In a landmark moment for classical music and public service arts media, Eurovision Classical Concerts, the first new Eurovision music co-production in over 40 years, is set to launch on BBC TV in February 2026, bringing four exceptional orchestral performances into living rooms across Europe and beyond.
This ambitious pan-European series, presented by BBC Arts in collaboration with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), celebrates the vibrant diversity and creative strength of Europe’s orchestral culture. It heralds a fresh chapter in how public media champions classical music, moving beyond traditional concert halls into a shared cultural space with global reach.
Source: Classical-Music
A Tapestry of Orchestral Voices
Across four weekly broadcasts on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer, audiences will experience performances from four distinguished ensembles, each filmed in iconic European cities: (Dates are subject to change)
- 8 February – BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at Aviva Studios, Manchester (conductor: Ben Gernon)
Repertoire includes John Adams, Tchaikovsky, Vaughan Williams, Thomas Adès and Jerome Moross. - 15 February – WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne (conductor: Marie Jacquot)
Highlights include Lyadov and Stravinsky’s Petrushka. - 22 February – Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon (conductor: Aziz Shokhkimov)
Featuring Smetana’s Vltava, Debussy’s La Mer, and Ravel’s La Valse. - 1 March – Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki (conductor: Nicholas Collon)
Programme includes Saariaho’s Ciel d’hiver, Klami’s Kalevala-Suite and Sibelius’ Finlandia.
This thoughtfully curated lineup spans late Romantic icons to cutting-edge modern voices, a bold statement about classical music not as a museum artefact, but as a living, evolving narrative of European culture.
Beyond Borders: A Pan-European Collaboration
Eurovision Classical Concerts is forging a new cultural infrastructure. After decades where traditional media pathways moderated access to high art, this EBU partnership pushes classical music into public service networks across 56 countries, potentially reaching over a billion viewers.
It also reaffirms the role of public media in shaping and democratizing cultural experience, a powerful counterpoint to algorithm-driven platforms. By celebrating the unique identities of orchestras from the UK, Germany, Portugal and Finland, the series invites us to see classical music as an active thread in Europe’s shared musical future.
#EurovisionClassicalConcerts #BBCArts #EurovisionMusic #ClassicalMusicNews #EuropeanClassicalMusic #OrchestralMusic #PublicBroadcasting #EBU #SymphonicMusic #ContemporaryClassical #CulturalBroadcasting #MusicOnTV #DigitalClassical #EstonianMusicContext #EuropeanCulture #Tunitemusic #ClassicalMusicMagazine #MusicCulture #ArtsMedia
