The London Sinfonietta shines a light on new voices and pioneering classics, blurring the lines between performer and audience – and you can be part of it. In celebration of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary, the orchestra weave together its past, present and future in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, while blurring the lines between performer and audience. 


Christian Mason’s In Time Entwined, In Space Enlaced, originally commissioned for the London Sinfonietta’s 40th birthday, invites 36 harmonica players from the audience to contribute to an ethereal soundscape, merging seamlessly with the onstage ensemble.

Time Entwined

Southbank Centre

Celebrated for its innovative and imaginative programming, the Manchester Collective repeatedly succeeds in uncovering exciting thematic threads and establishing unexpected connections. In their new program, "Albion, Now," they take the audience on a journey through the contemporary British music scene. Christian Mason's vibrant "Sardinian Songbook" encounters Errollyn Wallen's lyrical sound language of "Five Postcards," Anna Meredith's wild swarm of flies in "Tuggemo," in which strings and electronica buzz around each other, and other discoverable new creations from Great Britain—formerly known as Albion. The Manchester Collective thus draws on the rich world of myth and legend of old England and transforms it into a contemporary soundscape.

EPSG:4326

Manchester Collective

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Place of longing – role model – victim: the relationship between humans and nature is complex. Per Nørgård uses texts by Rainer Maria Rilke to search for a connection to nature in sound. Christian Mason composes according to the principles of swarm intelligence, observes the social strategies of fish and birds for living and surviving and asks: is adaptation the best survival strategy for us humans too? The willows in Johannes Maria Staud's choral work can tell you a thing or two about this, as they were witnesses to the death marches that passed by them. And the Korean composer Younghi Pagh-Paan's existential choral work tells of the earth that means home. It is about rural exodus, exploitation and the radical restructuring of Korean society to the point of "loss of the soul".

Gastkonzert: Natur und Mensch

Alte Oper

With the core program of Forum N, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra will then make its second stop in Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie this season. Under the direction of Matthias Hermann, as part of the "Elbphilharmonie Visions 2025" it will present Helmut Lachenmann's music for eight horns "My Melodies", which is not looking for new sounds, but for new listening, as well as the composition "Sympathetic Resonance" by the British composer Christian Mason, which sees the orchestra as a huge resonance instrument.

Elbphilharmonie Visions 2025

Following the Forum N program, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt) will make its second appearance this season at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie. Under the direction of Matthias Hermann, as part of the "Elbphilharmonie Visions 2025" series, it will present Helmut Lachenmann's music for eight horns, "My Melodies," which doesn't seek new sounds but rather new ways of listening, as well as the composition "Sympathetic Resonance" by the British composer Christian Mason, which conceives of the orchestra as a gigantic instrument of resonance.

Helmut Lachenmann's music for eight horns doesn't seek new sounds, but rather a new way of listening. Also featured is a composition by the British composer Christian Mason, which conceives of the orchestra as a vast instrument of resonance. And interspersed among these is Lachenmann's first major piano work – another listening experience at Forum N. "I always have to do what I can't do," Lachenmann confesses in his notes on "My Melodies" – music that transcends the concept of soloists in the classical sense and even the concept of any melody whatsoever. Lachenmann understands listening to music as a particular capacity for perception. For him, to engage with familiar instruments and tonal material in a new way, to play and resonate with them anew, means to set perception in motion anew and to make it a personal experience. “‘My Melodies’ are not ‘my melodies’ – there aren’t any – but rather, they evoke Frank Sinatra: they convey ‘my way’ of melodies in the creative use of sonic means.” The hr Symphony Orchestra, long familiar with Lachenmann’s musical language, will be joined by two further Lachenmann experts on this evening, unprecedented in many dimensions.

My Melodies

Hessischer Rundfunk

Eine Musik Helmut Lachenmanns für acht Hörner, die nicht nach neuen Klängen sucht, sondern nach neuem Hören. Außerdem eine Komposition des Briten Christian Mason, die das Orchester als riesiges Resonanz-Instrument begreift. Und dazwischen Lachenmanns erstes großes Klavierwerk – ein Hörerlebnis im Forum N auch dies. »Ich muss immer das machen, was ich nicht kann«, bekennt Lachenmann in seinen Anmerkungen zu »My Melodies« – einer Musik jenseits der Vorstellung von Solisten im klassischen Sinne und jenseits der Vorstellung auch von jeglicher Melodie. Musikhören versteht Lachenmann als eine besondere Wahrnehmungsfähigkeit. Mit vertrautem Instrumentarium und Tonmaterial neu umgehen, es neu bespielen und tönen lassen, heißt für ihn, Wahrnehmung neu in Gang zu setzen und für sich selbst erfahrbar zu machen. »›My Melodies‹ sind eben nicht ›meine Melodien‹ – die gibt es nicht –, sondern Frank Sinatra lässt grüßen: Sie vermitteln ›my way‹ of Melodies beim kreativen Umgang mit den klingenden Mitteln.« Das hr-Sinfonieorchester, mit Lachenmanns Musiksprache seit langem vertraut, wird dabei noch von zwei weiteren Lachenmann-Experten unterstützt an diesem in vielen Dimensionen unerhörten Abend.

