Igor Levit, Joyce DiDonato, Thomas Adès: Southbank Centre’s Opening Weekend launches its 2024/25 season

Igor Levit (Photo: Felix Broede)

The Southbank Centre’s 2024/25 season [see my preview] starts with a bang featuring a five-day Opening Weekend (25 to 29 September 2024) when Resident Orchestras and Resident Artists join with other guests for a dozen events across the site. Highlights include Joyce DiDonato in Berlioz, a recital from Igor Levit, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells and Lawrence Power and Thomas Adès exploring fairy tales.

Things kick off with Edward Gardner conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra in Berlioz’ La mort de Cléopâtre, plus music by Barber and Beethoven, then the following day Santtu-Matias Rouvali launches the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Nordic Soundscapes [see my preview] with Sibelius, Grieg and María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir. Both orchestras and conductors return further into the weekend, with Gardner and the LPO in Rachmaninoff including The Bells, and Santtu and the Philharmonia in Sibelius and Nielsen.

Igor Levit’s recital puts together Bach’s Chromatic fantasia and fugue in D minor, BWV.903, Brahms’ Ballades, Op. 10 and Liszt’s transcription of Beethoven’s Symphony No.7. There is chamber music with a difference in ;Fairytale Dances when violist Lawrence Power joins composer/pianist Thomas Adès, a percussionist and a dancer for fairytale music that moves from Purcell and Dowland to Britten, Tippett, Berio and Stravinsky, plus of course Adès himself. Cellist Matthew Barley’s Light Stories is altogether more personal as he uses music and image to tell the story of his teenage journey from trauma and recovery into the light.

The Multi-Storey Orchestra’s Verified is about search for authenticity and acceptance among the growing pressures of social media and living in a digital age, whilst Charles Hazlewood conducts the ParaOrchestra in Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, his an astonishing meditation on loss and transcendence.

Scottish Ensemble (Photo: Hugh Carswell)

Things end with the Scottish Ensemble in a programme culminating in Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 3. Except, of course, that is not the end and there is an action packed season ahead.

Full details from the Southbank Centre’s website.