The BBC's Big Concert - Live from Plymouth

BBC Concert Orchestra at Plymouth Pavilions. Presented by Ian Skelly. As the UK's most versatile orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra has long been at the heart of British music, promoting the quality and craftsmanship of composers who form an indispensible part of British culture and character. Conducted by MGM Prom star John Wilson, the programme's theme is Best of British and takes its inspiration from the West Country, with Malcolm Arnold's Four Cornish Dances and music from Dorset composer Peter Hope. Not forgetting Plymouth's long history as a naval city, there's also Lady Barbara from Robert Farnon's Captain Horatio Hornblower Suite, and the concert ends with Vaughan Williams' Sea Songs. The Orchestra is joined by star of stage and screen, the larger-than-life Brian Blessed, to narrate Paul Patterson's musical retelling of Roald Dahl's magnificent Three Little Pigs, during which audiences will have a unique opportunity to join in live on BBC Radio 3, as together they'll huff, and puff, and blow the house down! And finally, soprano Sophie-Louise Dann recalls the heady days of light music with a selection from and Noel Coward. Coates: Merrymakers Overture Peter Hope: Kaleidoscope Robert Farnon: Lady Barbara from the Hornblower Suite Paul Patterson: Three Little Pigs Arnold: Four Cornish Dances (Op.91) Delius: A Song of Summer Noel Coward: If Love Were All Vaughan Williams: Sea Songs Brian Blessed, narrator, Sophie-Louise Dann, soprano, John Wilson, conductor During a break in the concert, there is news of the MusicMix project. In March this year the Orchestra went on a tour of the East of England playing to over seven thousand young people, and a further three hundred had the opportunity to be on stage with the Orchestra and have coaching from BBC musicians. The project is running again tomorrow in the Plymouth Pavilions, with around four thousand students from Devon and Cornwall.