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: Half Six Fix – Laura Bowler
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/Barbara Hannigan
New music by Laura Bowler preludes Ligeti’s ethereal, dreamlike soundworld and Richard Strauss’s colossal, awe-inspiring homage to Nietzsche.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Dvořák
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/Anja Bihlmaier
An American dream: Dvořák’s ode to the US and Bernstein’s gritty portrait of New York frame a new concerto.
LSO Chamber Orchestra/Jaime Martín
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An irresistible, intimate triple-bill of Mozart – a chance to hear three of his lesser-performed concertos, each one as beautiful, refined and vibrant as anything he composed.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Shostakovich
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
Korngold tugs at the heart in his Hollywood-flavoured concerto, while Shostakovich’s Fifth unleashes big tunes and white-hot intensity.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
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Elgar’s oratorio includes some of his most deeply felt music, sumptuously scored and plumbing every emotion from anguish to elation.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
Tchaikovsky juggles beauty and suffering, Britten reflects powerfully on grief and conflict, and Bernstein grapples with the modern world.
London Symphony Orchestra/Nathalie Stutzmann
Richard Strauss breathes dizzying life into 18th-century Vienna, Wagner recreates medieval Rome and Beethoven marries tenderness and high spirits.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Mahler
Kick-start your evening with a 60-minute Half Six Fix concert, showcasing Mahler's Fourth Symphony, introduced by the performers and with screens in the hall to bring you closer to the action.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
Serenity, beauty and the sense of an ending infuse music by Richard Strauss and Mahler, preluded by Gerhard’s immersive soundscapes.
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
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Sir Simon Rattle conducts four powerful moments from the final chapter of Wagner's epic Ring cycle, alongside his Siegfried Idyll.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Enigma Variations
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
Sir Antonio Pappano and the LSO journey from darkness to light in Mahler's rapturous Fifth Symphony, alongside Elgar's Enigma Variations.
Classical Pride: LSO with Oliver Zeffman & Nick Grimshaw
The culmination of 2024’s Classical Pride, the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Oliver Zeffman celebrate LGBTQ+ classical music in this diverse programme presented by Nick Grimshaw.
London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda
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Gianandrea Noseda steers the powerful forces of the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Carl Orff’s irresistible cantata, and Shostakovich’s Third Symphony.
London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda
What is lost returns once more in emotive music conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, LSO Principal Guest Conductor.
London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Prokofiev 7
As part of his exploration of Prokofiev's symphonies, Gianandrea Noseda introduces the composer’s mysterious Seventh.
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/Michael Tilson Thomas
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Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Mahler’s magnificent vision of a world teeming with joyful life.
LSO Soundhub Showcase
Enjoy sounds from the cutting-edge of contemporary, as LSO musicians perform brand-new music by LSO Soundhub composers.
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/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
The gauzy soundscape of Ravel’s pastoral ballet meets a sparkling new concerto by Wynton Marsalis, in this concert with conductor Sir Antonio Pappano and trumpet soloist Alison Balsom.
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/Daniel Harding
A solitary trumpet sounds: and so we enter Jörg Widmann’s heavenly maze and Mahler’s profoundly expressive Fifth 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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