Press room

Today (Tuesday 8 April, 10am) the Barbican announces its forthcoming season of classical music from September 2025 – July 2026. 

The season will champion new and radical performances, spotlighting diverse and groundbreaking artists whose work is profoundly engaged with the issues of the day. Across 2025 and 2026, there will be premieres from Bushra El-Turk, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Catherine Lamb, Blasio Kavuma, Tansy Davies, and Tyshawn Sorey among others, with performances by Davóne Tines, Seth Parker Woods, Compagnie Amala Dianor, Theatre of Kiribati and many more. The season will also feature Fragile Earth - a series of events that focus on our relationship with the natural world, including UK premieres of work by Julia Wolfe and Lemi Ponifasio. Alongside these will sit international ensembles, artist residencies, and major anniversaries showcasing the widest possible spectrum of classical music – from beloved favourites to groundbreaking new music, from internationally-renowned artists to rising stars.

Joining the Barbican in its announcement are its family of artistic associates: Resident Orchestra London Symphony Orchestra, Associate Orchestra BBC Symphony Orchestra, Associate Ensemble Academy of Ancient Music and Artistic Associate Darbar Arts Culture Heritage Trust – all of whom the Barbican is privileged to host and collaborate with regularly throughout the season. 

The 2025-2026 classical season at the Barbican begins with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano performing a double bill of great American symphonies: Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No 3, 'Kaddish', and Aaron Copland's Symphony No 3 on Sunday 14 September 2025. The first concert in the Barbican’s own promotion programme is Anna Meredith’s Anno, performed by Scottish Ensemble on 25 September 2025, part of the Fragile Earth series. 

Helen Wallace, Barbican Head of Music says: 

"The Barbican is here to platform bold new work that engages with our times, and to bring exciting artists from all over the world to London audiences. I’m thrilled to be presenting a string of new projects from Bushra El-Turk, Tansy Davies, and Hildur Guðnadóttir to Julia Wolfe, Hania Rani and Tyshawn Sorey. It’s also a joy to welcome such a breadth of visiting ensembles onto our stages - from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Les Arts Florissants to the Theatre of Kiribati, who join our treasured resident, the London Symphony Orchestra and artistic associates the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music and Darbar. Their rich programmes include operatic highlights, special festivals and projects that speak to the Barbican’s own deep dive into our relationship with the environment. We’re proud to be offering residencies to bass-baritone Davóne Tines and pianist Gabriela Montero, as well as honouring Arvo Pärt in his 90th year."

Highlights:
 

• Fragile Earth - a major new concert series exploring our relationship with the natural world, with works by Julia Wolfe, Anna Meredith, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Lemi Ponifasio, and featuring Robert Macfarlane, Theatre of Kiribati, Ligeti Quartet, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and many more. Fragile Earth will be part of a wider cross-arts season of events in the autumn.
• Barbican artist residencies with bass-baritone Davóne Tines & pianist Gabriela Montero
• LSO artist residencies with pianist Seong-Jin Cho, and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja & violist Antoine Tamestit
• Gesualdo Passione - Amala Dianor Compagnie and Les Arts Florissants present Gesualdo Passione as part of Dance Umbrella
• Arvo Pärt at 90 - The Barbican welcomes the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir as part of its celebrations of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt in his 90th year
• Iceland Focus - An Icelandic focus with works from Hildur Guðnadóttir, Jóhann Jóhannsson and a BBC Symphony Orchestra Total Immersion exploring music from Iceland
• Darbar Festival at 20 - of Indian classical music celebrates its 20th anniversary in October
• Opera highlights include the Barbican’s presentation of the UK premiere of Bushra El-Turk’s Oum - A Son’s Quest for His Mother, the London Symphony Orchestra’s performances of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair, BBC Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Puccini’s La Rondine, and Academy of Ancient Music’s performance of Handel’s Serse
• Visiting ensembles including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia of London, The Tallis Scholars, Nederlands Kamerkoor and more
• Recitals by a wide range of artists from pianists Lang Lang, Maria Joāo Pires and Marc-André Hamelin, to cellist Seth Parker Woods and Consone Quartet x Chiaroscuro Quartet
• LIMINAL - a new series signalling the Barbican’s commitment to the future of music

Full information about all the performances in the forthcoming season can be found below.

A selection of images can be found here. 

For listings please click here.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public on 16 April 2025. Advance tickets go on sale to Barbican Patrons 1 on 9 April, Barbican Patrons 2 on 11 April, Barbican Members Plus on 14 April and Barbican Members on 15 April.

For further information, images or to enquire about interviews please contact:

Ed Maitland Smith, Communications Manager for Music
e – [email protected]

t – 0203 834 1115 

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Full details for the Barbican and its artistic resident and associate programmes follow below:

NEW WORKS, COMMISSIONS AND PREMIERES

New commissions, premieres, and boundary-pushing work are threaded through the forthcoming season. Six major new works by Bushra El-Turk, Hania Rani, Julia Wolfe, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Tansy Davies and Âme & Lawrence Power will receive their premieres at the Barbican in the 2025-26 season, among many others.
 

