very first concert, Aurora was just an idea, a concept, a logo; but there was no money to make it happen, no concert hall, no players, no programmes, nothing except a handful of people and a kitchen table! Little by little, year by year, the idea of Aurora has been nurtured and developed, thanks to the tireless work of all those on the creative and administrative side, and the brilliance of all the players on the platform. It is utterly humbling to see what the orchestra has grown into, and to be as thrilled about the prospect of the next twenty years, as I am proud of the past twenty.

In its first concert, the players of Aurora poured their hearts and virtuosity into a programme of Debussy, Hindemith, Wagner and Schoenberg. Since that day, we (the creative team and the players) have experimented with new ideas, new formats, new ways of presenting music, but always with the same mantra, that the music comes first. If we are performing from memory, or working with other art forms, or presenting music outside the concert hall, or trying to engage new audiences, it is all guided by the same spirit - that we care about the notes on (or off) the page - deeply. Many times it has worked - sometimes it hasn’t. But we have been emboldened to try new things, to dare to take our audiences (and ourselves) on new journeys, to new places.

It’s been quite a ride, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who has helped put us where we are today; staff, players, our many generous supporters, audiences, trustees, venue partners, broadcasters and many others. I look forward to many more years in one of the most wonderful jobs I can imagine.”

Jane Mitchell, Creative Director, Aurora Orchestra, says: “The journey of the last 20 years at Aurora has been so many things - exciting, humbling, terrifying, inspiring and joyful to name a few. Our programmes for our 20th year promise to be all of these things, and it feels important to us that every year we continue to challenge ourselves and surprise our audiences.  This year our Carnival project in particular will explore entirely new ways for our musicians to present music and I am so excited about what we will discover through our collaborations with movement director Scott Graham, composer Richard Ayres, writer Kate Wakeling and lighting designer Simisola Majekodunmi.”

Aurora at 20 – Snape Maltings (Saturday 10 – Sunday 11 May)

Tracing its early days back to Snape Maltings, there’s no better way in which to mark Aurora’s 20th anniversary than with an all-star weekend of programming at the site, welcoming audiences to experience the full range of Aurora’s offering, from inventive new productions to engaging family performances.

• Pre-Performance talk: Join Nicholas Collon and Principal Flautist and Creative Director Jane Mitchell in conversation on the orchestra’s 20 years of pioneering, distinctive musical projects (Saturday 10 May, 5.45pm, Britten Studio).

• Song of the Earth: Aurora Orchestra and its Founder and Principal ConductorNicholas Collon are joined by mezzo-soprano Alice Coote and tenor Andrew Staples for a celebratory performance of Mahler’s spectacular homage to nature and humanity – Das Lied von der Erde – in a chamber-ensemble version arranged by Iain Farrington especially for Aurora. The programme also features Boulanger’s D’un Matin du Printemps and Rebel’s 1738 depiction of Chaos and the creation: Les élémens (Saturday 10 May, 7pm, Snape Maltings Concert Hall).

• Join the Carnival! (for children aged 0-6): An immersive presentation of Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals for children aged 0-6 and their families. Little listeners are invited to come and meet the animals and their instruments up close: fly with the flute, play chase with the pianists, stomp with the double bass and float downstream with the soft glides of the cello (Sunday 11 May, 10.30am & 11.30am, Britten Studio).

• Singing Afternoon with John Rutter: John Rutter welcomes singers of all ages and abilities for a large-scale singing afternoon. The repertoire will include music by Rutter and a range of other composers (Sunday 11 May, 1 – 4pm, Snape Maltings Concert Hall).

• Carnival: Aurora and internationally renowned physical-theatre-makers Frantic Assembly present a fantastical reimagining that pairs Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals with a new work that asks: what happens when the Carnival is over? The performance opens with a new staging of The Carnival of the Animals, played from memory by Aurora Orchestra and directed by Jane Mitchell and Frantic Assembly’s Scott Graham. Saint-Saëns’ vibrant introduction to orchestral instruments is infused with movement, design, lighting and new text by Kate Wakeling. Richard Ayres’ riotous new work Dr Frompou’s Anatomical Study of an Orchestra then invites us behind the scenes of the Carnival to see what happens to the performers when the show is over. Specially commissioned for this production, the piece introduces us to the madcap scientist Dr Frompou, who keeps the instruments of the orchestra captive in a laboratory, performing sinister musical experiments and finding new ways to make strange and powerful sounds. Find out what happens when the instruments begin to stage a rebellion! Suitable for all ages from 7 upwards (Sunday 11 May, 5pm, Snape Maltings Concert Hall).

