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Classical music

Browse concerts from the Barbican Classical Music programme featuring leading orchestras and soloists from around the world.

Highlights

An image of Elizabeth Bass surrounded by a green circle against a green background
Event
Classical music

Oramo conducts Beethoven's Fourth Symphony

Music that glitters, sings and dances for joy, as Sakari Oramo pairs two newly minted classics with Beethoven’s brightest symphony.

Cecilia Damström ICE
Detlev Glanert Harp Concerto
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 4
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo conductor
Elizabeth Bass harp
Song of the Sea
Event
Classical music

Sea Beneath the Skin / Song of the Earth

Reflecting on the powerful words of Teresia Teaiwa, Theatre of Kiribati merges Pacific rituals with Gustav Mahler’s Song of the Earth in a moving reflection on humanity and collective action.

The Theatre of Kiribati
Britten Sinfonia
Lemi Ponifasio director
Nuno Coelho conductor
Fleur Barron mezzo-soprano
Pavel Černoch tenor
An image of Lisa Batiashvili surrounded by a red circle against a red background
Event
Classical music

Oramo conducts Stravinsky and Lindberg

Love, death and pomegranates: Sakari Oramo rediscovers Stravinsky’s epic retelling of the myth of Persephone.

Magnus Lindberg Violin Concerto No. 1
Igor Stravinsky Perséphone
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo conductor
Lisa Batiashvili violin
Peter Tantsits tenor
BBC Symphony Chorus
Narrator to be announced
Collage of Purbayan Chatterjee and Ramana Balachandhran
Event
Classical music

Darbar: Purbayan Chatterjee + Ramana Balachandhran

An extraordinary double bill of Indian classical excellence where seasoned artistry meets youthful virtuosity, creating music that stirs and thrills one's soul.

Conductor Elim Chan holding her baton and looking down.
Event
Classical music

London Symphony Orchestra/Elim Chan & Olivier Stankiewicz

A world premiere concerto from one of Britain’s finest composers, folk-inspired celebration of dance by Bartók plus Rachmaninoff’s late and great orchestral showstopper. 

Béla Bartók Dance Suite
Colin Matthews Oboe Concerto (world premiere)
Serge Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances
London Symphony Orchestra
Elim Chan conductor
Olivier Stankiewicz oboe
Pianist Seong-Jin Cho in front of a white wall, with eyes closed lifting his hands as if playing the piano
Event
Classical music

London Symphony Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda & Seong-Jin Cho

–

Bask in the Romantic flavours of Borodin’s folk-inspired Second Symphony, Stravinsky’s sublime neo-Classical homage to Tchaikovsky, and dazzling, deeply felt Chopin. 

Igor Stravinsky Divertimento from ‘The Fairy’s Kiss’ (rev 1949)
Frédéric Chopin Piano Concerto No 2
Alexander Borodin Symphony No 2
London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda conductor
Seong-Jin Cho piano
A painting of a person looking up while someone holds a mirror behind them
Event
Classical music

Academy of Ancient Music: Songs of Love & War

Academy of Ancient Music performs Monteverdi’s genre-defying Madrigals of Love and War. Unrequited passion has never sounded sweeter. 

Claudio Monteverdi
Sinfonia, a doi violini e una viola da brazzo
Altri canti d'amor
Hor che'l ciel e la terra (prima parte)
Così sol d'una chiara fonte viva (seconda parte)
Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda
Amor, amor from Lamento della Ninfa
Ballo: Move al mio bel suon
Anna Dennis soprano
Ed Lyon tenor
Academy of Ancient Music
Laurence Cummings director & harpsichord
Davone Tines in an avant garde suit
Event
Classical music

Rustioni conducts Bernstein and Rachmaninoff

Rachmaninoff, Bernstein and Davóne Tines – a fresh perspective on America’s past, present and future from Daniele Rustioni and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Leonard Bernstein Symphonic Dances from 'West Side Story'
Various Artists ANTHEM (collaboratively arranged by Michael Schachter, Caroline Shaw, Davóne Tines and Tyshawn Sorey, including text by Mahogany L. Browne)
Sergei Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 3
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Daniele Rustioni conductor
Davóne Tines bass-baritone
Animated image of a person conducting an orchestra
Event
Classical music

The Sound of Epic Anime

The Sound of Epic Anime makes its UK premiere in our Hall. 

