Composer

No country’s music embodies a pastoral spirit quite like England’s, and no piece quite enshrines that idea like Vaughan Williams’s image of countryside serenity rendered in the most lyrical music imaginable, The Lark Ascending. Doyen of English music and former Music Director of English National Opera, Martyn Brabbins opens our symphonic season at the Sheldonian Theatre with works that portray dark clouds above green fields, including deeply moving music by composers killed at the front during the First World War. A concert that speaks of tragedy but also of comradeship includes Roderick Williams’s flute concerto, written for his childhood friend and our own Solo Flute, Anthony Robb.

English Melodies

University of Oxford

Dani Howard wrote a new work when she won the Classic FM composition prize for the radio station’s 25th birthday in 2017 and now, internationally acclaimed for her inviting and shimmering sound world, she presents another new work written especially to celebrate the Orchestra’s 25 year relationship with Classic FM. There'll be iconic music from John Williams, a burst of Beethoven, Márquez's popular Conga party piece, and we'll hear ancient and contemporary British minds collide. Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra draws on themes by Henry Purcell, and Vaughan Williams reimagines the most famous of English folksongs. Something for everyone!

Classic FM Hall of Fame

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Music from the Roaring Twenties: jazz meets classical meets weird and wonderful.
Take a deep dive into some fabulously strange corners of 20th century music. Ibert’s sparkling, playful Divertissement was composed for a play about a straw hat. Its short but sweet movements range from parody to pathos to party-time. Leonard Bernstein declared that Milhaud’s Création du Monde was the best example of jazz-classical fusion: not a ‘flirtation’ with jazz, but a ‘real love affair’. It is serious, funky, and full-blooded. Walton’s Façade, meanwhile, defies categorisation: part chamber piece, part poetry recital, part provocation. Soprano Jennifer France takes on the fabulously tongue-twisting poetry.

Live at the Centre: Walton's Façade

CBSO Centre

Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes us to the heart of an expansive soundscape with one of the most powerful works in the repertoire: Holst’s The Planets. From the warlike percussion of “Mars” to the ethereal female voices of “Neptune,” each planet reveals a unique atmosphere. This masterpiece showcases the full richness and variety of orchestral timbres in a journey of contrasting emotions.

Yannick Conducts The Planets

Place des Arts

Dramatic, thrilling, magnificent – we open the 2026 Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester with a concert full of dazzling music.

Three Choirs Festival: Belshazzar’s Feast

Gloucester Cathedral

A fun, family-friendly concert revealing how important music is to film stories, featuring excerpts from Pirates of the Caribbean, How to Train Your Dragon and The Polar Express, with audience singing participation. Recommended for children aged 7 to 12.

EPSG:4326

Family Concert: Music and the Movies

Barbican Centre

ENGLAND AND EMPIRE with RAPHAEL WALLFISCH cello

Dorchester Abbey

Abigail Yoon, violin

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Departure is your chance to experience something different—an intimate evening of two short operas that draw you into two very different stories. In Down in the Valley, a young couple’s love is pushed to the breaking point, leading to a violent choice that changes everything. Then The Bear shifts gears: a tense standoff between a widow and an unexpected visitor turns into something fast, funny, and surprisingly romantic. Two very different stories. One unforgettable night.

Departure

Denver Performing Arts Complex

Music has the power to express emotions that we have no words for: happiness, grief, ecstasy and the dissolution of boundaries. William Walton, one of the most important English composers of the 20th century, finds in his neo-Romantic viola concerto a path between intimacy and emergence. The bizarre music-mystic Scriabin searched for a great synaesthetic mystery that was supposed to put humanity in a state of ecstasy. The closest he came to achieving this goal was with his captivating Poème de l’extase. Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is about the bonding of two people against all societal conventions, the celebration of an all-consuming and fatal love.

