Southbank Centre announces Classical Music Spring/Summer 2025 with bold new premieres and commissions
The Southbank Centre and its family of six Resident Orchestras – Aurora Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Orchestra – today announce the Classical Music Spring/Summer 2025 programme.
An exhilarating exploration of all facets of classical music, from pioneering premieres by living composers to our continued commitment to large-scale orchestral work performed by the world’s greatest orchestras, the packed programme opens on Saturday 1 February with Mitsuko Uchida play-directing the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for the final concert in an ambitious five-year partnership between the orchestra and the Southbank Centre.
Commenting on the launch of the Spring/Summer 2025 programme, Southbank Centre Head of Classical Music Toks Dada said, “We continue to showcase the true inventiveness of classical music with this programme of bold new commissions, sparked by daring collaborations and artists finding new ways to work with music and sound. In addition to our Resident Orchestras’ ambitious commitments to commissioning new orchestral work, we continue to spotlight the pioneering work of overlooked composers from history, further reinforcing our commitment to developing the classical music canon. And, as we continue to develop the classical music experience, we welcome artists finding new ways of presenting seminal works from the classical music canon for today’s audiences.”
Southbank Centre Artistic Director Mark Ball added, “Alongside the greats of the canon, this season also challenges the conventional boundaries of orchestral music, providing our audiences with transformative experiences. In Spring/Summer, our bold and diverse programme includes the new festival Multitudes with our Resident Orchestras. Informed by our research, which found that audiences are crying out for unique experiences, we are offering both artists and audiences a platform to explore the rich and varied tapestry of sound that defines classical music today.”
Programme Highlights:
- As a powerhouse of creativity, the Southbank Centre and its Resident Orchestras are dedicated to supporting artists through its commissioning, providing a platform for bold new work by living composers. The programme includes exciting premieres of work from Héloïse Werner with Manchester Collective, Laurence Osborn with the London Sinfonietta, Dinuk Wijeratne with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Blackford with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with world premieres works by Roxanna Panufnik, Electra Perivolaris, Freya Waley-Cohen and the recently appointed Master of the King’s Music Errollyn Wallen
- In addition to the Southbank Centre’s exceptional family of Resident Orchestras, who perform with world-class soloists and guest conductors throughout the programme, several of the world’s most esteemed orchestras visit the Southbank Centre as part of Spring/Summer 2025. Visitors include the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer and guest pianist Igor Levit, and the Orchestra of Opera North in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra. Star guest performers include Abel Selaocoe with Aurora Orchestra performing his Cello Concerto (Four Spirits) and Dinis Sousa with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for an evening of Elgar
- Imaginative and exciting concert formats continue to draw new audiences to classical music at the Southbank Centre while the long-running Contemporary Edit features dynamic concerts celebrating the pioneering composers and performers of the 20th and 21st century in addition to the various commissions and premieres mentioned above. Paraorchestra with Charles Hazlewood return with a dance-filled adaptation of Mozart’s Symphony No.40. The returning Contemporary Edit features Resident Artist Lawrence Power with his inventive creative studio Âme and Aurora Orchestra, while Maya Dunietz and the London Sinfonietta perform works by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou
- Announced in September, Multitudes is a brand-new arts festival conceived and hosted at the Southbank Centre, showcasing spectacular experiences where world-class orchestras join with some of the most ambitious and exciting artists, performers and creatives practising today. Taking place Wednesday 23 April until Saturday 3 May 2025, the festival features Aurora Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia Orchestra as well as the BBC Concert Orchestra, Manchester Collective, Multi-Story Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Full details on the festival can be found here. Further Multitudes projects will be announced in January. Multitudes is supported, using public funding, by Arts Council England and the National Lottery.
- Featuring the nimble fingers and virtuosic flair of some of the world’s greatest pianists, the keyboard recitals during Spring/Summer feature a wealth of two-handed talent. Names include Alice Sara Ott, who launches her new album exploring John Field’s Nocturnes, Pierre-Laurent Aimard with French actor Mathieu Amalric delving into Ravel’s music and words, and a Southbank Centre debut for Leeds International Piano Competition 2021 winner Alim Beisembayev
- Chamber music concerts continue to be a catalyst for exciting collaborations exploring the rich history of classical music: Benjamin Appl and James Baillieu, explores the life of Appl’s teacher Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, early music ensemble Hespèrion XXI perform with Spanish conductor Jordi Savall, and Randall Goosby performs with long-term collaborator Zhu Wang celebrating French Romanticism
Tickets will be available to members on Friday 18 October and to the general public on Tuesday 22 October at 10am via: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/classical-music
Event listings: available to view here
NEW COMMISSIONS & PREMIERES
- Utilising the Southbank Centre’s new bespoke experimental sound system Concrete Voids, cellist Peter Gregson and viola da gamba player Liam Byrne unveil their newly commissioned works in 360 degree moveable audio featuring Resident Orchestra Aurora Orchestra with Gregson and fiddle-player, improviser, and composer Cleek Shrey with Byrne (16 Mar, Queen Elizabeth Hall). More about Concrete Voids can be found here.
