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/Rattle & Nicole Cabell
Sir Simon Rattle conducts Dvořák, Schumann and George Walker, in a concert filled with feelings that run too deep for words.

London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle
Fabulous colours and untamed emotions. Sir Simon Rattle celebrates the music he loves – and the sheer wonder of the sound it makes.

London Symphony Orchestra/Christophers
Let there be light! The LSO toasts the Barbican’s 40th birthday with Haydn’s Creation and pre-concert performances on the foyers showcasing a new generation of performers and creators (3 Mar).

LSO Family Concert: How to Build an Orchestra
Join the LSO and animateur Rachel Leach as they guide you through the instruments and the amazing sounds an orchestra can make.

London Symphony Orchestra/ Barbara Hannigan
Strauss’s Metamorphosen and Poulenc’s La voix humaine: two stories of emotion in the raw from Barbara Hannigan, an artist who shoots straight for the heart and never misses.

London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan
Barbara Hannigan conducts, presents and sings Poulenc’s opera La voix humaine: a heart, a soul and a whole human life, in one devastating telephone call.

London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan
New York – Paris – London: Barbara Hannigan can-cans through the Jazz Age in this transatlantic celebration of melody, colour and seriously classy fun.

London Symphony Orchestra/ Noseda & Douglas
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Beethoven’s last concerto meets Shostakovich’s final symphony, and in the hands of Gianandrea Noseda and Barry Douglas, they both have something remarkable to say.

London Symphony Orchestra/Noseda, Stikhina & Kowalyow
Across two centuries, Beethoven and Shostakovich speak to each other – and to us – as Gianandrea Noseda finds the common humanity in two very different, but equally powerful, symphonies.

London Symphony Orchestra / Nathalie Stutzmann
Sunlight, shadows and unbridled passion: Alina Ibragimova plays Mozart and Nathalie Stutzmann conducts Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony.

London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle
Sir Simon Rattle conducts Mahler, Dvořák, Webern and Hans Rott, as well as a new suite from Julian Anderson’s Exiles. Five very different musical voices – but the stories they tell are universal.

London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle & Leonidas Kavakos
The 2020s meet the 1920s, as Sir Simon Rattle conducts Sibelius, Bartók, and the world premiere of Unsuk Chin’s new Violin Concerto.

London Symphony Orchestra/Karabits & Crowe
A child’s view of heaven, and Shakespeare’s vision of hell: Kirill Karabits pairs Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with dramatic rarities by Berlioz and Debussy.

London Symphony Orchestra/Karabits Half Six Fix
A different way to experience the LSO, with introductions to the music from the conductor, a relaxed atmosphere, and digital programme notes.

London Symphony Orchestra/Karabits & Simovic
Kirill Karabits conducts Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra – plus a rare performance of the Violin Concerto by Bartók’s fellow-Hungarian (and Hollywood legend) Miklós Rózsa.

London Symphony Orchestra/Karabits & Crowe Half Six Fix
A different way to experience the LSO, with introductions to the music from the conductor, a relaxed atmosphere, and digital programme notes.

London Symphony Orchestra musicians/Halsey
A choral celebration to kick-start the festive season, featuring the LSO’s family of singers.

London Symphony Orchestra/Noseda
LSO Principal Guest Conductor Gianandrea Noseda conducts the Orchestra in two works inspired by the writings of Shakespeare.

Hollie Harding: Feral
Film, recordings and violin loudspeakers inspire an exploration of real and imaginary environments in a multimedia concert considering the complex relationship between humans, sounds and ecology.
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.