Skrja­bin - Wagner - Walton

Meistersingerhalle

YOSA Philharmonic brings its season to a close with Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5, a gripping journey from darkness to triumph. This deeply moving work was born under the pressure of Soviet oppression and captures the resilience of the human spirit in the face of fear and control. Full of raw emotion, irony, and defiance, it continues to provoke and move listeners nearly a century after its premiere.

YOSA Presents: Shostakovich Five

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

2025/26 CSO Artist-in-Residence Joyce DiDonato is “a supreme artist, as much through sheer triumph of spirit as through musicianship” (Financial Times). The esteemed mezzo-soprano sings the Neruda Songs, Peter Lieberson’s heartbreakingly sensuous song cycle set to the poetry of Pablo Neruda. Edward Gardner concludes the program with Walton’s tumultuous and alluring First Symphony.

DiDonato Performs Neruda Songs

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Ray Zhang, viola

Enjoy the gentle beauty of Clair de lune —French for “moonlight”— one of the most recognizable pieces in Debussy’s repertoire. This work will immerse you in a dreamlike atmosphere, using open harmonies, unconventional scales, and fluid melodic lines. Just as Impressionist painters captured the fleeting play of light rather than rigid details, the music evokes shifting moods and delicate soundscapes.

Lyrical Landscapes: Mahler, Walton, & Clair de lune

Willson Auditorium

2024/25 Concerto Competition winner Harrison Yang Meng steps into the spotlight with Walton’s Viola Concerto, showcasing the instrument’s rich, expressive voice. The program culminates in Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, a sweeping, romantic masterpiece brimming with lush harmonies and soaring melodies, offering a powerful and passionate musical escape.

Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra: Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2

Meridian Arts Centre

Celebrate ZSL’s 200th anniversary with a special After Dark performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s brass and percussion players.

Following the Orchestra’s performance of Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival of the Animals earlier in the evening, the post-concert performance opens with a stately fanfare by William Walton, written 50 years ago for ZSL’s 150th anniversary. The players then embark on a lively sonic safari through Chris Hazell’s The Cats Suite, before raising a festive final toast with Goff Richards’s Homage to the Noble Grape.

After Dark: 200 Years of ZSL

Southbank Centre

George Gershwin wrote his Concerto in F in 1925 amidst the pulsating New York City. The work combines the elegance of classical forms with the exuberant energy of jazz – a music reflecting the city itself: loud, vibrant, full of surprises. From the first drumbeat to the final cadenza, the concerto sparkles with joy of life. Gershwin knew how to tell stories – and Boris Giltburg, Artist in Residence, brings them to life. With his delicate balance of virtuosity and sensitivity to nuances, he unfolds the full color spectrum of this extraordinary work. With his First Symphony composed in 1935, William Walton holds up a mirror to its time of creation: between urgent rhythms and sonic depths, one can feel the restlessness of the 1930s – intense, dark, but also overwhelmingly beautiful. In the first three movements, a gripping blend of energy, drama, and melancholy unfolds – from dark intensity to delicate, lyrical moments. The final movement, completed later, brings about the triumphant resolution. The symphony is considered one of the most significant works in British music, impressing with its emotional depth and orchestral power.

Giltburg with Gershwin

Palace of Culture

Audience-favourite Sara Davis Buechner returns with Edmonton-born rising star Jessica Yuma to perform Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos, a work full of vigor and breathtaking moments. English composer William Walton’s Symphony No. 1 takes listeners on a journey through rich harmony, heart-wrenching climaxes, and ultimate triumph. Plus, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia pays tribute to a theme written more than three centuries earlier by composer Thomas Tallis.

Concerto for Two Pianos

Winspear Centre

“For me, the sound of the violin reflects the soul,” says Lisa Batiashvili. 

