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Classical music

Browse concerts from the Barbican Classical Music programme featuring leading orchestras and soloists from around the world.

Highlights

Sir Antonio Pappano conducting the LSO on the Barbican stage, holding a baton, with LSO string players in the foreground of the image and audience members in the background.
Event
Classical music

London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano

Sir Antonio Pappano conducts two dramatic, emotionally intense American symphonies, both born of 20th-century tumult. 

Leonard Bernstein Symphony No 3, Kaddish (revised version)
Aaron Copland Symphony No 3
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Antonio Pappano conductor
Dame Felicity Palmer narrator
Katharina Konradi soprano
Tiffin Boys' Choir
London Symphony Chorus
Image of an orchestra performing with multiple people stood in line playing the flute
Event
Classical music

London Schools Symphony Orchestra

The LSSO returns to the Barbican following its summer tour of Yorkshire and Birmingham, with a programme including Sibelius' Finlandia and Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony.

Sir Antonio Pappano standing on the podium facing the audience, talking to the audience, with the London Symphony Orchestra sat on-stage behind him
Event
Classical music

London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Copland

Kick-start your evening with a 60-minute Half Six Fix concert. Sir Antonio Pappano introduces and conducts Copland's Third Symphony, with screens in the hall to bring you closer to the action.

Aaron Copland Symphony No 3
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Antonio Pappano conductor
Seong-Jin Cho sat at a piano, facing towards the keys, with his arm resting on the lid of the instrument
Event
Classical music

London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano

Beethoven’s defiant Symphony No 5 meets the sneering mockery of Shostakovich and Prokofiev in exhilarating mood.

Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No 9
Sergei Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 2
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No 5
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Antonio Pappano conductor
Seong-Jin Cho piano
Janine Jansen on the Barbican stage, in front of the orchestra, playing the violin
Event
Classical music

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.

Benjamin Britten Violin Concerto
Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No 10
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Antonio Pappano conductor
Janine Jansen violin
A silhouette of a violinist in front of a multi colour background
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

ANNO: Four Seasons by Anna Meredith & Antonio Vivaldi

Experience the passage of time through a surprising and utterly fresh interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

This programme features Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons interspersed with electronic compositions by Anna Meredith, with projections of visual art by Eleanor Meredith.
Scottish Ensemble
Anna Meredith electronics and composer
Eleanor Meredith visual art
Conductor Daniela Candillari wearing white shirt with hands clasped
Event
Classical music

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra & Chorus: Messa di Gloria

Guildhall School launches a new academic year with a spectacular evening, including Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, under the baton of internationally acclaimed conductor Daniela Candillari.

Guildhall Symphony Orchestra 
Guildhall Symphony Chorus
Daniela Candillari conductor
Linnhe Robertson chorus director
Jan-Magnar Gard baritone
Harry Jacques tenor
Redmond Sanders baritone
Britten Sinfonia and Jeneba Kanneh-Mason
Event
Classical music

Britten Sinfonia and Jeneba Kanneh-Mason

Rising star Jeneba Kanneh-Mason is the soloist in Mozart’s exquisite and lyrical concerto, while Britten Sinfonia performs Schubert’s most Mozart-like symphony, filled with grace and invention.

Elena Kats-Chernin Fast Blue Village 5
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No 23 K488
Robin Haigh Grin
Franz Schubert Symphony No 5
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason piano
Britten Sinfonia
Quartz Saxophone Quartet
Event
Classical music

Quartz Saxophone Quartet

Celebrating 30 years since forming at Guildhall, the Quartz Saxophone Quartet returns to launch a new CD with music by Mick Foster, joined by Guildhall performers.

Bushra El-Turk's Oum - A Son's Quest for his Mother c. Bart Grietens
Event
Classical music Theatre & dance

Oum – A Son’s Quest for His Mother

The UK premiere of award-winning Bushra El-Turk’s contemporary opera, inspired by a song from Egyptian legend Oum Kalthoum, with star singers Ghalia Benali, Dima Orsho & Bernadeta Astari.

Bushra El-Turk and Kenza Koutchoukali Oum – A Son’s Quest for His Mother
Nadia Amin actor
Ghalia Benali contralto
Dima Orsho mezzo-soprano
Bernadeta Astari soprano
Bushra El-Turk composition
Wout Van Tongeren text adaptation
Kanako Abe musical direction
Kenza Koutchoukali stage director
Yannick Verweij set designer
Hannah Sibai costume designer
Yuri Schreuders lighting designer
Wout Van Tongeren dramaturgy
Roshanak Morrowatian choreography
Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra
Elias El Houssaini Musical project leader & director for Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra
Image of Sakari Oramo surrounded by a blue circle against a blue background
Event
Classical music

Oramo conducts Mahler's Ninth Symphony

Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra open their new season with Mahler’s heartrending Ninth Symphony.

Gustav Mahler Symphony No 9
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo conductor
Lang Lang
Event
Classical music

Lang Lang

One of the most influential pianists of the 21st century plays music by Fauré, Schumann and Chopin.

Gabriel Fauré Pavane in F-sharp minor
Robert Schumann Kreisleriana
Frederic Chopin Mazurkas:
Op 7, No 3
Op 17, Nos 1, 2 & 4
Op 24, Nos 2 & 4
Op 30, No 3 & 4
Op 33, No 3, 4 & 2
Op 59, No 3
Polonaise in F# minor, Op 44
Lang Lang piano
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir standing in the forest
Event
Classical music

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir: Adam's Lament

The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is joined by the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra for an evening of beloved 20th century works in celebration of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt's 90th birthday. 

Arvo Pärt Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
L’abbé Agathon
Adam’s Lament
-Interval-
Ester Mägi Vesper
Arvo Pärt Fratres
Te Deum
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Maria Listra soprano
Harry Traksmann violin
Tõnu Kaljuste conductor
Dalia Stasevska
Event
Classical music

John Luther Adams's Become Ocean

Become Ocean: Dalia Stasevska conducts John Luther Adams’s 21st century cult classic.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir ARCHORA
György Ligeti Atmosphères
John Luther Adams Become Ocean
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska conductor
Image of Aaron Akugbo against a floral backdrop and purple lines across two corners
Event
Classical music

BBC Singers and Aaron Azunda Akugbo

The BBC Singers and Principal Guest Conductor Owain Park join forces with acclaimed Nigerian-Scottish trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo.