Back by popular demand, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra returns for another Film Music Gala at the Royal Albert Hall. Join the Orchestra on the red carpet alongside conductor Stephen Bell and special guest vocalist Louise Dearman for a night to remember, filled with music from your favourite Hollywood blockbusters.
Featuring songs from much-loved movies and musicals, including La La Land, The Sound of Music, Schindler’s List, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Lord of the Rings, E.T., The Bridge on the River Kwai, Star Wars, Jaws, Out of Africa, Titanic, Chariots of Fire, Aladdin, West Side Story, The Lion King… to name but a few.
A trumpet sounds a fanfare, the orchestra cries out, and Mahler’s Fifth Symphony judders into life. But a symphony, said Mahler, must be like the world; and 70 minutes later the whole orchestra is storming the heavens in triumph. It’s a blockbuster journey from darkness to light, told in funeral marches, Viennese waltzes and of course, music’s sweetest love-letter – the rapturous Adagietto. But Robert Schumann knew a thing or two about love, too, and Glyndebourne Music Director Robin Ticciati is joined by pianist Francesco Piemontesi in Schumann’s heartfelt Piano Concerto – music in which these two artists share a very special rapport.
Rachmaninov’s world was turned completely upside down by the Great War. Severed from his roots, he fled Russia and began a career as a globetrotting pianist. His devilish set of variations, performed here by Bruce Liu – winner of the 2021 International Chopin Competition – embodies this nomadic life: written in Switzerland, premiered in America, based on a tune by Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini and infused with Rachmaninov’s own Russian style. Composers Erich Korngold and Béla Bartók were also forced by politics to leave their homes: both fled from fascism to the New World, and Korngold’s swashbuckling film score is practically a hymn to freedom. Bartók’s spectacular Concerto for Orchestra, meanwhile, is more than just a multi-coloured showcase, it’s a struggle between darkness and light, crowned by a mighty shout of joy.
‘Music is life’, declared Carl Nielsen, ‘and like it, inextinguishable!’ Defiant words from a composer who’d seen a world laid waste by war, but they could serve as motto for this concert from the dynamic Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu. In a time of revolution, Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto wove fairytale magic – and no-one makes it dance like our soloist Alina Ibragimova. There’s a vision of cosmic beauty from the late, great Kaija Saariaho. And finally, Nielsen launches a struggle for the future of existence itself: his shattering Fifth Symphony is one of those pieces that simply has to be experienced live.
Please note start time.
Life finds a way, and even under Soviet repression, composers were testing boundaries and telling forbidden truths. Arvo Pärt drew on the music of the past to liberate explosive new creative forces. Lutosławski reached for all the colours of a full symphony orchestra, and launched glittering sonic fireworks into grey Cold War skies. Eva Ollikainen rediscovers two modern classics, and Colin Currie – in the words of one critic, ‘surely the world’s finest and most daring percussionist’ – explores new ways of listening, with the extraordinary, culture-crossing Water Concerto by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon composer Tan Dun.
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‘Peace Shall Defeat War’ wrote Boris Lyatoshynsky on the score of his Third Symphony, and the message of this great 20th-century Ukrainian composer has never felt more urgent or compelling. LPO Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski believes passionately that it needs to be heard, and you’ll be gripped by its epic sweep and uncompromising emotional power. Jurowski has paired it with music from Prokofiev’s operatic tale of Ukrainian struggle, and Mussorgsky’s pitch-black, darkly comic songs – perfect for a singer as dramatic, and as characterful, as the British bass Matthew Rose.
For Vilde Frang, ‘music is the noblest form of communication, a constant interaction’ – and that generous philosophy, combined with her luminous, deeply expressive sound, has made this remarkable Norwegian violinist a real favourite with British audiences. Tonight, she explores the special poetry of Schumann’s only violin concerto: the tender heart of a concert that begins with Beethoven’s drama-fuelled Coriolan Overture, and ends with the wide-open spaces and pure, sunlit energy of Schubert’s unstoppable Ninth Symphony. It’s known as ‘the Great’ – and with LPO Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski bringing all his insight and imagination, you’ll hear why.
If you enjoy Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony (No.9), you’re going to love the one that he wrote back home in the heart of Bohemia. Hymn tunes, birdsong and folk dances; village bands, summer sunsets and blazing triumph – they’re all here, in what might be the single happiest symphony by any great composer (and, definitely, one of the most tuneful). For guest conductor Eduardo Strausser, it’s a natural way to end a concert that positively glows with Central European sunshine. The award-winning violinist Liya Petrova steps into the limelight in Korngold’s soaring Violin Concerto – composed in Hollywood by a composer with his heart in Vienna. And there’s a chance to discover a real neglected gem: the folk-inspired Suita Rustica by Vítězslava Kaprálová, who lit up Czech music between the wars.
