LPO programme 1 Nov Brighton - Leia Zhu plays Prokofiev
2025/26 season at Brighton Dome
Principal Conductor Edward Gardner supported by Aud Jebsen
Principal Guest Conductor Karina Canellakis supported by Richard Buxton
Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski KBE Patron HRH The Duke of Kent KG
Artistic Director Jesús Herrera Chief Executive David Burke
Leader Pieter Schoeman supported by Neil Westreich
Brighton Dome Concert Hall
Saturday 1 November 2025 | 7.30pm
Congress Theatre, Eastbourne
Sunday 2 November 2025 | 3.00pm
Leia Zhu plays Prokofiev
Ravel
Mother Goose Suite (16’)
Prokofiev
Violin Concerto No. 2 (26’)
Interval (20’)
Bizet
Symphony in C (28’)
Nodoka Okisawa
conductor
Leia Zhu
violin
Sunday 2 November | Congress Theatre, Eastbourne
Pre-concert performance | 2.15pm
Enjoy a free performance in the Congress Theatre foyer by Soundcastle’s People’s Music Collective, plus two musicians from the LPO. Soundcastle is a dynamic arts organisation that empowers communities through creative music-making, championing collaboration, wellbeing and the joy of musical discovery.
The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide. Concerts presented by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in association with Brighton Dome and Eastbourne Borough Council.
Saturday 1 November 2025
Welcome to Brighton Dome
Welcome to tonight’s concert by the London Philharmonic Orchestra here at Brighton Dome. We hope you enjoy the performance and your visit here. For your comfort and safety, please note the following: thank you for your co-operation.
Latecomers may not be admitted until a suitable break in the performance. Some performances may contain no suitable breaks.
Interval drinks may be ordered in advance at the bar to avoid queues.
Photography is not allowed in the auditorium.
Recording is not allowed in the auditorium.
Mobiles and watches should be switched off before entering the auditorium.
The concert at Brighton Dome on 1 November 2025 is presented by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in association with Brighton Dome.
Brighton Dome gratefully acknowledges the support of Brighton & Hove City Council and Arts Council England.
Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival with Create Music
Situated in the Royal Pavilion Estate at the heart of the city, Brighton Dome is an arts charity, three historic contemporary live arts venues, a music education service across the region – Create Music – and the biggest curated cross-arts festival in England.
Theatre Director Chris Jordan General Manager Neil Jones
We extend a warm welcome to the members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and to the artists performing with the Orchestra today – and of course to every one of you, our valued audience members.
The historic theatre in which you are now seated is unique in that it is conceived to be a perfect cube and has fantastic acoustics to enhance your experience of live music. Whether this is your first concert or you are a season regular, we hope you enjoy your experience at our venue. Please speak to a member of our staff if you have any comments you’d like to make about your visit. We thank you for continuing to support the concert series. Please sit back in your seats and enjoy your afternoon with us.
As a courtesy to others, please ensure mobile phones are switched off during the performance. Please also note that photography and recording are not allowed in the auditorium unless announced from the stage. Thank you.
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On stage
First Violins
Alice Ivy-Pemberton Leader
Lasma Taimina
Chair supported by Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik
V. G. Cave
Martin Höhmann
Victoria Gill
Daniel Pukach
Maeve Jenkinson
Alice Apreda Howell
Camille Buitenhuis
Jiyun Zhang
Alice Hall
Natasha Humphries
Simon-Philippe Allard
Eve Kennedy
Eleanor Bartlett
Second Violins
Emma Oldfield Principal
Kate Birchall
Joseph Maher
Ashley Stevens
Lyrit Milgram
Caroline Sharp
José Nuno Cabrita Matias
Tayfun Bomboz
Matthew Bain
Guo Yu
Harry Kerr
Samyuktha Rajagopal
Violas
Ting-Ru Lai Guest Principal
Lucia Ortiz Sauco
Benedetto Pollani
Laura Vallejo
Raquel López Bolívar
Richard Cookson
Rachel Robson
Abby Bowen
Jill Valentine
Cellos
Henry Shapard Principal
Leo Melvin
Tom Roff
Helen Thomas
Henry Hargreaves
Julia Morneweg
Louise Dearsley
Emily Isaac
Double Basses
Kevin Rundell* Principal
George Peniston
Tom Walley
Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton
Lowri Estell
Ben Havinden-Williams
Flutes
Fiona Kelly Guest Principal
Stewart McIlwham*
Piccolo
Stewart McIlwham* Principal
Oboes
James Hulme Guest Principal
Jack Tostevin-Hall
Cor Anglais
Sue Böhling* Principal
Chair supported by Dr Barry Grimaldi
Clarinets
Thomas Watmough Principal
Chair supported by Roger Greenwood
Maria Gomes
Bassoons
John MacDougall Guest Principal
Patrick Bolton
Contrabassoon
Simon Estell* Principal
Horns
John Ryan* Principal
Martin Hobbs
Duncan Fuller
Elise Campbell
Alec Ross
Trumpets
Paul Beniston* Principal
Chair supported by the Williams family in memory of Grenville Williams
Tom Nielsen* Principal
Timpani
Mark McDonald Guest Principal
Percussion
Andrew Barclay* Principal
Chair supported by Gill & Garf Collins
Karen Hutt Co-Principal
Oliver Yates
Harp
Rosanna Rolton Guest Principal
