Víkingur Ólafsson: the Icelandic phenomenon who has redefined the way we hear the piano. Mark Simpson: a British composer with a boundless imagination, whose music pulses with the neon-lit energy of 21st-century urban life. Bring them together with Edward Gardner and the LPO in the world premiere of a new piano concerto, and you don’t need us to tell you that this is going to be quite an occasion. That’s just the centrepiece of a concert that begins with Dorothy Howell’s sensuous tone-poem, and ends with Stravinsky’s magical The Firebird – a fairytale of love, darkness and dazzling light.

The Firebird

Southbank Centre

A wicked sultan, a courageous princess, and a thousand and one nights of pleasure: there’s no doubt that Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade is one of classical music’s most sensuous treats. Today, with the dynamic young conductor Tom Fetherstonhaugh, it’s the climax of a concert packed with musical fairytales – from Glinka’s swashbuckling overture to the real-life marvel that is violinist Ning Feng. ‘The more you listen, the more you want to listen’, wrote one critic, and his performance of Tchaikovsky’s thrilling Violin Concerto is the warm heart of a concert filled with wonders. Hearing is believing …

EPSG:4326

Scheherazade

Congress Theatre

Far from home, Dvořák poured all his heartbreak and longing into a cello concerto like no other: a symphony in all but name, as sweet and as stormy as life itself. Meanwhile in France, the Belgian master César Franck created a symphony that’s practically a Gothic cathedral in sound – a world of swirling mists and monumental visions, crowned with a melody that you’ll never forget. Guest conductor Marie Jacquot scales its heights tonight, and joins the ‘sublime’ (Gramophone) Kian Soltani in Dvořák’s magnificent Concerto.

Kian Soltani plays Dvořák

‘Here is enshrined the soul of …’ Elgar never revealed the inspiration behind his Violin Concerto, but the music tells its own story – a tale of whispered secrets and soaring romance that could have been written for the glorious sound of violinist Christian Tetzlaff. Beethoven’s Fifth is a bit more direct: its world-famous opening is just the start of a truly epic struggle from tragedy to triumph. Written as his hearing failed and his world narrowed, the Symphony turned personal loss into defiant purpose, finding meaning through music when almost everything else was gone. And no-one knows what to expect, just yet, from Dai Fujikura’s new piece, though on his current form it should be very striking indeed. A night to remember from the LPO’s dynamic Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis.

Karina Canellakis conducts Beethoven

There’s no sound quite like the beginning of Mahler’s First Symphony; a vast, shining stillness that could be a spring morning, or the dawn of the Universe itself. Either way, you know you’re in for an adventure, and there’s no better guide than LPO Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis, an artist who strikes sparks from everything she touches. And imagine the chemistry, too, when she joins pianist Alice Sara Ott in Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. Some say that it’s his greatest. We just know that whenever Ott performs, the music seems to come alive. Join us, and hear for yourself.

Alice Sara Ott plays Beethoven

Step into a world of hope, possibility and new beginnings.

The 20th century saw a flowering of American music. Guest conductor Kellen Grey is passionate about the music of pioneers like William Grant Still and Florence Price – composers whose music sang of freedom, hope, and the endless possibilities of the American Dream. Take a voyage to a new world this evening, as Kellen introduces Dvořák’s exuberant overture, Still’s big-hearted symphonic portrait of America, and Price’s gloriously tuneful concerto, with violinist Elena Urioste as soloist.

My Homeland

Brighton Dome

Ein Heldenleben means ‘A Hero’s Life’, and Richard Strauss was definitely having a bit of a laugh at the expense of his critics when he painted this huge, absurdly entertaining self-portrait of the artist as superhero. Make no mistake though, it sounds incredible, and with conductor Robin Ticciati bringing all his operatic flair to a specially-expanded LPO, it’s just one of three extraordinary musical stories tonight. Sibelius evokes the Middle Ages, and the superb Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang (‘Inspired’ – The Strad) dances her way through Weimar Berlin in Hindemith’s sardonic Kammermusik – written (he said) to celebrate the birthday of a lion.

Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben

A Valentine’s concert with a marvellously classy difference.

They called them the Romantic generation: composers who let their imaginations run wild, painting landscapes in sound and revelling in untamed emotions, daredevil feats, and (of course) love. That’s the story we’re telling today, as brother-and-sister geniuses Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn stretch their creative wings, and take a tuneful tour of the Highlands in Felix’s stirring ‘Scottish’ Symphony. And then LPO Fellow Conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg and Principal Clarinet Benjamin Mellefont rediscover the music of Louis Spohr. Contemporaries thought he was up there with Beethoven, and you’re about to hear why.

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Nov 4, 2026

Karina Canellakis conducts Beethoven

Nov 6, 2026

Alice Sara Ott plays Beethoven

Nov 7, 2026

My Homeland

Nov 18, 2026

Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben

Feb 14, 2027

Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony

Oct 23, 2026

The Firebird

Oct 18, 2026

Scheherazade

London Philharmonic Orchestra