LPO marks 90th anniversary with London season

The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) will mark its 90^th anniversary with an exciting 2022/23 London season starting later this month. The orchestra will also begin the second year of its two-year digital residency with Marquee TV.

Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall will host the resident orchestra’ 37 concerts and Edward Gardner will return to the role of principal conductor, opening the season with Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder on 24 September and Karina Canellakis will also return as principal guest conductor and Vladimir Jurowski as conductor emeritus.

Gardner said: ‘I am delighted to be returning for my second season as the LPO’s principal conductor - we have a brilliant time making music together…The LPO has a tremendous flexibility which means it is equally comfortable doing big opera as it is new commissions and chamber music. I feel very fortunate to be at the helm of such a fantastic orchestra.’

This month's Gurrelieder will also include a new English version of the original sprechgesang section performed by actor Alex Jennings, who's screen credits include Edward VIII in the first two series of The Crown and Alan Bennett in the film The Lady in the Van.​

The LPO’s talent development programme Foyle Future Firsts will also make an appearance, performing Journey to the Sea, written by Afghan composer and pianist Arson Fahim after escaping from the Taliban regime in Afghanistan last summer.

The orchestra will also mark the 150th birthday of Ralph Vaughan Williams with three events. Following April’s a performance of Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5, Symphony No. 9 will be paired with Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and The Lark Ascending in October. November will see Gardner conduct Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music (26 November) before Simon Keenlyside joins conductor Robin Ticciati for Five Mystical Songs (30 November).

Works featured in this season will also explore the themes of home and displacement. Artistic director Elena Dubinets, said: ‘By programming these works, we will explore musical breakthroughs at the crossroads between ethnicities, traditions and identities, embracing the musical representations of very different cultures from all over the globe and the vibrancy created when these different cultures meet.’

As well as exploring this theme through Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7, the orchestra will team up with soloist Inbal Segev for the world premiere of Vijay Iyer’s cello concerto Human Archipelago about migration due to climate change (1 October).

Further premieres taking place early next year include the European premiere of Kinan Azmeh’s Clarinet Concerto, performed by the Syrian composer and clarinettist himself, as well as world premiere of Nova by Kyiv native Victoria Vita Polevá (18 March). Heiner Goebbels’ A House of Call, will also have its UK premiere (25 March) alongside the UK premiere of Stride by Tania León, winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize (31 March).

The LPO will also perform the world premiere of a new work written by composer-in-residence, Brett Dean. In spe contra spem (translated from Latin: ‘Hoping against Hope’) was written for sopranos Emma Bell and Elsa Dreisig who will perform the work in April next year.

You can find out more about the LPO’s upcoming programme here.