Blissed-out visions of heaven from Mahler and Messiaen: the irrepressible Barbara Hannigan conducts and dreams her way to glory. Olivier Messiaen sends up a prayer, and the skies themselves seem to ring with majestic, multicoloured sounds. Mahler gets inside the mind of a child, in a symphony of blue skies, jangling sleigh bells and sudden, rapturous visions. It’s a wild ride to heaven, and the extraordinary Barbara Hannigan is there to show us the way tonight. As a singer, there’s nothing Hannigan can’t do, and as a conductor she drives straight to the places that other musicians wouldn’t dare. She’s been called ‘an artist who shoots straight for the heart and never misses’, and tonight the LSO’s Artistic Associate conducts a concert charged with wonder. PROGRAM Mahler: Symphony No. 4; Messiaen: L’ascension
LSO: Jonathan Stockhammer conducts Adams, Debussy & Ravel
Sunrises, seascapes and blue Californian skies: it’s all about colour as the LSO presents 20th-century favourites by Ravel, Debussy and John Adams. Dawn breaks in paradise, and in Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé you can hear every flurry of birdsong and glint of dew. Debussy gazes at the English Channel, and hears new worlds of sonic colour. And in 1980s San Francisco, John Adams imagines a supertanker rising from the sea and rocketing into the shining Pacific sky. PROGRAM Adams: Harmonielehre; Debussy: La mer; Ravel: Daphnis and Chloé – Suite No 2
LSO: Sir Simon Rattle conducts Messiaen
Sir Simon Rattle ends his final Barbican concert as LSO Music Director with Messiaen’s mind-blowing Turangalîla-Symphonie – an explosion of passionate emotion and ear-tingling sound.Imagine a starburst of love on a cosmic scale. Now add a colossal orchestra, an unstoppable pianist and a vintage electronic instrument straight out of science fiction, and you’re still not even half-way to imagining Messiaen’s mind-boggling Turangalîla-Symphonie. Betsy Jolas’ music is more understated – but it still packs a tremendous emotional punch. So what happier way for Sir Simon Rattle to bring down the curtain on his years as Music Director of the LSO, before he takes up the role of Conductor Emeritus? He’s joined by two of his oldest musical friends – pianist Peter Donohoe and ondes-martenot player Cynthia Millar – who also happen to be two of Messiaen’s supreme living interpreters. And with a new work from Betsy Jolas, he’s going out as he came in, with one eye fixed confidently on the future.
LSO: Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Brahms
“In an all-Brahms programme, Christian Tetzlaff brought momentum and shape to the Violin Concerto, and Tilson Thomas made every note glow” (The Guardian) There is a sense that every concert the London Symphony Orchestra gets to give with its conductor laureate, Michael Tilson Thomas, is now a gift – this evening of Brahms came a little over a year after the announcement that he was being treated for an aggressive form of brain cancer. Yet if Tilson Thomas’s own dynamic energy now needs to be husbanded to some extent, this did not translate into any loss of momentum or intensity in the orchestra’s performance: small gestures – a lean towards the cellos here, a shimmy of the fingers to fade out the brass there – were enough to shape the music into the kind of long, elastic lines that make Brahms’s notes glow. PROGRAM Brahms: Violin Concerto, Serenade No. 1
WOA 23: Skindred
If you’ve always wanted to know what a mixture of Jamaican sounds like paired with metal guitars, punk and drum and bass, you shouldn’t miss Skindred. With 14 albums through its career, the band celebrates its 25th birthday with the new album “Smile”. It is all about fun!
WOA 23: Vixen
The all-female band Vixen emerged during the glory days of glam metal. Best-known for hits such as “Cryin’” and “Edge of a Broken Heart,” Vixen is recognized as one of the best pivotal bands in rock music. Their intense tour activity included this unmissable concert at Wacken Festival.
WOA 23: Imminence
n recent years, Imminence, the Swedish alternative metalcore band, has carved out its own distinctive brand and exceeded genre expectations. By blending classic string arrangements with Scandinavian metal influences, the band’s musical and visual realm emerges as one of the most innovative and thrilling entities in the global metal scene.
WOA 23: Pennywise
PENNYWISE, born and bred in sunny California, has been rocking stages since 1988, helping to lead the punk renaissance of the nineties. Their smash hit album “About Time” in 1994 was a game-changer, propelling them to new heights of success. With the charismatic Jim Lindberg at the helm, the band still brings the heat, keeping their sound as fierce and magnetic as day one.
The Cubop City Big Band
The Cubop City Big Band is known as the most prominent European Latin orchestra of the past three decades. It has been a leading force in the international salsa and Latin jazz scene. With their innovative interpretations and arrangements of the Afro-Cuban and Latin Jazz repertoire, the orchestra brings the rich cultural heritage of this music to life. In this live recorded concert ‘El Gran Concierto’, the Cubop City Big Band celebrates it’s 25th anniversary and presents the best of their repertoire that includes music by Machito, Beny Moré, Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente and many more.
Dana plays Baloise Session
A young dynamic pop lady from Biel, Dana sings her diary – and touches deep in the heart. The Swiss singer/songwriter creates music that helps people understand what it means to be vulnerable. Songs from her two EPs (2016 & 2019) were played extensively on the radio. This paved the way for over 200 shows of European touring with her tight-knit band. In 2020, DANA began recording her first full-length album; she has been collaborating weekly with songwriters from New York to Berlin. The first singles sparked interest around the world and were picked up by Rolling Stone India, drawing in a wide global audience, and creating a buzz for the album release on 16th September 2022.