BBC NOW 2026-27 Season Friday Night is Music Night: Music of the Coast

Under the direction of David Brophy, this BBC Radio 3 Friday Night is Music Night celebrates Britain’s enduring relationship with the sea, blending light hearted charm with richly atmospheric music. From the overture to Sullivan’s irresistible H.M.S. Pinafore to Walton’s exuberant Portsmouth Point, the first half evokes coastal life in all its colour and variety. Soloist Gareth Brynmor John brings narrative to settings of John Ireland’s Sea Fever and Rebecca Clarke’s haunting The Seal Man, while Bax’s evocative tone poem Tintagel rises in romantic splendour, its waves surging against the Cornish cliffs.

After the interval, our seafaring adventure continues with Korngold’s swashbuckling The Sea Hawk, alongside miniatures of seaside wit and nostalgia by Whitlock and Hedges. The concert culminates in Britten’s Four Sea Interludes, a timeless portrayal of the sea’s ever-changing moods.