• Bushra El-Turk’s Oum – A Son’s Quest for His Mother: The Barbican presents the UK premiere of Ivor Novello winning composer Bushra El-Turk’s ode to a hidden icon in Oum – A Son’s Quest for His Mother, directed by Kenza Koutchoukali with musical direction from Kanako Abe. In Oum,19-year-old Wahab struggles through a nighttime snowstorm on his way to the hospital where his mother lies dying. This is his last chance to untangle the knot of his relationship with her. Deep in his heart, Wahab carries the song Al-Atlal (“The Ruins”) by the Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum. The song embodies the sorrow of a lost home, the longing for love, and ultimately the promise of reconciliation amidst the fragments of a broken relationship. (2 Oct 2025)
   
• Hania Rani & Manchester Collective: Non Fiction: A Piano Concerto in Four Movements: The world premiere performance of a new piano concerto: Non Fiction by Polish composer and pianist Hania Rani. Rani will be joined in the Barbican Hall by the 45-piece Manchester Collective led by violinist Rakhi Singh with special guests Jack Wyllie (saxophone) and Valentina Magaletti (drums), conducted by Hugh Brunt. Non Fiction is Rani’s first piano concerto and symphonic work, composed in response to the discovery in 2020 of the compositions of a young music prodigy, Josima Feldschuh, written during the horrors of World War II in the Warsaw Ghetto. (25-26 Nov 2025) 
   
• Julia Wolfe: unEarth: A major new co-production of Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Julia Wolfe’s new work receives its UK premiere at the Barbican. Performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Martyn Brabbins, BBC Singers, National Youth Choir and Danish soprano Else Torp, unEarth is a large-scale oratorio combining ancient languages, poetry and protest in a moving and urgent plea to engage in the climate emergency. Directed by Anne Kauffman, the project is a co-production between the Barbican, BBC SO and Bang on a Can productions. (23 Jan 2026)
   
• Hildur Guðnadóttir: Where to From: Icelandic musician and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir returns for a special evening of music co-commissioned by the Barbican alongside a consortium of partner venues and festivals - featuring Guðnadóttir on vocals and cello, alongside a trio of musicians and two vocalists, complemented by lighting design. As Guðnadóttir approaches the 20th anniversary of her first solo record mount A, the concert will span compositions from two decades music exploring the relationship between strings and voices, and the space that music both creates and captures. (21 Mar 2026)
   
• Tansy Davies: Passion of Mary Magdalene with Dunedin Consort: In the third and final concert in a cycle of commissions with the Dunedin Consort over the last three years, British composer Tansy Davies’ Passion of Mary Magdalene receives its world premiere at the Barbican. Audiences will have the opportunity to imagine the Passion story from a woman’s perspective, and a chance to hear a contemporary composition played by a leading Baroque ensemble - who have previously presented world premieres at the Barbican by Cassandra Miller and David Fennessy in this cycle. (24 Mar 2026) 
   
• Darkness Visible: Âme x Lawrence Power: Âme creative studio make their Barbican debut with violist Lawrence Power in a concert that breaks down the walls of the concert hall and takes you on a musical journey across the City of London at night. In Darkness Visible, dynamic live performance is interwoven with filmed projections by director Jessie Rodger and 360° sound design from producer Brett Cox. Power will lead audiences through a selection of hidden spaces after dark, stepping from the boards of the Barbican stage to the shimmering streets of the City and back again, as if by magic, alongside a group of very special musical guests. (7 May 2026)
   

FRAGILE EARTH 

A new series exploring our relationship with the natural world. Fragile Earth is part of a major cross-arts Barbican season for which more events in the Barbican’s Cinema, Theatre & Dance, Visual Arts and Talks programmes will be announced later this year.

• Anna Meredith and Scottish Ensemble - Anno: Composer Anna Meredith presents Anno, a sensory experience of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, disrupting Vivaldi’s bucolic evocations with dazzling electronics. Performed by Scottish Ensemble, the concert will also feature dynamic and beautiful projections created by visual artist Eleanor Meredith. Audiences will experience a year in an hour, as musicians and projects create a cycle of sound and light that merges, collides and cocoons. (25 Sep 2025) 
   
• BBCSO: John Luther Adams's Become Ocean: Principal Guest Conductor Dalia Stasevska conducts one of the defining and Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpieces of the 21st century: John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean. The luminous expanse of music with a timely, troubling and yet hopeful message about our relationship with the natural world will be performed by the Barbican’s Associate Orchestra: the BBC Symphony Orchestra. (8 Oct 2025) 
   
• Hayden Thorpe & Robert Macfarlane: Song of Ness: Singer-songwriter and former Wild Beasts frontman Hayden Thorpe makes his Barbican headline debut bringing the poignant words and melodies from his latest album Ness. Inspired by the eerie fable of best-selling place author Robert Macfarlane and artist Stanley Donwood’s book of the same title, the album reimagines the atmospheric landscapes of Suffolk nature reserve Orford Ness and is brought to life with Thorpe performing alongside Macfarlane and Propellor Ensemble as well as an ensemble of Musicians from the next-door Guildhall School of Music & Drama. (16 Oct 2025 – previously announced)
   
• Ligeti Quartet: Sunrise Missions: Ligeti Quartet traces the shifting contours of memory, nature, and change in a programme including a Barbican co-commission with the SHM Foundation and world premiere by London-based composer Blasio Kavuma, whose work explores the intersection of Western classical and Afro-diasporic music. The programme will also feature Kaija Saariaho’s Terra Memoria, Cassandra Miller’s Warbleworks 1-4, Wadada Leo Smith’s String Quartet No 5, and conclude with John Luther Adams’ The Wind in High Places. Blasio Kavuma’s commission, part of LIMINAL, is generously supported by the SHM Foundation. (27 Nov 2025)
   
• The Hermes Experiment: Let Us Be a Mighty River: Taking over the Barbican’s verdant Conservatory, The Hermes Experiment collaborate with five international sound artists for an immersive concert-installation responding to the climate emergency. The day will showcase sonic essays by Monthati Masebe (South Africa), Kathy Hinde (UK), Sandeep Bhagwati (India/Germany), Bint Mbareh (Palestine), and Martha Hincapié Charry (Colombia), each giving a unique perspective on climate change. Symbolised as 'islands,' these perspectives are connected into a unified call for action - the 'mighty river.' (7 Dec 2025)
   
