Philharmonia Orchestra with Alisa Weilerstein, cello at The Bridgewater Hall

This March, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra arrives at The Bridgewater Hall with a programme shaped around the different worlds music can conjure. From sacred subterranean landscapes to open seas, the works form a journey, tracing how orchestral sound can evoke place and story as vividly as image or narrative.

At the centre of the concert is Dzonot, the first cello concerto by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz, awarded the GRAMMY for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2026. Written for Alisa Weilerstein and performed by her in this Manchester premiere, the work takes its title from the Mayan word for cenotes – vast subterranean rivers and caves in the Yucatán Peninsula that were understood as both sources of life and entrances to the underworld. Ortiz describes these spaces as intricate, fragile ecosystems, rich in biodiversity and spiritual meaning, yet threatened by deforestation and industrial development.

Across its movements, Dzonot draws on the physical and symbolic qualities of the cenotes: shafts of light cutting through dark spaces; the sound and colour of water moving through eroded limestone; the presence of endemic animals such as the jaguar and toh bird. Later, mechanically pulsed rhythms suggest the impact of major human industries, before dissolving into what Ortiz calls “the hopeful song of the cello”. Conceived as a form of protest against ecological neglect, the concerto listens closely to landscapes whose survival can no longer be taken for granted.

Alisa Weilerstein, one of the foremost cellists of our time, has long been associated with the creation and early life of new works, frequently commissioning, premiering and recording concertos written specifically for her. Dzonot belongs to that body of work: written for her, dedicated to her, and first brought to audiences through her performances. “Weilerstein is a throwback to an earlier age of classical performers”, says the New York Times. “Not content merely to serve as a vessel for the composer’s wishes, she inhabits a piece fully and turns it to her own ends”.

Setting the stage for the concerto, the programme opens in Ortiz’s native Mexico with Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No.2. Drawing on the Cuban salon dance as it took root in Veracruz and Mexico City, Márquez has described the danzón’s lightness as a deceptive kind of calling card. Beneath it lies a music that’s emotionally serious and rich in both sensuality and nostalgia, offering a rhythmic, outward-facing counterpoint Dzonot’s environmental immersion.

From there, the evening turns seaward with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales, it centres on the character of Sultan Shahriar, who makes a vow to kill each of his wives, and Scheherazade – one of those wives – who survives by telling him a story each night. A recurring solo violin, fluid and improvisatory, represents Scheherazade as she spins tale after tale, while the Sultan’s stern, forceful presence is heard in weighty, uncompromising phrases. The sea returns as a framing presence, from calm motion to storm, drawing on Rimsky-Korsakov’s experience as a naval officer.

Conducted by Marin Alsop, the programme reflects an approach to orchestral music that has defined her career. Long committed not just to the circulation of new work but to how it is placed in dialogue with the wider repertoire, Alsop positions Ortiz’s Dzonot at the concert’s centre, allowing its focus on place and ecology to cast new light on the surrounding music. Drawn into Ortiz’s orbit, the programme demonstrates the power of orchestral sound to engage with the places – real and imagined – that we inhabit.