- Resident Artist Manchester Collective, renowned for its arresting live performances, present two newly commissioned works: first, the London premiere of Héloïse Werner’s Hidden Mechanisms for piano quintet which examines the tiny mechanical parts of a music box (9 Feb, Purcell Room) and, then, the London premiere of Nabihah Iqbal’s first-ever classical commission What Psyche Felt (23 Mar, PUR).
- The London Sinfonietta premieres a new work by Laurence Osborn commissioned by the ensemble alongside the UK premiere of Hannah Kendall’s shouting forever into the receiver. These ‘anti-concertos’, conducted by Geoffrey Paterson, focus on the importance of being heard, exploring how voices across time can be hidden or obscured (3 Apr, QEH). In June, the London Sinfonietta presents two world premieres from their recent Writing the Future cohort: Pablo Martínez’s Just for Today, based on his mother’s life, narrates a transformation in relation to society through the lens of a drug addict while they seek to fulfil their paramount need to be loved; Sun Keting’s Conduit blends traditional and electronic music with dance and is designed to explore the need for human connection in an ever digital world (12 Jun, PUR).
- The London Philharmonic Orchestra gives the world premiere of David Sawer’s Sphinx (26 Feb, RFH) while clarinettist Kinan Azmeh joins for the European premiere of Dinuk Wijeratne’s Concerto for clarinet, piano & strings (12 Mar, QEH).
- As part of an evening of Stravinsky, the Philharmonia Orchestra with conductor Paavo Järvi and cellist Nicolas Altstaedt performs the UK premiere of Erkki-Sven Tüür’s Cello Concerto No.2 (Labyrinths of Life) co-commissioned by with Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (27 Feb, RFH). Nemanja Radulović is accompanied by string players from the orchestra as the violinist gives the UK premiere of works from his album Roots (28 Feb, QEH). Later, the Bach Choir joins the orchestra for the world premiere of Richard Blackford’s La Sagrada Familia Symphony with conductor David Hill (8 May, RFH); there are also three world premieres as part of the orchestra’s Music Of Today Composer’s Academy (11 Jun, RFH).
- The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment gives the world premieres of four new works by Roxanna Panufnik, Electra Perivolaris, Freya Waley-Cohen and recently appointed Master of the King’s Music Errollyn Wallen as part of Das Jahr/The Year (23 Mar, QEH). Each composer’s work responds to Fanny Mendelssohn’s cycle Das Jahr and will be scored for an 1840s period instrument orchestra. Movements from Fanny Mendelssohn’s cycle will be performed alongside the premieres by Olga Paschenko on fortepiano. Further information on the project is available here.
VISITING ORCHESTRAS & GUEST PERFORMERS
- Opening the programme, Mitsuko Uchida play-directs the Mahler Chamber Orchestras as the orchestra concludes its five-year partnership with Southbank Centre with a programme including Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.18, K.456 and Janáček’s Mládí (Youth) for wind sextet (1 Feb, RFH).
- The invigorating Iván Fischer leads the Budapest Festival Orchestra for an evening of Prokofiev with Igor Levit joining for the Russian composer’s Piano Concerto No.3 in C, Op.26 (11 Mar, RFH).
- The Orchestra of Opera North stages Verdi’s opera Simon Boccanegra in Italian with English surtitles with Antony Hermus conducting and baritone Roland Wood as the eponymous doge of Genoa and soprano Sara Cortolezzis as his long-lost daughter (24 May, RFH).
- Resident Orchestra Aurora Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Collon, collaborates with former Resident Artist Abel Selaocoe on Selaocoe’s Cello Concerto (Four Spirits) (8 Mar, QEH) and Southbank Centre Resident Artist Lawrence Power for a performance of Berlioz’s Harold in Italy (QEH, 29 June). Each concert features a symphony performed in the orchestra’s signature memorised style.
- The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s season includes the customary roster of highly-acclaimed conductors and world-class soloists. Soprano Renée Fleming returns to perform Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the Orchestra, music by Wagner fittingly completes the programme including selections from Tristan und Isolde, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (5 March). And following the success of the UK premiere of Tan Dun’s Buddha Passion by the LPO, the Orchestra performs his Water Concerto, with percussionist Colin Currie showcasing how water can be used as an instrument.
