Our 2012-13 season features artist focuses with Juan Diego Flórez, Leonidas Kavakos, Stephen Hough and Yo-Yo Ma, and composers Sir Michael Tippett and Mark-Anthony Turnage; concert performances of operas by Donizetti, Britten, Stravinsky, Ravel, Lully and Handel and a multi-media staged concert of Oliver Knussen's opera Where the Wild Things Are. The BBC Symphony Orchestra's Total Immersion series celebrates new music from Japan, Finland and Denmark and in March 2013, the LA Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel return for their first residency as a Barbican International Associate following their sold out visit in 2010.
The LSO is the UK's most dynamic orchestra reaching audiences the world over, through extensive international touring and by building its catalogue of live Barbican classical performances, as well as playing on film soundtracks and bringing inspiring musical opportunities to London's young people: its aim is to ensure as many people as possible have the chance to hear or participate in the highest quality music.
Performing over 120 concerts a year, and chosen by Gramophone as one of the top five orchestras in the world, the LSO has an enviable family of artists, including Sir Colin Davis as President, Valery Gergiev as Principal Conductor, Daniel Harding and Michael Tilson Thomas as Principal Guest Conductors and André Previn as Conductor Laureate.
The LSO is set apart from other international orchestras by the depth of its commitment to music education, enabling 60,000 people of all ages to get involved in music-making every year in LSO Discovery. LSO Live is the most successful label of its kind, with over 75 releases on CD, SACD, and online. Appearing on over 300 soundtracks, the LSO is also a world-leader in recording and developing music for film, enjoying collaborations with such renowned film composers as Alexander Desplatt, John Williams and Patrick Doyle.
The LSO enjoys successful residencies at the Lincoln Center, New York, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and is proud to be Resident Orchestra at the Barbican in the City of London, thriving on the stability its permanent home has offered since the Centre opened 30 years ago. The LSO performs over 70 concerts a year here, establishing a truly loyal audience base and fulfilling its artistic aspirations: collaboration between the Orchestra and the Barbican placing the LSO at the heart of the Centre's programme.
To make a donation to the LSO please contact Bernadette O'Sullivan on 020 7382 2515.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra has been at the heart of British music for over 80 years, performing and exciting and distinctive range of music, offering everything from works at the heart of classical music to world premieres from today's finest composers. This breadth is reflected in its outstanding line-up of associated artists including Principal Guest Conductor David Robertson, Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis and Artist in Association Oliver Knussen. The Orchestra has a strong commitment to 20th century music and has given premieres of over 1,000 works including music by giants of 20th century music including Bartok, Britten, Stravinsky and Shostakovich.
The BBC SO performs an annual season of concerts at the Barbican in its role of Associate Orchestra, with regular highlights including Total Immersion Days celebrating the music of a single, living composer and a critically and publicly acclaimed series of operas in concert, bringing neglected and recent operas to a wider audience.
The BBC SO provides the backbone of the BBC Proms, giving around a dozen concerts there each year. The vast majority of concerts are broadcast on BBC Radio 3, streamed live online, and available for seven days via the BBC iPlayer and a number are televised, giving the BBC Symphony Orchestra the highest broadcast profile of any UK orchestra.
The BBC SO is committed to innovative education work, aiming to open the Orchestra to the broadest range of participants with an exciting series of local, national and international activities. Ongoing projects include the BBC SO Family Music Intro scheme and the BBC SO Family Orchestra, work with our local communities in Hammersmith & Fulham and Westminster and projects with the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Our international family of orchestras includes five of the world's leading ensembles, with whom we've developed innovative new partnerships. Regular residencies at the Barbican will involve symphonic and chamber music concerts, family events, new commissions, educational and outreach work. The residencies are designed to illustrate the unique musical traditions and sounds of these great ensembles.
