# BBCSO/Oramo review – Turnage’s satisfying and clever Festen Suite makes UK debut

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/bbcso-oramo-review-turnages-satisfying-and-clever-festen-suite-makes-uk-debut/
- Published: 2026-07-29T12:24:51+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-29T12:48:32+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/jul/29/bbcso-oramo-review-royal-albert-hall-london-turnage-festen-suite-sibelius
- Topics: Art, Culture, Entertainment, Film, UK, World

## Key points

- Turnage's Festen Suite receives its UK premiere at the Proms
- BBCSO under Oramo also performed Britten and Sibelius
- Reviewer calls the suite clever and musically satisfying on its own

## Summary

Sakari Oramo conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall for a Proms concert that included the UK premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Festen Suite, an orchestral distillation of his opera based on Thomas Vinterberg's 1998 film. The suite condenses the dark drama of a family gathering where incestuous abuse is exposed, and the review praises it as musically satisfying and clever even without the opera's narrative framework, predicting it will become a frequently performed work.

The eight-movement suite moves between lyrical passages, such as "Blue or Green" and "Grandma's Song", and darker, tension-laden sections like "Conga" and "The Fight", vividly capturing the atmosphere of denial and eventual confrontation. The programme also featured Britten's cello symphony, performed by soloist Guy Johnston in a faithful but understated reading, and closed with Sibelius's Symphony No. 2, which Oramo led with clarity and built to a joyful, grand finale.

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