Tchaikovsky may well have agreed. He wrote his Violin Concerto on holiday by Lake Geneva with the young student he hoped would premiere it, and poured equal parts emotion and virtuosity into his fiercely difficult and beautiful score. This afternoon it’s in the hands of exceptional violinist Lisa Batiashvili, whose last performance with the Philharmonia was acclaimed as ‘compelling from the very first bar’ (The Guardian). 

Lisa Batiashvili plays Tchaikovsky

WALTON AND RACHMANINOV with ROSALIND VENTRIS viola

A London Landscape

Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center

Commissioned for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Gloriana attracted controversy in exploring the hidden romantic life of the monarch’s namesake and predecessor. Britten’s music, though, brilliantly captures the spirit of Elizabethan dances and lute songs, whilst giving them an ironic 20th-century distance. The seven Courtly Dances that open this concert are an immediately appealing example.

The Hallé

Royal Concert Hall Nottingham

Following the lively ‘Courtly Dances’ from Britten’s opera Gloriana, Norwegian trumpeter, Tine Thing Helseth takes to the platform to perform this new, exciting work, written especially for her. Musically illustrating the biblical role of the trumpet and celebrating its vast expressive possibilities, Nico Muhly’s Doom Painting leads us on a dramatic journey through this historic instrument’s various iterations: ceremonial object for rituals and celebrations alike; harbinger of Doomsday; and jubilant instrument of the psalms.

Walton’s First Symphony

The Bridgewater Hall

Following the lively ‘Courtly Dances’ from Britten’s opera Gloriana, Alpesh Chauhan is joined on the platform by Norwegian trumpeter, Tine Thing Helseth who performs the UK premiere a new, exciting work, written especially for her. Musically illustrating the biblical role of the trumpet and celebrating its vast expressive possibilities, Nico Muhly’s Doom Painting leads us on a dramatic journey through this historic instrument’s various iterations: ceremonial object for rituals and celebrations alike; harbinger of Doomsday; and jubilant instrument of the psalms. Walton’s Symphony No.1 is widely considered among the greatest twentieth-century symphonies. Sometimes triumphant, sometimes hostile – the second movement, for example, is subtitled ‘Presto con malizia’ (‘quickly with malice’) – expect emotional intensity from start to finish.

The Hallé – Walton’s First Symphony

His stage name is based on a martial arts icon and he enjoys karting as a hobby: Bruce Liu is full of surprises. Just like his incredibly colorful piano playing, which has catapulted him into the top league of the classical music world. Bruce Liu was born in Paris and grew up in Canada, but his Asian roots have shaped him not least of all. "I notice that Chinese history – Confucianism, Taoism – is in my blood. But through my profession, I am also closely connected to European culture." His touch definitely has a French vein, elegant and incredibly light, while a haunting tension simmers beneath the surface. Excellent prerequisites for Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, which covers all emotional ranges, from sensitive tenderness to barely controllable outbursts of energy.

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Bruce Liu / Kazuki Yamada

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

With a stage name inspired by a martial arts icon and karting as a hobby, Bruce Liu is full of surprises. Just like his incredibly colourful piano playing, which has catapulted him into the premier league of the classical music world. Bruce Liu was born in Paris and grew up in Canada, but it was not least his Asian roots that shaped him. ‘I realise that the history of China - Confucianism, Taoism - is in my blood. But I am also closely connected to European culture through my profession.’ His touch definitely has a French vein, is elegant and incredibly light, while a haunting tension simmers beneath the surface. Excellent prerequisites for Tchaikovsky's legendary first piano concerto, which covers every emotional range from sensitive tenderness to an almost uncontrollable outburst of energy. Modest Mussorgsky's ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’, which will be performed by the renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kazuki Yamada in the second half of the concert, evokes fewer emotional states, but instead marvellous visual associations. (Pro Arte Frankfurt)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Alte Oper

A guiding principle for Yo-Yo Ma is to make the listener feel like the most important person in the room. The fact that he’s done that for more than 60 years is a testament to his commitment. Ma’s performance of Elgar’s soulful Cello Concerto is part of an all-English program that is tailor-made for Thomas Søndergård and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Yo-Yo Ma with the Minnesota Orchestra

Orchestra Hall

Whether Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, or Romeo and Juliet – many of the most beautiful and well-known melodies were written for ballet. The grace and elegance of the dancers inspired the composers to achieve peak creative achievements – time to devote a detailed attention to the resulting music. This evening, it's not just the bows that dance on the strings; some animals are also said to be doing a few pirouettes...