*Professor at a London conservatoire
The LPO also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert:
An anonymous donor
Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton
David & Yi Buckley
The Candide Trust
Dr Alex & Maria Chan
Ian Ferguson & Susan Tranter
Friends of the Orchestra
David & Bettina Harden
Sir Simon Robey
Victoria Robey CBE
Bianca & Stuart Roden
Ryze Power
Malcolm & Alison Thwaites
Eric Tomsett
Neil Westreich
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Uniquely groundbreaking and exhilarating to watch and hear, the London Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the world’s great orchestras since Sir Thomas Beecham founded it in 1932. Our mission is to share wonder with the modern world through the power of orchestral music, which we accomplish through live performances, online, and an extensive education and community programme, cementing our position as a leading orchestra for the 21st century.
Our home is at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, where we’re at the beating heart of London’s cultural life. You’ll also find us at our resident venues in Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden, and on tour worldwide. In 2024 we celebrated 60 years as Resident Symphony Orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, combining the magic of opera with Glyndebourne’s glorious setting in the Sussex countryside.
Soundtrack to key moments
Everyone will have heard the Grammy-nominated London Philharmonic Orchestra, whether it’s playing the world’s National Anthems for every medal ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, our iconic recording with Pavarotti that made Nessun Dorma a global football anthem, or closing the flotilla at The Queen’s Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant. And you’ll almost certainly have heard us on the soundtracks for major films including The Lord of the Rings
Sharing the wonder worldwide
We’re one of the world’s most-streamed orchestras, with over 15 million plays of our content each month. In 2023 we were the most successful orchestra worldwide on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, and in 2024 we featured in a TV documentary series on Sky Arts: ‘Backstage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra’, which was nominated for a 2025 BAFTA. During 2025/26 we’re once again working with Marquee TV to broadcast selected live concerts to enjoy at home.
Our conductors
Our Principal Conductors have included some of the greatest historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2021 Edward Gardner became our 13th Principal Conductor, and Vladimir Jurowski became Conductor Emeritus. Karina Canellakis is our current Principal Guest Conductor, and Sir George Benjamin our Composer-inResidence.
Next generations
We’re committed to nurturing the next generation of musicians and music-lovers: we love seeing the joy of children and families experiencing their first musical moments, and we’re passionate about inspiring schools and teachers through dedicated concerts, workshops, resources and training. Reflecting our values of
collaboration and inclusivity, our OrchLab and Open Sound Ensemble projects offer music-making opportunities for adults and young people with disabilities and special educational needs.
Today’s young instrumentalists are the orchestra members of the future, and we have a number of opportunities to support their progression. Our LPO Junior Artists programme leads the way in creating pathways into the profession for young artists from under-represented communities, and our LPO Young Composers and Foyle Future Firsts schemes support the next generation of professional musicians, bridging the transition from education to professional careers. We also recently launched the LPO Conducting Fellowship, supporting the development of two outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds under-represented in the profession.
2025/26 season
This season’s theme, Harmony with Nature, explores humanity’s bond with the natural world through works by Beethoven, Sibelius, Mendelssohn, Elgar and Dvořák; masterpieces of an era that saw nature as a mirror of human emotion. Closer to our own time, we’ll hear from composers as diverse as Duke Ellington, John Luther Adams and Anna Thorvaldsdottir, who have all found a source of creative energy in the processes of nature.
Highlights with Principal Conductor Edward Gardner include symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Brahms and Rachmaninov; a pair of concerts spotlighting 20th-century Central European composers; an evening dedicated to Elgar; and a performance of Berg’s Wozzeck to end the season. We’ll also welcome back Karina Canellakis and Vladimir Jurowski, as well as guest conductors including Robin Ticciati, Kirill Karabits, Mark Elder and Elim Chan. Our lineup of soloists this season includes violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter, Alina Ibragimova, James Ehnes and Himari; cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason; and pianists Yefim Bronfman, Alexandre Kantorow and Tomoko Mukaiyama. The season features nine world and UK premieres, including Tan Dun’s choral ‘Ode to Peace’ Nine, and A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) by jazz icon Terence Blanchard.
