The London Symphony Orchestra is built on the belief that extraordinary music should be available to everyone, everywhere. From orchestral fans in the concert hall to first-time listeners across the UK, Europe and the world.

The London Symphony Orchestra was established in 1904, as one of the first orchestras shaped by its musicians. Since then, generations of remarkable talents have built the LSO’s reputation for uncompromising quality, and inspirational repertoires. Today, the LSO is ranked among the world’s top orchestras, with a family of artists that includes Chief Conductor Designate Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor Emeritus Sir Simon Rattle, Principal Guest Conductors Gianandrea Noseda and François-Xavier Roth, Conductor Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas and Associate Artists Barbara Hannigan and André J Thomas.

The LSO is Resident Orchestra at the Barbican in the City of London. The Orchestra reaches international audiences through touring and artistic residencies – in cities including Paris, Dortmund and Tokyo, at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, across Australasia and Latin America, and with the Music Academy in Santa Barbara – and through digital partnerships and an extensive programme of live-streamed and on-demand online broadcasts.

Through a world-leading learning and community programme, LSO Discovery, the LSO connects people from all walks of life to the power of great music. Based at LSO St Luke’s, the Orchestra’s community and music education centre and a leading performance venue on Old Street, LSO Discovery’s reach extends across East London, the UK and the world through both in-person and digital activity.

LSO musicians are at the heart of this unique programme, leading workshops, mentoring bright young talent, performing at free concerts for the local community and using music to support neurodiverse adults. LSO musicians also visit children’s hospitals, and lead training programmes for teachers.

The ambition behind all of this work is simple: to share the transformative power of classical music with people who would not normally experience it. The impact is unrivalled, and every year, LSO Discovery reaches thousands of people of all ages.

In 1999, the LSO formed its own recording label, LSO Live. It has become one of the world’s most talked-about classical labels and the leader among the new breed of orchestra-own-labels. LSO Live is dedicated to making exciting recordings that have the power to reach and inspire new audiences, and has over 200 recordings in the catalogue so far. Its recordings have received praise from around the world, collecting Grammy, Gramophone and Classical Brit Awards, among many others.

As a leading orchestra for film, the LSO has entertained millions with classic scores for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Shape of Water, and many more. The LSO also uses streaming services to reach a worldwide audience totalling millions of music-lovers who listen online every month.

Through inspiring music, educational programmes and technological innovations, the LSO’s reach extends far beyond the concert hall. Thanks to the generous support of The Corporation of the City of London, Arts Council England, corporate supporters and individual donors, the LSO is able to continue sharing extraordinary music with as many people as possible, across London, and the world.

Chief Conductor: Antonio Pappano

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed for his charismatic leadership and inspirational performances in both symphonic and operatic repertoire, Sir Antonio Pappano has been Music Director of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden since 2002, and Music Director of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome since 2005.

He will also be Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from the 2024/2025 season, becoming Designate from the 2023/2024 season. Nurtured as a pianist, repetiteur and assistant conductor at many of the most important opera houses of Europe and North America, including at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and several seasons at the Bayreuth Festival as musical assistant to Daniel Barenboim for productions of Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal and Der Ring des Nibelungen, Pappano was appointed Music Director of Oslo’s Den Norske Opera in 1990, and from 1992-2002 served as Music Director of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. From 1997-1999 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Pappano is in demand as an opera conductor at the highest international level, including with the Metropolitan Opera New York, the State Operas of Vienna and Berlin, the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Théâtre du Châtelet and the Teatro alla Scala. His repertoire at the Royal Opera House has been notably wide-ranging, generating acclaim in productions including Ariadne auf Naxos, Wozzeck, Falstaff, La Bohème, Don Giovanni, Aida, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Il Trittico, Parsifal, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Lulu, Les Vêpres Siciliennes, Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci, Norma, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, Guillaume Tell, Andrea Chenier, Boris Godunov, The Queen of Spades, Semiramide and Szymanowski’s Król Roger, Birtwistle’s The Minotaur and Turnage’s Anna Nicole.

Pappano has appeared as a guest conductor with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin, Vienna, New York and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Chicago and Boston Symphonies, the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras and the Orchestre de Paris. He maintains a particularly strong relationships with the London Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and forthcoming highlights include return visits to the Staatskapelle Dresden, Staatskapelle Berlin, London Philharmonic and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and widespread touring with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He also has a strong commitment to nurturing young singers and instrumentalists, close connections with the Aldeburgh and Verbier Festivals, leading concerts and masterclasses.

