London Symphony Orchestra
Resident Orchestra
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
London Symphony Orchestra/Ward: La Mer
Debussy’s La Mer closes a concert that pulses with feeling – whether Janáček’s explosive Taras Bulba, or Bartók’s hot-blooded love-letter of a First Violin Concerto, played by Isabelle Faust.
LSO/Rattle: Beethoven Piano Concertos 4 & 5
Pianist Krystian Zimerman and Sir Simon Rattle reach the end of their Beethoven concerto cycle with the poetic Fourth and the majestic ‘Emperor’ Concerto.
Half Six Fix: Tchaikovsky 'Pathétique' LSO/Noseda
Trade your commute for a journey through the human heart, as Gianandrea Noseda conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s overwhelming final symphony.
LSO/Roth: Varèse, Bartók & Strauss
‘A Hero’s Life’: grand emotions and roof-raising sounds. François-Xavier Roth conducts the LSO in Varèse, Bartók and Richard Strauss’ stupendous musical self-portrait.
London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle: Melodic Revolutions
Brahms’ most lyrical symphony meets three composers who redefined the power of sound. For Sir Simon Rattle, Wagner, Ligeti, Webern and Brahms all speak to each other, and to us.
LSO/Rattle: Stravinsky Ballets
Three scenes from a revolution. Sir Simon Rattle conducts Stravinsky’s three great ballets – The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring – in one electrifying concert.
London Symphony Orchestra/Gardiner: Stravinsky & Bartók
Stravinsky meets Tchaikovsky, Anderszewski plays Bartók, and a baby elephant dances a polka: Sir John Eliot Gardiner is the ringmaster in an exuberantly colourful concert.
London Symphony Orchestra/Roth: Bartók, Ligeti & Haydn
Principal Guest Conductor François-Xavier Roth conducts the LSO in works by Bartók, Ligeti & Haydn.
LSO/Pappano: Christian Tetzlaff & Joyce DiDonato
Triple threat: when mezzo Joyce DiDonato, violinist Christian Tetzlaff and maestro Sir Antonio Pappano are in the same concert, what more is there to say?
London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle: Correspondances
Two great musical traditions, and two distinct ways of hearing the universe. Sir Simon Rattle journeys from Schubert to Ravel, by way of Dutilleux, Debussy and Gustav Mahler.
Discover
Profile: London Symphony Orchestra
Listen to our selection of LSO recordings from across the years in our Spotify playlist.
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.
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