There was much poetry and prose, read by the local BBC professionals Tara Mills and Declan Harvey, with the 105-minute performance linked with deceptively consummate ease by Joan Toal.
The large invited audience included local civic representatives and current and former staff members and others who had taken part in many local BBC broadcasts down the years.
The theme was “The Living Air”, and the objective was to remind us all of the magic of wireless broadcasting which created wonderful sounds and mind pictures long before television took over the major role.
The BBC’s arrival in Belfast owed much to the efforts of a Captain Norman Inglis of the well-known local bakers, and 2 BE became the ninth station of the fledgling BBC, with its home on the first floor of a converted linen warehouse at 31 Linen Hall Street, which became the home of the corporation in Belfast.
All of this was included in a carefully-researched script which led the audience gently through the prose, poetry and music. So many of the stalwarts of the past were honoured, including composers Norman Hay, Howard Ferguson, Joan Trimble and others.
The Ulster Orchestra, under the direction of James Burton, was in excellent form, and particularly impressive in Paul Campbell’s Fantasia on Ulster Airs, and particularly so in Niall Martin’s memorable Undae Per Mundum, a BBC centenary commission.
The very good Codetta Choir excelled in John Rutter’s This Is the Day, and as did organist Jack Wilson in his contributions.
The list of poets and writers produced so many memories of radio legends such as the McCooeys, while a reading from a story by the late Sam McAughtry raised laughter in a sometimes earnest presentation. Heaney, Longley, Carson, and Carol Ann Duffy were all there.
There were also surprises, such as the revelation that the first BBC broadcast by William Butler Yeats came from Belfast, while Declan Harvey’s rendition of The Lake Isle of Innisfree was a breathtaking reminder of the poet’s timelessly beautiful words.
Some cynics might that claim unfairly that this concert was a too-long evening of nostalgic navel gazing, but in reality it was a tour de force, and a powerful reminder of the BBC’s mission to educate, inform, and – yes – to entertain. At the end, the late Lord Reith himself was surely smiling in his big wireless studio in the sky.
The recorded concert was broadcast last night on John Toal’s Classical Connections on BBC Northern Ireland and is available on BBC Sounds.
1. BBC NI centenary concert
Lord Mayor Belfast, Councillor Micky Murray takes a selfie of himself with Pamela Ballantine, Mayor Kurtis Dickson, Lisburn and Castlereagh and Paula McIntyre at the BBC’s The Living Air concert, celebrating 100 years of the BBC in Northern Ireland in St Anne’s Cathedral Photo: BBC
2. BBC NI centenary concert
Neil Martin receives an ovation bow following the performance of his composition Undae Per Mundum, specially-commissioned for the centenary of the BBC in Northern Ireland and brought to life at The Living Air concert in St Anne’s Cathedral by the Ulster Orchestra, conducted by James Burton Photo: BBC
3. BBC NI centenary concert
BBC Board member for Northern Ireland Michael Smyth, BBC broadcaster Tara Mills and composer Neil Martin at the BBC’s The Living Air concert, celebrating 100 years of the BBC in Northern Ireland in St Anne’s Cathedral Photo: BBC
4. BBC NI centenary concert
High Sheriff of Belfast, Councillor Sammy Douglas enjoying the BBC Picture Box exhibition at The Living Air concert in St Anne’s Cathedral. The exhibition, which is currently touring around Northern Ireland as part of the BBC Comes To Town Roadshows, features many rare and previously unseen photographs from the BBC in Northern Ireland over the past 100 years. Photo: BBC