• The Marian Consort: The Language of Flowers: Acclaimed choral ensemble The Marian Consort pays tribute to flowers and gardens - both actual and allegorical - with music from the late Renaissance to the present day. The performance will also include new commissions by composers Amy Bryce and Leo Chadburn (7 Dec 2025) 
   
• Julia Wolfe: unEarth: A major new co-production of Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Julia Wolfe’s new work receives its UK premiere at the Barbican. Performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Martyn Brabbins, BBC Singers, National Youth Choir and Danish soprano Else Torp, unEarth is a large-scale oratorio combining ancient languages, poetry and protest in a moving and urgent plea to engage in the climate emergency. Directed by Anne Kauffman, the project is a co-production between the Barbican, BBC SO and Bang on a Can productions. (23 Jan 2026) 
   
• Britten Sinfonia/Stevens & Pound: Earth and other planets with Robert Macfarlane: Britten Sinfonia and folk duo Stevens & Pound present a re-imagining of Holst’s The Planets in The Silent Planet (Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and, lastly, Earth) – interspersed with text written and narrated by nature and place writer Robert Macfarlane. The concert will also include three works evoking different earthly places and landscapes by Ravel, Britten and Grainger. (28 Jan 2026)
   
• Sea Beneath The Skin/Song of the Earth: Reflecting upon the words of the late Kiribati poet and activist Teresia Teaiwa, Lemi Ponifasio’s Sea Beneath The Skin creates a ceremonial performance with the Theatre of Kiribati and Britten Sinfonia - at a time when the Theatre of Kiribati performers' homeland, Kiribati, is experiencing the devastating and overwhelming impacts of climate change. Joined by mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, the project invokes the life of our collective body and our communion with the world beyond humanity, juxtaposing and intertwining Pacific traditional rituals with Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in an emotional human outcry. (2 Feb 2026)
   
• Britten Sinfonia: Recycling Concerto: Nature and conservation are at the heart of this uplifting programme of orchestral works. Across the evening Britten Sinfonia will perform Beethoven’s beloved ‘Pastoral’ Symphony No 6, 20th century Finnish composer Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus – a concerto for birds and orchestra featuring field recordings of curlews, shore larks and whooper swans, and Mayrhofer’s concerto of repurposed rubbish: the Recycling Concerto. (12 Mar 2026) 
   
• Yeol Eum Son plays Bartók's Third Piano Concerto: A programme that bursts with all of the life and colour of the natural world - from the birdsong evoked in Bartok’s Piano Concerto No 3 to Gerald Finzi’s pastoral Eclogue and Judith Weir’s The Welcome Arrival of Rain with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo. Korean pianist Yeol Eum Son will perform Bartok’s Piano Concerto No 3 before the performance culminates with the folklore, fairytales and magic of Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (1945). (13 Mar 2026)
   

ARVO PÄRT at 90

Following his 90th birthday on 11 September 2025, the Barbican is proud to present a series of concerts celebrating Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, whose vast creative output, new musical language and breadth of work has, for many around the world, changed the course of late 20th century music.

• Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir: Adam's Lament: The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Chief Conductor Tõnu Kaljuste join forces with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra to present some of Arvo Pärt’s best known works including Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, L’Abbé Agathon, Fratres and Te Deum alongside Estonian 20th century composer Ester Mägi’s Vesper for string orchestra. (7 Oct 2025)
   
• Workshop: Come & Sing Arvo Pärt/The Carice Singers: Open to everyone but targeted at singers up for a challenge, this one-off workshop gives participants a chance to rehearse and perform two of Pärt’s choral pieces Morning Star and The Beatitudes together with The Carice Singers and organist Christopher Bowers-Broadbent ahead of their performance in the evening. (8 Nov 2025) 
   
• The Carice Singers: Infinity Flow: UK choir TheCarice Singers celebrate Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday with a programme of his most spellbinding choral works paired with works by two of his Estonian contemporaries: Ukrainian composer Galina Grigorjeva and the world premiere of new music written for the choir by Evelin Seppar. Organist Christopher Bowers-Broadbent will join for Pärt's An den Wassern zu Babel and The Beatitudes. (8 Nov 2025) 
   
• 12 Ensemble: Pärt Refracted: The Barbican’s celebrations of Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday conclude with contemporary responses to the Estonian composer’s music. London-based 12 Ensemble present a programme of new works by DJ and producer Koreless, producer and composer Floating Points, composer and violinist Sasha Scott and composer and cellist Oliver Coates woven around some of Pärt’s most beloved pieces. (26 Nov 2025) 
   

BARBICAN ARTIST RESIDENCIES 2025-2026

Across the 2025-2026 season, the Barbican will host two classical residencies giving artists the opportunity to present works, projects and visions especially close to their hearts. The first of the residencies is with bass baritone Davóne Tines, who explores the work of Julius Eastman, and joins in collaboration with other cutting-edge contemporaries. The second is with Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero who will be the Barbican’s Artist-in-Residence at Milton Court. 
 

DAVÓNE TINES – ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

The Barbican’s first Artist-In-Residence for 2025-2026, bass baritone Davóne Tines gives three performances across the season variously showcasing radical new works, and a celebration of pioneering composer Julius Eastman.

