Skip to main content

LPO programme 10 Apr 2026 - Brahms's Double

Page 1


Principal Conductor Edward Gardner supported by Aud Jebsen

Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis supported by Richard Buxton

Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski KBE Patron HRH The Duke of Kent KG

Artistic Director Jesús Herrera Chief Executive David Burke

Leader Pieter Schoeman supported by Neil Westreich

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall

Friday 10 April 2026 | 7.30pm

Brahms’s Double

Dvořák

In Nature’s Realm (11’)

Brahms

Double Concerto for violin and cello (31’)

Interval (20’)

R Schumann

Symphony No. 4 (29’)

Jonathon Heyward

conductor

Pieter Schoeman violin

LPO chair supported by Neil Westreich

Kristina Blaumane cello

LPO chair supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden

Part of

Tonight in 2 minutes

New to classical? Short on time? Your quick guide to tonight’s concert.

The vibe

Brahms’s Double

Tonight’s programme features three great composers from the 19th-century Romantic era, when music was all about imagination and expression. We begin with Dvořák’s overture In Nature’s Realm, full of tuneful melodies and woodland charm. Brahms’s Double Concerto follows, featuring a solo violin and cello in an intimate dialogue with the orchestra. After the interval, Schumann’s Fourth Symphony takes us on a dramatic and lyrical musical adventure.

Who’s on stage?

Jonathon Heyward – conductor

Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, American conductor Jonathon is our guest conductor tonight. Known for his energy and insight, he brings a fresh and exciting perspective to every performance.

Pieter Schoeman – violin

Kristina Blaumane – cello

Pieter and Kristina are both full-time members of the LPO – Pieter is our Leader and Kristina our Principal Cello –so they are used to playing as part of the Orchestra alongside their colleagues. But tonight both of them step into the spotlight as the soloists in Brahms’s Double Concerto – a real showcase for their solo talents.

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Tonight there are over 70 LPO musicians on stage. All at the very top of their game, they’ve studied and practised for years to perfect their craft. Our talented musicians represent over 14 different nationalities, and many enjoy busy solo, chamber and teaching careers alongside their orchestral roles.

Turn to page 6 for tonight’s full player list.

What to expect

Take your seats...

The Orchestra tune up their instruments, then the conductor, Jonathon, enters the stage. Once the applause dies down, sit back and enjoy the music ...

3

Antonín Dvořák In Nature’s Realm

Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, writing in the late 19th century, takes us straight into the heart of the natural world in this overture. We’ll hear sparkling melodies that suggest flowing streams, rustling forests, and the playful energy of wildlife.

Johannes Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello

A concerto usually spotlights a single solo instrument with orchestral accompaniment – but this one features two soloists. The violin and cello engage in an intimate conversation, with moments of fiery brilliance, tender lyricism and Romantic warmth as the soloists and orchestra weave together.

Interval 20 min

Longer classical pieces are often made up of movements, or shorter sections. Applause is usually saved for after the final movement.

Robert Schumann Symphony No. 4

German composer Robert Schumann, one of the great figures of the Romantic era, composed his Fourth Symphony as a seamless journey through four connected movements. Rather than separate sections, the music flows continuously, with each idea leading naturally into the next. We’ll hear soaring melodies, dramatic moments and quiet tenderness, together highlighting Schumann’s emotional depth and imagination.

After the final piece, we applaud the performers. The conductor will acknowledge tonight’s Leader (chief First Violin), Alice, and might highlight other players for particular appreciation and applause, with several bows bringing the evening to a celebratory close.

Want to read more? Turn to page 11 for a deeper dive into this evening’s pieces.

Welcome LPO news

Welcome to the Southbank Centre

We’re the UK’s largest centre for the arts and one of the nation’s top five visitor attractions, showcasing the world’s most exciting artists at our venues in the heart of London. As a charity, we bring millions of people together by opening up the unique art spaces that we care for.

The Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery, National Poetry Library and Arts Council Collection. We’re one of London’s favourite meeting spots, with lots of free events and places to relax, eat and shop next to the Thames.

We hope you enjoy your visit. If you need any information or help, please ask a member of staff. You can also email hello@southbankcentre.co.uk or write to us at Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX.

Subscribers to our email updates are the first to hear about new events, offers and competitions. Just head to our website to sign up.

Printed with the planet in mind

The paper used for LPO concert programmes has been sourced from well-managed FSC®-certified forests, recycled materials, and other controlled sources. It is also Carbon Balanced, meaning the carbon impact of its production is offset by the World Land Trust. If you don’t want to take your programme home, please use the recycling bins in the Royal Festival Hall foyers.

Prefer paper-free?

Scan here for PDF versions of all our programmes to read or download on your phone or tablet.

Behind the scenes with LPO Friends

Earlier today, LPO Friends enjoyed exclusive behindthe-scenes access to a Private Members’ Rehearsal with the Orchestra, conductor Jonathon Heyward and soloists Pieter and Kristina ahead of tonight’s concert.

If you’d like to see for yourself what goes into putting on an LPO concert – plus enjoy a host of other amazing benefits, like a private bar space and meeting our musicians – join our family of LPO Friends today, from just £6 per month!

Our new 2026/27 concert season will be announced on Tuesday 21 April. LPO Friends receive our new season brochure ahead of the general public, and priority booking for Friends will open on Wednesday 22 April, before general booking from Tuesday 28 April.

Interested in finding out more? Scan the QR code or visit lpo.org.uk/friends

Future Firsts –Applications open for 2026/27

Our annual Future Firsts programme bridges the transition between education and the professional platform for outstanding early-career orchestral musicians. The year-long programme offers a unique opportunity to play alongside and receive mentorship from LPO musicians, hone your audition technique, and develop the skills needed to be a professional orchestral musician.

We are now welcoming applications for the 2026/27 Future Firsts programme, from UK-based musicians who play an orchestral instrument and who will have completed an undergraduate or postgraduate performance degree by September 2026 (or are at an equivalent playing standard).

Applications close on 6 May 2026

For more information – including details of the video audition process and the financial support offered (increased since previous years) – scan the QR code or visit lpo.org.uk/futurefirsts

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Uniquely groundbreaking and exhilarating to watch and hear, the London Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the world’s great orchestras since Sir Thomas Beecham founded it in 1932. Our mission is to create unrivalled orchestral experiences on stage and cultivate human connections beyond it, which we accomplish through live performances, online, and an extensive education and community programme, cementing our position as a leading orchestra for the 21st century.