Pirouettes and pliés

Prinzregententheater

The Purcell School Symphony Orchestra returns to Cadogan Hall with a romantic programme of big tunes and lush orchestration, inspired by the movies of the 1940s.

This year’s Purcell School Concerto Competition winner, Julia Majewska, is an exciting young violinist who brings passion and verve to the fireworks of the exquisite Korngold Violin Concerto.

Part of Howard Hanson’s Symphony from 1930 was John Williams’ template for E.T., and Doreen Carwithen was the first British woman to write consistently for Hollywood. Walton’s orchestral showpiece from the film The First of the Few completes the programme.

The Purcell School Symphony Orchestra

Cadogan Hall 

Jess Walter, New York Times best-selling author, brings us his own witty, irreverent, and lyrical take on Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” (aka “The Inland Northwesterner’s Guide to the Orchestra”).

Masterworks 5: Stolen Melodies

Martin Woldson Theater

Guest Concert for the 20th anniversary of the Leipzig University Orchestra

Gewandhaus

2026 January Chorus Concert

Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center

Fresh from his wildly successful recent appearance with the DSO, Edward Gardner returns to conduct Holst’s most famous score, with the astrological character of each of the celestial bodies. Each planetary “portrait” reveals a fitting attribute, from Mars’ bellicose hammer blows to the haunting resonances of Neptune, “The Mystic,” with female voices singing wordlessly off stage till they fade away into the great unknown. Walton’s regal hymn of praise was commissioned to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953 and sung as she made her exit from Westminster Abbey. David Childs, euphonium sensation and brass faculty member of the University of North Texas, solos in the US premiere of a concerto by critically acclaimed Scottish composer James MacMillan, whose music is esteemed “for its rhythmic excitement and powerful emotional communication.”

Holst’s The Planets

The most powerful soundtracks can stand alone without any visual support. They come alive, becoming characters in their own right, and hearing a few bars can instantly transport us back to a favourite scene.

Symphonic Tales of British Cinema: From Hercule Poirot to Harry Potter

Centre Leonardo Da Vinci

Members of the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra

Teatro alla Scala

How do you celebrate New Year's Eve? Raclette, champagne, and fireworks? Looking back and looking ahead? Perhaps good conversations, with or without a party? For us, New Year's Eve is, above all, music, with which we bid farewell to the old year and toast the new one with you. We're already looking forward to seeing you again on New Year's Eve: The wonderful conductor Elim Chan has already fascinated and enchanted us in four concert programs.

New Year's Eve

Cologne Philharmonie

From Ben Hur and Gone with the Wind to The Godfather and Cinema Paradiso, relive the golden age of Hollywood and beyond with music by some of cinema's most brilliant and influential composers.

Golden Age Hollywood and Beyond

Brahms's Third Symphony returns to Wiesbaden, where it was composed in 1883 and met with great acclaim after its Vienna premiere. "Every movement a jewel!" Clara Schumann wrote to the composer. With a playful wink, Sergei Prokofiev created his First Symphony 35 years later: in the "classical style," it feigns adherence to old traditions, only to immediately break the rules and provoke a joyful chaos. As if this program didn't already offer stunningly beautiful melodies and harmonies, Walton's Viola Concerto adds even more. Eleanor Kendra James, principal violist of the State Orchestra, makes her debut as soloist.

