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Classical music

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London SymphonyOrchestra string section performing on the Barbican Hall stage.
Event
Classical music

London Symphony Orchestra/Half Six Fix – Lachenmann

Kick-start your evening with a Half Six Fix concert. A 60-minute concert, introduced by the performers, with screens in the hall to bring you closer to the action.  

Ludwig van Beethoven First Movement from Symphony No 7
Helmut Lachenmann My Melodies (Music for Eight Horns and Orchestra)
London Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov conductor & presenter
LSO Horns
London SymphonyOrchestra performing on the Barbican Hall stage.
Event
Classical music

London Symphony Orchestra/Ilan Volkov

Two sound worlds, two centuries apart: Lachenmann’s Melodies meets Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. 

Helmut Lachenmann My Melodies (Music for Eight Horns and Orchestra)
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No 7
London Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov conductor
LSO Horns
Two opera characters next to a stone ledge
Event
Classical music

Guildhall School: Autumn Opera Scenes

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Outstanding performers from the first year of Guildhall School’s Opera Course present classical and contemporary operatic excerpts with piano accompaniment.

Martin Lloyd-Evans director
Peiyao Wang designer
Elizabeth Rowe music director
Eli Hunt lighting designer
Hannu Lintu
Event
Classical music

Haydn and Strauss: Nelson Mass and A Hero’s Life

Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), Haydn’s Nelson Mass and pure sonic wonder from Samy Moussa. Hannu Lintu conducts a concert of outsize emotions and truly spectacular sounds. 

Samy Moussa Elysium
Joseph Haydn Nelson Mass (Hob XXII/11)
Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Hannu Lintu conductor
BBC Symphony Chorus
Nardus Williams soprano
Jennifer Johnston mezzo-soprano
Laurence Kilsby tenor
Derek Welton bass-baritone
Photo of Vishwa Mohan Bhatt playing the Mohan veena
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Desert Slide

Celebrated as one of the world's most versatile and expressive Mohan Veena (slide guitar) players, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt brings his Desert Slide ensemble to the Hall. 

The London Symphony Orchestra on the Barbican Hall stage in front of a full audience of families
Event
Classical music

London Symphony Orchestra: Family Concert

We all want just one more story – whether it’s another picture book or another episode of our favourite TV show – but there’s more than one way to tell a tale!

Samantha Ege sat in front of a grand piano
Event
Classical music

Her Stories with Samantha Ege

‘Bold, brilliant, and daring women’ nourish Samantha Ege’s recital of 20th and 21st century piano music, including a work by Havanan ‘fusionista’ Camila Cortina Bello. 

Florence Price Piano Sonata
Camila Cortina Bello Bravura
Odaline de la Martinez Studies in Rhythm
Chen Yi Variations on Awariguli
Gabriela Ortiz Preludio e Estudio No 3
Samantha Ege piano
So Percussion and Caroline Shaw sitting in a row.
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Sō Percussion with Caroline Shaw

Powerhouse percussion ensemble Sō Percussion and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and singer Caroline Shaw return to perform music from their upcoming album, Rectangles and Circumstance.

Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion Songs from Rectangles and Circumstance
Let the Soil Play its Simple Part
Sō Percussion
Caroline Shaw vocals
Danni Lee vocals
Ringdown
Mark DeChiazza staging and design
Stephen Hough sitting on a concrete bench
Event
Classical music

Stephen Hough in Recital

Appearing as both pianist and composer, Stephen Hough wraps fiery Schumann and Chopin around the London premiere of his own sonatina. 

Cécile Chaminade Automne
Autre Fois
Les Sylvains
Robert Schumann Fantasie in C major
Stephen Hough Sonatina Nostalgica
Frédéric Chopin Sonata No 3 in B minor
Stephen Hough piano
Abel Selaocoe playing his cello against a black background, with purple and pink triangular shapes framing the photo
Event
Classical music

Abel Selaocoe: Christmas From Around the World

The BBC Singers join forces once more with their Artist in Association Abel Selaocoe, for a concert of music for the Christmas season from around the world. 

