Barbican Presents
Barbican Presents brings some of the greatest international classical artists, orchestras and ensembles to London, in a stimulating and eclectic mix of classical, contemporary, and Baroque music.
Barbican Members enjoy 20% off tickets and pay no booking fees across the Barbican Presents season. Find out more.
Events
Kavakos Plays Bach: Part 1
In the first of two concerts, Leonidas Kavakos performs three works from J S Bach’s Six Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas, each one an intimate, intricate masterpiece.
Kavakos Plays Bach: Part 2
Leonidas Kavakos gives the second of his two recitals devoted to the Six Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas by J S Bach, including the extraordinary Chaconne.
Fatma Said and Joseph Middleton
Soprano Fatma Said and pianist Joseph Middleton give a recital that contrasts songs on nocturnal theme by Mozart, Schubert and Robert Schumann with sunnier Spanish repertoire.
Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason
Isata and Sheku Kanneh-Mason team up for a recital of cello sonatas by Felix Mendelssohn, Fauré, Chopin and Beethoven, who pioneered the form.
Los Angeles Philharmonic/Gustavo Dudamel: Dvořák 9
Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a concert of bold themes and dazzling orchestral colours, including the UK premiere of the Violin Concerto Altar de cuerda by Gabriela Ortiz.
Los Angeles Philharmonic/Gustavo Dudamel: Fidelio
Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil give a landmark performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio with Deaf West Theatre, in which the drama is played out between Deaf actors, with signed recitatives and arias.
Collegium Vocale Gent/Philippe Herreweghe: Bach B Minor Mass
Philippe Herreweghe directs Collegium Vocale Gent in Bach’s glorious Mass in B minor, joined by outstanding soloists Dorothee Mields, Hana Blažíková, Alex Potter, Guy Cutting and Johannes Kammler.
Philip Glass: Cocteau Trilogy
Legendary sibling pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque present their recent collaboration with American minimalist composer Philip Glass: arrangements for two pianos of his Cocteau Trilogy.
Rolf Hind: Sky in a Small Cage
Direct from the Copenhagen Opera Festival, Mahogany Opera opens our season with the UK premiere of Rolf Hind’s much-anticipated new work inspired by the influential Sufi mystic and poet, Rumi.
Hildegard Transfigured: Medieval Trance for the 21st Century
The soaring, timeless 12th century arabesques of Hildegard of Bingen meet 21st century transfiguration in Voice Trio’s intimate and illuminating portrait.
Roopa Panesar
One of the UK’s finest sitar players, Roopa Panesar returns for a concert of Indian classical music, collaborating with trailblazing Indian classical and contemporary musicians.
Lodestar Trio
By inclination one of music’s most intrepid cross-pollinators the Lodestar Trio breezes through the baroque on an exhilarating genre-bending journey into Nordic folk music and beyond.
Piotr Anderszewski
Beethoven and Bartók both insist that there’s no such thing as a ‘mere bagatelle’ when Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski pairs two compelling sets of inventive miniatures.
Spinifex Gum
An all-indigenous female youth choir from North East Australia with dance, visuals, plus a visceral song cycle about ancestry and stewardship. The result? The dazzling phenomenon that is Spinifex Gum.
The Golden Stool, or the story of Nana Yaa Asantewaa
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.
Sinfonia of London/John Wilson with Sheku Kanneh-Mason
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.
Dudok Quartet: Abandoned Voices
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.
Anthony McGill: Gran Partita
Clarinettist Anthony McGill collaborates with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective and stars of the next generation from Guildhall School, as he closes his Milton Court residency.
Anthony McGill and Kaleidoscope Collective
Delve into the depths of the human experience with deeply personal chamber music by Brahms and Messiaen, performed by clarinettist Anthony McGill and the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
Aidan O'Rourke, Alice Zawadzki and Héloïse Werner
Celebrated singers Alice Zawadzki and Héloïse Werner are joined by fiddle player Aidan O'Rourke, pianist Kit Downes and cellist Colin Alexander in a programme of new works by each of the artists.