Our home is at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where we’re at the beating heart of London’s cultural life. You’ll also find us at our resident venues in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden, and on tour worldwide. In 2024 we celebrated 60 years as Resident Symphony Orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, combining the magic of opera with Glyndebourne’s glorious setting in the Sussex countryside.

Soundtrack to key moments

Everyone will have heard the Grammy-nominated London Philharmonic Orchestra, whether it’s playing the world’s National Anthems for every medal ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, our iconic recording with Pavarotti that made Nessun Dorma a global football anthem, or closing the flotilla at The Queen’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. And you’ll almost certainly have heard us on the soundtracks for major films including The Lord of the Rings

Sharing the wonder worldwide

We’re one of the world’s most-streamed orchestras, with over 15 million plays of our content each month. We’re the most followed UK orchestra on Instagram, the most followed orchestra globally on TikTok, and overall the third most followed globally across all social platforms. In 2024 we featured in a TV documentary series on Sky Arts: ‘Backstage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra’, which was nominated for a 2025 BAFTA. During 2025/26 we’re once again working with Marquee TV to broadcast selected live concerts to enjoy at home.

Our conductors

Our Principal Conductors have included great historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2021 Edward Gardner became our 13th Principal Conductor, and Vladimir Jurowski became Conductor Emeritus. Karina Canellakis is our current Principal Guest Conductor, and Sir George Benjamin our Composer-in-Residence.

Next generations

We’re committed to nurturing the next generation of musicians and music-lovers: we love seeing the joy of children and families experiencing their first musical moments, and we’re passionate about inspiring schools and teachers through dedicated concerts, workshops, resources and training. Reflecting our values of

© Jason Bell

collaboration and inclusivity, our OrchLab and Open Sound Ensemble projects offer music-making opportunities for adults and young people with disabilities and special educational needs.

Today’s young instrumentalists are the orchestra members of the future, and we have a number of opportunities to support their progression. Our LPO Junior Artists programme leads the way in creating pathways into the profession for young artists from under-represented communities, and our LPO Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts schemes support the next generation of professional musicians, bridging the transition from education to professional careers. We also recently launched the LPO Conducting Fellowship, supporting the development of outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds underrepresented in the profession.

2025/26 season

This season’s theme, Harmony with Nature, explores humanity’s bond with the natural world through works by Beethoven, Sibelius, Mendelssohn, Elgar and Dvořák; masterpieces of an era that saw nature as a mirror of human emotion. Closer to our own time, we’ll hear from composers as diverse as Duke Ellington, John Luther Adams and Anna Thorvaldsdottir, who have all found a source of creative energy in the processes of nature.

Highlights with Principal Conductor Edward Gardner include symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Brahms and Rachmaninov; a pair of concerts spotlighting 20th-century Central European composers; an evening dedicated to Elgar; and a performance of Berg’s Wozzeck to end the season. We also welcome back Karina Canellakis and Vladimir Jurowski, as well as guest conductors including Robin Ticciati, Kirill Karabits, Mark Elder and Kahchun Wong. Our lineup of soloists this season includes violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter, Alina Ibragimova, James Ehnes and Himari; cellist Nicolas Altstaedt; and pianists Yefim Bronfman, Alexandre Kantorow and Tomoko Mukaiyama. The season features nine world and UK premieres, including Tan Dun’s choral ‘Ode to Peace’ Nine, and A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) by jazz icon Terence Blanchard.

This season also sees tours to South Korea and across Europe, as well as a wide range of performances and community events in our Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden residencies.

lpo.org.uk

Alice Ivy-Pemberton Leader

Alice Ivy-Pemberton joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as Co-Leader in February 2023.

Praised by The New York Times for her ‘sweet-toned playing’, Alice has performed as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician to international acclaim. While growing up in New York City and studying with Nurit Pacht, Alice made a nationally televised Carnegie Hall debut aged ten, and was a finalist at the Menuhin International Competition at the age of 12.

Alice earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho as a fully-funded recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. During her studies she won Juilliard’s Violin Concerto Competition, performed extensively with the New York Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and led orchestras under the baton of Barbara Hannigan, Xian Zhang and Matthias Pintscher. Upon graduating in 2022 she was awarded the Polisi Prize and a Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant in recognition of ‘tremendous talent, promise, creativity, and potential to make a significant impact in the performing arts’.

An avid chamber musician, Alice has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Anthony Marwood, Gil Shaham and members of the Belcea, Doric, Juilliard and Brentano string quartets, and performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Moritzburg and Yellow Barn. Also a passionate advocate for new music and its social relevance, Alice created Drowning Monuments, a noted multimedia project on climate change that brought together five world premieres for solo violin.

First Violins

Alice Ivy-Pemberton Leader

Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader

Kate Oswin

Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Lasma Taimina

Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G. Cave

Minn Majoe

Chair supported by Dr Alex & Maria

Chan

Yang Zhang

Katalin Varnagy

Thomas Eisner

Sylvain Vasseur

Nilufar Alimaksumova

Daniel Pukach

Alison Strange

Will Hillman

Camille Buitenhuis

Second Violins

Tania Mazzetti Principal

Chair supported by The Candide Trust

Emma Oldfield Co-Principal

Claudia Tarrant-Matthews

Kate Birchall

Marie-Anne Mairesse

Joseph Maher

Sophie Phillips

Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Sioni Williams

Ricky Gore

Kate Cole

Lyrit Milgram

Paula Clifton-Everest

Violas

Benjamin Roskams

Guest Principal

Benedetto Pollani

Lucia Ortiz Sauco

Laura Vallejo

Martin Wray

Chair supported by David & Bettina

Harden

Michelle Bruil

Alistair Scahill

Terry Nettle

Charles Cross

Anita Kurowska

On stage tonight

Cellos

Henry Shapard Principal

Waynne Kwon

Chair supported by an anonymous donor

David Lale

Francis Bucknall

Tom Roff

Helen Thomas

Victoria Harrild

Andrea Kim

Double Basses

Hugh Kluger Principal

George Peniston

Tom Walley

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Laura Murphy

Chair supported by Ian Ferguson & Susan Tranter

Adam Wynter

Catherine Ricketts

Flutes

Juliette Bausor Principal

Chair supported by Malcolm & Alison Thwaites

Stewart McIlwham*

Chair supported by The Thompson Family Charitable Trust

Oboes

Ian Hardwick* Principal

Alice Munday

Chair supported by David & Yi Buckley

Cor Anglais

Sue Böhling* Principal

Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi

Clarinets

Thomas Watmough Principal

Chair supported by Roger Greenwood

Emily Crook

Bass Clarinet

Paul Richards* Principal

Bassoons

Simon Estell* Principal Helen Storey*

Horns

John Ryan* Principal

Martin Hobbs

Mark Vines Co-Principal

Gareth Mollison

Duncan Fuller

Trumpets

Tom Nielsen* Principal Anne McAneney*

Trombones

David Whitehouse Principal Andrew Cole

Bass Trombone

Lyndon Meredith Principal Tuba

Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal

Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Timpani

Jonathan Phillips Guest Principal

Percussion

Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins

*Professor at a London conservatoire

The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present:

Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton

Sir Simon Robey

Victoria Robey CBE

Joe Topley & Tracey Countryman

The Williams family in memory of Grenville Williams

Video series: Humans of the Orchestra

Our YouTube video series ‘Humans of the Orchestra’ gives LPO audiences a chance to get to know the people behind the music – the personalities, stories and passions of our players.

So far, we’ve featured Leader Pieter Schoeman, Principal Cello Kristina Blaumane, Principal

Trumpet Paul Beniston, Principal Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis, Principal

Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith and Principal

Bassoon Jonathan Davies – with more to come soon!

Watch on our YouTube channel by scanning the QR code, or visit youtube.com/ londonphilharmonic orchestra

Jonathon Heyward conductor

American conductor Jonathon Heyward became Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2023/24, recently extending his contract to 2030/31. He also holds the Artistic & Music Director positions with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center.

Jonathon made his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in January 2024, when he conducted a programme of works by John Williams at the Royal Festival Hall, including the UK premiere of his Violin Concerto No. 2 with soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter. This season, as well as concerts with the LPO tonight in London and tomorrow at Saffron Hall, Jonathon returns to the Danish National and Detroit symphony orchestras, and makes his debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recent highlights include concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra, Galicia Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, and at the BBC Proms with Chineke! In the US, he has appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Jonathan made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 2020, conducting Hannah Kendall’s The Knife of Dawn, and led the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s Wake, in a production by Graham Vick for the Birmingham Opera Company, in 2018. He also conducted Weill’s Lost in the Stars with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 2017 and, last season, launched a four-year ‘Verdi Opera Initiative’ with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, commencing with performances of Aida; he returns next summer to lead Rigoletto

Jonathon is a passionate advocate for music education and community outreach. He has been recognised among TIME magazine’s ‘Next Generation Leaders’ and Bloomberg’s ‘Ones to Watch’.

© Kaupo Kikkas

Pieter Schoeman

violin

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002. He is also a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance.

Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Amsterdam

Concertgebouw, Moscow’s Rachmaninoff Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. He has also appeared as Guest Leader with many prestigious orchestras across the world. As a chamber musician, he regularly appears at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. His chamber music partners have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Veronika Eberle, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Boris Garlitsky, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Martin Helmchen and Julia Fischer.

Pieter has performed numerous times as a soloist with the LPO. Highlights have included an appearance as both conductor and soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, the Brahms Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and the Britten Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was released on the LPO Label to great critical acclaim.

Pieter’s chair in the LPO is generously supported by Neil Westreich.

Both Pieter and Kristina feature in our ‘Humans of the Orchestra’ YouTube series, giving you a chance to get to know the people behind the music! Scan the QR code to watch.

Kristina Blaumane

cello Kristina Blaumane has been Principal Cello of the London Philharmonic Orchestra since 2007.

Kristina was born in Riga and graduated from the Latvian Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She has performed as soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, Britten Sinfonia, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Sofia Soloists, Netherlands Wind Ensemble and Dalarna Sinfonietta, as well as all the main orchestras in Latvia.

As a chamber musician, Kristina has worked in partnership with such renowned artists as Isaac Stern, Gidon Kremer, Yo-Yo Ma, Yuri Bashmet, Leif Ove Andsnes, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Bruno Giuranna, Misha Maisky, Nikolaj Znaider, Tatyana Grindenko and Oleg Maisenberg, among others, and has performed at festivals such as Lockenhaus, Gstaad, Salzburg, Verbier, Basel, Jerusalem, Utrecht, Spitalfields, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, Homecoming and Crescendo.

Kristina is a keen promoter of new music. She has given a number of world premieres and several works are dedicated to her, among them concertos by Dobrinka Tabakova, Kristaps Pētersons, Pēteris Plakidis and Artem Vassiliev. In March 2023 she was the soloist in the world premiere of Elena Langer’s The Dong with a Luminous Nose with the LPO, which was later released on the LPO Label. Kristina appears as a soloist on the ECM debut disc of composer Dobrinka Tabakova, which reached No. 2 in the UK classical charts and received a Grammy nomination.

Kristina’s chair in the LPO is generously supported by Bianca & Stuart Roden.

Photos © Benjamin Ealovega

Harmony with Nature

Tonight’s works and our 2025/26 season theme

This season, we invite audiences to join us in exploring one of the most urgent conversations of our time –our relationship with the natural world – through the power of music. We’ll marvel at oceans, forests, caves, mountains and wildlife through works by Beethoven, Sibelius, Mendelssohn, Elgar and Dvořák; masterpieces of an era that saw nature as a mirror of human emotion –but also, perhaps, experienced it more immediately and organically than in the digital age.

Closer to our own time, voices as diverse as Duke Ellington, John Luther Adams, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez and Anna Thorvaldsdottir have all found an unquenchable source of creative energy in the processes of nature, from river deltas to volcanic eruptions. For composers such as Anna Korsun, Gabriela Lena Frank and Terence Blanchard (whose powerful meditation on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina receives its UK premiere), humanity enters the picture. As destroyer or protector? Or simply as an organic, inextricable part of nature itself?

Throughout the season, we’ll also be partnering with local environmental organisations, and welcoming pre-concert speakers, as we attempt to use the power of classical music to encourage environmental stewardship. We hope you’ll join us!

