Key Stages: 1 - 2

Description

Episode length - 5 - 10 minutes

Series about classical music. Celebrities introduce a famous piece of music which is then performed by the BBC Philharmonic.

1 - Bizet - Naomi Wilkinson and actor Bobby Lockwood introduce two famous pieces from Georges Bizet's gypsy opera Carmen - a love triangle under the Spanish sun, transposed to a UK nightclub. The BBC Philharmonic perform the sultry Habanera and the Toreador Song.

2 - Haydn - Former footballer Dion Dublin summarises Joseph Haydn's Tumpet Concerto, with the help of a football team and some MOTD-style graphics. Soloist Alison Balsom performs with the BBC's Philharmonic under the baton of Alpesh Chauhan.

3 - Shostakovich - Accompanied by striking visuals, poet Lemn Sissay explores Dmitri Shostakovich's 10th Symphony. Written under Soviet dictator Stalin's rule of terror, the piece is performed by the BBC Philharmonic with young conductor Alpesh Chauhan.

4 - Bach - James May shows his sensitive side as he confesses his love for the music of JS Bach, with musical accompaniment from organist Wayne Marshall. The BBC Philharmonic play extracts from Bach's Toccata and Fugue.

5 - Vaughan Williams - Molly Rainford visits the English countryside to explore the tranquil piece The Lark Ascending, written by English composer Vaughan Williams at the time of World War I. Violin star Nicola Benedetti is the soloist with the BBC Philharmonic.

6 - Anne Clyne - Rapper, comedian and actor Doc Brown enters a threatening, animated seascape via a giant wave, to introduce Night Ferry by living composer Anne Clyne.

7 - Verdi - Comedian Vikki Stone fears the end of the world is nigh as she introduces part of Guiseppe Verdi's Requiem. The massed ranks of the Halle Choir join forces with the BBC Philharmonic to perform Dies Irae and Tuba Mirum.

8 - Pixie Lott weaves her way through an animated 50s New York to the irrestible rhythms of Leonard Bernstein's Mambo from West Side Story. A dynamic performace of the symphonic dance by the BBC Philharmonic will get toes tapping and hips shaking.