Press room

From radical new opera and music theatre, globally renowned orchestras, and genre-colliding ensembles, the Barbican’s autumn season of own-promotion classical music promises a broad spectrum of exhilarating music in the Barbican Hall, Milton Court Concert Hall and LSO St Luke’s. Performances from September 2024 to January 2025 are outlined in the calendar below.

SEPTEMBER

• UK PREMIERE: Sky in a Small Cage, 8 Sep, Barbican Hall

Mahogany Opera present Sky in a Small Cage, a new opera with music by pianist and composer Rolf Hind, words by award-winning poet Dante Micheaux and directed by Frederic Wake-Walker. Sky in a Small Cage explores the extraordinary life of the Sufi poet Rumi. The performance will star mezzo-soprano Elaine Mitchener, countertenor James Hall, baritone/dancer Yannis François, and soprano Loré Lixenberg with onstage musicians from Riot Ensemble conducted by Aaron Holloway-Nahum. (8 September, Barbican Hall)

• Hildegard Transfigured, 17 September, LSO St Luke’s

Hildegard Transfigured is a cross-arts work for the vocal trio Voice (Victoria Couper, Clemmie Franks, Emily Burn) and visual artist Innerstrings. This immersive concoction of film, lighting design and music will take audiences from the 12th century to the 21st in a programme blending the works of the medieval mystic, composer, saint and polymath Hildegard of Bingen with contemporary vocal works inspired by her. Supported by Help Musicians. (17 September, LSO St Luke’s)

• Roopa Panesar, 18 September, LSO St Luke’s

One of the UK’s finest sitar players, Roopa Panesar returns to the Barbican for a concert of Indian classical music, collaborating with similarly trailblazing Indian classical and contemporary musicians: tabla player Sudarshan Singh, Carnatic percussionist RN Prakash, with sound by Camilo Tirado. (18 September, LSO St Luke’s)

• Philip Glass Ensemble, 28 September, Barbican Hall

The Philip Glass Ensemble brings a selection of Philip Glass’ most celebrated early works from 1974-1984 to the Barbican. Developed to meet the unprecedented technical demand of his compositions, the Philip Glass Ensemble have become inimitable interpreters of his work. (28 September, Barbican Hall)

OCTOBER

• Lodestar Trio, 1 October, LSO St Luke’s

Lodestar Trio is a collaboration between British violin virtuoso Max Baillie, Scandinavian folk stars Erik Rydvall (Swedish nyckelharper) and Olav Mjelva (Norwegian hardanger fiddle) combining the rhythmic, driving reels of Scandinavian folk music with the intricacy and ornamentation of the Baroque period. This programme includes reimagined versions of pieces from Bach’s cello suites, and sonatas and partitas for solo violin alongside works by Merula and Couperin and contemporary Nordic melodies. (1 October, LSO St Luke’s)

• Piotr Anderszewski, 3 October, Barbican Hall

Polish pianist and composer Piotr Anderszewski returns to the Barbican bringing the “extraordinary sound” for which he was celebrated in his most recent Barbican performance in 2023. (3 October, Barbican Hall)

• UK PREMIERE: Spinifex Gum, 6 October, Barbican Hall

Part protest, part celebration, Spinifex Gum features all-female first nations ensemble Marliya and Australia’s national children’s choir Gondwana Voices joined by UK-based choirs. The music is composed and arranged in collaboration with Felix Riebl and Ollie McGill (The Cat Empire). Spinifex Gum confronts challenging political and environmental issues in contemporary Australia: social disparity present in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, land rights, disproportionate incarceration and deaths in custody. Marliya sing in both English and First Nations languages. (6 October, Barbican Hall)

• Britten Sinfonia/Will Gregory Moog Ensemble, 8 October, Barbican Hall

Britten Sinfonia joins Will Gregory, half of the electropop duo Goldfrapp, and his 10-piece Moog Ensemble for a performance that pays tribute to electronic music’s two great female pioneers: BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s Delia Derbyshire and Wendy Carlos, creator of Moog-overdubbed Bach arrangements and the score for Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. (8 October, Barbican Hall)

• UK PREMIERE: The Golden Stool, or the story of Nana Yaa Asantewaa, 14 October, Barbican Hall

Gorges Ocloo’s Ghanaian ‘Afropera’ project, The Golden Stool, or the story of Nana Yaa Asantewaa, pays homage to the heroic woman who confronted colonial injustice in 1900 Ghana, Nana Yaa Asantewaa. Appropriating a collage of Western classical works, including Bizet’s Carmen, the opera reimagines them through a Ghanaian lens, with voices, drums and percussion. The work is performed by LOD muziektheater & Toneelhuis alongside South African artists soprano Nobulumko Mngxekeza-Nziramasanga and mezzo-soprano Nonkululeko Nkwinti. (14 October, Barbican Hall)

• Sinfonia of London/Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 15 October, Barbican Hall

Following their Barbican debut in 2022 and recent BBC Proms acclaim, the top-flight players of Sinfonia of London return with their Artistic Director and conductor John Wilson. Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason joins the orchestra to perform Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 2. The orchestra also performs the London premiere of Kenneth Hesketh’s PatterSongs before presenting Rachmaninov’s first symphony. (15 October, Barbican Hall)

• Dudok Quartet, 17 October, Milton Court Concert Hall

Hailing from Amsterdam, the Dudok Quartet present a programme that investigates the ways in which humanity employs voices to give meaning to our lives. The programme will also include a new work by British composer Bushra El Turk, Three Tributes, that pays homage to three female singers from the Nahda period, the Arab cultural renaissance of the late 19th and early 20th century. (17 October, Milton Court Concert Hall)