• Julius Eastman: A Power Greater Than with Davóne Tines curated by Seth Parker Woods, featuring AMOC* & Kyle Marshall Dance Company: American bass baritone Davóne Tines performs in an evening of music and dance, celebrating the works and life of pioneering composer Julius Eastman in a project curated by cellist Seth Parker Woods. Tines is joined by the American Modern Opera Company and the Kyle Marshall Dance Company, as well as soloists JIJI (guitar), Seth Parker Woods (cello), Adam Tendler, Richard Valitutto, and Conor Hanick (piano) for a programme that includes Gay Guerilla, The Holy Presence of Joan D'Arc, Touch Him When, and Piano 2. (28 Oct 2025) 
   
• Rustioni conducts Bernstein and Rachmaninoff with Davóne Tines’ ANTHEM: The second concert of bass baritone Davóne Tines’ residency – here with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Daniele Rustioni. In Concerto No 2: ANTHEM, Tines collaborates with an array of living American composers (Michael Schachter, Caroline Shaw and Tyshawn Sorey), and poet Mahogony L. Browne, to ask what a nation is, and what it might yet be. Tines says “ANTHEM could be construed as a socio-political statement, or an open invitation for Americans to reconsider our foundations and core ideals.” Placed between Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from 'West Side Story' and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No 3, written during his period of exile in America, it forms the centrepiece to an evening that asks ‘what is the true voice of America?’. (13 Feb 2026)
   
• Tyshawn Sorey: Monochromatic Light (Afterlife): Davóne Tines joins composer and conductor Tyshawn Sorey and other musicians in St Giles Cripplegate – the medieval church across the Barbican Lakeside - for a project commemorating the 50th anniversary of Houston’s Rothko Chapel. Fifty years ago, composer Morton Feldman wrote music to commemorate the opening of the chapel. A half-century later, composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist, MacArthur ‘Genius’ and now Pulitzer prize-winning Tyshawn Sorey has created a new piece as a tribute to both the deeply contemplative space and the work by Feldman that has influenced his creative output. This project will go on sale at a later date. (22 June 2026)
   

GABRIELA MONTERO – ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE AT MILTON COURT

The Barbican’s second artist residency for the 2025-26 season is with Venezuelan pianist GabrielaMontero who will be Artist-in-Residence at Milton Court and whose interpretations paired with compositional flair have garnered her critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage. Across three concerts, Montero demonstrates her far-reaching musicality and versality as a performer.

• Gabriela Montero with the Calidore Quartet: Canaima: Celebrated Venezuelan pianist and composer Gabriela Montero is joined by the New York-based string quartet Calidore Quartet for a programme of chamber music including a new work, Canaima, by Montero herself.  (11 Nov 2025)
   
• Montero plays Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto with BBC Symphony Orchestra: Emotion and natural wonders combine in the second concert of Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero’s Barbican residency. Montero takes to the stage to perform Rachmaninoff’s sublimePiano Concerto No 2 with Barbican Associate Orchestra the BBC Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Kristiina Poska, who will also present the UK premiere of Julia Adolphe’s Underneath the Sheen and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5. (27 Feb 2026) 
   
• Gabriela Montero in Recital: Milton Court Artist in Residence Gabriela Montero presents a programme of piano works from and inspired by Spain. From Soler and Albéniz to Granados, music by Spanish composers will form the focus of the performance with Chopin’s Bolero – inspired by the Spanish dance – and Liszt’s Rhapsodie Espagnole completing the programme. (1 May 2026)

VISITING ENSEMBLES

• Anna Meredith and Scottish Ensemble - Anno: Composer Anna Meredith presents Anno, a sensory experience of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, disrupting Vivaldi’s bucolic evocations with dazzling electronics. Performed by Scottish Ensemble, the concert will also feature dynamic and beautiful projections created by visual artist Eleanor Meredith. Audiences will experience a year in an hour, as musicians and projects create a cycle of sound and light that merges, collides and cocoons. (25 Sep 2025)
   
• Bushra El-Turk’s Oum – A Son’s Quest for His Mother: The Barbican presents the UK premiere of Ivor Novello winning composer Bushra El-Turk’s ode to a hidden icon in Oum– A Son’s Quest for His Mother, directed by Kenza Koutchoukali with musical direction from Kanako Abe. In Oum,19-year-old Wahab struggles through a nighttime snowstorm on his way to the hospital where his mother lies dying. This is his last chance to untangle the knot of his relationship with her. Deep in his heart, Wahab carries the song Al-Atlal (“The Ruins”) by the Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum. The song embodies the sorrow of a lost home, the longing for love, and ultimately the promise of reconciliation amidst the fragments of a broken relationship. (2 Oct 2025)
   
• Les Arts Florissants & Amala Dianor Company - Gesualdo Passione: Combining a cappella singing with the emotional power of the body, Gesualdo Passione marks the culmination of conductor Paul Agnew and Les Arts Florissants' work on the music of Carlo Gesualdo, transforming his 1611 Responsories for Holy Week into a contemporary creation by choreographer Amala Dianor, performed with dancers from Amala Dianor Compagnie. Uniting past and present Gesualdo Passione also forms part of the wider international dance festival Dance Umbrella. (16 Oct 2025)
   
• Sinfonia of London: Serenade: Conductor John Wilson’s Sinfonia of London return with a rare opportunity to hear their sumptuous strings alone. Serenade brings major string works from Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, Frederick Delius, and Edward Elgar. Audiences will also hear Arthur Bliss’s Music for Strings - in the 50th anniversary year of the composer’s death. The ensemble will be joined by tenor Laurence Kilsby and horn player Christopher Parkes for Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn and strings. (22 Oct 2025) 
   