Reformations: Concerto with Dunedin Consort and Sean Shibe
Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe and the Dunedin Consort, Scotland’s foremost Baroque ensemble, join forces for a feast of early and recent repertoire, including Cassandra Miller’s new concerto.
ECHO Rising Stars: Mathis Stier
With pianist Rie Akamatsu, ECHO artist Mathis Stier showcases the versatility of the bassoon in a programme that takes us from the 19th century through to the present day.
Khatia Buniatishvili
Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili brings passion and vulnerability to her performances, qualities sure to abound in a recital of Beethoven and transcriptions by her hero, Liszt.
Hera Hyesang Park and Bretton Brown
Soprano Hera Hyesang Park and pianist Bretton Brown give a recital that celebrates Park’s Korean heritage, finding parallels and contrasts between western repertoire and Korean art and folk-song.
Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Kissin, one of the finest pianists of the age, gives a recital of formidable complexity: two great sonatas by Beethoven and Prokofiev frame music by Brahms and Chopin.
Guy Johnston and Britten Sinfonia: The Protecting Veil
Star cellist Guy Johnston joins Britten Sinfonia in a programme of powerful music by Tavener, Beethoven and Bartók.
ECHO Rising Stars: Sonoro Quartet
The Sonoro Quartet, ECHO Rising Stars for 2023/24, plays a programme of new works alongside music by Guillaume Lekeu and Shostakovich’s searing String Quartet No 8.
Dido and Aeneas
A sumptuous pairing of Baroque masterpieces featuring an all-star cast conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev, with Joyce DiDonato and Andrew Staples as the ill-fated lovers in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
Freya Waley-Cohen and Manchester Collective: Spell Book
Manchester Collective, soprano Héloïse Werner and mezzo-sopranos Fleur Barron and Katie Bray perform the world premiere of the complete Spell Book by British-American composer Freya Waley-Cohen.
African Strings with Abel Selaocoe
Abel Selaocoe presents a mesmerising fusion of musical worlds, bringing together timeless minimalism and the intricate harmonies of the Baroque era with the unique timbres of African strings.
ECHO Rising Stars: Sean Shibe
Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe takes us on a journey through guitar and lute music across the centuries from 17th century lute music to new work by Thomas Adès.
NYO: Ascent
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Hear a new generation get behind the greatest orchestral music of all time – experience an exhilarating adventure in sound with The National Youth Orchestra.
Gavin Bryars at 80
Celebrate the pioneering composer's 80th birthday, with some of Gavin Bryars’s most iconic works, performed by the Gavin Bryars Ensemble.
Natalie Dessay and Philippe Cassard: Women's Words
Soprano Natalie Dessay guides us through a gallery of unforgettable women, from composers Alma Mahler, Clara Schumann and Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn to great operatic heroines.
Anthony McGill and Michael McHale
Clarinettist Anthony McGill, Milton Court’s Artist-in-Residence, performs an exhilarating all-American programme with pianist Michael McHale.
Discover
Barbican Sessions: Isata Kenneh-Mason
Isata Kanneh-Mason plays Brahms's Op 118, No 3 'Ballade' in our Fountain Room
Listen: Classical Music on Spotify
Follow our regularly updated Classical Music playlist for a sample of the music you'll hear across our programme.
Barbican Sessions: Satu Vänskä
In an empty Theatre, Satu Vänskä, Principal Violinist of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, performs JS Bach's ‘Allemande’ from Partita II in D minor.
Listen: Contemporary Classical on Spotify
Discover music from across the Contemporary Classical spectrum – from Judith Weir and George Benjamin to Nils Frahm and Max Richter.
Barbican Sessions: Jess Gillam
In an empty Level G foyer, Jess Gillam performs her ECHO Rising Stars commission: Edmund Finnis's A Spiral Ascending, Kurt Weill's Je ne t'aime pas and Astor Piazzolla's 'Nightclub 1960' from Histoire du Tango with Leif Kaner-Lidström and Sam Becker.