London Symphony Orchestra
Resident Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is built on the belief that extraordinary music should be available to everyone, everywhere. It was established in 1904 and today is among the world’s top orchestras
As Resident Orchestra at the Barbican since the Centre opened, it performs some 50 concerts here every year, under the batons of a family of conductors that includes Chief Conductor Designate Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor Emeritus Sir Simon Rattle, Principal Guest Conductors Gianandrea Noseda and François-Xavier Roth, Conductor Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas and Associate Artists Barbara Hannigan and André J Thomas.
Events
London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan
Albert Roussel and Maurice Ravel paint vivid portraits of the animal kingdom, Benjamin Britten conjures up a savage parade, and Joseph Haydn takes a trip to London for his final symphony.
Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra, LSO & Sir Antonio Pappano
Wynton Marsalis and Sir Antonio Pappano blend jazz, blues and classical music in the crossover collaboration with the Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan
Miracles and myths abound, from Bartók’s surreal ballet to Sibelius’s Finnish landscape – plus, a captivating new piece by Golfam Khayam.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
Tippet's moving pacifist oratorio meets Beethoven’s immense Choral Symphony.
London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda
Shostakovich in both revolutionary and festive mood alongside a MacMillan Concerto, written for Nicola Benedetti.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Prokofiev 2
Kick-start your evening with a Half Six Fix concert. One piece in a 60-minute concert, introduced by the performers, with screens in the hall to bring you closer to the action.
London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda
Prokofiev’s mind-blowing second Symphony, plus early Beethoven and a charming opener from Schubert.
London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda
Orchestral fireworks with early Shostakovich and Schnittke, joined by the London Symphony Chorus for some stirring Brahms.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
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Janáček’s hilarious satire about art, lunar travel, nationalism – and sausages.
London Symphony Orchestra/Gustavo Dudamel
Four stories of faraway lands, opulence, and scandal.
London Symphony Orchestra/Susanna Mälkki
Showpieces for the orchestra meet a dazzling concerto, brimming with characteristic Stravinsky flair and melody.
London Symphony Orchestra/ Half Six Fix – Berlioz
Kick-start your evening with a 60-minute Half Six Fix concert. Introduced by the performers, with screens in the hall to bring you closer to the action.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
Dreams and fantasies from enigmatic Szymanowski to Berlioz’s most rock’n’roll work, the Symphonie fantastique.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
Two portraits from a magician of orchestral colour, Richard Strauss – plus a young Mozart dances on the violin
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
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Sir Antonio Pappano conducts a concert performance of Strauss’ scandalous opera Salome, with the brilliant soprano Asmik Grigorian in the title role.
London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth
Yuja Wang gives the UK premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s flamboyant new Piano Concerto: outsized inspiration, for a pianist who knows no limits.
London Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas
As part of his Artist Portrait series, violinist Christian Tetzlaff joins Michael Tilson Thomas to explore the sunlit world of Brahms’ Violin Concerto.
London Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas
LSO Conductor Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas joins Korean piano superstar Sunwook Kim in Brahms’ explosive First Piano Concerto.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO dive headlong into the dream-world of Gustav Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, and welcome the BBC Singers for a special performance of an intricate work by Poulenc.
London Symphony Orchestra/Jonathan Stockhammer
Sunrises, seascapes and blue Californian skies: it’s all about colour as the LSO presents 20th-century favourites by Ravel, Debussy and John Adams.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Harmonielehre
Half Six Fix is a 60-minute burst of music to kick-start your evening. Grab a drink and take your seat, as Jonathan Stockhammer introduces you to the vast expanses of John Adams’ Harmonielehre.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix - Prokofiev 3
Half Six Fix is a 60-minute burst of music to kick-start your evening. Grab a drink and take your seat, as Gianandrea Noseda introduces Prokofiev's explosive Third Symphony.
London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda
Shostakovich boldly addressed human suffering in his Symphony No 13; Beethoven saluted the human spirit in his Emperor Concerto. Gianandrea Noseda conducts them both tonight.
London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda
Fantasy and fury: Gianandrea Noseda conducts Prokofiev at his most climactic, and Beethoven at his most serene, with violinist Lisa Batiashvili as soloist.
London Symphony Orchestra: Things to Come
Alexander Korda’s cinematic vision of the future, with Arthur Bliss’s classic score played live by the orchestra who originally recorded it – the London Symphony Orchestra.
London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan
Berg, Bach, Haydn and Claude Vivier – Barbara Hannigan brings four maverick masterworks into a very personal kind of conversation.
London Symphony Orchestra/Rafael Payare
Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Gubaidulina: dark fairytales and magical stories, with conductor Rafael Payare and violinist Vilde Frang.
London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth
Schubert asks big questions, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann has some very modern answers, as François-Xavier Roth conducts music of quiet faith and dazzling wit.
London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth
Fate knocks at the door, and LSO Principal Guest Conductor François-Xavier Roth and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja seize the moment.
London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth
Half Six Fix is a 60-minute burst of music to kick-start your evening. Grab a drink and take your seat, as François-Xavier Roth introduces and conducts the most revolutionary symphony ever written.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
From Richard Strauss’ sweeping self-portrait to the musical poetry of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Sir Antonio Pappano conducts an evening of music that’s larger than life.
London Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop
Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Kurt Weill on Broadway and the award-winning Eric Lu playing Beethoven, in a concert that spans the many worlds of guest conductor Marin Alsop.
Discover
Profile: London Symphony Orchestra
Listen to our selection of LSO recordings from across the years in our Spotify playlist.
Barbican Sessions: Peter Moore
London Symphony Orchestra’s young trombonist, Peter Moore, performs 'Doolallynastics – a brief torture for solo trombone’ by Brian Lynn in our latest Barbican Session, filmed in one of our Frobisher Auditoriums.