Southbank Centre – Resident Orchestra

As Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre for since 2022, Aurora marks its 20thanniversary season with four major artistic collaborations that showcase the power of collective music-making:

• Aurora is joined by incomparable cellist, vocalist and performer Abel Selaocoe for a joyful celebration of culture, faith and life that tours to Germany and Belgium before ending at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (Saturday 8 March). The programme pairs Abel’s self-composed Cello Concerto, Four Spirits – a jubilant exploration of his cultural roots and an ardent homage to his homeland – with Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony from memory, music which the composer himself hailed as ‘a sheer expression of joy, happiness and the affirmation of life’.

• The Queen Elizabeth Hall turns into a 3D sound instrument in Concrete Voids, a programme that will explore and manipulate the form of the building to bring audiences inside the music (Sunday 16 March). A new work for cello, synthesisers and Aurora’s string ensemble by composer and cellist Peter Gregson will use Southbank Centre’s Sound Technician Tony Birch’s custom-built system of over 80 hidden speakers, while viola da gamba player Liam Byrne and fiddler Cleek Schreywill join forces for a performance blending composition, improvisation and electronic music to build multi-dimensional soundscapes in real-time.

• Ahead of its birthday weekend at Snape Maltings (see above), Aurora presents a double-bill of its Carnival programme (Saturday 3 May) – including an afternoon Family Edit suitable for children aged 7-11 and their families. The original production also tours to The Apex in Bury St Edmunds on Friday 23 May.

• Aurora joins violist Lawrence Power for the Italian-themed finale to his year-long Southbank Centre residency. Originally commissioned by Paganini in the early 1830s, Aurora now brings its distinctive Orchestral Theatre approach to Hector Berlioz’s vivid Harold in Italy, before a world-first performance by heart of Mendelssohn’s vibrant Fourth Symphony (Sunday 29 June).

Kings Place – Resident Ensemble 

Entering its twelfth year as Resident Ensemble at Kings Place, Aurora embraces the venue’s year-long Earth Unwrapped theme, with reimagining of two of Mahler’s best-known symphonic works, presenting crystalline chamber arrangements that reveal his orchestrations in a new light. Since the earliest beginnings of the orchestra’s musical journey two decades ago, Mahler has held a special place in its repertoire - his Symphony No. 4 draws on themes of childhood, innocence and spirituality (Saturday 4 October), while Das Lied von der Erde offers a glimpse into a composer wracked by extreme loneliness and an increasing obsession with his own mortality, performed with mezzo-soprano Alice Cooteand tenor Andrew Staples (Saturday 5 April).

Other highlights at Kings Place include; a collaboration with the BBC Singers which pairs music by Britten and Mahler with Fauré’s serene vision of peace, his Requiem (Friday 31 January); a journey in the Alps in the company of composer Richard Ayres featuring soprano Mary Bevan (Saturday 4 October); and a brand-new storytelling concert based around both Gustav and Alma Mahler’s music, in versions for both children and grown-ups! (Sunday 23 November – Saturday 6 December).

International

Aurora embarks on its biggest European tour to date in February/March 2025, with cellist, vocalist and performer Abel Selaocoe. Pairing Selaocoe’s self-composed Cello Concerto, Four Spirits, and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony from memory, the programme travels to Munich (Wednesday 26 February), Bielefeld (Friday 28 February), Hamburg (Saturday 1 March), Frankfurt (Sunday 2 March), Berlin (Monday 3 March), Cologne (Wednesday 5 March) and Bruges (Thursday 6 March). 

Aurora joins forces once more with the incomparable violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja for a production of her Dies Irae at BOZAR in Brussels (Sunday 30 March), featuring Anthony Romaniuk on piano alongside vocal ensemble Vox Luminis. Described by Kopatchinskaja as ‘a play without a plot, intended as an assault on the senses.’, the production is a caustic indictment of bellicosity and the ongoing climate crisis, taking audiences on a journey from Heinrich Biber’s baroque evocation of war, Battalia à 10 in D, to Black Angels by George Crumb and Galina Ustvolskaya’s devastating Dies Irae, in which Kopatchinskaja herself plays percussion.

Aurora will tour Carnival to Potsdam, Germany (Sunday 25 May), Brucknerhaus Linz, Austria (Monday 2 June) and Kissinger Sommer Festival, Bad Kissinger (Thursday 3 July). Actor Birgit Minichmayr will join for these dates as the narrator.

Aurora Classroom

Aurora continues its commitment to music education, helping all specialist and non-specialist teachers teach music with confidence through its online learning platform for schools, Aurora Classroom. Spring 2025 will see the launch of Stories in Sound, a new unit for KS2 that takes Aurora Orchestra's recording of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique as a basis for a term's worth of lessons focusing on creating music in the classroom. Teaching is focused on different dimensions of music and storytelling in music, with a new story told through a graphic novel-style animation.