London Symphony Orchestra announces £8 million investment

London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) today unveiled plans for the proposed development of its East London venue, LSO St Luke’s. The development, set to cost £8 million, will involve the construction of advanced sound and vision recording facilities in the space, the expansion of spaces for LSO’s education and community programmes and an upgrade to the concert hall’s sound and lighting technology.

Following its renovation in 2003, LSO St Luke’s has become a centre for recording and live performance as well as for the LSO’s education and engagement initiatives. This next phase of the building’s development, over 20 years later, will be carried out by Levitt Bernstein, the architects behind the original development.

LSO managing director Kathryn McDowell said: ‘This investment reflects our determination to maintain our world leading position in every area of our work, making a contribution to London as a global centre for the music industry. Evolving the technological capabilities of LSO St Luke’s means this uniquely multipurpose building can transition effortlessly between music making, learning and community initiatives, digital, filming and recording projects to a creative laboratory for artist and composer development, orchestral or chamber rehearsals and concerts.’

This latest investment in the orchestra’s space comes at the same time as a £2.5 million endowment for early career composers. The grant from the Helen Hamlyn Trust will sustain and develop the LSO’s Panufnik Composers Scheme, which will be renamed the LSO Helen Hamlyn Panufnik Scheme. Founded in 2005, the scheme aims to support the next generation of professional composers.

Lady Hamlyn CBE, the Trust’s chair, said: ‘It is an honour for my trust to endow this important scheme with LSO which has firmly established an international reputation as the most prestigious development programme for early career composers.’

The two new investments are announced alongside the LSO’s upcoming 2024-25 season, its inaugural season under new chief conductor Sir Antonio Pappano’s inaugural season which is set to include 51 concerts at the Barbican where the orchestra is in residence – as well as touring across 10 countries. Opening the new season on 11 September, Pappano will conduct the world premiere of Sir James Macmillan’s Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned by the LSO commission.

Pappano is also set to bring his opera experience to the LSO with concert performances of Puccini’s La rondine (10, 12 December 2024) and Richard Strauss’ Salome (11, 13 July 2025). He will also lead the orchestra first return to New York’s Carnegie Hall in over a decade with two nights in March 2025. The LSO is also set to celebrate the 70^th birthday of its conductor emeritus Sir Simon Rattle and the 100^th anniversary of composer and conductor Pierre Boulez in January 2025.

Full details of the LSO’s upcoming 2024-25 season can be found here.