Stephen Osborne standing in front of a rusted door looking pensively to the left
Event
Classical music

Steven Osborne in Recital

The revered Scottish pianist performs Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat major and Beethoven’s monumental Diabelli Variations, considered a seminal work in the piano literature.

Portrait of Jóhann Jóhannsson against a blue and black background
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Jóhann Jóhannsson / London Contemporary Orchestra

This special performance of Jóhann Jóhannsson's Cinematic Suites, brings to life the evocative musical landscapes of three acclaimed films: Prisoners, Sicario and Arrival.

Tamara Stefanovich
Event
Classical music

Tamara Stefanovich in Recital: Labyrinth

Tamara Stefanovich presets Labyrinth - a curated sequence including works by JS Bach (Art of Fugue), Claude Debussy (Preludes), Franz Liszt and Gyorgy Kurtag (Jatekok).

Johann Sebastian Bach Capriccio for the departure of a beloved brother
György Kurtág Eight Piano Pieces, Op 3
'La fille aux cheveux de lin' from Játékok
Claude Debussy Prelude La fille aux cheveux de lin
György Kurtág Birthday Elegy for Judit - for the second finger of her left hand
'Apple Blossom' from Játékok
Franz Liszt Nuages gris
Unstern
György Kurtág Adoration, Adoration, Accursed Desolation
Doina
Claude Debussy 'Des pas sur la neige' from Preludes Book I
Étude 6 pour les huit doigts
Étude 11 pour les arpèges composés
György Kurtág Objet trouvé
12 Microludes
Antiphony in f-sharp
Les adieux
Johann Sebastian Bach Contrapunctus No 1 from Art of the Fugue
György Kurtág Ligatura y
Johann Sebastian Bach Contrapunctus No 14 from Art of the Fugue
Tamara Stefanovich piano
two violinist playing the violin diagonally from each other
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Ryoji Ikeda: music for strings

Ensemble Modern is a curious loudspeaker for music of our times: courageous, uncompromising, energetic. An essential, aesthetically polyglot amplifier for trend-setting sound concepts.

Ryoji Ikeda MIRROR [one for two], Op 12 (2020-23)
  I. for 2 violins
  II. for 2 violins
  III. for 2 violas
Ryoji Ikeda PRISM [for string nonet], Op 14 (2023)
Ryoji Ikeda REFLECTION [for string nonet], Op 13 (2022-23)
Jagdish Mistry violin
Giorgos Panagiotidis violin
Rachel Koblyakov violin
Veronika Paleeva violin
Megumi Kasakawa viola
Victor Guaita Igual viola
Eva Böcker cello
Charles Watt cello
Paul Cannon double bass
Volker Bernhard sound engineering
4 percussionists standing around an installation of 12 suspended cymbals
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Ryoji Ikeda: music for percussion 1 & 2

Alongside his monumental installations combining video and electronic sounds, Japan’s leading electronic composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda has also been working on pure acoustic sounds projects.

Ryoji Ikeda BODY MUSIC [for duo], Op 4 (2016)
  I
  II
  III
Ryoji Ikeda METAL MUSIC, Op 5 (2016)
  I. triangles [for duo]
  II. crotales [for duo]
  III. cymbals [for quartet]
Ryoji Ikeda BOOK MUSIC, Op 9, [for trio](2020)
Ryoji Ikeda BALL MUSIC [for trio] Op 10
  I. marble
  II. ping-pong
  III. baskstball
Ryoji Ikeda RULER MUSIC [for trio] Op 11
  I
  II
  III
  IV
Alexandre Babel percussion
Stéphane Garin percussion
Julien Garin percussion
Amélie Grould percussion
Solem Quartet group photo (from left to right) with William Newell holding a violin Stephanie Tress holding a cello, Amy Tress holding a violin and Stephen Upshaw holding a violin
Event
Classical music Contemporary music

Ryoji Ikeda: op. 2+3

An exciting premiere of the joint musical composition by acclaimed Japanese visual artist and composer Ryoji Ikeda and the Solem Quartet. 

Ryoji Ikeda Op 2 [for string quartet] (2001-02)
Ryoji Ikeda Op 3 [for string quartet] (2002)
Amy Tress violin
William Newell violin
Stephen Upshaw violin
Stephanie Tress cello