Pappano has been an exclusive recording artist for Warner Classics (formerly EMI Classics) since 1995, and his discography features numerous complete operas, including Don Carlo, La Rondine, Guillaume Tell, Il Trittico, Werther, Il Trovatore, Tristan und Isolde, and Aida, hailed as “unmissable” (The Sunday Times), “a triumph” (BBC Radio 3), “a magnificent achievement, of rare accomplishment” (Gramophone). 2022 saw the release on Sony Classical of Verdi’s Otello, and a disc of Verdi duets with Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tezier, and Vaughan William’s 4th and 6th symphonies for LSO Live.

His orchestral recordings with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia include Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, Rachmaninov’s 2nd, Mahler’s 6th, Dvorak’s 9th and Tchaikovsky’s 4th, 5th and 6th symphonies, Respighi’s Roman Trilogy, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Petite Messe Solenelle and selected Overtures, Britten’s War Requiem, and Verdi’s Requiem, and his discography also documents his work with other ensembles including the London Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, and the orchestras of the Royal Opera House and the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, in music ranging from Pergolesi and Mendelssohn through to Panufnik, Boesmans and Maxwell Davies.

Numerous productions from the Royal Opera House have been released on DVD, including Carmen, Les Troyens, Parsifal, Simon Boccanegra, Le nozze di Figaro, and Manon Lescaut. His recordings have received extensive accolades including Classic BRIT, ECHO Klassik, BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone Awards. As a pianist, Antonio Pappano appears as an accompanist with some of the most celebrated singers, including Joyce DiDonato, Diana Damrau, Gerald Finley and Ian Bostridge.

He has also partnered singers and instrumental soloists on disc, including in operatic recitals with Nina Stemme, Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann, concerto recordings with soloists including Leif Ove Andsnes, Maxim Vengerov, Janine Jansen, Jan Lisiecki and Beatrice Rana, and chamber recitals with Ian Bostridge, Barbara Bonney and Joyce DiDonato.

Antonio Pappano was born in London to Italian parents, and moved with his family to the United States at the age of 13. He studied piano with Norma Verrilli, composition with Arnold Franchetti and conducting with Gustav Meier. His awards and honours include Gramophone’s ‘Artist of the Year’ in 2000, the 2003 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, the 2004 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award, and the Bruno Walter prize from the Académie du Disque Lyrique in Paris. In 2012 he was created a Cavaliere di Gran Croce of the Republic of Italy, and a Knight of the British Empire for his services to music, and in 2015 he was named the 100th recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal, the body’s highest honour. He has also developed a notable career as a speaker and presenter, and has fronted several critically-acclaimed BBC Television documentaries including ‘Opera Italia’, ‘Pappano’s Essential Ring Cycle’ and ‘Pappano’s Classical Voices’.

Soloist: Yuja Wang

Pianist Yuja Wang is celebrated for her charismatic artistry, emotional honesty and captivating stage presence. She has performed with the world’s most venerated conductors, musicians and ensembles, and is renowned not only for her virtuosity, but her spontaneous and lively performances, famously telling the New York Times 'I firmly believe every program should have its own life, and be a representation of how I feel at the moment'.

Her skill and charisma were recently demonstrated in a marathon Rachmaninoff performance at Carnegie Hall alongside conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Philadelphia Orchestra. This historic event celebrating 150 years since the birth of Rachmnainoff, included performances of all four of his concertos plus the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in one afternoon and saw queues around the block for tickets on the day. The 2022/23 season also saw Yuja perform the world premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s Piano Concerto No.3 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and further performances of the work throughout North America and Europe across the season.
Yuja was born into a musical family in Beijing. After childhood piano studies in China, she received advanced training in Canada and at the Curtis Institute of Music under Gary Graffman. Her international breakthrough came in 2007, when she replaced Martha Argerich as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Two years later, she signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, and has since established her place among the world’s leading artists, with a succession of critically acclaimed performances and recordings. She was named Musical America’s Artist of the Year in 2017, and in 2021 received an Opus Klassik Award for her world-premiere recording of John Adams’ Must the Devil Have all the Good Tunes? with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.

This season, Yuja embarks on a highly anticipated international recital tour, performing in world-class venues across North America, Europe, and Asia, astounding audiences once more with her flair, technical ability and exceptional artistry in a wide ranging programme to include works by Beethoven and Scriabin.