We’re also looking forward to tours to South Korea and across Europe, as well as another season bursting with performances and community events in our Brighton, Eastbourne and Saffron Walden residencies. lpo.org.uk
Alice Ivy-Pemberton Leader
Alice Ivy-Pemberton joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as Co-Leader in February 2023.
Praised by The New York Times for her ‘sweet-toned playing’, Alice has performed as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician to international acclaim. While growing up in New York City and studying with Nurit Pacht, Alice made a nationally televised Carnegie Hall debut aged ten, and was a finalist at the Menuhin International Competition at the age of 12.
Alice earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho as a fully-funded recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. During her studies she won Juilliard’s Violin Concerto Competition, performed extensively with the New York Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra, and led orchestras under the baton of Barbara Hannigan, Xian Zhang and Matthias Pintscher. Upon graduating in 2022 she was awarded the Polisi Prize and a Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant in recognition of ‘tremendous talent, promise, creativity, and potential to make a significant impact in the performing arts’.
An avid chamber musician, Alice has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Anthony Marwood, Gil Shaham and members of the Belcea, Doric, Juilliard and Brentano string quartets, and performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Moritzburg and Yellow Barn. Also a passionate advocate for new music and its social relevance, Alice created Drowning Monuments, a noted multimedia project on climate change that brought together five world premieres for solo violin.
Nodoka Okisawa
conductor
Nodoka Okisawa has been Chief Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra since 2023, and her contract has recently been extended for a further three years until 2029. In 2024, she was also named as the first ever Principal Guest Conductor of the Matsumoto Festival by its founder, Seiji Ozawa. She is also General & Artistic Director of the Aoi Umi to Mori Music Festival in Japan.
This weekend’s concerts in Brighton and Eastbourne mark Nodoka’s debuts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Other forthcoming debuts include with the Hallé, Dortmund Philharmonic, Latvian National Symphony and Boston Symphony orchestras. This season she will also enjoy returns to the Extremadura Symphony in Spain, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She will work with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and will visit New Zealand for the first time, to conduct the Auckland Philharmonia.
Notable recent debuts include successes with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Québec and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Nodoka also returned to the Munich Symphony Orchestra, having been Artist-in-Residence during the 2022/23 season.
Much in demand in Japan, Nodoka Okisawa enjoys working regularly with such orchestras as the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Toyko Metropolitan Symphony, NHK Symphony and Japan Philharmonic orchestras. In February 2025, she conducted a full run of Bizet’s Carmen at Tokyo Nikikai Opera Foundation, having previously conducted Lehár’s The Merry Widow there.
Her first encounter with the Saito Kinen Orchestra was at the 2022 Matsumoto Festival, where she conducted Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in a production by Laurent Pelly. She returned to the Festival in 2025 to conduct Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Nodoka Okisawa is the winner of the prestigious Concours international de jeunes chefs d’orchestre de Besançon 2019, where she was awarded the Grand Prix, the Orchestra Prize and the Audience Prize. Furthermore, in 2018 she won the Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting, one of the most important international competitions.
From 2020–22, Nodoka Okisawa held a scholarship at the Karajan-Akademie of the Berlin Philharmonic, and was assistant to Chief Conductor Kirill Petrenko. In addition to her own concert projects with Academy members, in March 2022 she also conducted a Solidarity Concert for Ukraine with members of the orchestra, at the invitation of the Federal President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Another highlight was a joint concert with Kirill Petrenko in May 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Karajan-Akademie.
Nodoka Okisawa has attended masterclasses with Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi and Kurt Masur. In 2019, she was selected for the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy in Tokyo. She gained further experience as Assistant Conductor of the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, as well as on opera productions in Japan and Europe. In 2023 she was awarded the Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award by the Sony Music Foundation, and in 2020 she received the Akeo Watanabe Music Foundation Award.
Born in Aomori, Japan, Nodoka learned to play the piano, cello and oboe from an early age. She studied conducting at Tokyo University of the Arts with Ken Takaseki and Tadaaki Otaka, and graduated with a Master’s degree. In 2019, she obtained a second Master’s degree, from the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin under Christian Ehwald and Hans-Dieter Baum. She lives in Berlin.
