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
![Multi-colour sunrise graphic.](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-04/barbican-hero_0.jpg?itok=7tBzfQB9)
Lift Every Voice
André J Thomas, one of the world’s greatest experts in choral music, unites the voices of gospel and community choirs from across London in a celebration of gospel music to nourish the soul.
![Marta Gardolińska](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/Marta%20Gardolinska%20%281920%20x%201080%20px%29.png?itok=rXRGrusm)
LSO/Marta Gardolińska & Gareth Davies
Big music in a small venue. Up close in LSO St Luke’s, guest conductor Marta Gardolińska makes the air shake with music by Boulanger, Dalbavie and Tchaikovsky – his volcanic Fourth Symphony.
![Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the LSO.](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/MTT%20%281920%20x%201080%20px%29.png?itok=h4dr2TmM)
London Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas
LSO Conductor Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas brings a lifetime’s insight and experience to Gustav Mahler’s mighty Fifth Symphony: a story of life, death and love beyond words.
![Baiba Skride holding a violin.](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/baiba%20skride%20c%20Borgrevve%281920%20x%201080%20px%29.png?itok=NDeWI2rG)
London Symphony Orchestra/Dima Slobodeniouk
Sibelius’s Second Symphony crowns a concert that begins with Sofia Gubaidulina’s Offertorium – a true modern classic, performed by the incomparable Baiba Skride.
![Photo of London Symphony Orchestra in the Barbican Hall](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/180708_family_1920_1080.jpg?itok=eCkV-UrE)
LSO Family Concert
Join the London Symphony Orchestra for a musical time travel adventure spanning the centuries.
![Magdalena Kožená](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/5_0.jpg?itok=r_0W5cXX)
London Symphony Orchestra / Rattle & Magdalena Kožená
Sir Simon Rattle explores the dark secrets and memorable melodies of Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins and other satirical musical bulletins.
![Magdalena Kožená](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/5.jpg?itok=ML-4qdrH)
London Symphony Orchestra / Rattle & Magdalena Kožená
Beat the commute at this Half Six Fix concert, with Sir Simon Rattle, Magdalena Kožená and Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins.
![Peter Moore](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/7_0.jpg?itok=pXpNXcV-)
London Symphony Orchestra / Xian Zhang & Peter Moore
Tales of fantasy from Stravinsky and Ravel, a song of exile from Qigang Chen, and a homecoming for Dani Howard’s new trombone concerto – played by one of the LSO’s own brass stars.
![Simone Lamsma](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-04/Simone-Lamsma_otto-van-den-toorn_1920_1080.jpg?itok=fesQ50yK)
London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda & Simone Lamsma
Gianandrea Noseda conducts Prokofiev’s ‘symphony of the greatness of the human spirit’, and Simone Lamsma is the soloist in Tchaikovsky’s hugely popular Violin Concerto.
![François-Xavier Roth](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/1.jpg?itok=ByEyxNic)
London Symphony Orchestra / François-Xavier Roth
The future starts here, as Håkan Hardenberger and Patricia Kopatchinskaja join François-Xavier Roth for a concert that pairs Richard Strauss with three 21st-century premieres.
![Veronika Eberle](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/220312_VeronikaEberle_1920_1080.jpg?itok=gK8o8zAo)
LSO/Rattle & Veronika Eberle
Veronika Eberle performs two violin concertos by Beethoven: the Op 61 – with specially written cadenzas by Jörg Widmann – and a fragment of the C major.
![Nicole Cabell](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/220310_NicoleCabell-credit-Devon-Cass_1920_1080.jpg?h=17dcc1f0&itok=YqXuwkRC)
London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle & Nicole Cabell
Sir Simon Rattle conducts Dvořák, Schumann and George Walker, in a concert filled with feelings that run too deep for words.
![Sir Simon Rattle](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/220309_SSR1_1920_1080.jpg?h=57401207&itok=G3Py9pnk)
London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle
Fabulous colours and untamed emotions. Sir Simon Rattle celebrates the music he loves – and the sheer wonder of the sound it makes.
![Barbican tower against orange background](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-02/barbicanat40_1920_1080.jpg?itok=BR-nj4Ox)
London Symphony Orchestra/Christophers
Let there be light! The LSO toasts the Barbican’s 40th birthday with Haydn’s Creation and pre-concert performances on the foyers showcasing a new generation of performers and creators (3 Mar).
![Family concert](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-01/orig_5e15ebff3afdc7.36258618.jpg?itok=5PV4JMNH)
LSO Family Concert: How to Build an Orchestra
Join the LSO and animateur Rachel Leach as they guide you through the instruments and the amazing sounds an orchestra can make.
![Photo of Barbara Hannigan.](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/Hannigan_800x600_%C2%A9Elmer-de-Haas.jpg?h=9d60f77b&itok=xNrrdSS1)
London Symphony Orchestra/ Barbara Hannigan
Strauss’s Metamorphosen and Poulenc’s La voix humaine: two stories of emotion in the raw from Barbara Hannigan, an artist who shoots straight for the heart and never misses.
![Portrait of Barbara Hannigan](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/Hannigan%20c.%20Borgrevve%20%281920%20x%201080%20px%29%20%281%29.png?itok=7ycE-xdF)
London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan
Barbara Hannigan conducts, presents and sings Poulenc’s opera La voix humaine: a heart, a soul and a whole human life, in one devastating telephone call.
![Barbara Hannigan conducts.](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2021-10/RM__8476-copyrightMusacchio-Ianniello-Accademia-Nazionale-di-Santa-Cecilia.jpg?h=a7d51b04&itok=RBc1xjVb)
London Symphony Orchestra/Barbara Hannigan
New York – Paris – London: Barbara Hannigan can-cans through the Jazz Age in this transatlantic celebration of melody, colour and seriously classy fun.
![Barry Douglas](/sites/default/files/styles/event_listing_small/public/images/2022-02/Untitled%20design%20%2813%29.jpg?itok=UTzF3LX1)
London Symphony Orchestra/ Noseda & Douglas
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Beethoven’s last concerto meets Shostakovich’s final symphony, and in the hands of Gianandrea Noseda and Barry Douglas, they both have something remarkable to say.
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.