BBC Radio 2

BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart Friday Night Is Music Night Opening Sig Tune
BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart Lover
BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart The Slipper and The Rose: Waltz
Liz Robertson, Graham Bickley Lets Do It (Lets Fall In Love)
Artist: BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart
Roderick Elms 18 Th Variation Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini
Artist: BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart
Don Robertson Why Him
Artist: The BBC Concert Orchestra
Graham Bickley and the BBC Concert Orchestra Cb. Keith Lockhart My Heart Stood Still
BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart Love Theme Romeo And Juliet
Heather Headley I Have Nothing
Artist: BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart
Heather Headley I Will Always Love You
Artist: BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart
BBC Concert Orchestra Cb. Keith Lockhart My Fair Lady Overture
BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart Vivace Non Troppo 2 Nd Mvt
BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart Meditation (Thais)
Artist: Charles Mutter
Graham Bickley and the BBC Concert Orchestra Cb. Keith Lockhart I Have Dreamed
BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart Touch Her Soft Lips And Part (Henry V Suite)
Liz Robertson Dance A Little Closer
Artist: BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart
BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart Westside Story Overture
BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart Banks Of Green Willow
BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart Warsaw Concerto
BBC Concert Orchestra C.B. Keith Lockhart FNIMN Closing Sig Tune

Backstage at The Mermaid

Presenter Ken Bruce joins actress and singer Liz Robertson and actor and singer Graham Bickley for a quick photo.

Liz Robertson's West End career began with A Little Night Music, directed by Hal Prince, and the revue Side By Side By Sondheim, which she subsequently took to Toronto with Georgia Brown. Other London theatre credits include I Love My Wife, My Fair Lady, Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood, Song and Dance, The Phantom of the Opera, and The Music Man.

Graham has performed in the West End for the last twenty five years in productions including They’re Playing Our Song, Pirates of Penzance, and as principal lead in Jukebox, Which Witch, Maddie, The Pajama Game (Dora Award ‘Best Actor’ nomination, Toronto) Les Misérables, Metropolis, Miss Saigon, Sunset Boulevard (playing opposite Petula Clark), and Ragtime, (Two nominations: the Laurence Olivier and The Whatsonstage Award for ‘Best Actor in a Musical’).
The Bodyguard...

Conductor Keith Lockhart and Singer Heather Headley pose for a picture during the interval.

Heather is currently playing the role of Rachel Marron, to critical acclaim, in the musical adaptation of Whitney Houston's 1992 movie, The Bodyguard at London's Adelphi Theatre.
Why Him?

Liz Robertson sings one of the big songs from Carmelina and there's an added romantic element as the lyricist was Liz's husband,the late Alan Jay Lerner
More about Liz
My Heart Stood Still...

Graham Bickley performs this Nelson Riddle arrangement with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Conducted by Keith Lockhart.
More about Graham
Introducing....

Name: Roderick Elms

What instrument do you play?
The piano and associated keyboard instruments.

Does it have a pet name?
Traditionally that would be “Joanna” which, coincidentally is my wife's name –not that I would consider her to be a pet of course.

Who or what inspired you to play?
I imagine it was hearing my mother playing whilst I was toddler.

What's the most difficult aspect of playing?
Ignoring the individual, technical demands of pieces, it's probably the challenge of hearing in detail what your colleagues are doing in different performing venues and setups. Crucial when playing in an orchestra.

What part of your body suffers the most? My back, without a doubt!

What's your favourite piece and why?
If it had to be piano-based then I would go for the 3rd Concerto of Rachmaninov for its sheer exhilaration, harmonic colour and wonderful melodies. If more general then it would be a close call between Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius and Walton's Belshazzar's Feast.

What was your most memorable Friday Night and why?
There are so many but possibly the funniest that I can repeat was going for a curry before a solo performance in Symphony Hall, Birmingham (Saint-Saëns Wedding Cake Caprice). I was already half-changed and the waiter spilt curry sauce down my white shirt. The backstage staff were brilliant and covered up the indelible yellow stains with Tipp-Ex!
The Friday Nighters,Valentines and 50 Years of Friday Nights

Ray Hagley and his wife Audrey were part of the evenings Friday Night audience having first attended 50 years ago. They were married in July 1957 and have two daughters, five granddaughters, one grandson and two great-grandchildren with another on the way. Ray and Audrey joined the Hanover Chapel and started the Hanover Chapel Youth Club in Peckham in London in 1958. They ran the club for 25 years and Ray remembers that they would hire a coach to bring some of the members to see a Friday Night show. In those days the shows were broadcast from the Camden Theatre (now a nightclub called Koko) and in Ray’s words “were great for the youngsters and introduced many of them to the experience of seeing a full concert orchestra playing popular classic tunes and seeing stars from the theatre and television singing popular songs”. The club is still running 46 years later having merged with another to become the Copleston Centre Church and many romances have blossomed over the years resulting in at least 5 marriages. Very fitting for our Friday Night is Romantic Night special.
Just The Ticket...50 Years ago

