Three composers cry out in the void. Confronted by unimaginable horror, Schoenberg rediscovered his Jewish roots, and created a musical drama of savage, defiant courage, in tribute to the Holocaust victims. In Soviet Russia, the authorities expected Shostakovich to write a propaganda symphony: but what they got was a searing denunciation of man’s inhumanity to man – more potent, and more urgent than ever in 2024. As part of our exploration of memory, Andrey Boreyko conducts three testaments from a dark century – with the incomparable Gidon Kremer as soloist in the Violin Concerto by Mieczysław Weinberg: composer, survivor and Shostakovich’s most devoted friend.

*Please note the change in artist from originally advertised.

Two sound worlds, two centuries apart: Lachenmann’s Melodies meets Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.

A handsome prince, a wicked wizard and a swan princess: Swan Lake might be a ballet about black magic and doomed love, but the real sorcery comes from Tchaikovsky’s ravishing score. That’s the climax of this concert – but make no mistake, tonight there’s wonder from first note to last. Weber’s fairytale overture opens the portals of enchantment, and the award-winning young American cellist Zlatomir Fung sprinkles his own brand of stardust on the delightful Rococo Variations. Tchaikovsky meets Mozart, with a twinkle in his eye.

Ebullient saxophonist Jess Gillam joins the Philharmonia and our Principal Conductor Santtu for an irresistible Sunday matinee.

‘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.

Powerhouse percussion ensemble Sō Percussion and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and singer Caroline Shaw return to perform music from their upcoming album, Rectangles and Circumstance.

Appearing as both pianist and composer, Stephen Hough wraps fiery Schumann and Chopin around the London premiere of his own sonatina.

For its Barbican debut, multi-prize-winning Connaught Brass despatches season’s greetings in a cracker of a programme that gift wraps festive joy with interludes of serene reflection.

Following last year’s solo recital, accompanied by the perennially stylish Academy of St Martin in the Fields, pianist Khatia Bhuniatishvili returns for two strongly contrasted Mozart concertos.

An evening of passion, poetry and revolutionary power from the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – starring special guest Jeneba Kanneh-Mason in Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto. Two chords ring out, and Ludwig van Beethoven transforms the face of Western music with his Third Symphony, the 'Eroica'. Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No. 1 opens the evening.

A concert performance of La rondine, Puccini’s story of love thwarted by society’s conventions, an opera glowing with melody and orchestral colour.