• Julius Eastman: A Power Greater Than with Davóne Tines curated by Seth Parker Woods, featuring AMOC* & Kyle Marshall Dance Company: American bass baritone Davóne Tines performs in an evening of music and dance, celebrating the works and life of pioneering composer Julius Eastman in a project curated by cellist Seth Parker Woods. Tines is joined by the American Modern Opera Company and the Kyle Marshall Dance Company, as well as soloists JIJI (guitar), Seth Parker Woods (cello), Adam Tendler, Richard Valitutto, and Conor Hanick (piano) for a programme that includes Gay Guerilla, The Holy Presence of Joan D'Arc, Touch Him When, and Piano 2. (28 Oct 2025) 
   
• Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle: The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra return to the Barbican with their new Chief Conductor Sir Simon Rattle. Barbican audiences will be familiar with Sir Simon Rattle’s performances of Janáček operas with the London Symphony Orchestra, and in this concert will be able to hear Janáček’s rhapsodic Taras Bulba alongside Bruckner’s monumental Symphony No 7. (12 Nov 2025) 
   
• Hania Rani & Manchester Collective: Non Fiction: A Piano Concerto in Four Movements: The world premiere performance of a new piano concerto: Non Fiction by Polish composer and pianist Hania Rani. Rani will be joined in the Barbican Hall by the 45-piece Manchester Collective led by violinist Rakhi Singh with special guests Jack Wyllie (saxophone) and Valentina Magaletti (drums), conducted by Hugh Brunt. Non Fiction is Rani’s first piano concerto and symphonic piece, composed in response to the discovery in 2020 of the compositions of a young music prodigy, Josima Feldschuh, written during the horrors of World War II in the Warsaw Ghetto. (25-26 Nov 2025) 
   
• The National Youth Orchestra: Conducted by Alexandre Bloch, and joined by cellist Inbal Segev, this new cohort of exceptional young players in The National Youth Orchestra will perform a mixed programme that spans eras and continents, from Debussy’s Ibéria – inspired by the composer’s impressions of Spain – to British composer Anna Clyne’s 2019 work DANCE for cello and orchestra. (4 Jan 2026) 
   
• The Tallis Scholars: Mysteries & Miracles: A programme exploring miraculous events in the life of Jesus, performed by the world-renowned The Tallis Scholars and director Peter Phillips. The programme will include works by Giovanni Gabrieli, Giaches de Wert, Arvo Pärt, Judith Weir and Thomas Tallis, among others. (26 Mar 2026)
   
• Arcangelo: St Matthew Passion: Internationally acclaimed period performance ensemble Arcangelo performs J S Bach’s oratorio St Matthew Passion, ahead of the Easter weekend. The performance will be directed from the harpsichord by Jonathan Cohen and will feature Nick Pritchard as the Evangelist and AlexRosen as Christus. (1 Apr 2026) 
   
• Nederlands Kamerkoor: Forgotten: This project examines one of the fastest growing common causes of death in the Western world: dementia. Forgotten: a musical exploration of living with dementia will take audiences into the mind of a dementia patient – through fear, confusion, memory loss, and ultimately surrender to the unknown. The work is presented and performed by Nederlands Kamerkoor, a group of internationally acclaimed choral singers that are known and praised for their often innovative, cross-disciplinary projects. (15 May 2026)
   
• Le Poème Harmonique: Allegri's Miserere: French ensemble Le Poème Harmonique explores the mystical and ceremonial energy at the heart of music from the Counter Reformation, led by its director Vincent Dumestre. The programme, which includes Allegri’s Miserere mei Deus, brings together works that were transformed from profane settings to the spiritual when rewritten and reinterpreted by the poets of the day. (1 Jun 2026) 
   

RECITALS

• Lang Lang: One of the most influential pianists of the 21st century, Lang Lang gives the second of his two recitals at the Barbican in 2025 with a programme of music by Fauré, Schumann and Chopin (6 Oct 2025)
   
• Seth Parker Woods: Thus Spoke Their Verse: Anchored by three Bach Sarabandes, cellist Seth Parker Woods makes his debut performance at the Barbican, exploring three centuries of cello music, focusing on identity, storytelling, and polyphony in a performance in the Medieval church of St Giles Cripplegate, across the Barbican Lakeside. (24 Oct 2025)
   
• Consone Quartet X Chiaroscuro Quartet: Two premier quartets join forces to present an evening of beloved chamber works with string quartets by Haydn and Beethoven, culminating in Mendelssohn’s Octet in E flat major, Op 20 – a work credited as the first example of the Octet as a form. (4 Dec 2025)
   
• Arcadi Volodos in Recital: Following the success of his memorable 2019 appearance, master pianist Arcadi Volodos returns to London for a solo recital at the Barbican. He will play a programme of Schubert, Schumann, and Volodos’ own arrangement of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No 13 in A minor. (12 Dec 2025)
   
• Maxim Vengerov and Polina Osetinskaya in Recital: World-renowned duo of violinist Maxim Vengerov and pianist Polina Osetinskaya return to the Barbican with a varied programme beginning in Soviet Russia via Shostakovich’s emotionally wrought Violin Sonata and Jewish Folk Poetry Suite and ending in earlier romantic works by Brahms and Schubert. (28 Jan 2026) 
   
• Tamara Stefanovich in Recital: Labyrinth: Tamara Stefanovich, one of the leading performers of contemporary piano repertoire, highlights Hungarian composer György Kurtag's music as an intention to be lost - such that one has to find a way out and forge a new language. Labyrinth is an analogy for a life path, a puzzle to be solved – across a programme surrounding Kurtág’s works with pieces by Bach and Debussy. (19 Feb 2026) 
   
• Fretwork with Ian Bostridge & Elizabeth Kenny: The finest lutenist of his era, John Dowland was also one of England’s greatest composers. His first book of songs, published in 1597 was one of the most popular prints of music of the time and hugely influential. Joined by tenor Ian Bostridge and lutenist Elizabeth Kenny, British viol consort Fretwork present John Dowland's Lachrimæs, 400 years after the great English composer’s death. (3 Mar 2026) 
   