3rd Symphony Concert: Brahms in Wiesbaden

Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden

South Bend’s favorite holiday tradition returns with Maestro Alastair Willis and a choir! A spectacular program of cherished Christmas carols and memorable seasonal tunes that bring joy to all. The perfect gift for the whole family.

Home For The Holidays

Morris Performing Arts Center

High-Spirited. Evocative. Dramatic. Antoine Tamestit: Spotlight Artist. The concert will finish at approximately 9:05pm, including a 20-minute intermission.

Musgrave, Walton and Vaughan Williams

Treat yourself to a swirl of sparkle and song as the 26-voice Festival Chorale fills the air with festive cheer in two concerts, December 6 & 7, 3:00 pm, at the Mendocino Presbyterian Church, under the direction of Matthew Evans. From timeless carols to unexpected delights, every note is wrapped in warmth and joy, like the perfect gift you didn’t know you needed. Close your eyes and you’ll hear snow falling, sleigh bells chiming, and laughter by the fire—all conjured by voices that shimmer and soar. Whether you’re a carol connoisseur or just love the magic of live music, this program promises a heart-tugging, spirit-lifting celebration you’ll carry home long after the final chord.

Festival Chorale: Christmastime is Here

Mendocino Presbyterian Church

Kronberg Academy

Ludwig van Beethoven’s first Piano Concerto is a youthful work that in many ways captures the emergence of the composer’s style. In this concert, Sweden’s Radio Concert Hall Berwaldhallen and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra welcome for the first time the British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor. After the intermission, conductor Yoel Gamzou will the lead the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in the British composer William Walton’s emotionally powerful first symphony from 1935.

Benjamin Grosvenor in Beethoven’s  Piano Concerto No 1

Berwaldhallen

Riley Smith (DMA ABD) is a classical guitarist with over a decade of performing and teaching experience. Drawn to the guitar from a young age, he quickly became enamored with the instrument—a passion that has guided his artistic and academic journey. He has studied under world-renowned pedagogues René Izquierdo, and Dr. Andrew Zohn, earning degrees in Guitar Performance from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (BFA, 2020) and Columbus State University (MM, 2022).

Riley Smith – DMA Guitar Recital

Hamel Music Center

Czech Philharmonic • Variations

Karlovy Vary City Theatre

Laura Karpman’s opera Balls tells the story of the Battle of the Sexes tennis match of 1973 – a decisive victory for Billie Jean King and for gender equality.

Composer Laura Karpman, conductor Marin Alsop  and actor Emma Kennedy are the perfect team to bring this turning point in the struggle for women’s rights to a 21st-century audience. Karpman, composer of many acclaimed film and game soundtracks including American Fiction, The Marvels and Kung Fu Panda 2, is a fierce advocate for equality in the film industry. Marin Alsop has blazed a trail for women conductors, through a performing career studded with ‘firsts’ and as a mentor and educator. Emma Kennedy is a multi-talented writer-performer who has won awards for her books, radio shows, TV series and films.

Battle of the Sexes: Marin Alsop conducts Balls

Karpman, composer of many acclaimed film and game soundtracks including for American Fiction, The Marvels and Kung Fu Panda 2, is a fierce advocate for equality in the film industry.

Balls: Marin Alsop Conducts Laura Karpman

As Napoleon's troops laid siege to the city, Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Emperor Concerto. Beethoven himself never referred to his Piano Concerto No. 5 as such, but the moment you hear it, you'll understand where the nickname came from. The piece is grand, heroic and majestic - qualities that pianist Lucas Jussen, celebrated for his Beethoven interpretations, will bring to life for us tonight. It makes for a striking contrast to the second half of the evening: Walton's bold and dramatic Symphony No. 1.

Walton & Beethoven

Amare

Making her debut with the TSO, Yura Lee solos on not one, but two instruments! In a rare turn, Lee will perform both the Walton Viola Concerto and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending on violin on a program of contrasts.