• UK PREMIERE: M Butterfly, 25 October, Barbican Hall

The Barbican and Associate Orchestra the BBC Symphony Orchestra co-present a semi-staged version of Huang Ruo’s opera of David Henry Hwang’s smash-hit play M. Butterfly. Based on a true story of a French diplomat in China, the roles of Madame Butterfly and Pinkerton, the Eastern and Western protagonists in Puccini’s original opera, are here, effectively, inverted, with the ‘Butterfly’ role played by a disguised male spy for the Chinese government. Director James Robinson’s production captures both the driving pulse and the lyricism of Puccini’s original music and reveals the blurred lines between fantasy and reality at the heart of this true story of ambiguity, illusion, fluidity and metaphor. (25 October, Barbican Hall)

• Darbar Festival, 24-27 October, across the Barbican

In its 19th year, Darbar Festival of Indian classical music returns to the Barbican with a magical mix of emerging raw young talent, master performers making their UK debuts, as well as world class legends. Highlights include Dilshad Khan + Jayanthi Kumaresh (24 October, 18:30, Milton Court Concert Hall); Pandit Anindo and Anubrata Chatterjee (25 October, 13:00, Milton Court Concert Hall); Amaan Ali Bangash + Dr L Subramaniam with Ambi Subramaniam (26 October, 18:30, Barbican Hall), and Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande + Pandit Kushal Das (27 October, 17:00, Barbican Hall), as well as workshops, yoga classes and breath work classes (24-27 October, across the Barbican). 

NOVEMBER

• Yo-Yo Ma with Kathryn Stott, 2 October, Barbican Hall

One of the world’s greatest cellists, Yo-Yo Ma returns to the Barbican with longtime friend and collaborator, pianist Kathryn Stott for an evening of musical intimacy and expressive fireworks. (2 October, Barbican Hall)

• Orchestra symphonique de Montréal, 19 November, Barbican Hall

The Orchestra symphonique de Montréal with conductor Rafael Payare make a long-awaited return to the Barbican – performing here for the first time since 1992. The orchestra will join forces with pianist Daniil Trifonov who will perform Beethoven’s assertive Piano Concerto No 1, before the orchestra presents Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique as well as the UK premiere of composer Iman Habibi’s Jeder Baum spricht. (19 November, Barbican Hall)

DECEMBER

• Sō Percussion and Caroline Shaw, 1 December, Barbican Hall

Percussion ensemble Sō Percussion and Caroline Shaw return to the Barbican following a sold-out debut together in Milton Court in 2022. Collaborating once again with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Shaw, the ensemble will present a typically forward-facing programme of beguiling new from this second collaborative offering, also scheduled for release on Nonesuch Records in summer 2024. (1 December, Barbican Hall)

• Samantha Ege: Her Stories, 1 December, Milton Court Concert Hall

Award-winning musicologist and concert pianist Samantha Ege presents Her Stories – a celebration of bold, brilliant and daring women. Through performance and narration, Ege shares works by Florence Price and Gabriela Ortiz as well as an Odaline de la Martinez world premiere and a new commission by Camila Cortina Bello: Bravura. (1 December, Milton Court Concert Hall)

• Stephen Hough, 4 December, Barbican Hall

Pianist Stephen Hough presents a programme of works by Cecile Chaminade, Robert Schumann and Fryderyck Chopin, built around his own composition for solo piano Sonatina Nostalgica. (4 December, Barbican Hall)

• Connaught Brass, 8 December, Barbican Hall

Making a joyful Barbican debut, Connaught Brass (Aaron Akugbo trumpet, Harry Plant trumpet, Annemarie Federle french horn, Chris Brewster trombone and Ales Meredith-Barrett tuba) are joined by pianist Junyan Chen for a programme laced with warmth, festivity and cheer and featuring arrangements by the 2023 RPS award nominated Akugbo. (8 December, Barbican Hall)

• Khatia Buniatishvili, 9 December, Barbican Hall

Khatia Buniatishvili begins her Barbican Artist Spotlight residency in a performance with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields where they will together perform a programme of Mozart and Haydn. (9 December, Barbican Hall)

JANUARY

• National Youth Orchestra, 4 January, Barbican Hall

Starting the year off with extraordinary skill and an exuberant sound, The National Youth Orchestra make their annual appearance at the Barbican. Led by conductor Jaime Martin, audiences will be able to witness the electric energy of 160 teenage musicians performing together in the Barbican Hall. (4 January, Barbican Hall)

• Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra/Gustavo Dudamel, 15/16 January, Barbican Hall

The Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director Gustavo Dudamel return to the Barbican Hall and to London for the first time since 2016, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Venezuela’s El Sistema. Over two nights, the orchestra present Mahler’s all-encompassing Symphony No 3, traversing life, nature, love, and the great beyond. Their second performance showcases Venezuelan artistry with composer Gonzalo Grau’s Odisea Concerto for Venezuelan cuatro and orchestra and Ricardo Lorenz’s Todo Terreno (originally commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra), before presenting a counterpoint to the previous evening’s Mahler with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 4. (15 January, 16 January, Barbican Hall)

Full event listings for the season, including concerts by Barbican Resident Orchestra the London Symphony Orchestra, and associate orchestra and ensembles the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and Academy of Ancient Music can be found here on the Barbican website.