Stewart Copeland drums up concerto at Liverpool Phil

SUPERSTARS of opera and pop are among the highlights of a spectacular new season ahead for theRoyal  Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Bryn Terfel returns to the Philharmonic Hall for a two-week festival celebrating the genius of the Welsh  bass-baritone who has become the hottest property in opera. 

His presence continues a relationship with the orchestra which began 22 years ago and highlights of the fortnight – from September 9-22 – include A Night at the Musicals, with record-breaking West End and Broadway star John Owen Jones, and two performances of Puccini's great romantic opera, Tosca.

Meanwhile, the orchestra, led by Vasily Petrenko,  will deliver the world premiere of Percussion Concerto by Stewart Copeland, former drummer with Seventies rock giants The Police.

Stewart Copeland

Terfel is among four internationally acclaimed musical talents who will be artists in residence during the Phil's 2013-14 season – the others are Andrew Manze, one of the most inspirational conductors of his generation, Christian Lindberg, the Swedish composer, conductor and trombone legend, and Simon Trpceski, the Macedonian artist whose recordings of Rachmaninov piano concertos with the orchestra brought them a coveted music prize.

All four will be involved in concerts, talks, masterclasses and other special events, as well as working with young musicians.

Among guest artists playing with the orchestra will be the remarkable 25-year-old French harpist Xavier de Maistre, and Norwegian brother and sister act Mari and Håkon Samuelsen, whose dazzling violin and cello playing will feature in the Phil's annual Christmas concerts.

In February, pianist Michel Camilo, who has performed with most of the world's great orchestras, will play the piece that won him a Latin Grammy - Gershwin's classic Rhapsody in Blue.

Core blimey: Vasily Petrenko

Musical highlights include concerts to mark the centenary of Benjamin Britten's birth and the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss's birth, a night dedicated to The Music of Burt Bacharach, and a concert featuring one of America's greatest film and TV composers, Henry Mancini (Moon River, The Pink Panther), with the orchestra conducted by Richard Kaufman, who for 20 years was music co-ordinator at the legendary Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

Family focused events include the return of  Phil favourite Carl Davies, who begins the run-up to Christmas with two Winter Wonderland concerts, and a screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, whose swashbuckling score will be played live by the full symphony orchestra, choir and basses.

The season is the eighth under the baton of Chief Conductor Vasily Petrenko and follows the announcement in March that he has extended his contract on a new, on-going basis that will see him stay at the helm in Liverpool for the foreseeable future.  

'Exciting'

He said: “It’s a great pleasure for me to stay in Liverpool as part of the Liverpool Philharmonic family.   We have been on a long and successful journey together in the last seven years, and now there are new horizons ahead.

“What is exciting for me is that we are now really getting to the core of a piece, understanding what is behind each work, and playing the music, not simply playing the notes. It’s a privilege for us as musicians to share this feeling with our audiences and I hope that everyone, whether you come to hear us regularly, or are just beginning to listen to our concerts, will find a lot to enjoy and discover in our new season.”