Abel Selaocoe Ancestral Affirmations
Arr Karl Jenkins Gaudete
Abel Selaocoe Emmanuele
Ariel Ramírez (arr Peter Knight) La Peregrinación
Mateo Flecha Ríu Ríu Chíu
Vasyl Barvinsky Szczo to za prediwo
Abel Selaocoe Tsohle Tsohle
Anon There is no rose
William Walton Make we joy now in this fest
Abel Selaocoe Tshepo
Johannes Eccard Vom Himmel hoch
Anon, ed Stephen Cleobury Nowell sing we
Francis Grier Alleluia! I bring you news of great joy
Abel Selaocoe Lerato/Love
Hieronymus Praetorius Joseph, lieber Joseph mein
Michael Praetorius Ein Kind geborn in Bethlehem
Michael Praetorius Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
Abel Selaocoe iBuyile
Jacobus Gallus Canite tuba
Hans Leo Hassler Hodie Christus natus est
Christian Onyeji Amuworo ayi otu nwa
Abel Selaocoe cello/vocals
Sidiki Dembélé african percussion
Alan Keary double bass
Fred Thomas piano
BBC Singers choir
Grace Rossiter conductor
Yeol Eum Son
Event
Classical music

Yeol Eum Son plays Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto

Respighi’s Roman spectacular and a new American classic frame Prokofiev’s most thrilling piano concerto in this BBC Symphony Orchestra debut for conductor Jonathon Heyward and pianist Yeol Eum Son. 

James Lee III Sukkot Through Orion's Nebula (UK premiere)
Sergei Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 2
Ottorino Respighi Fountains of Rome
Pines of Rome
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Jonathon Heyward conductor
Yeol Eum Son piano
Junior Guildhall violinists performing
Event
Classical music

Junior Guildhall Symphony Orchestra and String Ensemble

Two Junior Guildhall ensembles – the Symphony Orchestra and String Ensemble – take to the stage to perform pieces by Nino Rota, Finzi, Strauss and Borodin.

Nino Rota Concerto for Strings
Gerald Finzi Clarinet Concerto
Johann Strauss II Die Fledermaus Overture
Alexander Borodin Symphony No 2
Junior Guildhall Symphony Orchestra
Junior Guildhall String Ensemble
Thomas Young clarinet
Singers in the gospel choir performing on stage
Event
Classical music

A Gospel Christmas

Join Flames Collective for A Gospel Christmas. A choir like no other in the UK, they have received huge praise for their sensational performances with RAYE at the 2024 Brit Awards and at the O2. 

Includes:
Joyful Joyful
Holy Night
Shackles
Love Theory
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Flames Collective
The members of Connaught Brass sitting in a row in front of a white wall, their instruments placed on the floor in front of them.
Event
Classical music

Christmas with Connaught Brass

For its Barbican debut, multi-prize-winning Connaught Brass despatches season’s greetings in a cracker of a programme that gift wraps festive joy with interludes of serene reflection.

Robin Haigh Get Good
Antonio Vivaldi (arr Jeffrey Stone) Concerto in F major
Lili Boulanger Two Pieces (arr for trumpet and piano)
Terry Johns Paolozzi’s Windows
Billy Moore (arr Every) When Santa Got Stuck Up The Chimney
Trad (arr for brass quintet) Come Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl
Gustav Holst (arr Blaskowski) 'Venus' from The Planets
Mark-Anthony Turnage 'Elegy for Andy' and 'Tune for Toru' from True Life Stories
Sergei Prokofiev Lieutenant Kijé Suite
Trad (arr Sarah Latto) Little Girl Blue/O come Emmanuel
Johann Sebastian Bach (arr Simon Hogg) Christmas Oratorio
Connaught Brass:
Aaron Akugbo trumpet
Harry Plant trumpet
Zoë Tweed french horn
Chris Brewster trombone
Aled Meredith-Barrett tuba
Zeynep Ozsuca piano
Khatia Buniatishvili wearing a coral pink dress, resting her head on her hand
Event
Classical music

Khatia Buniatishvili and Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Following last year’s solo recital, accompanied by the perennially stylish Academy of St Martin in the Fields, pianist Khatia Bhuniatishvili returns for Mozart's Piano Concerto No 23.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni Overture
Piano Concerto No 23
Felix Mendelssohn The Hebrides Overture*
Joseph Haydn Symphony No 104
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Khatia Buniatishvili piano