Led by Riccardo Chailly, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is the oldest civic concert orchestra in the world and has multiple functions as a concert orchestra, opera orchestra and a chamber orchestra. The orchestra is the musical heart of the City of Leipzig and its most important musical ambassador. Find out more
Granted Royal status in 1988, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious symphony orchestras, shaped by generations of musicians, longstanding collaborations between its six successive chief conductors and the unique acoustic properties of the Concertgebouw's main hall. Find out more
Led by Alan Gilbert, the New York Philharmonic was founded in 1842 and is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in the world. It currently plays some 180 concerts a year, and on May 5, 2010, gave its 15,000th concert - a milestone unmatched by any other symphony orchestra. Find out more
Under the vibrant leadership of Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic demonstrates a incredible breadth and depth of programming, performing or presenting nearly 300 concerts throughout the year at its two iconic venues: Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.
The remarkably versatile Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is led by Wynton Marsalis and is composed of 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, presenting outstanding concerts and educational work in the USA and around the world.
Britten Sinfonia is one of the world's most celebrated and pioneering ensembles. It is praised for the quality of its performances and an imaginative approach to concert programming centred around the development of its players. Unusually it does not have a principal conductor or director but chooses to collaborate with a range of the finest international guest artists from across the musical spectrum. Founded in 1992, it is inspired by the ethos of Benjamin Britten through world class performances, illuminating and distinctive programmes where the old meets the new, and projects in the local community as well as the worlds finest concert halls.
Britten Sinfonia launches its new association with the Barbican in style on Sat 27 Oct 2012 with a day of events celebrating the orchestra's 20th birthday: guests include Pekka Kuusisto, Mark Padmore and Andy Sheppard, and birthday premieres from James MacMillan and Nico Muhly. A typically eclectic concert season includes music from Perotin, Bach and Purcell through to Glass, Knussen and Esenvalds with collaborators such as Ian Bostridge, Angela Hewitt, Alina Ibragimova and the orchestra's own professional choir, Britten Sinfonia Voices.
'There are few more thrilling things in British music than the Britten Sinfonia on top form.' The Daily Telegraph
'In the end, the Britten Sinfonia feels successful because it allows artists to work creatively and because it is completely focused on the quality of the audience's experience.' The Guardian
'Britten Sinfonia is breaking the mould. As a model of how orchestras can reshape themselves to survive the 21st century, it could hardly be bettered'. The Times
Founded in 1973, the AAM led a revolution that swept across the musical world. Reconsidering the decades-old convention of playing old music in a modern style, the orchestra and its founder Christopher Hogwood were inspired by original performances and set out to rediscover the sounds and attitudes which Bach, Handel and Haydn would have known. Playing on original instruments and taking on the spirit of exploration, innovation and free-thinking with which this music was first performed, the AAM has become renowned for nearly 40 years of fresh and engaging performances of baroque and classical music.
The AAM's music making has been experienced by millions of people through live concerts on every continent except Antarctica - and, most famously, through a catalogue of over 300 CDs: Brit- and Grammy-Award winning recordings of Handel operas, pioneering accounts of the Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven symphonies, and revelatory discs which revived forgotten music.
This artistic excellence has been fostered by a stunning roster of guest artists. Under Hogwood, the likes of singers Dame Emma Kirkby, Dame Joan Sutherland and Cecilia Bartoli and pianist Robert Levin starred with the group. A range of collaborations continue to inspire the AAM's music making with new ideas and fresh approaches, and ongoing work with artists including singers Elizabeth Watts and James Gilchrist and cellist Steven Isserlis lies at the heart of the AAM's present-day success.
In 2006 Richard Egarr succeeded Hogwood as Music Director, and the orchestra continues to keep the trailblazing spirit alive. Already Egarr has directed the first-ever performances in China of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and JS Bach's complete Brandenburg Concertos, and his recordings with the orchestra have won MIDEM, Edison and Gramophone Awards. In 2007 Egarr founded the Choir of the AAM, which a year later won the title of 'Choir of the Year' at the Beijing Classical Elites.