Strauss and Britten

Linda Ronstadt Music Hall

Experience the majesty of Fanfares and Flourishes. Join Goldsmiths Choral Union and Affinity Chamber Orchestra for an exhilarating and joyful evening of music that celebrates the splendour and triumph of the human spirit. Fanfares and Flourishes is a vibrant, uplifting programme that brings together powerful choral works and dazzling brass to explore themes of celebration, reverence, and exaltation.

Fanfares and Flourishes

Smith Square Hall

With this concert, Sir Donald Runnicles assumes his position as chief conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic and simultaneously opens our British Festival. The evening, full of European and British music history, begins with Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis," a deeply emotional and majestic piece that highlights the beauty of the English music tradition. William Walton's Concerto for Viola and Orchestra puts the larger sister of the violin in the spotlight. With virtuosic solo passages and dynamic orchestral accompaniment, this piece creates goosebump moments and showcases the viola in all its versatility and expressiveness. The crowning finale is Johannes Brahms' Fourth Symphony, a masterpiece that initially faced challenges at its inception. Its beginning appeared too abstract to contemporaries. Today, 140 years after its creation, the poetry of this beginning, the exuberance of the third movement, and the solemnity of the finale make Brahms' Fourth one of the most beloved symphonies of all time.

Sir Donald with Brahms

Not an obvious match – but somehow, they clicked, and Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet drives straight to the raw, tender heart of Shakespeare’s drama.

Romeo and Juliet

Sergei Prokofiev was the bad boy of Russian music; Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story ever told. Not an obvious match – but somehow, they clicked, and Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet drives straight to the raw, tender heart of Shakespeare’s drama. Tonight, it’s one of three very different visions of paradise from guest conductor Elim Chan. Cellist Nicolas Altstaedt plays the sun-kissed concerto that William Walton composed on a Mediterranean island. Meanwhile, with the UK premiere of Contested Eden, composer Gabriela Lena Frank joins our Harmony with Nature debate with a very personal response to California’s wildfires.

Guest performance in Weißenfels »Back from vacation«

Weißenfels Cultural Center

The Five Pieces for String Quartet were the work with which Erwin Schulhoff achieved his breakthrough in Salzburg in 1924. The dedication to his French colleague Darius Milhaud reveals what he was aiming for: the concise brevity of the movements, the suite-like sequence, and the aphoristic treatment of the material. The "Five Pieces" are primarily rhythmically inspired, which is probably why one review described them as "nice and lively dance pieces." One should not be fooled by this pleasantness: Schulhoff experiments ingeniously with motivic, metrical, and harmonic forms.

In the middle of the 20th century

Bochumer Symphoniker

Get ready for an unforgettable evening of classical music where you can witness the incredible talent of rising stars as they take the stage.

Experience the fiery passion of Grieg's Piano Concerto, captivated by the soulful melodies of Walton's Viola Concerto and prepare to be swept away by the virtuosity of Wieniawski's Violin Concerto, presented in its entirety.

Join us in celebrating the power and promise of young musical prodigies!

Extraordinary Youth

Eglinton St. George's United Church

Guest performance in Arnstadt »Back from vacation«

Theater im Schlossgarten

Few WASO debuts are met with the ecstatic acclaim that greeted Vasily Petrenko’s in 2022. He returns in 2025 with Walton’s grand Spitfire Prelude and Fugue and Vaughan Williams’ profoundly moving Fifth Symphony. Associate Principal Clarinet, Som Howie, makes his WASO concerto debut with Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto – a timeless masterpiece of expressive elegance and virtuosic flair.

Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto

The University of Western Australia

Few WASO debuts are met with the ecstatic acclaim that greeted Vasily Petrenko’s in 2022. He returns in 2025 with Walton’s grand Spitfire Prelude and Fugue and Vaughan Williams’ profoundly moving Fifth Symphony.