Celebrated for her exceptional musical maturity and credited by The Guardian with ‘a poise and musical intelligence beyond her years’, 18-year-old British violinist Leia Zhu has performed on the international stage in more than 20 countries since her debut at the age of four. In 2025, she was named Young Talent of the Year at the prestigious Opus Klassik Awards, recognising her expressive depth and technical brilliance as one of the most exciting young artists of her generation.
Leia Zhu made her LPO debut in November 2022, when she performed Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending with the Orchestra at Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre. This season she makes her debut at the Meisterzyklus Bern with Howard Griffiths and Camerata Schweiz, performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major. She also joins the Arctic Philharmonic under Samuel Lee for another performance of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2, and tours with the Lucerne String Orchestra, performing in Munich and Wurzburg.
In 2023, Leia Zhu made her concerto debut with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto under Paavo Järvi, and appeared at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, as well as in recital at London’s Wigmore Hall and Bechstein Hall. She also returned as a soloist with the Lucerne Festival Strings and the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, and gave chamber recitals at the Fundación Juan March, Wimbledon International Music Festival, and Festival Flâneries de Reims.
Previously, Leia has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle and with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared at major venues including the Tonhalle Zürich, Mozarteum Salzburg, Berlin Philharmonie, and London’s Royal Festival Hall. She was Artist-in-Residence with the London Mozart Players from 2021–23, contributing to both performance and educational outreach.
Earlier this year, Leia released her debut recordings: one with the Vienna Radio Orchestra and Howard Griffiths for Berlin Classics, featuring most of SaintSaëns’s violin and orchestra works, which won the Opus Klassik Award for Young Talent; and another featuring Tigran Mansurian’s Violin Concerto with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra.
A passionate advocate for music education, Leia Zhu is a patron of the HarrisonParrott Foundation, promoting access to classical music across generations. She has been featured on Classic FM, BBC News, ITV, and in The Strad, and shares her musical journey with thousands of followers on her popular social media channels. She has also published her first book –Bows, Strings and Dreams – about her concert experiences as a young player.
1. Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant: Lent (Pavane for Sleeping Beauty)
2. Petit Poucet: Très modéré (Little Tom Thumb)
3. Laideronnette, impératrice des pagodes: Mouvt de marche (‘Little Ugly’, Empress of the Pagodas)
4. Les entretiens de la belle et de la bête: Mouvt de valse très modéré (Beauty and the Beast)
5. Le jardin féerique: Lent et grave (The Fairy Garden)
There seems to have been something childlike in the Parisian air in the years around 1900. In 1893, Fauré produced his Dolly Suite for piano duet; Debussy’s Children’s Corner for solo piano followed in 1908; and in 1910 appeared Ravel’s piano-duet suite Ma mere l’Oye (‘Mother Goose’). All three evoke the state of childhood with wit, charm, and a complete lack of condescension, gaining focus, like many examples of children’s literature, from having been written with specific child friends and performers in mind. In Ravel’s case, there were two: Mimie and Jean Godebski, children of two of his closest friends, and it was while staying at their parents’ house that he completed Mother Goose
In the event, the suite proved too difficult for the young Godebskis, but something at least of its original intent was preserved at the premiere, given at a concert in Paris by two girl pianists, Jean Leleu and Geneviève Durony. ‘When you are a great virtuoso’, Ravel subsequently wrote to the 12-year-old Leleu, ‘you will perhaps have pleasant memories of having given an artist the very rare joy of hearing a work of his, of a rather special kind, interpreted just as it should be. Thank you a thousand times for your child-like and sensitive performance.’ Ravel’s almost inevitable but nonetheless meticulous orchestration of the work followed in 1911.
The inspiration for the individual movements of Mother Goose came from three venerable books of fairytales, one of which – Charles Perrault’s Contes de ma mère l’Oye – also gave Ravel his title. In the first movement, Sleeping Beauty is depicted slumbering in her castle, its old-world atmosphere evoked in a lilting pavane.
The second shows the unhappy Hop ’o my Thumb, wandering lost in the forest and at one point seemingly mocked by the birds who have eaten the breadcrumbs he had put down to mark out his route home. The ugly Empress of the Pagodas then takes her bath to a swirlingly oriental-sounding accompaniment from a band of little people (the ‘pagodas’ of the title) played, we are to imagine, on instruments fashioned from nutshells.
Next comes a little scene for Beauty and the Beast, with Beauty represented by a delicate waltz and the Beast by a growling figure from the contrabassoon; the music becomes more pressing as he asks her to marry him, and when, after a short but dramatic pause, she accepts, a harp glissando signals his transformation into a handsome prince. Finally, a fairy garden is lovingly conjured in a climactic sarabande.
