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
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.
NYO: Ascent
Hear a new generation get behind the greatest orchestral music of all time – experience an exhilarating adventure in sound with The National Youth Orchestra.
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.
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.
Freya Waley-Cohen and Manchester Collective: Spell Book
The Manchester Collective, soprano Héloïse Werner and mezzo-sopranos Fleur Barron and Katie Bray come together to perform the beguiling Spell Book by British-American composer Freya Waley-Cohen.
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.
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.
Abel Selaocoe and Britten Sinfonia
Star cellist Abel Selaocoe continues his Artist Spotlight series with a programme of powerful music by Tavener, Beethoven and Bartók in collaboration with the Britten Sinfonia.
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 two sets of fine pieces by Brahms and Rachmaninov.
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.
Anthony McGill Masterclass
Anthony McGill – the New York Philharmonic’s Principal Clarinet – shares his ‘lustrous sound and dynamic range’ (Bachtrack) with budding musicians from Guildhall School in an evening masterclass.
Anthony McGill and Britten Sinfonia
Celebrated clarinettist Anthony McGill embarks on his residency at Milton Court, in an evening of conversation and performance with Britten Sinfonia.
Insula orchestra/Laurence Equilbey: Fauré's Requiem
Heaven and earth: Mat Collishaw’s mesmerising projections accompany sacred music by Fauré and Gounod, connecting these spiritual works to human experience and the natural world.
Fenella Humphreys & Leah Broad
Violinist Fenella Humphreys joins forces with author Leah Broad and pianist Nicola Eimer to explore some of the most important but neglected figures of 20th century music.
Piotr Anderszewski
From Bach to Webern, pianist Piotr Anderszewski finds fascinating connections between composers whose visionary ideas would change keyboard music forever.
Maxim Vengerov and Polina Osetinskaya
Grammy Award-winning violinist Maxim Vengerov is joined by pianist Polina Osetinskaya in some of the great violin sonatas of the Romantic era.
Beatrice Rana
In a recital that covers a kaleidoscopic range of colours and styles, Beatrice Rana makes her Barbican recital debut with some of the most demanding and dazzling music written for piano.
Mullova Ensemble: Transfigured Night
Through music, poetry and dance, Viktoria Mullova and her ensemble take us on an immersive journey into a nocturnal forest, setting the scene for Schoenberg’s profoundly moving ode to love.
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.