Raymond and Audrey kindly brought in this ticket to show the team from a Friday Night is Music Night show, which was broadcast on the 29th March 1963. The show went out from The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London, (now a venue called Koko)
It bought back a few memories I can tell you..
Conductors' Corner

Keith Lockhart took up the baton to become the BBC Concert Orchestra's seventh Principal Conductor in August 2010. Keith joins the BBC CO team whilst continuing his successful work with the Boston Pops, where he has been Conductor since 1995. Previous positions include Music Director for the Utah Symphony Orchestra from 1998-2009. His formidable experience in broad repertoire, allied with his love of all things British make him perfectly positioned to lead the BBC Concert Orchestra through to its 60th year in 2012 and beyond.
More About Keith Lockhart
An Insiders View by Producer Bridget Apps

Brrrrrridgetttttttt! Have you written the blog yet! Ah… the dulcet tones of Janine Maya-Smith- Radio 2 Broadcast Assistant and Friday Night wonder woman. Janine keeps me on track and makes sure we reach all those vital programme deadlines.

So here I am writing this week’s blog recalling the chilly days of mid-January when we recorded our St Valentine’s concert. The show needed to be recorded as the orchestra are on tour in the US from the end of January and through February.

The whole production process started back in December. The running order is agreed – bouncing across the pond – between Keith Lockhart and myself – well that’s the wonder of email. We decide on a mix of classical , musical and pop. Liz Robertson and Graham Bickley are our singers and we are joined by Heather Headley currently starring in The Bodyguard in London’s West End. So the music of Cole Porter, Rachmaninov and Dolly Parton will sit alongside one of my favourite Friday Night pot-boilers – the Warsaw Concerto. The concerto was written by Richard Addinsell for the film Dangerous Moonlight in 1941. Now I don’t remember that original film(though I know a lot of our listeners do) but I do remember this from my early days on Friday Night in the 1980s when Robert Docker would have been the soloist. Tonight’s soloist is his rightful heir - Roderick Elms - who has recorded many great film concertos over the years and indeed is a regular FNIMN soloist.

Once the running order is decided then I hand over to our hard working library team – Emma, Lionel and Jenny who make sure we get the right notes in the right order in the right place at the right time! Meanwhile Caroline in our Research Library gets cracking on some useful script notes for presenter Ken Bruce.

On show day the mobile phone goes on early – just in case one of our singers is poorly or there is a problem at the theatre. Our engineering and stage crew arrive at 0800 to position the orchestra, put in staging and rig the microphones. When Janine and myself arrive there’s the dressing rooms to allocate and our final checks before the rehearsals begins. Oh - and I usually deliver a large chocolate cake to the crew – it’s a bit of a tradition …don’t ask.

Then we spend our rehearsal with stopwatches at the ready – Janine takes some rehearsal photos to post on the Radio 2 Facebook page and for our website. Ken normally arrives and we finish our rehearsal at 1830. A quick briefing with Brendan and Mike our security team and BBC Audience Services and then we watch the audience file in before taking a break for dinner.

The recording goes well – and I return to base with the recording ready for editing. There’s always one song or tune in the show which sticks in my head and this time it’s I Will Always Love You. My office colleagues will tell you that I have a habit of listening back to concerts with headphones on and suddenly burst into song – without realising it! Of course, they never tell me – but smile sweetly at me and let me carry on. Today I’m giving Heather and Whitney a run for their money – you should hear my cadenza and top A.

So the show is ready – the interval and Radio 2 jingles added – a quick nip and tuck - it’s rftx – that’s means - ready for transmission. On Friday the orchestra are featured on Afternoon on 3 in a concert of Elgar and Britten from California and then on Radio 2 that same evening for our St Valentines love special. Well, that’s the magic of radio or rather the incredible versatility of the bunch of players we call the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Interval Item - Valentine Victories and Disasters

Valentine victories and disasters re-visited by Radio 2 presenters as they select their stand-out smoochy songs of all time. Hand-picked tunes that tug at the heart strings include choices from Tony Blackburn, Vanessa Feltz, Paul Gambaccini, Jeremy Vine, Graham Norton, Sally Boazman and Richard Allinson.