Australian classical guitarist Craig Ogden is the featured performer at a concert tonight to celebrate the 90th anniversary of BBC Northern Ireland.
Officials from the nonagenarian broadcasting system are holding the October 8 “gala” event—dubbed “A Night of Celebration”—at Ulster Hall in honor of the BBCNI’s nine decades “at the heart of cultural and community life” in Northern Ireland. Ogden, the principal lecturer in guitar at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, will be joined on the bill by the Ulster Orchestra, pianist Michael McHale, and the chapel choir of the Methodist College of Belfast.
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Works will include pieces specially commissioned for the event, as well as music that will be “immediately recognizable to BBC audiences,” according to event coordinators.
BBC Northern Ireland officially went live in 1924; regional programming began in 1936. In addition to the performances, the BBC Gala Concert—A Night of Celebration will also highlight key moments in the history of the BBC and the role its broadcasting plays in Northern Ireland.