- Former Philharmonia Principal Conductor Ricardo Muti, who held the position from 1972 to 1982, makes his long-awaited return to launch the Philharmonia’s 80th birthday celebrations. He conducts Verdi’s Requiem (27 Mar, RFH) featuring a starry-line up of soloists including Elina Garanca. Nemanja Radulović, the Philharmonia’s Featured Artist this season, makes a second appearance to perform Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1 (10 Apr, RFH). Marin Alsop – the Philharmonia’s Principal Guest Conductor – explores Latin American themes with accordion soloist Ksenija Sidorova and UK tango champions Adrien Bariki-Alaoui and Iro Davlanti-Lo (14 Feb, RFH) with a free tango workshop after the concert. Nikolai Lugansky joins with Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali to close the season with a programme including Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 and Respighi’s Pines of Rome (11 Jun, RFH).
- The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment follows its acclaimed collaboration on Mendelssohn’s Complete Symphonies with Sir András Schiff in a programme that includes Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream (22 May, RFH). The OAE also welcomes back conductor Maxim Vengerov with violinist Vilde Frang in a revolutionary-flavoured all-Beethoven programme (27 Feb, QEH) and Jonathan Cohen, artistic director of Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society, for Bach’s St Matthew Passion (3 April, RFH). The highly regarded Dinis Sousa makes his debut with the OAE in an all-Elgar programme that includes the Enigma Variations (4 June, QEH).
ALTERNATIVE EXPERIENCES & CONTEMPORARY EDIT
- Constantly innovating the classical music experience, Paraorchestra with Charles Hazlewood presents The Virtuous Circle where the orchestra moves around the Royal Festival Hall’s Clore Ballroom in perfect synchronicity with dancers in an array of choreographic formations while performing Mozart’s Symphony No.40 (29 Jun, Clore Ballroom).
- Southbank Centre Resident Artist Lawrence Power collaborates with his creative studio Âme to create Reflections, transforming the Purcell Room into an immersive multimedia instrument, vibrating with kaleidoscopic video, beautiful music and dynamic sound design. The concert will feature music by Bach, George Benjamin and Arvo Pärt (30 Mar, PUR).
- Continuing to support the development of the next generation of artists, there will be a special showing of work developed as part of Future Artists, the performer-creator scheme established by the Royal Academy of Music and the Southbank Centre, with members of Manchester Collective and violinist and Collective co-founder Rakhi Singh as this year’s guest mentors (28 Mar, PUR)
- Following the success of this year’s Sound Within Sound festival, which platformed composers from the 20th century whose pioneering work has been excluded from the classical music canon, pianist Maya Dunietz returns as she performs works by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou featuring string players from Resident Orchestra the London Sinfonietta and soprano Sofia Jernberg (4 May, PUR).
- Lastly, continuing its commitment to centenary celebrations of revolutionary 20th century composers, with previous focusses on Xenakis, Ligeti and Schoenberg, the London Sinfonietta marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of landmark composer and conductor Pierre Boulez with performances of Domaines for clarinet and Derive I for 6 instruments alongside works by John Cage. This intimate chamber concert reveals, through readings and projection between the pieces, a story of intriguing correspondence between Boulez and Cage during 1949 and 1954 (9 Mar, PUR).
KEYBOARD RECITALS & CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERTS
- In addition to her performance with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Mitsuko Uchida performs a solo recital with a programme including Beethoven’s Sonata in E minor, Op.90 and Schubert’s Sonata in B flat, D.960 (7 Mar, RFH)
- Former Resident Artist Alice Sara Ott returns for a special album launch event, exploring John Field’s Nocturnes interspersed with sonatas by Beethoven (7 Feb, QEH)
- Following his critically acclaimed performance in 2023/24, Pierre-Laurent Aimard is joined by French actor Mathieu Amalric, whose credits include The Quantum of Solace and The Grand Budapest Hotel, for a selection of works by Ravel including Gaspard de la nuit and Le tombeau de Couperin interspersed with readings by Amalric as the two artists take a deep dive into the life of the composer (27 Mar, QEH).