Programme notes
Sergei Prokofiev
1891–1953
Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63
1935
Leia Zhu violin
1. Allegro moderato
2. Andante assai
3. Allegro, ben marcato
Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto came 18 years after his First, and just as the earlier work, composed in 1917, dated from the beginning of his period of residence outside his native Russia (mainly in Paris), so the later one marked the end of it as he prepared for his return. As befits such a position in his life, it also reflected a change of direction for his music. The one-time enfant terrible of provocatively brutal works such as the Scythian Suite and the earlier piano works now consciously determined on a ‘new simplicity’ which not only aligned conveniently with the Soviet taste for music of direct, uncomplicated, essentially optimistic expression, but also mined a seam of rich melodic inspiration that had always been latent in his music.
The Second Violin Concerto, commissioned for the French violinist Robert Soëteus and premiered by him in Madrid on 1 December 1935, displays these qualities with effortless ease and grace, and together with the ballet Romeo and Juliet, composed for the Kirov Company at the same time, stands at the head of a stream of readily tuneful compositions such as Peter and the Wolf and the scores for the films Lieutenant Kijé and Alexander Nevsky.
Prokofiev did not confuse simplicity with banality, however; he knew as well as anyone that it was a difficult skill, and that originality was still vital. ‘Finding the right language for our music is not easy,’ he wrote in a Soviet newspaper article in 1934. ‘It should first of all be melodic, but the melody, though simple and accessible, should not become a refrain or a trivial turn of phrase … The same holds true for compositional technique and how it is set forth; it must be clear and simple but not hackneyed. Its simplicity must not be old-fashioned.’
The Second Violin Concerto, a work operating at a high level of inspiration, could certainly not be found wanting on these issues. Starting straight in with the soloist outlining a lean but calmly elegant melody, it alternates more animated episodes with reflective statements of this subject and a second, more warmly romantic theme. Here, as in the rest of the Concerto, the soloist’s part is not overtly virtuosic; unlike in the concertos for
Programme notes
his own instrument, the piano, Prokofiev saw no need for technical fireworks, and even originally shied away from the ‘concerto’ word, considering for a time calling it a ‘concertante sonata for violin and orchestra’.
The second movement opens with another beautifully conceived violin melody, this time suspended weightlessly over a simple but assured triplet accompaniment from pizzicato strings and clarinet. The passion heightens gradually, the soloist playing almost all the while, until a slightly quicker dance-like central section is reached, followed by a return to the music of the first section. At the end, roles are reversed
as the soloist supplies the accompanying triplets to a statement of the opening theme on clarinets and muted cellos. The whole enchanting movement could almost be a lost scene from Romeo and Juliet
The last movement, a rondo, finally brings an upturn in energy, and with it harmonic and melodic bite. Opening with a raspy waltz-like tune whose every subsequent reappearance will be accompanied by castanets, it toys with rhythmic irregularities and Shostakovich-like sardonic grotesques, reaching its end in an atmosphere almost of burlesque.
An announcement will be made five minutes before the end of the interval.
Programme notes
Georges Bizet
1838–75
Symphony in C
1855
1. Allegro vivo
2. Adagio
3. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
4. Finale: Allegro vivace
French composers have not tended to be thought of as ‘natural’ symphonists – certainly in the 19th century this field was dominated by German, Austrian, and later Russian composers. But the Symphony in C by the 17-year-old Georges Bizet (then still a student at the Paris Conservatoire) is a fine exception to the cultural stereotype. Astonishingly, it lay unknown and unheard for nearly 80 years. The composer Reynaldo Hahn was given the manuscript by Bizet’s son, Jacques, but apparently he didn’t think much of it. It was Bizet’s first biographer, D. C. Parker, who persuaded the conductor Felix Weingartner to perform the Symphony in 1935. It was an instant hit, and has remained popular ever since.
Perhaps one of the reasons the Symphony is so successful is that the teenage Bizet made no attempt to imitate the emotional profundity or formal daring of the archetypal Romantic symphonist, Ludwig van Beethoven. The elegance and wit of the great Classical symphonists Haydn and Mozart – and perhaps also Mendelssohn’s ever-fresh ‘Italian’ Symphony – seem to have been his guiding principles. The first movement, Allegro vivo, is firmly in classical ‘sonata form’ –two main themes are contrasted, developed in a more dramatic central section, then recapitulated in something close to their original form. But there is no sense that Bizet’s imagination is in any way fettered by this use of formal convention (as does happen sometimes with the German, and particularly the Russian Romantic symphonists): the spirit of cloudless exuberance continues right through to the final cadence. The second movement is a lyrical ‘romance’, with a lilting, Italianate, faintly melancholy oboe melody
as its main theme. Cheerfulness breaks out again in the brisk Scherzo. This is dominated by one theme, which also holds sway in the rustic central Trio section, with low string chords suggesting a bagpipe drone. In contrast to the romantics of his time, Bizet makes his finale the lightest and least complicated of the four movements, but again the spirit of delight prevails to the very end.
