Recitals
Classical Music 2024/25
Get closer to the music with intimate recitals from musicians at the top of their game.
This autumn we've got recitals from one of the UK's finest sitar players, Roopa Panesar; pianist Piotr Anderszewski brings his technical prowess to music by Bach and Bartók; celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma teams up with long-time collaborator Kathryn Stott; Samantha Ege returns with another brilliant programme of music by women; Stephen Hough appears as both pianist and composer with his own Sonatina Nostalgica; and Dudok Quartet pairs old and new in a typically ear-opening programme.
In the spring we hear pianists Louise Lortie, Seong-Jin Cho, Evgeny Kissin and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani. Khatia Buniatishvili is our Artist Spotlight and performs a solo recital and a duo with her sister Gvantsa.
Events
Commemorating Shostakovich: Evgeny Kissin and friends
A glittering constellation of string players joins Evgeny Kissin for an immersive dive into three sonatas that together span Shostakovich’s creative evolution – the last a soul-searing farewell.
Women of the Windrush
Nadine Benjamin stars in Shirley J Thompson’s one-woman, one-act opera which weaves together filmic documentary and song in a heart-warming love letter to the resilience of the Windrush migrants.
Khatia and Gvantsa Buniatishvili
Our current Artist Spotlight, Khatia Buniatishvili, joins forces with her sister Gvantsa for an exhilarating evening of piano duo music from Mozart to Gershwin via Ravel.
Lang Lang
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One of the most influential pianists of the 21st century plays music by Fauré, Schumann and Chopin.
Seong-Jin Cho: A Ravel-athon
A sold-out hall greeted Seong-Jin Cho’s Barbican debut in 2023. His much-anticipated return navigates a scintillating all-Ravel programme, saluting the composer in his 150th anniversary year.
Mahan Esfahani
Splicing classic Baroque works with a reminder that the harpsichord is no mere museum piece, Mahan Esfahani has opened up inspiring new territories.
Evgeny Kissin
Chopin at his most mercurial, and Shostakovich’s response to Bach as well as his piano sonata swansong all come under the spotlight as the great pianist attends to unfinished business.
Stephen Hough in Recital
Appearing as both pianist and composer, Stephen Hough wraps fiery Schumann and Chopin around the London premiere of his own sonatina.
Her Stories with Samantha Ege
‘Bold, brilliant, and daring women’ nourish Samantha Ege’s recital of 20th and 21st century piano music, including a work by Havanan ‘fusionista’ Camila Cortina Bello.
Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma reunites with long-time duo partner Kathryn Stott in two masterly sonatas and sublimely unruffled Arvo Pärt.
Dudok Quartet: Abandoned Voices
Alongside something hot off the press, death, despair, and eternity stalk the Dudoks’ typically ear-opening programme in which Messiaen tempers the anguished ardour of Gesualdo and Schubert.
Piotr Anderszewski
Beethoven and Bartók both insist that there’s no such thing as a ‘mere bagatelle’ when Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski pairs two compelling sets of inventive miniatures.
Roopa Panesar
One of the UK’s finest sitar players, Roopa Panesar returns for a concert of Indian classical music, collaborating with trailblazing Indian classical and contemporary musicians.
