Happy 60th Birthday, Sir Simon Rattle

The Full Works Concert, Monday 19 January 2015 8pm. Jane Jones presents a special concert celebrating the great British conductor's 60th birthday.

Today is the 60th birthday of one of Britain's most distinguished and best-loved conductors. To celebrate, Jane Jones presents a special birthday concert of music conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

GALLERY: Simon Rattle - 10 iconic pictures of the great conductor > 

Rattle's path towards becoming a musical maestro began when he won the John Player International Conducting Competition at the age of 19. In 1980, he began what was to become a legendary 18-year relationship with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, first as principal conductor, then as its music director. His Birmingham concert programmes were delivered with incisive panache that also allowed the CBSO members plenty of room to express themselves.

His long-term relationship with the CBSO was a defining one, and tonight we hear their performance of Sibelius's Symphony No.5.

Rattle's boundary-crossing approach had increasingly impressed the self-governing Berlin Philharmonic, who were aware of the need to attract new and younger audiences to their concerts. Rattle had guest-conducted the orchestra for several years, winning much respect with his engaging, anti-maestro style and bombproof technical expertise, and, up against Barenboim, he got the job. We hear them together tonight in Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante with its unusual combination of violin, cello, oboe and bassoon as solo instruments.

We'll also enjoy Rattle conducting the legendary Vienna Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony.

John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Simon Rattle conducts the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No.6 in F major, ‘Pastoral’
Simon Rattle conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Joseph Haydn: Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat major
Violin: Toru Yasunaga
Cello: Georg Faust
Oboe: Jonathan Kelly
Bassoon: Stegan Schweigert
Simon Rattle conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Jean Sibelius: Symphony No.5 in E-flat major
Simon Rattle conducts the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra