Name: Life of the Sea
Start: 2026-06-03T19:00:00
Location: Southbank Centre

Launching into the rich symphonic world of 2026, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment presents an extraordinary lineup that revisits the timeless classics of Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and more. With performances ranging from rediscovering Mozart's innovations to the seismic impact of Beethoven's symphonies, each event is crafted to breathe fresh life into historic compositions. From the spiritual depth of Bach's chorales to the inventive brilliance of Haydn, these concerts promise to engage audiences with music that defies the ages.

A Harmonious Odyssey: Exploring the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's 2026 Season

Dive into an extraordinary series of events celebrating musical legends like Bach, Mozart, and Brahms, curated by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. From the intimate chorales of Bach to the grand symphonies of Mozart, and the evocative final notes of Brahms, these events offer a rich tapestry of the classical music landscape. Each event not only highlights the genius of these composers but also connects their works to the broader cultural and historical contexts that shaped them.

Bach to Brahms: Exploring Timeless Symphonies and Oratorios

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Emily Akkermans, Curator of Time at Royal Museums Greenwich (including the Royal Observatory), introduces us to the life and work of John Harrison. In the week that marks the 250th anniversary of his death on 24 March 1776, we will get an insight into the story of Harrison’s remarkable quest over several decades to solve the problem of telling the time at sea, considered the most important scientific challenge of the 18th Century.

Bach, the Universe & Everything: March 2026

Kings Place

The St John Passion is the earlier of Bach’s two surviving settings – although not necessarily his first work in the genre. A more intimate work than the St Matthew Passion, it distils Jesus suffering and sacrifice into a more direct narrative. In part this comes from the distinctive nature of the Gospel of John, with its deep-seated spiritual purity. The church authorities in Leipzig insisted that the Passion story and Jesus’ words could only be told according to the biblical text, but Bach pulls off a clever gambit by interpolating the gospel into a compilation of popular contemporary librettos, such as that by Barthold Heinrich Brockes that Handel and Telemann had set in the previous decade.

St John Passion

Southbank Centre

During his visits to London between 1791 and 1795, Haydn found himself greatly inspired by the numerous performances of Handel’s works he attended. He was particularly moved by the grandeur of Messiah and Israel in Egypt which sparked his desire to create an oratorio of his own. Before Haydn returned to Vienna, violinist Johann Peter Salomon presented him with an anonymous English libretto which had supposedly been intended for Handel half a century earlier. The text – which draws from the Book of Genesis, John Milton’s epic Poem Paradise Lost (1667), and the Book of Psalms – resonated deeply with Haydn’s devout Catholic faith.

The Creation

But this new land mass is not what our explorer thinks it is… it is, in fact, a garbage patch in the middle of the ocean.

Life of the Sea

Both Symphonie fantastique (1830) and Harold in Italy (1842)  trace a musical journey from reverie to wild finale.The initial suggestion to write a work for solo viola came from the great violinist Paganini. Inspired by Byron’s 1812 poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Berlioz created “a series of orchestral scenes” in which the solo viola plays a “melancholic dreamer”.

Symphonie fantastique

Tonight’s event “reconstructs” the programme of a concert on 7 March 1897. It was the last time Brahms attended a public performance of his own music. That evening the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Hans Richter, were to play the three pieces here in what may seem like a curious order to modern audiences (particularly given the ending of ‘La Chasse’…)

Life of the Sea

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