London Symphony Orchestra
Resident Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra was established in 1904 and has a unique ethos and an inimitable signature sound. It has been the Resident Orchestra at the Barbican since the Centre opened in 1982.
As a musical collective, it is built on artistic ownership and a mission to bring the greatest music to the greatest number of people, presenting over 70 concerts at the Barbican each year under the batons of some of the finest conductors in the world, including Music Director Sir Simon Rattle, Principal Guest Conductors Gianandrea Noseda and François-Xavier Roth, and Conductor Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas.
Events
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle: Jenůfa
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Janáček’s searing, magnificent opera explores a woman’s limited options in a suffocating small town.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano: Elijah
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Fiery chariots, towering voices; Sir Antonio Pappano, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Chorus join forces for Mendelssohn’s monumental oratorio.
London Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Søndergård
Bold and unconventional choices are there to be relished in music by Beethoven and Sibelius.
London Symphony Orchestra/Nathalie Stutzmann
Quicksilver inspiration and spectacular melodies flow in music written at the height of success.
London Symphony Orchestra/Nathalie Stutzmann
In this mighty symphony, the culmination of his life’s work, Bruckner strove for total perfection.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
Shocking, dissonant, savagely ironic: Shostakovich’s Fourth was a statement of rebellion against Joseph Stalin’s dictatorship.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
A new work by John Adams is flanked by Gershwin’s most seductive tunes.
London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth
Prepare for the unexpected in Beethoven’s most surprising symphony, and Unsuk Chin’s brilliantly disorientating Piano Concerto.
London Symphony Orchestra/Daniel Harding
A solitary trumpet sounds: and so we enter Jörg Widmann’s heavenly maze and Mahler’s profoundly expressive Fifth Symphony.
London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth
Vivid, moreish music by Unsuk Chin and Donghoon Shin, plus beguiling works by emerging talents, conducted by François-Xavier Roth.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
The gauzy, sensuous soundscape of Ravel’s pastoral ballet meets Wynton Marsalis’ jazz-inflected Trumpet Concerto.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
The sun comes out in Lili Boulanger’s lively tone poem, and lyrical feelings bloom in music by Samuel Barber and Sergei Rachmaninov.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
A playful concerto offers a boost to your mood, and a symphony reaches for hope in the midst of war.
London Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas
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Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Mahler’s magnificent vision of a world teeming with joyful life.
London Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Adès
Threads of the past are woven into a radiant future in four ingenious compositions, presented by Thomas Adès, Anne-Sophie Mutter and the LSO.
London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda
Deeply private, deeply felt: Tchaikovsky and Brahms pour out their emotions in an ardent torrent of music.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Tchaikovsky 6
Gianandrea Noseda conducts and introduces Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, deeply private and deeply felt.
London Symphony Orchestra/Susanna Mälkki: Poem of Ecstasy
Drift amid music of seductive illusion and brilliant colour from Debussy, Ravel and Scriabin.
London Symphony Orchestra/Susanna Mälkki: Rachmaninov
Pianist Kirill Gerstein continues his spotlight series with one of the pinnacles of the repertoire.
London Symphony Orchestra/Duncan Ward: La mer
Duncan Ward and the LSO set out to sweep you off your feet with symphonic poems from Janáček and Debussy, while Isabelle Faust offers sensitive insights into the music of Bartók.
London Symphony Orchestra/Duncan Ward with Abel Selaocoe
South African and European traditions meet in the transformative music of Abel Selaocoe alongside folk and jazz-flecked music from Gary Carpenter and Bartók.
London Symphony Orchestra/André J Thomas: Gospel Explosion
Experience the power of American gospel music, combined with the symphonic sound of the LSO and a chorus of over 250 voices from across the London community, curated and conducted by André J Thomas.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano: Beethoven 7
Beethoven’s triumphantly brilliant symphony and an instantly popular 21st-century concerto with soloist Kirill Gerstein in the spotlight.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano: Rachmaninov
Spellbinding storytellers, dancing ghosts and melodies that will stay with you forever in music from Ravel, Fazil Say and Rachmaninov.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano: Strauss
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Pop culture’s most famous fanfare sets the mood – this is music that tells you: wake up! Sir Antonio Pappano and Alice Sara Ott present a programme of Liszt, Strauss and a premiere by Hannah Kendall.
London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan: Stravinsky
The composer of the future in the early 20th century, Stravinsky still sounds new every time you hear him. LSO Associate Artist Barbara Hannigan presents two essential works.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Pulcinella
Grab a drink and savour the perfect balance of sweet and bitter in Stravinsky’s time-warp drama for three voices.
London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan: Season Opening
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To open our 2023/24 Barbican season, Barbara Hannigan sings and conducts music that searches for light in dark times.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
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Sir Simon Rattle ends his final concert as LSO Music Director with Messiaen’s mind-blowing Turangalîla-Symphonie – an explosion of passionate emotion and ear-tingling sound.
London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth
François-Xavier Roth conducts Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, plus a modern classic with master-violinist Christian Tetzlaff
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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