Carnegie Hall

The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) believes that extraordinary music should be available to everyone, everywhere—from orchestral fans in the concert hall to first-time listeners all over the world. The LSO 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 quality, ambition, and a commitment to sharing the joy of music with everyone. The LSO performs some 70 concerts every year as resident orchestra at the Barbican, with its family of artists: Chief Conductor 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 has major artistic residencies in Paris, Tokyo, and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and a growing presence across Australasia. Through LSO Discovery, the LSO’s learning and community program, 60,000 people each year experience the transformative power of music. The orchestra’s musicians are at the heart of this unique program, leading workshops, mentoring bright young talent, and visiting schools, hospitals, and community spaces. The home of much of this work is LSO St. Luke’s, the LSO’s venue on Old Street. In 2025, the LSO will open up the venue’s facilities to more people than ever before, with new state-of-the-art recording facilities and dedicated spaces for LSO Discovery.

The LSO’s record label, LSO Live, is a leader among orchestra-owned labels, bringing to life the excitement of a live performance in a catalogue of more than 200 acclaimed recordings, and reaching millions through streaming services and online broadcasts. The LSO has been prolific in the studio since the infancy of orchestral recording, and has made more recordings than any other orchestra—over 2,500 projects to date—across film, video games, and bespoke audio collaborations.

Through inspiring music, learning programs, and digital innovations, the LSO’s reach extends far beyond the concert hall. And thanks to the generous support of The City of London Corporation, Arts Council England, corporate supporters, trusts and foundations, and individual donors, the LSO is able to continue sharing extraordinary music with as many people as possible, across London and around the world.

For more information about LSO Live, please visit lsolive.lso.co.uk.

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 is chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and was music director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, from 2002 until 2024. He is music director emeritus of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, having served as music director from 2005–2023. Mr. 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.

Mr. Pappano is in demand as an opera conductor at the highest international level, including with the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna and Berlin state operas, Bayreuth and Salzburg festivals, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Teatro alla Scala, and he has appeared as a guest conductor with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Vienna Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, as well as the New York Philharmonic, Chicago and Boston symphony orchestras, and Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras. He maintains a particularly strong relationship with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Highlights of the 2024–2025 season and beyond include return performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, as well as at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for a new production of Die Walküre. In his first season as chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Pappano takes the orchestra on a wide-ranging tour to the US, Japan, Korea, and China, as well as to major European capitals and festivals. This collaboration also includes flagship concerts at London’s Barbican featuring concert performances of Puccini’s La rondine and Strauss’s Salome, and symphonic repertoire that includes Mahler’s and Walton’s first symphonies, Holst’s The Planets, Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, and Vaughan Williams’s First and Ninth symphonies as part of a Vaughan Williams recording cycle for LSO Live.

Violinist Janine Jansen has longstanding relationships with the world’s most eminent orchestras and conductors. This season’s highlights include a major US tour with the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Antonio Pappano, and European tours with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Klaus Mäkelä and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie under the direction of Paavo Järvi. She continues her artistic partnership with Camerata Salzburg and returns to perform Vivaldi’s Four Seasons together with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta in Amsterdam and on tour across South America, including in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. Vienna’s Musikverein features Ms. Jansen as an Artist in Focus with a variety of projects throughout the 2024–2025 season.

Orchestral engagements include performances with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and James Gaffigan, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Kurt Sanderling, and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, with which she performs the German premiere of Britta Byström’s violin concerto Shortening Days, a work co-commissioned by the orchestra, under Sakari Oramo. Together with duo partners Denis Kozhukhin and Sunwook Kim, Ms. Jansen offers recitals across Europe and the US, including at Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Paris’s Philharmonie, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.

Ms. Jansen records exclusively for Decca Classics. Her latest recording, released in June 2024 to critical acclaim, features Sibelius’s Violin Concerto and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Klaus Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic. She is the founder and artistic director of the International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht, as well as co-artistic director of the Sion Festival. Since November 2023, she has served as professor of violin studies at Kronberg Academy, and she recently performed with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica during the Kronberg Festival.

Ms. Jansen studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Philipp Hirschhorn, and Boris Belkin. She plays the Shumsky-Rode Stradivarius from 1715, on generous loan from a European benefactor. During the US tour with the London Symphony Orchestra, she plays the “Glennie” violin from 1704 by Antonio Stradivari, on loan from a generous benefactor.