Check out the full season at lpo.org.uk/harmony-with-nature

Nature’s voice in tonight’s programme

For the composers of the Romantic generation, nature was a kind of storybook, where forests, mountains and rivers echoed the joys and sorrows of the human heart. In In Nature’s Realm, Antonín Dvořák’s love of the Czech countryside sings and dances through music that feels openair, radiant, and full of life. Later in tonight’s programme, works by Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann unfold like vast, elemental landscapes, rich in contrast and emotional depth. Together, they reflect a shared Romantic impulse – to find meaning, balance and connection through the natural world and the emotions it stirs.

The Nature Dialogues

Our final pre-concert talk exploring the season’s theme of Harmony with Nature Book free tickets online at lpo.org.uk

Harmony with our Changing Planet

Friday 17 April 2026, 6pm, Royal Festival Hall

As extreme weather events grow more destructive, how can societies adapt –and how can art help us face loss and find hope?

Terence Blanchard’s deeply personal response to Hurricane Katrina, A Tale of God’s Will, transformed grief into powerful symphonic jazz, capturing both the devastation of his native New Orleans and the enduring strength of its people. This pre-concert talk with Professor Gail Whiteman – head of the Nature & Climate Impact Team at the University of Exeter – explores what it means to live, and make music, in harmony with a changing planet.

Programme notes

Antonín Dvořák

1841–1904

Overture: In Nature’s Realm

1891

At the beginning of the 1890s, Dvořák was still committed to the ‘Classical-Romanticism’ of his friend, mentor and champion Johannes Brahms, with its preference for abstract musical forms – symphonies, concertos, string quartets, etc. But he was beginning to feel the pull of the radical romantic symphonic poem, espoused by the arch-progressive Liszt, with its stress on the evocation of mood or the illustration of stories.

Dvořák’s joyous, refreshingly out-of-doors In Nature’s Realm is usually performed on its own, but it was conceived as the first part of an orchestral trilogy, the other two pieces being the tone-poems Carnival and Othello – informally he called the whole cycle ‘Nature, Life and Love’. All three are labelled ‘Overture’, but in character they are closer to symphonic poems. In the words of Dvořák’s pioneering biographer, Otakar Šourek, these three pieces portray ‘the impression of the solitary, wrapped about by the exalted stillness of the summer night; the impression of a man seized into the joyous vortex of life, and finally the feeling of a man in the power of a violent love poisoned by jealousy.’

When the three ‘overtures’ are performed together, the idea of nature wearing three very different faces can emerge powerfully, especially given Dvořák’s telling use of a linking ‘nature’ theme, first heard on violas and bassoons at the start of In Nature’s Realm. But, perhaps understandably, audiences have tended to prefer the uplifting pastoral poetry of In Nature’s Realm for its own sake, without the baleful reminder (Othello) that joy and love can go terribly wrong. It emerges in a kind of arch form, beginning more or less as it ended, its second theme recalling a Czech hymn, ‘Let us sing joyfully’, a reminder that for the devout Dvořák, nature was a direct revelation of God. For many Romantics, products of cities or towns, nature was something that had to be discovered. For the village born-and-bred Dvořák, it was more of a given. There is no yearning to belong here, only joy in belonging.

Programme note © Stephen Johnson

Programme notes

Johannes Brahms

1833–97

Double Concerto in A minor for violin, cello and orchestra 1887

Pieter Schoeman violin

Kristina Blaumane cello

1. Allegro

2. Andante

3. Vivace non troppo

The concerto was one of the most popular of all musical forms in the 19th century. This was the era of the Romantic virtuoso soloist: audiences loved the idea of the superhuman individual taking on the might of the full symphony orchestra and emerging victorious. What a perfect vehicle for an age intoxicated with dashing, sensational figures like the poet Byron, the violinist Niccolò Paganini and the pianist-composer Franz Liszt. Something of this Romantic spirit – the suffering, striving, intensely charismatic soloist pitted against the elemental force of the orchestra – can be felt in Brahms’s First Piano Concerto, composed during 1854–58.

But Brahms was a paradoxical figure – it’s one of the things that makes him so fascinating. Part of him was Romantic to the core: a lonely misfit, sustained by an impossible love, laying bare his wounded heart in song after song (especially in the wonderful Alto Rhapsody). Yet there was another part of him that longed for something else: the contained formal strength and subtlety of great Classical and Baroque masters like Haydn and Mozart, Bach and Handel, and for the emotional ‘objectivity’ that they offered.

The Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra, composed in 1887, embodies this paradox magnificently. It contains some of Brahms’s most romantically expressive music: strikingly the almost operatic ‘love duet’ for violin and cello at the heart of

Programme notes

the slow central movement. The first cello solo, only a few seconds into the first movement, is marked ‘in modo d’un recitativo’ – ‘ the style of a recitative’ – a direct acknowledgement of the music’s operatic character by a composer who never wrote an opera.

And yet this is a concerto with two soloists. Concertos with more than one star in the spotlight were common in Baroque times (think of Bach’s glorious Double Concerto in D minor for two violins). Brahms also knew and valued Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, with solo violin and viola, and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto for piano trio and orchestra. But in the Romantic era, the solo concerto had apparently conquered all – there’s no room for more than one hero in the Byronic universe. In reverting to what would have been considered a strange, outmoded form at the time, Brahms showed that he was also not of his time.

Structurally, it is more compact than any of the solo concertos. In the first movement particularly, the solo violin and cello writing can be stirringly theatrical (visually as well as aurally), but Brahms is also careful to keep the solo contributions on an equal footing, as in chamber music. Soon after the cello’s opening ‘recitative’ solo, the violin has its turn in the spotlight, only now with comments from the cello, with the two instruments finally fusing in rich fortissimo (very loud) chords. Later, in the lyrical second theme, the conversation between the two turns subtler, more confidential, and the orchestra tactfully restrains its power to allow the soloists to speak more clearly.

This relationship issue is also crucial in the central slow movement. After a short horn and woodwind introduction, violin and cello launch out together in one of those wonderful long-breathed tunes that are such a signature of Brahms’s style. Yet in the middle section, violin and cello now enact an almost operatic ‘love duet’, passing ideas to each other now tenderly, now with impassioned urgency. The folk-coloured finale offers a refreshing contrast, but the dialogue element remains important, until at last both players join in a bravura display guaranteed to bring the house down.

