Ryan Wigglesworth on Composing, Conducting, and the Future of Classical Music
At the 2025 Aldeburgh Festival, Ryan Wigglesworth, aged 46, will take center stage as the featured artist, conducting Debussy's sole opera, 'Pelléas et Mélisande,' alongside the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, which he has led since 2022. Rory Kinnear directs the semi-staged performance, with soprano Sophie Bevan, Wigglesworth's spouse, portraying Mélisande. The festival will also showcase Wigglesworth's 2019 piano concerto performed by Steven Osborne, a selection of George Herbert songs curated for Bevan, and the debut of a viola concerto composed for Lawrence Power. A professor at the Royal Academy of Music since 2019, Wigglesworth reflects on his significant bond with the late Oliver Knussen. He critiques the current state of music composition as overly specialized and raises concerns about music education, noting his children attend a parent-founded music academy in High Wycombe. This summer, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra will present two Proms, featuring works by Rachmaninov, Bartók, and Varèse from 1936, along with the world premiere of Brett Dean's orchestral song-cycle 'The World's Wife.'
Key facts
- Ryan Wigglesworth is the featured artist at the 2025 Aldeburgh Festival.
- He conducts Debussy's 'Pelléas et Mélisande' with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
- The opera is semi-staged by director Rory Kinnear.
- Soprano Sophie Bevan, Wigglesworth's wife, sings Mélisande.
- Wigglesworth's 2019 piano concerto is performed by Steven Osborne.
- A viola concerto for Lawrence Power premieres at the festival.
- Wigglesworth has been chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra since 2022.
- He has been a professor at the Royal Academy of Music since 2019.
- Wigglesworth describes Oliver Knussen as 'the central musical relationship of my life'.
- He criticizes the specialization of composing and advocates for integrating new music.
- He expresses concern about music education and reliance on government support.
- The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra performs two Proms in summer 2025.
- Works premiered in 1936 by Rachmaninov, Bartók, and Varèse are featured.
- Brett Dean's 'The World's Wife' receives its world premiere.
Entities
Artists
- Ryan Wigglesworth
- Oliver Knussen
- Benjamin Britten
- Claude Debussy
- Rory Kinnear
- Sophie Bevan
- Steven Osborne
- Lawrence Power
- Brett Dean
- Carol Ann Duffy
- Judith Weir
- Edward Elgar
- Sergei Rachmaninov
- Béla Bartók
- Edgard Varèse
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- George Herbert
- Graham Matthews
- Humphrey Carpenter
Institutions
- Aldeburgh Festival
- BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
- Royal Academy of Music
- Sheffield Cathedral Choir
- Charterhouse
- University of Oxford
- Guildhall School of Music and Drama
- University of Cambridge
- English National Opera
- The Guardian
- Snape Maltings Concert Hall
- BBC Proms
- High Wycombe Music Academy
Locations
- Aldeburgh
- United Kingdom
- Glasgow
- Scotland
- London
- England
- Sheffield
- Oxfordshire
- High Wycombe
- Snape Maltings