The Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces are currently being refurbished, as we work to bring you a brand new cafe, bar, shop and Ticket Office. Find out more

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Principal Conductor Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Mark Allan

Sharing the wonder of orchestral music

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the world’s great orchestras since Sir Thomas Beecham founded it in 1932.

Uniquely groundbreaking and exhilarating to watch and hear, the LPO aims to bring wonder to the modern world with every performance and cement its position as a leading orchestra for the 21st century.

The orchestra’s home is here at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, at the beating heart of London’s cultural life. 

The orchestra’s Principal Conductors have included some of the greatest historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. 

In 2021 Edward Gardner became the 13th Principal Conductor, taking the orchestra into its tenth decade. Vladimir Jurowski became Conductor Emeritus in recognition of his impact as Principal Conductor, 2007–21. Karina Canellakis is the orchestra’s current Principal Guest Conductor and Tania León its Composer-in-Residence.

Gardner opens the orchestra’s new season in September 2023 with Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, and returns for 11 more concerts including Holst’s The Planets and Stravinsky’s Petrushka. The orchestra wraps its season up in April 2024 with Wagner’s Götterdämmerung – the long-awaited conclusion of Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski’s Ring Cycle.

The centrepiece of the season is the spring 2024 festival The Music in You. Reflecting the orchestra’s adventurous spirit, the festival embraces all kinds of expression – dance, music theatre, and audience participation. 

The orchestra takes its music out of the Royal Festival Hall and into a range of other settings, and collaborates with artists from across the creative spectrum, including jazz pianist and composer Julian Joseph, and choreographer Wayne McGregor in a boundary-defying ballet project. Other premieres include exciting new works by Daniel Kidane, Victoria Vita Polevá, Luís Tinoco and John Williams.

Rising stars making their debuts with the orchestra in 2023/24 include conductors Tianyi Lu, Oksana Lyniv, Jonathon Heyward and Natalia Ponomarchuk, accordionist João Barradas and organist Anna Lapwood. 

The LPO also welcomes back some of the biggest classical names including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Renée Fleming, Robin Ticciati, Paavo Järvi, Christian Tetzlaff and Danielle de Niese

  1. Date Filter