There may be a personal element in all this. In 1880 Brahms had a serious falling-out with his close friend and collaborator, the virtuoso violinist and composer Joseph Joachim. The Double Concerto seems to have been conceived partly as a peace offering to Joachim. Yet it’s striking that Brahms did not offer his old friend another violin concerto, but a work in which the violin must come to an accommodation with the cello – an instrument Brahms loved and wrote for with great feeling. Hearing the Double Concerto for the first time, Brahms’s friend, confidante and ‘ideal’ love Clara Schumann wrote that ‘This Concerto is in a way a work of reconciliation’, adding that ‘Joachim and Brahms have spoken to one another again after years of silence’ –a comment that could be applied just as readily to the music itself.

Programme note © Stephen Johnson

Johannes Brahms (seated) and Joseph Joachim

Interval – 20 minutes

An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.

Programme notes

Robert Schumann

1810–56

Symphony No. 4 in D minor 1841

1.

2.

Ziemlich langsam – Lebhaft –

Romanze: Ziemlich langsam –

3.

Scherzo: Lebhaft

4. Langsam – Lebhaft –

At the age of 30, Schumann was a composer who had concentrated almost entirely on the small-scale forms of piano music and song. His only serious attempt at working on the broader canvas provided by the orchestra had been two movements of a symphony composed in 1832 and quickly withdrawn. But his desire to write symphonic music was strong, fed by persistent encouragement from his future wife Clara Wieck, and it received another important stimulus in 1839 when he played a major part in bringing to light Schubert’s forgotten ‘Great C major’ Symphony (No. 9): ‘Oh, that I could write such symphonies myself’, he wrote to Clara in his excitement. At last, in 1841, the dam burst in a flood of orchestral music: two completed symphonies, an abortive third, the Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op. 52, and a piece that was later to become the first movement of the Piano Concerto. The creative surge was so great, indeed, that the First Symphony, with spring as its fitting inspiration, was composed in draft in just four days.

The First Symphony was premiered in Leipzig on 31 March under the direction of Mendelssohn, and the success of it meant that Schumann was soon enthusiastically at work on another. ‘Robert’s spirit is very active’, wrote Clara in her diary. ‘I hear the D minor wildly sounding in the distance, so that I know already in advance, it is once again a work emerging from the bottom of his heart.’ For his own part, Robert had written in his own diary that ‘My next symphony will be called “Clara”.’ Composed between May and September, it was performed for the first time on

Programme notes

6 December, but this time the reception was a cool one. Disheartened, Schumann withdrew the work, and when he finally revised it ten years later as his ‘Fourth’ Symphony, it was only after making a number of revisions. Some of these were structural, but most involved a thickening of the scoring – tonight’s performance follows the customary modern-day practice of presenting the 1851 revision, the version for which Schumann himself expressed preference.

Perhaps this symphony’s initial failure with the public can be put down to its formal innovations. Although it was not until he revised it that Schumann actually marked the four movements to be played without a break, the sense of a single ‘symphonic fantasy’ (as he initially thought of renaming it) is present even in the original version. And whereas the First Symphony had relied for unity on references to a single, easily recognised motto, the Fourth went several steps further, employing a complex web of interrelated themes derived from the work’s slow introduction. Thus, for example, material from the first movement’s central development section resurfaces as the main theme of the finale, and the slow movement’s middle section is clearly related to the introduction’s sinuous

string lines, while also forming the basis of the following movement’s Trio. Similar examples are too numerous to catalogue here, but the variety and life which Schumann extracts from them, and the wholly convincing symphonic shape he achieves – exuberant allegro, poetic slow movement, sturdy Scherzo and climactic finale – are testimony to his compositional skill and invention.

Programme note © Lindsay Kemp 2026 GALASTELLAR

We’d love to hear from you

We hope you enjoyed tonight’s concert. Could you spare a few moments afterwards to complete a short survey about your experience? Your feedback is invaluable to us and will help to shape our future plans.

Just scan the QR code to begin the survey. Thank you!

Join us for our 2026 Gala –Stellar – at HERE at Outernet on Monday 29 June.

This exceptional night will feature world-class performances and exquisite dining in a venue like no other. Prepare to be captivated and immersed in an evening with the LPO. Our Gala will raise vital funds to support the LPO's artistic and social impact work; supporting the next generation –of musicians, of audiences and of communities – ensuring a creative, confident and flourishing society.

For more information, including ticket and table prices, scan the QR code or visit lpo.org.uk/gala

Our next Southbank Centre

concerts

Carnival of the Animals

Wed 15 Apr 2026, 7.30pm

Queen Elizabeth Hall

Dvořák Symphony No. 7

Ryan Carter Piano Concerto (world premiere)*

Saint-Saëns The Carnival of the Animals (with film animation by Sandra Albukrek)

Lidiya Yankovskaya conductor

Tomoko Mukaiyama piano

Bizjak Piano Duo

*This project is supported by the Daniel W. Dietrich ’64 Fund for Innovation in the Arts, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, USA.

Supported by Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a Donor Advised Fund, held at The Prism Charitable Trust.

Post-concert event

9.30pm | Queen Elizabeth Hall

Foyer

LPO After Dark: 200 Years of ZSL

Celebrate ZSL’s 200th anniversary with a lively late-night performance by the Orchestra’s brass and percussion players. Visit lpo.org.uk to find out more.

Terence Blanchard

Fri 17 Apr 2026, 7.30pm

Royal Festival Hall

Duke Ellington The River Suite

Terence Blanchard A Tale of God’s Will: A Requiem for Katrina

2026/27 season

Our 2026/27 concert season will be announced on Tuesday 21 April 2026. Priority booking for LPO Friends opens on Wednesday 22 April, before general booking from Tuesday 28 April.

To receive all the details as soon as the season is announced, sign up to our e-news list now at lpo.org.uk/signup or scan the QR code.

Daniela Candillari conductor

Terence Blanchard trumpet

The Terence Blanchard Quintet

Free pre-concert talk

6.00pm | Royal Festival Hall

Harmony with our Changing Planet

Professor Gail Whiteman discusses resilience, creativity and climate change: see page 9.

Terence Blanchard

Annual Appeal 2026:

Beyond the Concert Hall

Building communities. Creating connections. Enriching lives.

We believe that music is powerful, and we are committed to harnessing its extraordinary ability to break down barriers and forge shared, meaningful human experiences.

Donate to Beyond the Concert Hall and your gift will support impactful, co-created projects. Stand beside us as we use music and music-making to raise confidence and aspirations, boost wellbeing and creativity, and share joy with those who have limited access.