Imagine a swelling river of sound; a musical voyage that begins amid the tranquillity of nature and ends in a surge of triumph. That’s Sibelius’s Second Symphony, and there are few experiences in classical music more invigorating, or more stirring. For the young Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski, Sibelius is a national hero. There’s another tale about memory to be told here, as Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki takes centre stage to showcase the grandeur and glory of Beethoven’s mighty ‘Emperor’ Concerto – a work dedicated to the composer’s patron and friend, Archduke Rudolf.
Elgar’s Enigma Variations began as a parlour game – a series of musical portraits of the composer’s nearest and dearest. It grew into the warmest, tenderest and most stirring masterpiece in all of British music: who isn’t moved by the profound emotion of Nimrod? Few artists understand British music better than former English National Opera music director Martyn Brabbins, and tonight Enigma crowns an all-British programme that opens with the serenity of Vaughan Williams and stars another great champion of British music, pianist Mark Bebbington, in the Piano Concerto by Sir Arthur Bliss. It’s not heard all that often, but it’s an absolute knockout: an art deco blockbuster, written on the eve of the Second World War. The greatest piano concerto you’ve never heard? Judge for yourself…
‘I think and feel in sounds’ said Maurice Ravel, and in his ballet Daphnis and Chloé you can almost feel the sun on the back of your neck, hear every flurry of birdsong and see each ray of glistening light. It’s as fantastic as it sounds, and this rare full-length performance under LPO Principal Conductor Edward Gardner is just the centrepiece of a whole evening of orchestral wonder. In La valse, memory plays a part, with its dangerously seductive rhythms portraying a gorgeous, haunted vision of a civilisation dancing into the abyss. This concert has been especially developed with the Southbank Centre and Circa, Australia’s internationally renowned circus company, and will feature cross-artform performance, with further details to be announced.
Please note start times.
Please note there will be no interval.
‘I think and feel in sounds’ said Maurice Ravel, and in his ballet Daphnis and Chloé you can almost feel the sun on the back of your neck, hear every flurry of birdsong and see each ray of glistening light. It’s as fantastic as it sounds, and this rare full-length performance under LPO Principal Conductor Edward Gardner is just the centrepiece of a whole evening of orchestral wonder. In La valse, memory plays a part, with its dangerously seductive rhythms portraying a gorgeous, haunted vision of a civilisation dancing into the abyss. This concert has been especially developed with the Southbank Centre and Circa, Australia’s internationally renowned circus company, and will feature cross-artform performance, with further details to be announced.
Please note start times.
Please note there will be no interval.
Three choirs, eight starry singers and one of the largest orchestras ever put on stage: there’s a reason why Mahler’s Eighth is often called the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’.‘Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound’ declared Mahler; ‘There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.’ Exaggeration? Judge for yourself. Mahler’s Eighth is quite simply one of the most overwhelming experiences that music has to offer. Every performance is an occasion, and with Edward Gardner conducting a truly world-class team, this should be a season finale to set the heavens ringing. This concert has been especially developed with the Southbank Centre, with further details to be announced.
As Hitler’s armies surrounded the city of Leningrad, and bombs rained down on a starving population, Dmitri Shostakovich sat down and – somehow - composed his Seventh Symphony. Written for massed battalions of musicians, this is music from the front line – a roar of defiance from an unbreakable city – and Vasily Petrenko’s recording was described by one critic as ‘devastating’. It’s a stupendous climax to a concert that’s all about struggle and resistance: whether it’s Sibelius defying Russian imperialism with a mighty hymn to his native Finland, or the poet Walt Whitman’s pleas for tolerance, set to music by the exiled Kurt Weill. Singing them today is the fabulous British baritone Roderick Williams: a born communicator at the heart of a truly epic programme.
‘I am the new Bacchus, pressing out glorious wine for the human spirit’ declared Ludwig van Beethoven. True, he wasn’t known for his modesty – but until you’ve heard his incredible Seventh Symphony in full, heart-pounding flight, you’ve never known just how intoxicating music can be. This is music that demands total commitment, body and soul and we can expect the young British conductor Adam Hickox to raise the roof tonight. First, though, he joins the RPO’s own Principal Trumpet Matthew Williams in the delightfully operatic concerto by Beethoven’s great friend Hummel – and ventures deep into the dark heart of the German forest in the Overture to Weber’s supernatural shocker Der Freischütz. The perfect opener to an evening of music to set the pulse racing.
