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Classical music

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

Highlights

Portrait of Jóhann Jóhannsson against a blue and black background
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Jóhann Jóhannsson / London Contemporary Orchestra

This special performance of Jóhann Jóhannsson's Cinematic Suites, brings to life the evocative musical landscapes of three acclaimed films: Prisoners, Sicario and Arrival.

Tamara Stefanovich
Event
Classical music

Tamara Stefanovich in Recital: Labyrinth

Tamara Stefanovich presets Labyrinth - a curated sequence including works by JS Bach (Art of Fugue), Claude Debussy (Preludes), Franz Liszt and Gyorgy Kurtag (Jatekok).

Johann Sebastian Bach Capriccio for the departure of a beloved brother
György Kurtág Eight Piano Pieces, Op 3
'La fille aux cheveux de lin' from Játékok
Claude Debussy Prelude La fille aux cheveux de lin
György Kurtág Birthday Elegy for Judit - for the second finger of her left hand
'Apple Blossom' from Játékok
Franz Liszt Nuages gris
Unstern
György Kurtág Adoration, Adoration, Accursed Desolation
Doina
Claude Debussy 'Des pas sur la neige' from Preludes Book I
Étude 6 pour les huit doigts
Étude 11 pour les arpèges composés
György Kurtág Objet trouvé
12 Microludes
Antiphony in f-sharp
Les adieux
Johann Sebastian Bach Contrapunctus No 1 from Art of the Fugue
György Kurtág Ligatura y
Johann Sebastian Bach Contrapunctus No 14 from Art of the Fugue
Tamara Stefanovich piano
two violinist playing the violin diagonally from each other
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Ryoji Ikeda: music for strings

Ensemble Modern is a curious loudspeaker for music of our times: courageous, uncompromising, energetic. An essential, aesthetically polyglot amplifier for trend-setting sound concepts.

Ryoji Ikeda MIRROR [one for two], Op 12 (2020-23)
  I. for 2 violins
  II. for 2 violins
  III. for 2 violas
Ryoji Ikeda PRISM [for string nonet], Op 14 (2023)
Ryoji Ikeda REFLECTION [for string nonet], Op 13 (2022-23)
Jagdish Mistry violin
Giorgos Panagiotidis violin
Rachel Koblyakov violin
Veronika Paleeva violin
Megumi Kasakawa viola
Victor Guaita Igual viola
Eva Böcker cello
Charles Watt cello
Paul Cannon double bass
Volker Bernhard sound engineering
4 percussionists standing around an installation of 12 suspended cymbals
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Ryoji Ikeda: music for percussion 1 & 2

Alongside his monumental installations combining video and electronic sounds, Japan’s leading electronic composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda has also been working on pure acoustic sounds projects.

Ryoji Ikeda BODY MUSIC [for duo], Op 4 (2016)
  I
  II
  III
Ryoji Ikeda METAL MUSIC, Op 5 (2016)
  I. triangles [for duo]
  II. crotales [for duo]
  III. cymbals [for quartet]
Ryoji Ikeda BOOK MUSIC, Op 9, [for trio](2020)
Ryoji Ikeda BALL MUSIC [for trio] Op 10
  I. marble
  II. ping-pong
  III. baskstball
Ryoji Ikeda RULER MUSIC [for trio] Op 11
  I
  II
  III
  IV
Alexandre Babel percussion
Stéphane Garin percussion
Julien Garin percussion
Amélie Grould percussion
Solem Quartet group photo (from left to right) with William Newell holding a violin Stephanie Tress holding a cello, Amy Tress holding a violin and Stephen Upshaw holding a violin
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Ryoji Ikeda: op. 2+3

An exciting premiere of the joint musical composition by acclaimed Japanese visual artist and composer Ryoji Ikeda and the Solem Quartet. 

Ryoji Ikeda Op 2 [for string quartet] (2001-02)
Ryoji Ikeda Op 3 [for string quartet] (2002)
Amy Tress violin
William Newell violin
Stephen Upshaw violin
Stephanie Tress cello
Black and white photo of Malta. There are three mail musicians performing and three children in the foreground. In the background is the ocean with some boats in it.
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Euchar Gravina: ħsejjes iduru, iduru | sounds spinning, spin

Memories and fragments of the past take on new forms in this concert curated by Euchar Gravina, with works that reimagine old music, weathered recordings and emotive sounds.

Choir dressed in dark blue singing
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Ryoji Ikeda: music for choir

In 2024 Ryoji Ikeda created music for choir for the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste, as part of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024. 

Image of a mountain in a blue circle
Event
Classical music Contemporary music Cinema

Total Immersion: Icelandic Chill - Film & Talk

A screening of the BBC’s classic 2015 nature documentary Iceland: Land of Ice and Fire.

Image of a mountain in a blue circle
Event
Classical music Talks & events Contemporary music

Total Immersion: Icelandic Chill - Meet the Composers #1

Hear from some of the composers whose music will be performed in the afternoon concert in Milton Court Concert Hall. 

Image of BBC Singers edited inside a blue circle
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Total Immersion: Chamber and Choral Icelandic treasures

The BBC Singers and Guildhall Musicians explore Icelandic chamber and vocal music – sounds of wild beauty and quiet, luminous power.

Image of a mountain in a blue circle
Event
Classical music Talks & events Contemporary music

Total Immersion: Icelandic Chill - Meet the Composers #2

Hear from some of the composers whose music will be performed in the evening concert in the Barbican Hall.

 

Image of Bara Gisladottir holding a cello in a blue circle
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Total Immersion: Icelandic Soundworlds

Europe’s most northerly capital city pulses with creativity. Tonight, the BBC Symphony Orchestra embraces the Reykjavík new music scene in all its diversity and flair.

Valerie Fritz holding a cello in front of a stage light
Event
Classical music

ECHO Rising Stars: Valerie Fritz

Austrian cellist and ECHO Rising Star Valerie Fritz performs with acclaimed Bosnion accordionist Goran Stevanovich in the atmospheric setting of LSO St Luke’s. 

Robert Schumann Five Pieces in Folk Style, Op. 102 arr. for Violoncello and Accordion
Olivier Messiaen Louange à l'éternité de Jésus arr. for Violoncello and Accordion
Jennifer Walshe THE SHEER TASK OF BEING ALIVE (UK premiere of ECHO commission)
Sofia Gubaidulina In croce for Violoncello and Akkordeon
Mijolaj Majkusiak Rhythms of doubt, part III
Valerie Fritz cello
Goran Stevanovich accordion
Conductor Gianandrea Noseda holds a microphone and presents his pre-concert Half Six Fix talk
Event
Classical music

London Symphony Orchestra: Half Six Fix – Rachmaninoff

Rachmaninoff's First Symphony, once a failure, now shines with ominous drama and triumphant brass. Under Noseda's baton, the LSO ignites its fiery brilliance.

Serge Rachmaninoff Symphony No 1
London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda conductor & presenter
Patricia Kopatchinskaja on stage at the Barbican Hall playing her violin
Event
Classical music

London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda

Two of Debussy’s restless, impressionistic Nocturnes, Berg’s anguished Violin Concerto; plus Rachmaninoff’s sweeping early symphony, full of youthful energy. 

Claude Debussy Nuages & Fêtes from ‘Three Nocturnes’
Alban Berg Violin Concerto
Serge Rachmaninoff Symphony No 1
London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda conductor
Patricia Kopatchinskaja violin