‘I

am going through a very hard time. This project has healed my heart.’ Crisis Creates participant

Donate online at lpo.org.uk/beyondthehall, scan the QR code, or call the LPO Individual Giving Team on 020 7840 4212 or 020 7840 4225.

Sound Futures donors

We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to our Sound Futures campaign. Thanks to their support, we successfully raised £1 million by 30 April 2015 which has now been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. This has enabled us to create a £2 million endowment fund supporting special artistic projects, creative programming and education work with key venue partners including our Southbank Centre home. Supporters listed below donated £500 or over. For a full list of those who have given to this campaign please visit lpo.org.uk/soundfutures

Masur Circle

Arts Council England

Dunard Fund

Victoria Robey CBE

Emmanuel & Barrie Roman

The Underwood Trust

Welser-Möst Circle

William & Alex de Winton

John Ireland Charitable Trust

The Tsukanov Family Foundation

Neil Westreich

Tennstedt Circle

Valentina & Dmitry Aksenov

Richard Buxton

The Candide Trust

Michael & Elena Kroupeev

Kirby Laing Foundation

Mr & Mrs Makharinsky

Alexey & Anastasia Reznikovich

Sir Simon Robey

Bianca & Stuart Roden

Simon & Vero Turner

The late Mr K Twyman

Solti Patrons

Ageas

John & Manon Antoniazzi

Gabor Beyer, through BTO

Management Consulting AG

Jon Claydon

Mrs Mina Goodman & Miss Suzanne

Goodman

Roddy & April Gow

The Jeniffer & Jonathan Harris

Charitable Trust

Mr James R.D. Korner OBE

Christoph Ladanyi & Dr Sophia Ladanyi-Czernin

Robert Markwick & Kasia Robinski

The Maurice Marks Charitable Trust

Mr Paris Natar

The Rothschild Foundation

Tom & Phillis Sharpe

The Viney Family

Haitink Patrons

Mark & Elizabeth Adams

Dr Christopher Aldren

Mrs Pauline Baumgartner

Lady Jane Berrill

Mr Frederick Brittenden

David & Yi Yao Buckley

Mr Clive Butler

Gill & Garf Collins

Mr John H Cook

Mr Alistair Corbett

Bruno De Kegel

Georgy Djaparidze

David Ellen

Christopher Fraser OBE

David & Victoria Graham Fuller

Goldman Sachs International

Mr Gavin Graham

Moya Greene

Mrs Dorothy Hambleton

Tony & Susie Hayes

Malcolm Herring

Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle

Mrs Philip Kan

Rehmet Kassim-Lakha de Morixe

Rose & Dudley Leigh

Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons

Miss Jeanette Martin

Duncan Matthews KC

Diana & Allan Morgenthau

Charitable Trust

Dr Karen Morton

Mr Roger Phillimore

Ruth Rattenbury

The Reed Foundation

The Rind Foundation

Sir Bernard Rix

David Ross & Line Forestier (Canada)

Carolina & Martin Schwab

Dr Brian Smith

Lady Valerie Solti

Mr & Mrs G Stein

Dr Peter Stephenson

Miss Anne Stoddart

TFS Loans Limited

Marina Vaizey

Jenny Watson

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Pritchard Donors

Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle

Mrs Arlene Beare

Mr Patrick & Mrs Joan Benner

Mr Conrad Blakey

Dr Anthony Buckland

Paul Collins

Alastair Crawford

Mr Derek B. Gray

Mr Roger Greenwood

The HA.SH Foundation

Darren & Jennifer Holmes

Honeymead Arts Trust

Mr Geoffrey Kirkham

Drs Frank & Gek Lim

Peter Mace

Mr & Mrs David Malpas

Dr David McGibney

Michael & Patricia McLaren-Turner

Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill

Mr Christopher Querée

The Rosalyn & Nicholas Springer

Charitable Trust

Timothy Walker CBE AM

Christopher Williams

Peter Wilson Smith

Mr Anthony Yolland

and all other donors who wish to remain anonymous

Thank you

As a registered charity, we are extremely grateful to all our supporters who have given generously to the LPO over the past year to help maintain the breadth and depth of the LPO’s activities, as well as supporting the Orchestra both on and off the concert platform.