• Evgeny Kissin in Recital: Celebrated pianist Evgeny Kissin returns to the Barbican in recital. In a programme of works by Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann and Liszt, one of the world’s most sought-after pianists presents a programme demonstrating the piano’s full, expressive range. (31 Mar 2026) 
   
• Maria Joāo Pires and Marc-André Hamelin in Recital: Legendary pianists Maria João Pires and Marc-André Hamelin join forces for the first time to perform seminal works from the piano duet repertoire including Mozart’s masterful Sonata in C K521 and Schubert’s much-loved F minor Fantasie. (18 Apr 2026)
   
• Anne-Sophie Mutter: World-renowned violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter celebrates her 50th anniversary as a performer on stage at the Barbican in 2026 presenting a programme joined by fellow trio musicians cellist Maximilian Hornung and pianist Lauma Skride. (16 May 2026) 
   
• Elisabeth Leonskaja In Recital: World renowned Russian-Austrian pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja brings her exceptional musicality to the Barbican Hall for the first time in over a decade – in a programme of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert piano sonatas. (23 Jun 2026) 
   

LIMINAL

A new series signalling the Barbican’s commitment to the future of music. LIMINAL will exist to explore the space between electronic and acoustic music, often presenting new works, showcasing bold commissions and platforming composers from underrepresented backgrounds.

• Explore Ensemble & EXAUDI: Eight Lines: Bringing an alternative slant to American minimalism, London's Explore Ensemble and the EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble combine to present works by James Tenney and Steve Reich, culminating with Barbican co-commission of a major new work and world premiere for voices and instruments by composer Catherine Lamb. (1 Nov 2025) 
   
• Ligeti Quartet: Sunrise Missions: Ligeti Quartet traces the shifting contours of memory, nature, and change, in a programme including a Barbican co-commission with the SHM Foundation and world premiere by London-based composer Blasio Kavuma whose work explores the intersection of Western classical and Afro-diasporic music. The programme will also feature Kaija Saariaho’s Terra Memoria, Cassandra Miller’s Warbleworks 1-4, Wadada Leo Smith’s String Quartet No 5, and conclude with John Luther Adams’ The Wind in High Places. Blasio Kavuma’s commission, part of LIMINAL, is generously supported by the SHM Foundation. (27 Nov 2025)
   
• Riot Ensemble: Too Much is Never Enough: Surrealistic, technicolour and deliciously excessive, Riot Ensemble serves up new music by a fearless generation of composers. With the UK premiere of Corie Rose Soumah’s Limpidités IV, alongside the sugar-rush chaos of Alex Paxton’s Shrimp BIT Babyface, the video-game frenzy of Anna Meredith’s Brisk Widow, and the UK premiere of Eden Lonsdale’s delicate Tränen und Ozean, audiences can forget restraint and indulge in the exhilarating mess of the moment. (22 Jan 2026)
   

ICELAND FOCUS

• A series of concerts exploring music from Iceland. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Where to From - a special evening of music featuring Guðnadóttir on vocals and cello, alongside a trio of musicians and two vocalists, complemented by lighting design (21 Mar 2026), will be followed by two more events which will go on sale at a later date. The first is a performance of Academy, Grammy Golden Globe and BAFTA-award nominated music by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson composed for three films by director Denis Villeneuve: Prisoners (2013), Sicario (2015) and Arrival (2016). The concert will include suites from each soundtrack, performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra and conductor Anthony Weeden with stills from the films and lighting design (18 Feb 2026 – on sale at a later date) The second comes in the form of a BBC Symphony Orchestra Total Immersion – which will see audiences taken on a deep dive into the cutting edge of Iceland’s mesmerising musical landscape - across a full day of events with the Barbican’s Associate Orchestra the BBC Symphony Orchestra and guests (22 Feb 2026 – on sale at a later date).
   

ECHO RISING STARS

The ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) Rising Stars programme identifies and supports exceptional emerging performers, hosting around 110 concerts and 70 special projects annually across ECHO halls.

• ECHO Rising Stars: Valerie Fritz: Combining the new and old with a harmonious partnership of the violoncello and accordion, cellist Valerie Fritz joins with accordion player Goran Stevanovich to present a programme of compelling exploration - with music by Robert Schumann, Sofia Gubaidulina, Olivier Messiaen and a new ECHO commission by Jennifer Walshe. (25 Feb 2026)
   
• ECHO Rising Stars: Giorgi Gigashvili: Georgian piano virtuoso Giorgi Gigashvili presents a rich tapestry of classical repertoire for an evening of piano magic at LSO St Lukes, showcasing the deft skill that earned him a winning spot in BBC Radio 3’s coveted Terence Judd-Hallé Award in 2024. Alongside new work by fellow Georgian Natalie Beridize, the programme sees Gigashvili present arrangements of beloved repertoire including Chopin’s Ballade No 4 and Ravel’s five-movement suite Miroirs to Boulanger’s Trois Morceaux pour Piano and Scarlatti’s Sonatas in C and A major. (13 May 2026) 
   
• ECHO Rising Stars: Trio Concept: The award-winning Trio Concept present a selection of piano pieces from Paris and beyond from across the last century. Pieces will include works by Lili Boulanger, Maurice Ravel and Alfredo Casella, as well as a new work by German composer Clemens Thomas. Formed in Turin in 2013, Trio Concept is Edoardo Grieco (violin), Francesco Massimino (cello) and Lorenzo Nguyen (piano). (10 June 2026)
   

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (RESIDENT ORCHESTRA)

After a thrilling start to his tenure as Chief Conductor during 2025 Sir Antonio Pappano’s concerts for the 2025/26 Barbican season explore his roots and passions as a conductor. His programmes focus on American music, including symphonies by Bernstein and Copland; British composers, including Britten, Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Walton, Musgrave and Imogen Holst; two performances dedicated to the music of Hollywood’s Golden Age; Russian symphonists, notably Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky; and two concert performances of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde to close the season.

Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor Emeritus, returns in January and May 2026, continuing his Janáček opera cycle with The Makropulos Affair, and conducting music by Mahler, Strauss, Wagner and Bartók. Gianandrea Noseda, Principal Guest Conductor, will explore large-scale Russian symphonies by Borodin and Rachmaninoff following the conclusion of his Shostakovich cycle. And the LSO welcomes back our two Associate Artists: André J Thomas, for another uplifting evening of Symphonic Gospel, and Barbara Hannigan, who brings music by Ligeti and Strauss, as well as presenting the world premiere of a new work by Laura Bowler, joined by rising-star conductor Bar Avni.

Two leading soloists join for the Artist Portrait series across the season: pianist Seong-Jin Cho, winner of the 2015 International Chopin Competition, and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, a fascinating artist with a long association with the LSO. Violist Antoine Tamestit also returns to the LSO as Spotlight Artist, appearing as soloist in three concerts in December.

New music forms a central part of the season. Both Artist Portrait series feature works written specially for the soloists: Mártón Illés’ Vont-tér for Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and Donghoon Shin’s new Piano Concerto for Seong-Jin Cho, as part of the Orchestra’s annual LSO Futures concert. Maxime Pascal who enjoyed huge success in January 2025 with an LSO Futures concert and a focus on Boulez returns to conduct LSO Futures 2026, which also features world premieres by LSO Panufnik Composers Sasha Scott and Omri Kochavi, with Boulez’s Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna, to conclude the Orchestra’s celebrations of the composer’s centenary year. In February, the LSO are thrilled to be celebrating composer Colin Matthews’ 80th birthday with the world premiere of his Oboe Concerto. 

A number of conductors make their debut performances with the Orchestra, including Ryan Bancroft, Tarmo Peltokoski, Anja Bihlmaier and Alexandre Bloch, who makes his full debut with the Orchestra after his Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition win in 2012.

Thomas Adès, a composer and conductor with whom the LSO has enjoyed a longstanding collaboration, returns to the podium in October for the start of a new project exploring his own music alongside works by Nordic composers.

The LSO’s own Principals will step into the spotlight as soloists throughout the season, with Principal Oboe Olivier Stankiewicz and Principal Flute Gareth Davies giving premiere performances of works by Colin Matthews and Lowell Liebermann in February and March. In March, the Orchestra will showcase the virtuosity of a range of LSO musicians in two concerts at LSO St Luke’s, with performances of Mozart Concertos that will be recorded for LSO Live, conducted by Jaime Martín.

Other worldclass guest artists feature across the season, including returning conductors Manfred Honeck, Nathalie Stutzmann, Elim Chan, Robert Treviño and Dirk Brossé, and soloists including Janine Jansen, Sean Shibe, Alice Sara Ott, Imogen Cooper, Yuja Wang, Vilde Frang, Beatrice Rana, Lucy Crowe, and many more. The Orchestra will also be collaborating once again with the saxophonist, composer and rapper Soweto Kinch, for an orchestral performance of his new work, Soundtrack to the Apocalypse.

The LSO’s popular Half Six Fix series continues throughout 2025/26, presenting a range of different works in shorter, early-evening concerts, which are introduced by the conductor.

The Donatella Flick Competition Final will return to LSO St Luke’s in December, with the winner named LSO Assistant Conductor for a year.

In the Autumn, after a period of refurbishment and upgrades, the Orchestra are delighted to be re-opening LSO St Luke’s.

To view the LSO’s full season brochure, please click here.
 

BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS (ASSOCIATE ORCHESTRA)

Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra open their new season at the Barbican with Mahler’s heartrending Ninth Symphony (4 Oct 2025), followed by Principal Guest Conductor Dalia Stasevska conducting one of the defining masterpieces of the 21st century: John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean - a timely, troubling and yet hopeful message about our relationship with the natural world in the Barbican’s Fragile Earth series (8 Oct 2025). Later in October, Jess Gillam performs the London premiere of Anna Clyne’s Glasslands in a concert which also features Fazil Say’s Grand Bazaar and Respighi’s Feste romane, conducted by Nil Venditti (17 Oct 2025). Then, former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Timothy Ridout returns to perform Schnittke’s Viola Concerto, and Hannu Lintu conducts the Orchestra for Shostakovich’s Symphony No 8 (24 Oct 2025). An evening of reflection and remembrance rounds off October, as the orchestra – led by Oramo – gives the UK premiere of Camille Pépin’s Inlandsis, a requiem in miniature for the melting “inland ice” of its title; Martin Helmchen performs Mozart’s dark, dramatic Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor, and the orchestra joins forces with BBC Symphony Chorus for Mozart’s Requiem (31 Oct 2025).

Sakari Oramo conducts Sibelius’s Lemminkaïnen Legends – a stirring counterpart to the brilliance of Thomas Adès’s Violin Concerto, played by Christian Tetzlaff. To open, Oramo shares the glowing colours and heartfelt melodies of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Symphonic Variations on an African Air (7 Nov 2025).