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At home in Brighton and Eastbourne
Beethoven’s Second Congress Theatre, Eastbourne Sunday 18 January 2026, 3.00pm
Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5, K219 (Turkish)
Beethoven Symphony No. 2
Erina Yashima conductor Maria Włoszczowska violin
Edward Gardner conducts Elgar
Congress Theatre, Eastbourne Sunday 8 February 2026, 3.00pm
Elgar Sospiri
Elgar Cello Concerto
Elgar Enigma Variations
Our next concerts on the South Coast
Edward Gardner conductor* Jan Vogler cello
*Edward Gardner’s position with the LPO in 2025/26 is generously supported by Aud Jebsen.
A Little Bit in Love
Brighton Dome Saturday 14 February 2026, 7.30pm
A selection of songs by Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, Cole Porter and more.
Wilson Ng conductor† Danielle de Niese soprano
Edward Gardner
The Firebird
Brighton Dome
Saturday 14 March 2026, 7.30pm
Congress Theatre, Eastbourne
Sunday 15 March 2026, 3.00pm
Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K488
Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Stravinsky Firebird Suite (1919 version)
Dionysis Grammenos conductor
Lukas Sternath piano
Sibelius’s First
Congress Theatre, Eastbourne
Sunday 19 April 2026, 3.00pm
Price Andante moderato for string orchestra
Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Gershwin Selections from Porgy and Bess
Sibelius Symphony No. 1
Nefeli Chadouli conductor†
Nadine Benjamin soprano
†LPO Fellow Conductor 2025/26. The LPO Conducting Fellowship receives generous support from Gini and Richard Gabbertas.
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Mr & Mrs Makharinsky
Andrew T Mills
John Nickson & Simon Rew
Peter & Lucy Noble
Mikhail Noskov & Vasilina Bindley
Mr Stephen Olton
Nigel Phipps & Amanda McDowall
Mr Michael Posen
Marie Power
Sir Bernard Rix
Baroness Shackleton
Tim Slorick
Joe Topley & Tracey Countryman
John & Madeleine Tucker
In memory of Doris Tylee
Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood
Sophie Walker
Jenny Watson CBE
Elena Y. Zeng
Principal Supporters
Anonymous donors
Dr M. Arevuo
Mrs Carol Ann Bailey
Mr John D Barnard
Roger & Clare Barron
Mr Geoffrey Bateman
Mrs A Beare
Adam J. Brunk & Madeleine Haddon
Simon Burke & Rupert King
David & Liz Conway
Mr Alistair Corbett
David Devons
Deborah Dolce
Sir Timothy Fancourt
Jonathan Franklin
Professor Erol & Mrs Deniz Gelenbe
Steve & Cristina Goldring
Prof Emeritus John Gruzelier
Sebastian Arun Hansjee
Nick Hely-Hutchinson
Michael & Christine Henry
Mrs Farrah Jamal
Bruce & Joanna Jenkyn-Jones
Per Jonsson
Julian & Annette Armstrong
Mr Ian Kapur
Gee Lee
Dr Peter Mace
Mr Nikita Mishin
Allison Mollerberg
Simon Moore
Dr Simon Moore
Mrs Terry Neale
Mr Matthew Pearson
Mr James Pickford
Filippo Poli
Sukand Ramachandran
Mr Martin Randall
Mr Robert Ross
Mr Andrea Santacroce & Olivia Veillet-Lavallée
Aniruddha Sharma
Priscylla Shaw
Michael Smith
Erika Song
Mr & Mrs G Stein
Andrew & Rosemary Tusa
Ben Valentin KC
Christine Warsaw
Mr Rodney Whittaker
Christopher Williams
Supporters
Anonymous donors
Ralph & Elizabeth Aldwinckle
Alison Clarke & Leo Pilkington
Mr Philip Bathard-Smith
Mrs Martha Brooke
Mr Julien Chilcott-Monk
Miss Tessa Cowie
St Peter’s Composers, Bexhill-on-Sea
Dorothy Hobden
The Jackman Family
Jan Leigh & Jan Rynkiewicz
Mr Mack Lindsey
Mr David MacFarlane
Simon & Fiona Mortimore
Dana Mosevics
Dame Jane Newell DBE
Michael Noyce
Mr & Mrs Graham & Jean Pugh
Emilie Sydney-Smith
Ms Caroline Tate
Craig Terry
Tony & Hilary Vines
Dr Ann Turrall
Dr June Wakefield
Mr John Weekes
Mr C D Yates
Hon. Benefactor
Elliott Bernerd
Hon. Life Members
Alfonso Aijón
Carol Colburn Grigor CBE
Robert Hill
Keith Millar
Victoria Robey CBE
Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE
Cornelia Schmid
Timothy Walker CBE AM
Laurence Watt
Thomas Beecham Group Members
An anonymous donor
Sir Nigel Boardman & Prof. Lynda Gratton
David & Yi Buckley
Dr Alex & Maria Chan
Garf & Gill Collins
William & Alex de Winton
Ian Ferguson & Susan Tranter
The Friends of the LPO
Irina Gofman & Mr Rodrik V. G.
