François-Xavier Roth is back in London for two intensive weeks with the LSO.
24th of May: Half-Six Fix +Beethoven 6th Symphony and Lindberg piano concerto with Yuja Wang (UK premiere).
Yuja Wang gives the UK premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s flamboyant new Piano Concerto: outsized inspiration, for a pianist who knows no limits.
Beethoven said that his ‘Pastoral’ Symphony was ‘more an expression of feelings than a picture’, but the result is some of the freshest and happiest music ever created. As for Magnus Lindberg’s new Piano Concerto … well, it’s never been heard in the UK before, but everything Lindberg writes causes a sensation. ‘It’s huge’ he says. ‘In a way, it’s the biggest piece I’ve written’.
28th of May: LSO Futures
François-Xavier Roth makes musical history, with world premieres fresh from the imaginations of some of the boldest and brightest living composers.
Twelve notes, infinite possibilities. Orchestral music is like a mosaic, and there’s no end to the bold new sounds that composers can create. In the 20th century, Bartók split a string orchestra and unlocked blinding new energy; Lili Boulanger painted brooding nocturnes in sound. And three living creators – Cassie Kinoshi, Jonathan Woolgar and Colin Matthews – each show us something completely new born on this century.
31st of May: Panufnik Composers Scheme
The Panufnik Composers Scheme offers six early-career composers each year the opportunity to write for a symphony orchestra.
The scheme is guided by renowned composer Colin Matthews, with support from Christian Mason and Errollyn Wallen* (*2022/23 cohort only). Together with additional tailored support, the scheme enables composers to experiment with and develop their orchestral writing skills through creating a three-minute composition over twelve months.
The resulting compositions are performed and discussed by the LSO and Principal Guest Conductor, François-Xavier Roth, in a public workshop rehearsal at the culmination of the scheme. Two of the compositions are then chosen to be developed further, with commissions given for five- and ten-minute works to be premiered by the Orchestra in an LSO concert at the Barbican.
4th of June: Beethoven 9th Symphony and Widmann violin concerto
François-Xavier Roth conducts Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, plus a modern classic with master-violinist Christian Tetzlaff.
Everyone knows Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. But to feel its full beauty and power, you need to hear it the way Beethoven intended – as the life-affirming climax to one of the mightiest adventures in all music, the turbulent, tragic, but ultimately triumphant Ninth Symphony. It’s music that transcends time, so today François Xavier Roth pairs it with a 21st-century classic by one of Beethoven’s biggest fans – the inimitable Jörg Widmann.