In December, the orchestra is joined by the BBC Singers and Opera Rara Chorus for Puccini’s La Rondine, starring Ermonela Jaho as Magda and Ivan Ayon-Rivas as Ruggero. Conducted by Carlo Rizzi, a new edition of the score will be used, incorporating music by the mature Puccini: music that is completely unknown to modern listeners (5 Dec 2025). Sir James MacMillan conducts a starry performance of his Christmas Oratorio, with Rhian Lois, Roderick Williams and the BBC Symphony Chorus – music that speaks to listeners of all faiths and none (19 Dec 2025).

In January 2026, Clemens Schuldt conducts the BBC SO in an evening of Shakespearean classics – Tchaikovsky’s Hamlet Fantasy-Overture and Mel Bonis’ Ophélie – as well as Strauss at his most sumptuous (Der Rosenkavalier Suite), and the world premiere of Joseph Phibbs’ Cello Concerto, commissioned by the BBC and performed by cellist Guy Johnston (16 Jan 2026). Then, Oramo pairs two newly-minted classics with Beethoven’s Symphony No 4 – the London premiere of ICE by Cecilia Damström and Detlev Glanert’s Harp Concerto, in a fresh edition written especially for the orchestra’s virtuosic Principal Harpist Elizabeth Bass (30 Jan 2026).

Oramo rediscovers Stravinsky’s epic retelling of the myth of Persephone, and violinist Lisa Batiashvili makes a very welcome return in Magnus Lindberg’s lyrical first Violin Concerto (6 Feb 2026). Daniele Rustioni conducts Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No 3, Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and Davóne Tines’ ANTHEM – a fresh perspective on America’s past, present and future (13 Feb 2026). Then, a Total Immersion Day will delve into Iceland’s mesmerising musical landscape with a full day of events featuring the orchestra and special guests (22 Feb 2026). Kristiina Poska conducts Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with pianist Gabriela Montero, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, and the UK premiere of Julia Adolphe’s Underneath the Sheen (27 Feb 2026).

In March, Oramo pairs flair and exoticism with idyllic cheer in this dual outing of Romantic masterpieces: Saint-Saëns’ Fifth Piano Concerto and Brahms’s Second Symphony, featuring Bertrand Chamayou (6 Mar 2026), followed by Oramo and the orchestra bringing a blaze of colour to the Barbican with a programme that explores the natural world’s fragility and power: Judith Weir’s The Welcome Arrival of Rain, Bartók’s Piano Concerto No 3 and Gerald Finzi’s Eclogue performed by Yeol Eum Son, and Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird (13 Mar 2026).
 

ACADEMY OF ANCIENT MUSIC (ASSOCIATE ENSEMBLE)

Barbican Associate Ensemble Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) continues to chart bold musical journeys across time – reviving lost voices, reimagining the familiar, and uniting centuries of music. 

AAM opens the season with Haydn in Paris  (14 Nov 2025). AAM Music Director Laurence Cummings directs a glittering evocation of 1780s Paris, with showpieces by Mozart and the pioneering Chevalier de Saint-Georges alongside Haydn’s majestic Symphony No 82, The Bear. AAM’s ever-popular Messiah  (15 Dec 2025) returns for the festive season, with Cummings at the helm and all-star soloists: soprano Nardus Williams, countertenor Reginald Mobley, tenor Thomas Walker and bass Ashley Riches.

In the new year, Monteverdi’s daring Madrigals of Love and War take centre stage (12 Feb 2026),  with soprano Anna Dennis and tenor Ed Lyon. In March, AAM Leader Bojan Čičić uncovers the remarkable legacy of Elisabetta da Gambarini – the first woman to publish music in England – in English Impresaria  (12 Mar 2026), featuring rarely heard works by Gambarini, Handel and Geminiani with soprano Mhairi Lawson.

The Chosen One (16 Apr 2026) revisits Leipzig’s fiercely contested Thomaskantor auditions of 1723, as AAM compares the cantatas submitted by Graupner, Telemann and Fasch – before hearing from the man who got the job: JS Bach. In May, AAM joins marimba virtuoso Christoph Sietzen and The Wave Quartet for Rhythm Across Time  (14 May 2026), an electrifying sequence of music from Festa to Xenakis, daringly reimagined for marimbas and strings.

The season concludes in splendour with a concert performance of Handel’s Serse  (19 Jun 2026), a tale of love, loyalty and longing in ancient Persia. Laurence Cummings leads an all-star cast in one of Handel’s most inventive and sumptuous operas. Paula Murrihy stars in the title role.
 

DARBAR FESTIVAL 2025:

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF INDIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC AT THE BARBICAN  

The Barbican’s newest Artistic Associate, Darbar Arts, Culture & Heritage Organisation, marks its 20th anniversary this autumn with an extended festival, honouring the rich traditions of Indian classical music and the enduring legacy of Bhai Gurmit Singh Ji Virdee. 

Spread across two weekends, this milestone festival offers an immersive experience for all the senses. Audiences can explore the intricate beauty of ragas and talas, unwind with wellbeing sessions, and embrace the meditative power of Indian classical music. An exciting mix of returning maestros and rising stars will take the stage, showcasing the depth and diversity of this revered art form. 

This year’s show-stopping lineup features legendary artists such as TM Krishna, Pandit Yogesh Samsi, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Rahul Sharma, Rakesh Chaurasia and Pandit Premkumar Mallick, alongside a new generation of talent set to captivate audiences. A deeply moving highlight will be a tribute to the late Ustad Zakir Hussain, celebrating his extraordinary contributions to the world of music. 

As the festival draws to a close, Darbar returns to its roots, honouring its very foundation with a heartfelt tribute to Bhai Gurmit Singh Ji Virdee—a night dedicated to the vision and values that have shaped this festival from the beginning. (18-26 Oct 2025)