Channel waves, folk rhythms and the heartbeat of the cosmos, as conductor Dinis Souza, pianist Bertrand Chamayou and the BBC Symphony Orchestra play Debussy, Bartók and Unsuk Chin.
Interweaving singing, dance, and cutting-edge theatre, Gorges Ocloo’s ground-breaking AfrOpera re-examines Nana Yaa Asantewaa’s defiant stance against colonialism and cultural appropriation.
Embedding the intricacies of the patter song, Kenneth Hesketh’s orchestral show-stopper prefaces two compelling Russian master works as John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London return.
Alongside something hot off the press, death, despair, and eternity stalk the Dudoks’ typically ear-opening programme in which Messiaen tempers the anguished ardour of Gesualdo and Schubert.
Marin Alsop, our Principal Guest Conductor, and singer Sasha Cooke delve into the rich emotional world of Gustav and Alma Mahler.
We’re all the heroes of our own lives. Strauss’s contemporaries couldn’t see the funny side of Ein Heldenleben (‘A Hero’s Life’): a riotously tuneful self-portrait of the artist as superhero, written for a colossal orchestra and featuring some of the most stupendous sounds ever imagined. The great Sir Mark Elder brings all his matchless flair for musical storytelling to a concert that opens in the shimmering wonderland of Ravel’s fairytale ballet, and stars Canadian virtuoso James Ehnes in the underrated sequel to Bruch’s ever-popular First Violin Concerto. It’s almost never heard – and it’s a delight.
A smash-hit Broadway play turned movie, David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly metamorphoses into music theatre as the UK premiere of Huang Ruo’s operatic reworking takes wing.
A bold expression of what classical music can be, Nonclassical at 20 sees pioneering promoters of the best new music, Nonclassical combine forces with the legendary London Symphony Orchestra.
Mists swirl, the air shivers and somewhere, far away, a solitary horn sounds a call to adventure. There might be symphonies that open more beautifully than Bruckner’s Fourth, but we can’t think of any! And that’s just the beginning of a musical journey that sweeps from forest shadows to sunlit peaks; quiet melancholy to heaven-storming joy. In Bruckner’s 200th anniversary year, the LPO’s inspirational Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis makes it the climax of a deeply romantic programme that also stars cellist Truls Mørk in the tender, passionate music of Robert Schumann – a composer with the soul of a poet.
Please note start time.