Prelude to Peace - Matinee

State Theatre Centre of WA

Few WASO debuts are met with the ecstatic acclaim that greeted Vasily Petrenko’s in 2022. He returns with music from his adopted homeland; Walton’s grand Spitfire Prelude and Fugue and Vaughan Williams’ profoundly moving Fifth Symphony.

Matinee Symphony Series: Prelude to Peace

Coffee Concert No. 1 »Back from Vacation«

Volkshaus Jena

A celebration of Britain’s land- and sea-scapes. Hear the soaring flight of Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending as well as the many moods of the North Sea as it meets Suffolk shingle in Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from ‘Peter Grimes’.

Great British Classics

Royal Albert Hall

Closing concert of the 65th Weimar Master Classes 2025 »The best for last«

Congress Centrum Neue Weimarhalle

All swagger, originality and ‘orgiastic power’, one of the great 20th-century symphonies, Walton’s Symphony No. 1, put the composer on the map – as the heir to both Elgar and Sibelius. Ravel’s jazz-infused, darkly atmospheric Piano Concerto for the Left Hand also breaks new ground: only one hand plays, though the ear hears all the richness of two. Nicholas McCarthy – the world’s only professional one-handed concert pianist – makes his Proms debut. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra opens its first Prom under new Chief Conductor Mark Wigglesworth with Shostakovich’s jovial Suite for Variety Orchestra, packed with tunes from the composer’s music for ballet, theatre and cinema.

BBC Proms Ravel with Nicholas McCarthy

Edward Gardner and James Ehnes

Lotte World Mall

Seoul Arts Center

Returning to the festival by popular demand, the brilliant brass players of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra present a glittering programme of music inspired by 'Eternal Light'.

Shining Brass: Bach and Bruckner to Walton and Wagner

St Giles Cripplegate

The viola emerges from the depths of the orchestra into the spotlight much less often than its high-pitched sister. The Englishman William Walton gave it the opportunity for a particularly grand performance with his concert. The warm tone of the solo instrument nestles here against a colorful orchestral part that can also be heard in the other two contributions to the program - the sparkling sound of Lyadov's "enchanted lake" or Stravinsky's ballet about the love-struck fairground puppet Petrushka. These fairy-tale sounds are brought to life by Marie Jacquot, designated chief conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra.

Fairytale Sounds – Marie Jacquot

Museum Ludwig

The viola emerges from the depths of the orchestra into the spotlight much less often than its high-pitched sister. The Englishman William Walton gave it the opportunity for a particularly grand performance with his concert. The warm tone of the solo instrument nestles here against a colorful orchestral part that can also be heard in the other two contributions to the program - the sparkling sound of Lyadov's "enchanted lake" or Stravinsky's ballet about the love-struck fairground puppet Petrushka. These fairy-tale sounds are brought to life by Marie Jacquot, the designated chief conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra.

Fairy Tale Sounds - Marie Jacquot

Perhaps no other orchestra has done so much to champion the incredible tradition of British music for strings as the legendary English String Orchestra, whose recordings carry the music of England from Elgar to today to listeners worldwide. William Walton was perhaps the true heir of Elgar’s legacy, and his Sonata for Strings is one of the highest peaks in the string orchestra literature. The programme opens with a set of short pieces which showcase Elgar’s genius for the miniature and continues with works showcasing two of today’s most engaging and exciting composers, Peter Fribbins and Ian Venables. Rosalind Ventris is the featured soloist.

Elgar Festival 2025 - Elgar’s Strings in Malvern

Great Malvern Priory

Was it, or wasn’t it, an act of defiance and bitter retort to Stalin’s displeasure? Shostakovich’s life was so utterly and constantly in peril that he could never publicly declare whether his Fifth Symphony was simply ‘a Soviet artist’s reply to just criticism’ or a satirical puncturing of the dictator, deliberately hollow but dressed as adulation.

