A very Happy Birthday to our former Principal Conductor, Riccardo Muti!
Enjoy this throwback to his 2010 rehearsal of Beethoven’s Eroica, as part of our all-Beethoven 65th anniversary concert at Royal Festival Hall.
youtube.com/shorts/smUaXLK6S3Q
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🎼 Born on this day: Richard Wagner, composer and conductor (1813-1883)
Wagner is best known for his operas such as The Ring of the Nibelung and Tristan and Isolde, and developed the concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, in which all elements of opera come together to form a "total work of art". Instead of arias and recitatives, opera would be one, continuously sung narrative. He built his opera house in Bayreuth to properly present his vision of what opera should be.
Hear his Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde on 6 November 2025 as part of our 80th anniversary season at Royal Festival Hall in London. The programme also features acclaimed soprano, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, singing Strauss's Four Last Songs, which was premiered by the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1950. In the second half, Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony.
🎟️ TICKETS: philharmonia.co.uk/whats-on/wagner-strauss-and-tch…
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🎹 Get to know pianist Nikolai Lugansky on the Philharmonia Orchestra's blog!
philharmonia.co.uk/get-to-know-nikolai-lugansky/
🎼 Nikolai Lugansky performs Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 to close our season at Royal Festival Hall in London, conducted by Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali. The programme also includes Ravel's Alborada del gracioso and La Valse, and Respighi's rousing Pines of Rome complete with the Royal Festival Hall's enormous organ.
🎟️ Book tickets: philharmonia.co.uk/whats-on/santtu-and-nikolai-lug…
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🎵 Applications are now OPEN for the Philharmonia's Composer Academy!
Are you an emerging composer ready to take your music to the next level? We’re looking for bold, original voices from all backgrounds to join our 2025 programme.
What’s on offer:
✨ Masterclasses + workshops with leading composers and Philharmonia musicians
🎻 Rehearsal time with a dedicated ensemble
🎤 A public performance at the Royal Festival Hall, London
🎧 A professional recording of your work, released via NMC Recordings
This is your chance to develop your craft, connect with professionals, and hear your music come to life.
👉 Apply now or find out more:
philharmonia.co.uk/what-we-do/talent-development/c…
#PhilharmoniaAcademy #CallForComposers #NewMusic #TalentDevelopment #ContemporaryClassical
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🎼 On this day in 1911, composer and conductor Gustav Mahler passed away — a visionary who reshaped the symphonic world.
We're remembering him with an extract from the final movement of his Symphony No. 3, conducted by our Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Royal Festival Hall in 2017.
LINK: https://youtu.be/MONTqsCR_O0
Salonen returns for our 80th birthday season, joining forces with Víkingur Ólafsson for a thrilling programme of Adams and Ravel.
You can watch the whole of Mahler's Third Symphony on our channel: https://youtu.be/LVVoGYFu49E
🎟️ Love Mahler? Don’t miss Mahler's Symphony No. 2 ‘Resurrection’ with Kent Nagano and the Philharmonia Chorus on Thursday 19 March.
Book now:
👉 philharmonia.co.uk/seasons/2025-26-london-season/
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Born on this day: Otto Klemperer, conductor and composer (1885-1973)
Maestro Klemperer formed a deep relationship with the Philharmonia Orchestra starting with his first post-war performance in 1948 and flourishing in the 1950s and 60s. He was the Philharmonia's first Principal Conductor. In 1964 he stood by the Philharmonia musicians when the Philharmonia's original founder, Walter Legge, threatened to disband the orchestra. The musicians reformed as the self-governing New Philharmonia Orchestra and elected Klemperer as its president.
We're celebrating 80 years in our 2025/2026 season. Discover what's on: philharmonia.co.uk/whats-on/
Image: Otto Klemperer and Daniel Barenboim in 1968
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🎉 Happy Birthday, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, born on this day in 1840! 🎂
To mark the occasion, we are re-sharing our performance from the finale of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with pianist Bruce Liu and our Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali. The Canadian pianist joins us in Bedford, Leicester and London for our 80th birthday season, in a programme of Britten, Ravel and...Tchaikovsky 🙌
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/nw5pn2QXyGQ
Book your tickets now:
philharmonia.co.uk/series/piano/
#Tchaikovsky #HappyBirthdayTchaikovsky #PhilharmoniaOrchestra #ClassicalMusic #PianoConcerto
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Happy Birthday to Maurice Ravel, born on this day in 1875.
Ravel is best known for his impressionist music, characterised by rich textures, innovative harmonies, and orchestral colour.
For our closing concert of the season, 11 June, the Philharmonia will be performing two of Ravel's work's - 'Alborada del gracioso', a beguiling short piece with a Spanish flavour, and 'La Valse', a Viennese waltz said to represent the cataclysmic impact of the First World War.
Book tickets now: philharmonia.co.uk/whats-on/santtu-and-nikolai-lug…
Enjoy our playlist on Ravel here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq...
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Sound familiar?! Richard Strauss's "Also sprach Zarathustra" is one of the most widely recognised pieces of classical music. Here are some famous films where you may have heard the iconic score before!
Want to hear the piece performed live? Join us on 6 March at 7:30pm where we'll be performing this exhilarating piece at the Royal Festival Hall.
Tickets from £15 - philharmonia.co.uk/whats-on/bancroft-conducts-beet…
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Looking for some good listening? Catch this in-depth interview on This Cultural Life from the BBC with our Principal Guest Conductor, Marin Alsop, about her life and career in music. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00274xz
Marin Alsop returns to conduct the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall on 24 Apr 2025: philharmonia.co.uk/whats-on/oh-to-believe-in-anoth…
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The Philharmonia is a team of 80 musicians, of 16 different nationalities. Santtu-Matias Rouvali is our Principal Conductor. We are Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre in the heart of London, and also have residencies in Bedford, Canterbury, Leicester, Basingstoke, at Garsington Opera and the Three Choirs Festival.
We tour all over Europe, and to the USA, Japan and China, and our online performances are enjoyed by listeners from Fiji, Sudan and Indonesia to the Arctic Circle in Norway.
We make recordings, play for movie and video soundtracks, and create groundbreaking Virtual Reality experiences. Our Learning & Engagement projects, our films and our pioneering use of technology enable more people to experience world-class music-making, and we’re committed to nurturing the next generation of orchestral musicians and composers.
We are a registered charity, thankful to our family of supporters, and proud to be funded by Arts Council England. philharmonia.co.uk/