Artistic Director’s Circle

The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

William & Alex de Winton

Catherine Høgel & Ben Mardle

Aud Jebsen

In memory of Paul Morgan

In memory of Donald Pelmear

In memory of Rita Reay

Sir Simon & Lady Robey CBE

In memory of Peter J Watson

Orchestra Circle

Richard Buxton

In memory of Nicola Goodman

Mr & Mrs Philip Kan

Neil Westreich

Principal Associates

An anonymous donor

Steven M. Berzin

Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G Cave

George Ramishvilli

In memory of Kenneth Shaw

The Tsukanov Family

Associates

Anonymous donors

Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton

Garf & Gill Collins

Michelle Crowe Hernandez & Christian Hernandez

Ian Ferguson & Susan Tranter

Stuart & Bianca Roden

Malcolm & Alison Thwaites

Joe Topley & Tracey Countryman

The Williams Family in memory of Grenville Williams

Gold Patrons

An anonymous donor

David & Yi Buckley

Dr Alex & Maria Chan

In memory of Allner Mavis

Channing

In memory of Peter Coe

John & Sam Dawson

Fiona Espenhahn

Mr Roger Greenwood

Sally Groves MBE

David & Bettina Harden

Eugene & Allison Hayes

Malcolm Herring

Mrs Asli Hodson

John & Angela Kessler

Mrs Elizabeth Meshkvicheva

Peter & Lucy Noble

Julian & Gill Simmonds

Eric Tomsett

The Viney Family

Guy & Utti Whittaker

Silver Patrons

An anonymous donor

David Burke & Valerie Graham

Mr Luke Gardiner

The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris

Charitable Trust

Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill

Clandia Wu & Hiu Fung Ng

Simon & Lucy Owen-Johnstone

Andrew & Cindy Peck

Mr Roger Phillimore

Tom & Phillis Sharpe

Laurence Watt

Joanna Williams

Bronze Patrons

Anonymous donors

Miram Al Rasheed

Michael Allen

Gabriela Andino-Benson

Irina Bednaya

Nicholas Berwin

Mrs Amna Boheim

Dame Colette Bowe

Lorna & Christopher Bown

Mr Bernard Bradbury

Dr Anthony Buckland

Desmond & Ruth Cecil

Mr John H Cook

Cameron & Kathryn Doley

Elena & Sergey Dubinets

Harron Ellenson & Charles Miller

Smith

Cristina & Malcolm Fallen

Christopher Fraser OBE

Charles Fulton

Gini & Richard Gabbertas

Jenny & Duncan Goldie-Scot

Mr Daniel Goldstein

David & Jane Gosman

Mr Gavin Graham

Mrs Dorothy Hambleton

Iain & Alicia Hasnip

J Douglas Home

Mr & Mrs Ralph Kanza

Mrs Irina Kiryukhina

Rose & Dudley Leigh

Wg. Cdr. M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF

Drs Frank & Gek Lim

Svetlana London

Graham Long

Richard & Judy Luddington

Mr & Mrs Makharinsky

James Maxey-Branch

Andrew T Mills

John Nickson & Simon Rew

Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley

Mr Stephen Olton

Nigel Phipps & Amanda McDowall

Mr Michael Posen

Marie Power

Neil & Karen Reynolds

Sir Bernard Rix

Baroness Shackleton

Tim Slorick

John & Madeleine Tucker

In memory of Doris Tylee

Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood

Sophie Walker

Jenny Watson CBE

Elena Y. Zeng

Principal Supporters

Anonymous donors

Dr M. Arevuo

Mrs Carol Ann Bailey

Mr John D Barnard

Roger & Clare Barron

Mr Geoffrey Bateman

Mrs A Beare

Adam J. Brunk & Madeleine

Haddon

Simon Burke & Rupert King

David & Liz Conway

Mr Alistair Corbett

David Devons

Deborah Dolce

David Edgecombe

Sir Timothy Fancourt

Jonathan Franklin

Professor Erol & Mrs Deniz Gelenbe

Steve & Cristina Goldring

Prof Emeritus John Gruzelier

Sebastian Arun Hansjee

Nick Hely-Hutchinson

Michael & Christine Henry

Mrs Farrah Jamal

Bruce & Joanna Jenkyn-Jones

Per Jonsson

Julian & Annette Armstrong

Mr Ian Kapur

Gee Lee

Dr Peter Mace

Mr Nikita Mishin

Allison Mollerberg

Simon Moore

Dr Simon Moore

Mrs Terry Neale

Mr Matthew Pearson

Mr James Pickford

Filippo Poli

Sukand Ramachandran

Mr Martin Randall

Mr Robert Ross

Mr Andrea Santacroce & Olivia Veillet-Lavallée

Aniruddha Sharma

Priscylla Shaw

Michael Smith

Erika Song

Mr & Mrs G Stein

Andrew & Rosemary Tusa

Wolf-Christian Ulrich

Ben Valentin KC

Christine Warsaw

Mr Rodney Whittaker

Christopher Williams

Supporters

Anonymous donors

Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle

Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington

Mr Philip Bathard-Smith

Mrs Martha Brooke

Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk

Miss Tessa Cowie

St Peter’s Composers, Bexhill-on-Sea

Dorothy Hobden

The Jackman Family

Jan Leigh & Jan Rynkiewicz

Mr Mack Lindsey

Mr David MacFarlane

Simon & Fiona Mortimore

Dana Mosevics

Dame Jane Newell DBE

Michael Noyce

Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh

Emilie Sydney-Smith

Ms Caroline Tate

Craig Terry

Tony & Hilary Vines

Dr Ann Turrall

Dr June Wakefield

Mr John Weekes

Mr C D Yates

Hon. Benefactor

Elliott Bernerd

Hon. Life Members

Alfonso Aijón

Dame Carol Colburn Grigor DBE

Robert Hill

Keith Millar

Victoria Robey CBE

Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

Cornelia Schmid

Timothy Walker CBE AM

Laurence Watt

Thomas Beecham

Group Members

An anonymous donor

Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton

David & Yi Buckley

Dr Alex & Maria Chan

Garf & Gill Collins

William & Alex de Winton

Ian Ferguson & Susan Tranter

The Friends of the LPO

Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G.

Cave

Mr Roger Greenwood

Barry Grimaldi

David & Bettina Harden

Mr & Mrs Philip Kan

John & Angela Kessler

Sir Simon Robey

Victoria Robey OBE

Stuart & Bianca Roden

Julian & Gill Simmonds

Malcolm & Alison Thwaites

Eric Tomsett

Neil Westreich

Guy & Utti Whittaker

LPO Corporate Members

Bloomberg Carter-Ruck Solicitors

French Chamber of Commerce

German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce

Lazard

Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking

Virgin Money

Walpole

Preferred Partners

Google

Lay & Wheeler

Lindt & Sprüngli

Mayer Brown

Steinway & Sons

Welbeck

Trusts and Foundations

ABO Trust

Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne

Candide Trust

Cockayne – Grants for the Arts

David Solomons Charitable Trust

Dunard Fund

Foyle Foundation

Garfield Weston Foundation

The Baily Thomas Charitable Fund

The Boshier-Hinton Foundation

The Golsoncott Foundation

Jerwood Foundation

John Thaw Foundation

John Horniman’s Children’s Trust

The Ian Askew Charitable Trust

Idlewild Trust

Institute Adam Mickiewicz

Kirby Laing Foundation

Thank you

The Lennox Hannay Charitable Trust

Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust

Lucille Graham Trust

The Marchus Trust

Margaret Killbery Foundation

Maria Bjӧrnson Memorial Fund

The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust

PRS Foundation

The Radcliffe Trust

Rivers Foundation

Rothschild Foundation

Scops Arts Trust

Sir William Boreman’s Foundation

The John S Cohen Foundation

TIOC Foundation

UK Friends of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Foundation

Vaughan Williams Foundation

The Viney Family

The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust

and others who wish to remain anonymous.