Ulster Orchestra: Act Of Defiance

Ulster Hall

»Songs are like small operas into which you can bring many colors,« says Hanna-Elisabeth Müller. Young in years, rich in success, the soprano always devotes particular attention to the programs of her song recitals.

Hanna-Elisabeth Müller | Daniel Ottensamer | Juliane Ruf

What the imagination of ancient trysts can trigger. Debussy's "Prélude" signified nothing less than a silent revolution. For Ravel, it was an epiphany: "Only after I first heard 'Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune' did I know what music is." In his music for "Daphnis et Chloé," he presented sound in a completely different way, magnificently and expansively. In the splendid isolation on the island of Ischia, the late William Walton was no longer concerned with revolution. He enjoyed—and longed for—England.

Daphnis and Chloé

Tonhalle Düsseldorf

From the most delicate of musical miniatures, to the full splendour of Walton’s Crown Imperial, there’s nothing that can’t be played on a great organ. And there’s no organist alive who knows the Philharmonic Hall organ better than Liverpool’s City Organist Ian Tracey.

Summer Organ Recital

In 1929 the BBC asked Walton to write an oratorio for small chorus, small orchestra and a vocal soloist.  The result was anything but small!  Belshazzar’s Feast, to a libretto by Osbert Sitwell, turned out to be on an epic scale.  It rejuvenated English oratorio writing, and audiences were surprised with a jazzy, perhaps slightly racy, shocker. Bernstein revisited the score of his wildy successful musical and extracted nine sections to assemble into what he called the Symphonic Dances. The famous opening confrontation of the Jets and the Sharks is followed by the strains of Somewhere and the lively Latin dances of the Mambo and Cha-cha before the Cool fugue slides into the final, deadly Rumble, before ending on a haunting, unresolved chord.

Belshazzar’s Feast

Lighthouse, Poole's Centre for the Arts 

The Bach Choir and the Philharmonia Orchestra join forces for an evening of British music full of gripping stories and stunning landscapes.

The Bach Choir: Belshazzar’s Feast

Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, is—to only a slightly lesser degree than The Rite of Spring—a work that revolutionized music around the beginning of the 20th century, with its gossamer textures, subtle voluptuousness and elusive harmonies. Sixty-seven years ago Walton's Cello Concerto premiered in Symphony Hall with the legendary cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. BPYO alum Leland Ko, recent first prize winner of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) Competition, will bring it home again, with his richly lyrical tone and virtuosic flair. Maestro Zander says of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, "It overflows with love. From its first notes, emotion-drenched themes well up in an unstoppable flood, all clothed in Rachmaninoff's most gorgeous orchestration."

Debussy / Walton / Rachmaninoff

Boston Symphony Hall

In pursuit of their degrees at SFCM, each student presents a recital that represents their artistry and craft. Student Recitals feature repertoire curated by students with guidance from their faculty instructor. 

Haeun Choi, cello - First Year Advanced Certificate Recital

San Francisco Conservatory of Music

After Spain ( in the second chamber music matinee of the season ) and Poland ( in the fourth chamber music matinee of the season ), the fifth chamber music matinee takes a detour to England. Right in the middle of the action: violinist Catherine Myerscough, a native of London and a member of the NDR Radio Philharmonic since 2018. Together with three colleagues, she spans the Elizabethan era through early modern times to the present day. British music history is more colorful than you might think!

Composer

William Walton

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 11 - Nov 15, 2026

Members of the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra · Teatro alla Scala

Nov 21, 2026

Belshazzar’s Feast · Sinfonia Smith Square

Nov 24, 2026

Avery Li, tuba · Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Nov 26 - Dec 3, 2026

Royal Northern Sinfonia Winter Tour · Royal Northern Sinfonia

Dec 7, 2026

Leonore Piano Trio; Lawrence Power viola · Wigmore Hall

Past events

Oct 7, 2026

English Melodies · Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra

Oct 4, 2026

Classic FM Hall of Fame · Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

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