London Symphony Orchestra
Resident Orchestra
![Official photo of the London Symphony Orchestra](/sites/default/files/styles/hero_constrained_small/public/images/2024-01/LSO-Orchestra-Photo-2022-C-John-Davis-%28web2%29.jpg?itok=8Do7p4Q5)
The London Symphony Orchestra is built on the belief that extraordinary music should be available to everyone, everywhere. It was established in 1904 and today is among the world’s top orchestras
As Resident Orchestra at the Barbican since the Centre opened, it performs some 50 concerts here every year, under the batons of a family of conductors that includes Chief Conductor Designate Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor Emeritus Sir Simon Rattle, Principal Guest Conductors Gianandrea Noseda and François-Xavier Roth, Conductor Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas and Associate Artists Barbara Hannigan and André J Thomas.
Events
![Black and white still from Things to Come with two characters in conversation](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-08/RGA-0046076.jpg?h=4e5b8e29&itok=l9xxelSA)
London Symphony Orchestra: Things to Come
Alexander Korda’s cinematic vision of the future, with Arthur Bliss’s classic score played live by the orchestra who originally recorded it – the London Symphony Orchestra.
![Barbara Hannigan Image 230302](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/230302_BarbaraHannigan_Mark_Allan_1920_1080.jpg?itok=usijTR0n)
London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan
Berg, Bach, Haydn and Claude Vivier – Barbara Hannigan brings four maverick masterworks into a very personal kind of conversation.
![Rafael Payare conducting](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/230223_RafaelPayare_Fair_J_Henry_1920_1080.jpg?itok=84Pkk3Fv)
London Symphony Orchestra/Rafael Payare
Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Gubaidulina: dark fairytales and magical stories, with conductor Rafael Payare and violinist Vilde Frang.
![François-Xavier Roth conducting](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/230219_FXR_Doug_Peters_1920_1080.jpg?itok=Re1a7uYI)
London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth
Schubert asks big questions, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann has some very modern answers, as François-Xavier Roth conducts music of quiet faith and dazzling wit.
![François-Xavier Roth conducting](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/230216_FXR_Mark_Allan_1920_1080_0.jpg?itok=KK0FYa4L)
London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth
Fate knocks at the door, and LSO Principal Guest Conductor François-Xavier Roth and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja seize the moment.
![François-Xavier Roth conducting](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/230216_FXR_Mark_Allan_1920_1080.jpg?itok=szzc_N3X)
London Symphony Orchestra/François-Xavier Roth
Half Six Fix is a 60-minute burst of music to kick-start your evening. Grab a drink and take your seat, as François-Xavier Roth introduces and conducts the most revolutionary symphony ever written.
![Sir Antonio Pappano conducting](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/230212_SirAntonioPappano_Mark_Allen_1920_1080.jpg?h=797a75a4&itok=erDCfI6h)
London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
From Richard Strauss’ sweeping self-portrait to the musical poetry of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Sir Antonio Pappano conducts an evening of music that’s larger than life.
![Eric Lu playing the piano](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/230209_EricLu_na_1920_1080_0.jpg?itok=o83flObz)
London Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop
Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Kurt Weill on Broadway and the award-winning Eric Lu playing Beethoven, in a concert that spans the many worlds of guest conductor Marin Alsop.
![Eric Lu playing the piano](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-09/230209_EricLu_na_1920_1080.jpg?itok=0AHievmg)
London Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop
Half Six Fix is a 60-minute burst of music to kick-start your evening. Grab a drink and take your seat, as Marin Alsop introduces you to music that spans two centuries, and the Atlantic ocean.
![London Symphony Orchestra at Barbican Hall image](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2023-01/Generic%20LSO.jpg?itok=RrQsqMH0)
London Symphony Orchestra/Ryan Wigglesworth
Ryan Wigglesworth conducts Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and the LSO’s own James Fountain plays the happiest of all trumpet concertos – raising the roof as well as lifting the spirits.
![Janine Jansen](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-03/Janine_Jansen_-credit-Marco_Borggreve_1920_1080.jpg?itok=Iuu5DR6v)
London Symphony Orchestra/Noseda: Tales of the North
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Janine Jansen plays Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, at the heart of a concert filled with powerful stories from cold countries.
![LSO Family Concert Orchestral Olympics](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-11/Family%202023%201080x1920.jpg?itok=z4BB9k1O)
LSO Discovery Family Concert: Orchestral Olympics
Run, jump, dance and sing as we discover the highest, lowest, fastest, slowest, coolest, catchiest music ever known.
![Sir Simon Rattle with London Symphony Orchestra](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-03/LSO-Rattle-Barbican-credit-Mark-Allan-2-1920_1080.jpg?itok=MD98n6xl)
London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle: Storms of Passion
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Janáček’s opera of loneliness, love, and the price of passion, in a dramatic concert performance from Sir Simon Rattle and a hand-picked cast.
![Sir Simon Rattle with London Symphony Orchestra](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-03/LSO-Rattle-Barbican-credit-Mark-Allan-1920_1080.jpg?itok=MEIYQmS4)
London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle: Sorrow and Serenity
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Sir Simon Rattle explores intensely personal choral music by Szymanowski and Brahms – music that transforms sorrow into pure sonic beauty.
![Evgeny Kissin](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-03/Kissin_Evgeny_credit_F-Broede-EMI_1920_1080.jpg?itok=dgleuaxg)
London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle
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Two great artists, and the journey of a lifetime: Sir Simon Rattle and Evgeny Kissin explore Mozart and Stravinsky.
![Sir Simon Rattle with London Symphony Orchestra](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-03/Rattle-generic-Mark-Allan_1920_1080_0.jpg?itok=-ekhalFR)
London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle: Landscapes in Sound
Sir Simon Rattle conducts music in which vast landscapes merge with the human soul: Sibelius’ tone poems and Bruckner’s radiant Seventh Symphony.
![Mitsuko Uchida](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-03/Mitsuko-Uchida-%28c%29-Geoffroy-Schied-1920_1080.jpg?itok=S9uZPNGS)
London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle & Mitsuko Uchida
Mitsuko Uchida and Sir Simon Rattle: one of the great musical partnerships of our time, in a concert filled with sweet and sorrowful longing.
![Alice Sara Ott](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-03/Alice-Sara-Ott-5-%28c%29-Pascal-Albandopulos_1920_1080.jpg?itok=Bh_P0TRF)
London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda
Gianandrea Noseda conducts Shostakovich’s blockbuster 11th symphony – alongside Ravel and a new creation by Louise Drewett.
![Gianandrea Noseda](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-03/Noseda-030222-Mark-Allan_1920_1080.jpg?itok=QGi0MyJJ)
London Symphony Orchestra/Music Academy
Fellows from Music Academy in Santa Barbara, California, join the London Symphony Orchestra for a joint concert.
Discover
![London Symphony Orchestra](/sites/default/files/styles/discover_small/public/images/2018-08/lso_notext.jpg?itok=bHlYecEZ)
Profile: London Symphony Orchestra
Listen to our selection of LSO recordings from across the years in our Spotify playlist.
![Peter Moore playing trombone](/sites/default/files/styles/discover_small/public/images/2018-07/Screen%20Shot%202018-07-26%20at%2009.39.17.png?itok=w-j2WzF0)
Barbican Sessions: Peter Moore
London Symphony Orchestra’s young trombonist, Peter Moore, performs 'Doolallynastics – a brief torture for solo trombone’ by Brian Lynn in our latest Barbican Session, filmed in one of our Frobisher Auditoriums.