Cave
Mr Roger Greenwood
Barry Grimaldi
David & Bettina Harden
Mr & Mrs Philip Kan
Mr & Mrs John Kessler
Sir Simon Robey
Victoria Robey OBE
Stuart & Bianca Roden
Julian & Gill Simmonds
Malcolm & Alison Thwaites
Eric Tomsett
Neil Westreich
Guy & Utti Whittaker
LPO Corporate Members
Bloomberg Carter-Ruck Solicitors
French Chamber of Commerce
German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce
Lazard
Natixis Corporate & Investment
Banking
Ryze Power
Virgin Money
Walpole
Preferred Partners
Google
Lay & Wheeler
Lindt & Sprüngli
Mayer Brown
Steinway & Sons
Welbeck
Thank you
Trusts and Foundations
ABO Trust
Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne
Candide Trust
Cockayne – Grants for the Arts
David Solomons Charitable Trust
Dunard Fund
Foyle Foundation
Garfield Weston Foundation
The Baily Thomas Charitable Fund
The Boshier-Hinton Foundation
The Golsoncott Foundation
Jerwood Foundation
John Thaw Foundation
John Horniman’s Children’s Trust
The Ian Askew Charitable Trust
Idlewild Trust
Institute Adam Mickiewicz
Kirby Laing Foundation
The Lennox Hannay Charitable Trust
Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust
Lucille Graham Trust
The Marchus Trust
Margaret Killbery Foundation
Maria Bjӧrnson Memorial Fund
The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust
PRS Foundation
The Radcliffe Trust
Rivers Foundation
Rothschild Foundation
Scops Arts Trust
Sir William Boreman’s Foundation
The John S Cohen Foundation
TIOC Foundation
Vaughan Williams Foundation
The Viney Family
The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust
and others who wish to remain anonymous.
Board of the American Friends of the LPO
We are grateful to the Board of the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, who assist with fundraising for our activities in the United States of America:
Hannah Young Chair
Lora Aroyo
Jon Carter
Alexandra Jupin
Natalie Pray MBE
Dr Irene Rosner David
Marc Wassermann
Catherine Høgel Hon. Director
LPO International Board of Governors
Natasha Tsukanova Chair
Mrs Irina Andreeva
Steven M. Berzin
Shashank Bhagat
Irina Gofman
Olivia Ma
George Ramishvili
Florian Wunderlich
London Philharmonic Orchestra Administration
Board of Directors
Dr Catherine C. Høgel Chair
Nigel Boardman Vice-Chair
Mark Vines* President
Kate Birchall* Vice-President
Emily Benn
David Buckley
David Burke
Simon Burke
Simon Carrington*
Michelle Crowe Hernandez
Deborah Dolce
Simon Estell*
Jesús Herrera
Tanya Joseph
Minn Majoe*
Tania Mazzetti*
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin OBE
Neil Westreich
David Whitehouse*
*Player-Director
Advisory Council
Roger Barron Chairman
Christopher Aldren
Kate Birchall
Amna Boheim
Richard Brass
Helen Brocklebank
YolanDa Brown OBE
David Burke
Simon Callow CBE
Desmond Cecil CMG
Jane Coulson
Andrew Davenport
Guillaume Descottes
Cameron Doley
Lena Fankhauser
Christopher Fraser OBE
Jenny Goldie-Scot
Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS
Nick Hely-Hutchinson DL
Jesús Herrera
Dr Catherine C. Høgel
Martin Höhmann
Jamie Korner OBE
Andrew Neill
Nadya Powell
Sir Bernard Rix
Victoria Robey CBE
Baroness Shackleton
Thomas Sharpe KC
Julian Simmonds
Daisuke Tsuchiya
Mark Vines
Chris Viney
Laurence Watt
Elizabeth Winter
New Generation Board
Ellie Ajao
Peter De Souza
Vivek Haria
Rianna Henriques
Zerlina Vulliamy
General Administration
Jesús Herrera
Artistic Director
David Burke
Chief Executive
Alicia Downie PA to the Executive & Office Manager
Concert Management
Roanna Gibson
Concerts & Planning Director
Graham Wood Concerts & Recordings Manager
Aimee Walton
Tours Manager
Madeleine Ridout
Glyndebourne & Projects Manager
Alison Jones
Concerts & Artists Co-ordinator
Alice Drury Tours & Projects Assistant
Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant
Andrew Chenery
Orchestra Personnel Manager
Helen Phipps Orchestra & Auditions Manager
