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/Sir Antonio Pappano
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A climactic close to the LSO's 2024/25 season: Sir Antonio Pappano leads concert performances of Strauss’ Salome. Acclaimed soprano Asmik Grigorian takes on the title role.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
Sir Antonio Pappano conducts two dramatic, emotionally intense American symphonies, both born of 20th-century tumult.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Copland
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
Beethoven’s defiant Symphony No 5 meets the sneering mockery of Shostakovich and Prokofiev in exhilarating mood.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
Violinist Janine Jansen showcases Britten’s soulful concerto before the LSO launches into Shostakovich’s scathing criticism of Stalin.
London Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Adès
Kaleidoscopic music by Adès and Ruders meet Sibelius’ evocative landscapes, and the promise of vibrant new music by Alex Paxton.
London Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Adès
Thomas Adès leads us through Sibelius’ Finland and conjures magical images in his own evocation of a Celtic legend.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Stravinsky
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/Ryan Bancroft & Clara-Jumi Kang
Stravinsky and Gubaidulina breathe vivid, visceral life into Russian fairy tales, plus Shostakovich’s most beautiful and riveting concerto.
London Symphony Orchestra: Symphonic Gospel – Celebration
André J Thomas celebrates the power of American gospel music, alongside the LSO and over 250 voices from communities across London.
Soweto Kinch/LSO: Soundtrack to the Apocalypse
The saxophonist, rapper and composer Soweto Kinch presents the final instalment of a trilogy of works in collaboration with the LSO, which began with The Black Peril and White Juju.
London Symphony Orchestra/Maxim Pascal
An evening celebrating music at the forefront of composition, as we hear three world premieres, alongside Pierre Boulez’s magnetic memoriam to fellow composer Bruno Maderna.
London Symphony Orchestra/Alexandre Bloch & Alice Sara Ott
Debussy’s impressionistic colours give way to Ravel’s dazzling concerto and wild, untamed waltz; Lutosławski exhilarates in his Concerto for Orchestra.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
Tchaikovsky faces his demons in the fate-filled Fourth Symphony, before the ravishing pastoral music of English composer Vaughan Williams with soloist Antoine Tamestit.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Vaughan Williams
Kick-start your evening with a 60-minute Half Six Fix concert, showcasing two works by Vaughan Williams. Introduced by the performers, with screens in the hall to bring you closer to the action.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
Thea Musgrave paints with radiant colours, Walton gives flight to the viola, and Vaughan Williams dreams of London.
LSO Discovery Showcase
This showcase brings together the Orchestra with participants from all across LSO Discovery’s work.
London Symphony Orchestra: LSO on Film
A selection of film music recorded by the LSO, including scores by Alexandre Desplat, Philippe Sarde, Philippe Chany and Guillaume Roussel for films such as Harry Potter, Black Beauty (2020) and Tess.
No Friend but the Mountains
Inspired by Behrouz Boochani's book of his refugee journey and six-year-long incarceration in Manus Island, the LSO give the UK premiere of this heart-stopping song-cycle.
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
Dreams and fantasies from enigmatic Szymanowski to Berlioz’s most rock’n’roll work, the Symphonie fantastique.
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/Susanna Mälkki
Showpieces for the orchestra meet a dazzling concerto, brimming with characteristic Stravinsky flair and melody.
London Symphony Orchestra/Gustavo Dudamel
Four stories of faraway lands, opulence, and scandal.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
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Janáček’s hilarious satire about art, lunar travel, nationalism – and sausages.
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/Gianandrea Noseda
Prokofiev’s mind-blowing second Symphony, plus early Beethoven and a charming opener from Schubert.
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
Shostakovich in both revolutionary and festive mood alongside a MacMillan Concerto, written for Nicola Benedetti.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
Tippet's moving pacifist oratorio meets Beethoven’s immense Choral Symphony.
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: Half Six Fix – Bartók
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.
Jazz at Lincoln Center 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 Center Orchestra
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.
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.
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