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‘Take me away… I have killed her: Carmen, my beloved!’ Bizet’s Carmen is one of the world’s most popular operas, and with good reason – it’s bursting with melodies that, once heard, are never forgotten. Tonight’s concert climaxes with an orchestral journey through this tale of doomed passion beneath the blazing Spanish sun: from the seductive Habanera to the swaggering Toreador’s Song, it’s just hit after hit after hit. But then, everything in this colourful programme is charged with drama. Stephanie Childress unleashes a whole evening of operatic passion, from Rossini’s showstopper of an overture (you already know how it goes!) to the imperial splendour of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Who needs singers – especially when we’ve got a soloist as charismatic as cellist Anastasia Kobekina in Tchaikovsky’s delightful Variations on a Rococo Theme?

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.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra returns to Reading with a program that will stir your senses and transport you to the sun-drenched plazas and tranquil courtyards of Spain.

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.

Explore the deeply emotive power of three enduring orchestral masterpieces with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Music Director, Vasily Petrenko.

Vasily Petrenko is quite simply one of the greatest conductors on the world stage right now. And with packed concerts and rave reviews, the electric partnership between the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and its Music Director has been “transformational” (The Guardian). In this repertoire, Petrenko is peerless: this is a concert not to be missed. Completing a stellar line-up, award-winning American violinist Esther Yoo brings “tones of breath-taking beauty ... full of empathy and innate musicality” (Sunday Times) to Bruch’s much-loved Violin Concerto, as she reunites with orchestra and conductor to reprise their much admired recording.

Get ready for an unmissable night of soul music as the Royal Albert Hall is filled with music from the legendary Motown record label and leading artists of the era.

Opening with Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, evoking the magical adventures of a Nordic folk hero with sparkling flights of fantasy, before soaring heavenwards in Vaughan Williams' beloved The Lark Ascending, painted with nostalgic English folksong.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra returns to Hull under the baton of conductor Eduardo Strausser for a musical journey across eras and emotions.

If you enjoy Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony (No.9), you’re going to love his Eighth, which 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 – written 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.