Sarah Thomas Martin Sargeson Librarians
Laura Kitson
Stage & Operations Manager
Stephen O’Flaherty Deputy Operations Manager
Benjamin Wakley Deputy Stage Manager
Finance
Frances Slack
Finance Director
Dayse Guilherme Finance Manager
Jean-Paul Ramotar IT Manager & Finance Officer
Education & Community
Talia Lash
Education & Community Director
Eleanor Jones Lowri Thomas Education & Community Project Managers
Ellie Leon Education & Community Co-ordinator
Claudia Clarkson
Regional Partnerships Manager
Development
Laura Willis Development Director (maternity leave)
Olivia Highland Development Director (maternity cover)
Rosie Morden
Senior Development Manager
Eleanor Conroy Development Events Manager
Owen Mortimer Corporate Relations Manager
Anna Quillin
Trusts & Foundations Manager
Holly Eagles Al Levin
Development Co-ordinators
Nick Jackman
Campaigns & Projects Director
Kirstin Peltonen Development Associate
Marketing & Communications
Kath Trout Marketing & Communications Director
Sophie Lonergan
Senior Marketing Manager
Georgie Blyth
Press & PR Manager (maternity leave)
Said Abubakar, WildKat PR 07983 489 888
Press & PR (maternity cover)
Josh Clark
Data, Insights & CRM Manager
Greg Felton
Digital Creative
Alicia Hartley
Digital & Marketing Manager
Maria Ribalaygua
Sales & Ticketing Manager
Rachel Williams
Publications Manager
Isobel Jones
Marketing Co-ordinator
Archives
Philip Stuart Discographer
Gillian Pole Recordings Archive
Professional Services
Charles Russell Speechlys Solicitors
Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP Auditors
Dr Barry Grimaldi
Honorary Doctor
Mr Chris Aldren
Honorary ENT Surgeon
Mr Simon Owen-Johnstone
Hon. Orthopaedic Surgeon
London Philharmonic
Orchestra
89 Albert Embankment
London SE1 7TP
Tel: 020 7840 4200
Box Office: 020 7840 4242
Email: admin@lpo.org.uk lpo.org.uk
2025/26 season design
JMG Studio
Printer John Good Ltd
Share in the joy of music. Be a part of the LPO.
As a registered charity, it is thanks to the vital support we receive from our individual supporters, corporate partners, and trusts and foundations that the LPO can present such vibrant and varied concert programmes of world-class quality.
Such support also enables the LPO to drive lasting social impact through our industry-leading education and community programme, supporting rising talent, those affected by homelessness, and adults and young people with disabilities – designed to build and diversify the talent pipeline and share the unique joy and power of music more widely.
Donate
Whether you make a checkout donation, give to an appeal, or choose to remember the LPO with a gift in your Will, donations of all sizes make an impact. Your support will help us continue to promote diversity and inclusivity in classical music and nurture the next generation of talent.
Join
Joining one of our membership schemes will not only support the Orchestra and our mission, but will also give you access to a host of exclusive benefits designed to enhance your experience and build a closer relationship with the Orchestra and our family of supporters – from private rehearsals, to members’ bars, private events and priority booking. Membership starts at just £6 per month.
Partner
We’re virtuosos of creative collaboration, expertly crafting bespoke partnerships that hit the right notes. We tailor each bespoke partnership to your strategic business objectives, combining exceptional experiences that deepen client relationships, forge new connections, elevate your brand, and create buzzworthy content that leaves audiences captivated by a compelling brand story.
We’re also passionate about using music and our work to increase social value. By partnering together across a shared purpose and values, we can leave a positive, lasting impact on the communities we engage, deepening your CSR and SDG commitments.
Find out how you can support at lpo.org.uk/support us