Trusts and Foundations

Principal Partners

Principal Supporters

Major Supporters

Board of the American Friends of the LPO

We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America:

Hannah Young Chair

Lora Aroyo

Jon Carter

Alexandra Jupin

Natalie Pray MBE

Dr Irene Rosner David

Marc Wassermann

Catherine Høgel

Hon. Director

LPO International Board of Governors

Natasha Tsukanova Chair

Steven M. Berzin

Shashank Bhagat

Irina Gofman

Olivia Ma

George Ramishvili

Florian Wunderlich

Corporate Sponsors

Principal Partner

OrchLab Project Partner

Principal Supporter

Major Supporters

London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration

Board of Directors

Dr Catherine C. Høgel Chair

Sir Nigel Boardman Vice-Chair

Mark Vines* President

Kate Birchall* Vice-President

Emily Benn

David Buckley

David Burke

Simon Burke

Simon Carrington*

Michelle Crowe Hernandez

Deborah Dolce

Simon Estell*

Jesús Herrera

Tanya Joseph

Minn Majoe*

Tania Mazzetti*

Jamie Njoku-Goodwin OBE

Neil Westreich

David Whitehouse*

*Player-Director

Advisory Council

Roger Barron Chairman

Christopher Aldren

Kate Birchall

Amna Boheim

Richard Brass

Helen Brocklebank

YolanDa Brown OBE

David Burke

Simon Callow CBE

Desmond Cecil CMG

Jane Coulson

Andrew Davenport

Guillaume Descottes

Cameron Doley

Lena Fankhauser

Christopher Fraser OBE

Jenny Goldie-Scot

Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS

Nick Hely-Hutchinson DL

Jesús Herrera

Dr Catherine C. Høgel

Martin Höhmann

Jamie Korner OBE

Andrew Neill

Nadya Powell

Sir Bernard Rix

Victoria Robey CBE

Baroness Shackleton

Thomas Sharpe KC

Julian Simmonds

Daisuke Tsuchiya

Mark Vines

Chris Viney

Laurence Watt

Elizabeth Winter

New Generation Board

Ellie Ajao

Peter De Souza

Vivek Haria

Rianna Henriques

Zerlina Vulliamy

General Administration

Jesús Herrera

Artistic Director

David Burke

Chief Executive

Monica Rutherford PA to the Executive & Office Manager (Interim)

Concert Management

Roanna Gibson

Concerts & Planning Director

Graham Wood

Concerts & Recordings Manager

Aimee Walton Tours Manager

Madeleine Ridout Glyndebourne & Projects Manager

Alison Jones

Concerts & Artists Co-ordinator

Alice Drury

Tours & Projects Assistant

Nicola Stevenson

Concerts & Recordings Assistant

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Andrew Chenery

Orchestra Personnel Manager

Helen Phipps Orchestra & Auditions Manager

Sarah Thomas

Martin Sargeson Librarians

Stephen O’Flaherty Deputy Operations Manager

Gabrielle Slack-Smith Assistant Stage Manager

Finance

Frances Slack

Finance Director

Dayse Guilherme Finance Manager

Jean-Paul Ramotar IT Manager & Finance Officer

Education & Community

Talia Lash

Education & Community Director

Eleanor Jones

Lowri Thomas

Education & Community Project Managers

Ellie Leon

Education & Community Co-ordinator

Claudia Clarkson

Regional Partnerships Manager

Development

Laura Willis

Development Director

Rosie Morden

Senior Development Manager

Eleanor Conroy

Development Events Manager

Owen Mortimer

Corporate Relations Manager

Anna Quillin

Trusts & Foundations Manager

Holly Eagles Development Co-ordinator

Faye Jones Development Assistant

Nick Jackman

Campaigns & Projects Director

Kirstin Peltonen

Development Associate

Marketing & Communications

Kath Trout

Marketing & Communications Director

Sophie Lonergan

Senior Marketing Manager (maternity leave)

Katie Vickers

Senior Marketing Manager (maternity cover)

Georgie Blyth

Press & PR Manager (maternity leave)

Said Abubakar, WildKat PR 07983 489 888

Press & PR (maternity cover)

Josh Clark

Data, Insights & CRM Manager

Greg Felton

Digital Creative

Isobel Jones

Marketing Manager

Maria Ribalaygua

Sales & Ticketing Manager

Rachel Williams

Publications Manager

Cara Liddiard

Marketing Assistant

Archives

Philip Stuart

Discographer

Gillian Pole

Recordings Archive

Professional Services

Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors

Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP

Auditors

Dr Barry Grimaldi Honorary Doctor

Mr Chris Aldren

Honorary ENT Surgeon

Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone

Hon. Orthopaedic Surgeon

London Philharmonic Orchestra, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP

Tel: 020 7840 4200

Box Office: 020 7840 4242

Email: admin@lpo.org.uk lpo.org.uk

2025/26 season design

JMG Studio

Printer John Good Ltd

Experience the magic of live orchestral music from some of the best seats in the house for less. Simply sign up with your email address, and discounts for our London concerts will be delivered straight to your inbox every month. Plus, get access to drinks offers and exclusive Under 30s events, as well as a free LPO tote bag at your first concert. lpo.org.uk/under-30s ELGAR:

EDWARD GARDNER conductor

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA & CHOIR

HALLÉ CHOIR

ALLAN CLAYTON | JAMIE BARTON | JAMES PLATT

MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 9

Vladimir Jurowski conductor LPO-0139 Released 23 January 2026

Share in the joy of music. Be a part of the LPO.

As a registered charity, it is thanks to the vital support we receive from our individual supporters, corporate partners, and trusts and foundations that the LPO can present such vibrant and varied concert programmes of world-class quality.

Such support also enables the LPO to drive lasting social impact through our industry-leading education and community programme, supporting rising talent, those affected by homelessness, and adults and young people with disabilities – designed to build and diversify the talent pipeline and share the unique joy and power of music more widely.

Donate

Whether you make a checkout donation, give to an appeal, or choose to remember the LPO with a gift in your Will, donations of all sizes make an impact. Your support will help us continue to promote diversity and inclusivity in classical music and nurture the next generation of talent.

Join

Joining one of our membership schemes will not only support the Orchestra and our mission, but will also give you access to a host of exclusive benefits designed to enhance your experience and build a closer relationship with the Orchestra and our family of supporters –from private rehearsals, to members’ bars, private events and priority booking. Membership starts at just £6 per month.

Partner

We’re virtuosos of creative collaboration, expertly crafting bespoke partnerships that hit the right notes. We tailor each bespoke partnership to your strategic business objectives, combining exceptional experiences that deepen client relationships, forge new connections, elevate your brand, and create buzzworthy content that leaves audiences captivated by a compelling brand story.

We’re also passionate about using music and our work to increase social value. By partnering together across a shared purpose and values, we can leave a positive, lasting impact on the communities we engage, deepening your CSR and SDG commitments.

Find out how you can support at lpo.org.uk/support us

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
LPO programme 10 Apr 2026 - Brahms's Double by London Philharmonic Orchestra - Issuu