- Other pianists in the programme include Nobuyuki Tsujii (13 Apr, QEH), Paul Lewis (4 May, QEH) and Alim Beisembayev’s Southbank Centre solo debut following his win at the 2021 Leeds International Piano Competition (7 Jun, QEH)
- In a moving tribute to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Benjamin Appl, Fischer-Dieskau’s last living student, marks the 100th anniversary of the legendary singer’s birth with a programme of works that follow Fischer-Dieskau’s life from his childhood, his time as a prisoner of war, to his commissions and compositions for the likes of Britten and Samuel Barber (2 Mar, QEH)
- Early music ensemble Hespèrion XXI, who specialise in repertoire from between the 10th and 18th centuries, presents a programme inspired by the Baroque revolution led by acclaimed Spanish conductor and composer Jordi Savall (11 Jun, QEH)
- Violinist Alina Ibragimova, cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, clarinettist Matthew Hunt and pianist Cédric Tiberghien perform two towering works of the 20th century: Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No.2 in E minor and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time (6 Apr, QEH)
- Soprano Ruby Hughes is joined by cellist Natalie Clein and pianist Julius Drake for an intimate concert of lyrical, lively and folk-influenced works including Schubert’s Hirt auf dem felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock) and Auf dem Strom (On the River) (27 Jun, QEH)
- Former Resident Artist Randall Goosby and long-term collaborator Zhu Wang explore the drama and longing of French Romanticism with works by Bologne, Fauré and Chausson (11 May, QEH)
MORE FROM THE SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S RESIDENT ORCHESTRAS
- Aurora Orchestra returns in Autumn/Winter 2025/26
- Chineke! Orchestra marks a year of celebration as they celebrate their 10th anniversary with concerts in Queen Elizabeth Hall, where they made their debut in 2015. This landmark year they celebrate musical excellence, diversity and illuminating works of previously overlooked composers. This Spring/Summer will see the orchestra bring Wynton Marsalis‘s A Fiddler’s Tale to the Queen Elizabeth Hall stage, a contemporary reinterpretation of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. The orchestra also performs Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Symphony in A Minor. Premiered in 1896, this historic composition first captured the attention of audiences including King George V, and over a century later, it received its Proms premiere by the Chineke!
- London Sinfonetta’s Sound Out returns: the annual schools concert with London Sinfonietta musicians and the Sound Out Young Ensemble, exploring how to compose and create new music, led by presenter Patrick Bailey (28 Mar, RFH).
- With the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Augustin Hadelich performs Britten’s Violin Concerto prior to Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique under the baton of Principal Conductor Edward Gardner (26 Feb, RFH). And in March, Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto performed by Francesco Piemontesi is the focus of the first half of a concert under the baton of Robin Ticciati, who then conducts Mahler’s Symphony No.5 (19 Mar, RFH). Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski returns for a concert entitled War and Peace that sees Bass Matthew Rose join the orchestra for Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death. The concert opens with selections from Prokofiev’s Semyon Kotko and Ukrainian composer Boris Lyatoshynsky’s Symphony No.3 (2 Apr, RFH).
- The Philharmonia Orchestra marks 50 years since the death of Shostakovich with his first and last symphonies, conducted by Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali (No.1 on 10 April, No.15 on 13 April) and Symphony No.10 with William Kentridge‘s film Oh To Believe In Another World (24 Apr, RFH) with Marin Alsop. Exciting young artists include pianist Mao Fujita (25), renowned for his affinity with Mozart’s music, performing two Mozart piano concertos (2 Mar and 20 Mar, RFH); and violinist Daniel Lozakovich (23) playing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.2 (20 Feb, RFH). There will be two concerts focussing on the artistry of Principal Clarinet Mark van de Wiel, who has been playing with the Philharmonia for 25 years: a free Philharmonia Chamber Players concert with quintets by Ruth Gipps & Weber (20 Feb, RFH) and an all-French programme featuring Debussy’s Premiere Rhapsodie for clarinet and orchestra alongside Javier Perianes playing Saint-Saens’s Piano Concerto No.5 ‘Egyptian’ (30 Mar, RFH).
- The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) continues to showcase its commitment to developing emerging talent with solo appearances from the current cohort of its Rising Stars of the Enlightenment scheme for singers: bass-baritone Florian Störtz sings the part of Christus in the St Matthew Passion (3 Apr, RFH) – which also includes Rising Star alumni Hugo Hymas (tenor) and Nick Pritchard (Evangelist) – and Frances Gregory is mezzo-soprano soloist in Elgar’s Sea Pictures (4 Jun, QEH). The OAE also continues its tradition of music-making for families and communities with The Magic Flute and the Bird That Would Be Free, a high-spirited family-show created by composer James Redwood and writer Hazel Gould (26 Jun, QEH), and its highly popular OAE TOTS concerts on 28 June in the Royal Festival Hall.