Star pianist Yunchan Lim joins the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for this exclusive Royal Albert Hall performance. As the youngest-ever winner of the Gold Award at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2022, he has since enjoyed invitations from leading ensembles and venues worldwide, resulting in dazzling performances that have been lauded by audiences and critics alike. His performances combine a prodigious technique with a depth and musical maturity far beyond his 20 years. Yunchan performs Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto, a work in which Chopin took the piano and transformed it into the ultimate vehicle for the Romantic imagination, filled with a passion for his Polish homeland.
In the second half of this concert, Music Director Vasily Petrenko transports us to the Alps on an epic musical journey that celebrates the glory of nature. Written for a vast orchestra of over 100 players, Richard Strauss’ thrilling tone poem takes us from sunrise to sunset on an expedition through shimmering glaciers and flowering meadows, where we will feel the full force of nature as the mountains are battered by a powerful storm. This is music that demands a grand setting, and they don’t come much grander than the magnificent Royal Albert Hall.
Kindly supported by RPO President, Aline Foriel-Destezet
Heralded as one of the world’s finest musicians, legendary violinist Maxim Vengerov takes to the Royal Albert Hall stage with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a performance that is not to be missed. His distinguished career as both a violinist and conductor already spans more than four decades, and his glittering collection of awards, from Grammys to Classical BRITs, gives just a hint of the magical performance that this great master will treat us to. Described as ‘a virtuoso at the peak of his powers’ (The Guardian), Maxim is the perfect soloist for Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, a piece suffused with the atmosphere of his Finnish homeland, a nation which was still yearning for independence.
Music Director Vasily Petrenko concludes this concert with Stravinsky’s dramatic musical illustration of the Russian fairytale, The Firebird. The ballet music, as you might expect, is extremely theatrical, from its menacing opening that foretells the trouble ahead to the ethereal strings that conjure the magic of the enchanted Firebird.
Kindly supported by RPO President, Aline Foriel-Destezet
Don’t be misled by the title: for Tchaikovsky, ‘Pathétique’ meant ‘full of emotion’ and when he composed his autobiographical final symphony… well, let’s just say that he didn’t hold back. Soaring romance, desperate tragedy and brilliant celebration: it’s all here, in a symphony that leaves no heartstring untugged, right up to its devastating and unforgettable conclusion. If you’ve heard our guest conductor Antonello Manacorda in action at the Royal Opera House, you’ll know that he aims straight for the heart of everything he conducts. So expect elegance and joy in Mozart’s exuberant Overture to The Magic Flute, and pure energy when he joins RPO Artist-in-Residence Johan Dalene to play the piece with which Dalene shot to fame in 2019: the powerful Violin Concerto by Carl Nielsen. It’s possible that no one alive plays it better.
The wind rises, and waves smash against the North Sea coast of England. The earth shakes, as the very ground beneath our feet threatens to give way. And, in 19th-century Russia, a chemist with a gift for music, dreams of ancient times and exotic tribes, and creates sheer sonic alchemy. Music can show us the world in magical new ways, and as conductor Gemma New brings the RPO’s season to a close, she’s chosen four pieces that stir the imagination even while they thrill the senses. Britten’s seascapes, Borodin’s oriental fantasies and Victoria Borisova-Ollas’ tribute to the imagination of Salman Rushdie will make a vivid setting for the playfulness and wit of Prokofiev’s brilliant Third Piano Concerto – played by young pianist Daniel Ciobanu for whom every performance is a new adventure.
For centuries, even the most gifted composers have found themselves persecuted or marginalised simply because of who they were. As a gay man in Tsarist Russia, Tchaikovsky knew what it was to be an outsider, and he poured all his emotions into his Fourth Symphony: a no-holds-barred emotional autobiography, pulsing with melody and torn by raw and dangerous passions. ‘Petrenko’s Fourth is a white-knuckle ride’ wrote Gramophone magazine, and he certainly won’t hold back tonight. There’s no shortage of great tunes in the first half of the concert, too, as Petrenko champions Dorothy Howell’s Lamia – a wildly romantic tale of forbidden love – and the lovely piano concerto by the African-American composer Florence Price. Jeneba Kanneh-Mason is the soloist in music that was side-lined for decades and is only now receiving its due.