Bertramstraße 8

**Rufus Isabel Elliot: Waves Crash on Old Street**

Join us for an evening of innovative music at the Jerwood Hall, LSO St Luke’s, on Saturday, 16 November 2024, at 7pm. This unique concert showcases the world premiere of a new work by Rufus Isabel Elliot, alongside a selection of contemporary pieces by composers such as David Fennessy, Christian Mason, Barbara Monk Feldman, Martin Arnold, Britta Byström, Ryoko Akama, and Stuart MacRae.

**Performers:**
- David Alberman, violin
- Louise McMonagle, cello
- Mark Knoop, piano

**Programme Highlights:**
- David Fennessy: The blue-eyed lassie
- Christian Mason: Efflorescence
- Barbara Monk Feldman: Clear Edge
- Martin Arnold: Lutra
- Britta Byström: Baum in der Stadt
- Ryoko Akama: 10 days’ etude
- Stuart MacRae: Haroldswick
- Rufus Isabel Elliot: New work (World Premiere)

**Tickets:**
- General Admission: £8
- Concessions: £6
- Under-18s: £5
- A booking fee of £1.50 applies per online/phone transaction.

This concert is a collaboration with KNOCKvologan Studies, Isle of Mull, and imagines voices from the distant past and the distant future, belonging to an ancient forest on an island off the west coast of Scotland. The event is presented by LSO Discovery and generously supported by the Jerwood Foundation.

**Additional Information:**
- The Crypt Bar will be open for hot and cold drinks from one hour before the performance and during the interval.
- Card payments only.

For more details and to book your tickets, visit lso.co.uk or call +44 20 7870 2500. Experience the transformative power of music through this exceptional evening presented by LSO Discovery.

Rufus Isabel Elliot: Waves Crash on Old Street

LSO St Luke's

Sound artist and musician Beatrice Dillon presents her first commission for orchestra. Following on from her 2020 album Workaround (‘Album of the Year’ The Wire Magazine), Dillon translates her distinct vocabulary of synthetic sound and generative systems into the acoustic realm of the orchestra.

Nonclassical at 20: London Symphony Orchestra

Hackney Empire

Shimmering ambiguity and transparent harmonies glisten with faintly Eastern inspired melodies, subtle nuance and sheer beauty in Debussy’s ground breaking Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, depicting the dreams and encounters of a mythical faun. Inspired by Whistler’s set of paintings of the same name, we then explore light and shade in his Nocturnes – From the sky to the sea we experience airily luminous melody alongside rustic rhythmic drive, and swirling water eerily interrupted by the songs of sirens at sea, a radiant thread added to the already exquisite tapestry of sound.

Gergely Madaras conducts...

Wales Millennium Centre

With Debussy, all the shimmering of the symphonic orchestra can be heard. As if in a state of weightlessness, his Prelude, inspired by Mallarmé, evokes the voluptuous sleep of a faun (a rustic deity from Greco-Roman antiquity) on a scorching summer afternoon. His Nocturnes color the movement of clouds in the sky, the clamor of a party, or the sea chantey of the sirens' choir. For the premiere of Christian Mason's new Concerto, Gergely Madaras shares the spotlight with flutist Noemi Győri, with whom he forms a very glamorous couple, both in life and on the stage...

L’après-midi d’un faune at Gergely's

Salle Philharmonique de Liège

Want to bring a moment of calm to your Sunday lunchtime? This will be an hour-long, free event for all ages, inspired by nature. Grab a drink from one of Brindleyplace's local cafes, and feel free to drop in and out as you please!

Cherry Blossom Concert 2024

Oozells Square

BCMG's wind trio perform a select programme of music fitting for such a venue, from Coventry's own Brian Ferneyhough, alongside pieces from Hans Abrahamsen, Sir Harrison Birtwistle and BCMG oboist Melinda Maxwell.

Christian Mason

Events

Past events

Jun 11, 2026

Time Entwined · London Sinfonietta

Mar 19, 2026

Manchester Collective · Elbphilharmonie

About

Christian Mason hasn't added a bio