London Philharmonic Orchestra announces concerts and community activity in Brighton and Eastbourne

The London Philharmonic Orchestra's mission is to share the wonder of orchestral music with the communities we serve, both on and off the concert platform. This season, the Orchestra has announced10 concerts across the residencies, as well as partnering with local community groups and music education hubs Create Music (Brighton & Hove and East Sussex) and West Sussex Music (West Sussex) to work together to offer musical opportunities for young people.

Brighton

LPO Principal Conductor Edward Gardner opens the Brighton Dome season with a concert that includes Patricia Kopatchinskaja performing Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1; he bookends the programme with Beethoven’s Egmont Overtureand Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5. This programme will be reprised during a tour to the USA which which Gardner, the Orchestra and Kopatchinskaja embark on two days later. Prior to the concert, young musicians from West Sussex Music will usher in the new season with a special free performance in the foyer (5 October).

Young musicians from Create Music, the music education hub for Brighton & Hove and East Sussex, give a pre-concert performance at the second Brighton concert, offering local young musicians a platform to perform, as well as a chance to meet with professional musicians from the LPO. Conductor Martin Rajna is joined by Isata Kanneh-Mason for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. The programme opens with Weber’s Der Freischütz Overture and culminates with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 (23 November).

Ravel’s 150th anniversary takes place in 2025 and to celebrate, the LPO performs two of his works in a concert conducted by LPO Fellow Conductor Juya Shin: his Pavane pour une infante défunte and his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, with soloist Nicholas McCarthy. The programme is completed by Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. Shin is one of the LPO’s second cohort of Fellow Conductors, a scheme created in 2023/24 specifically to promote diversity and inclusivity in the classical music industry by annually supporting the development of two outstanding early-career conductors from backgrounds currently under-represented in the profession (1 February).

The closing concert of the season, conducted by Adam Hickox, opens with Robert Schumann’s Genoveva Overture and continues with Beethoven’s Violin Concerto performed by Hyeyoon Park and Brahms’s Symphony No. 4.

Eastbourne

Following last year’s celebrations of the LPO’s 60th anniversary of performances at the Congress Theatre, the new season opens with Sibelius’s Finlandia, conducted by Vinay Parameswaran. Cellist Sterling Elliott is the soloist in Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, which precedes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 (27 October).

Alevtina Ioffe conducts a programme of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, performed by Blake Pouliot,and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 (17 November), and in December Valentina Peleggi conducts Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 2 with Ben Goldscheider and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. Prior to this concert, musicians from Create Music will give a free performance in the foyer in a vibrant showcase of local young talent (8 December).

Chevalier de St-Georges’s Symphony No. 2 opens a concert conducted by the second LPO’s Fellow Conductor of the season, Matthew Lynch. He continues with Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp with soloists Alexander Boldachev and LPO Principal Flute Juliette Bausor (23 February).

Adam Hickox conducts Schumann’s Genoveva Overture before Hyeyoon Park performs Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 completes the programme (9 March). The centrepiece of the closing concert is Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor) with soloist Jan Lisiecki. The concert closes with Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 conducted by Tarmo Peltokoski (13 April).

This season will see the second ever BrightSparks schools concert in Eastbourne after a warmly received debut in 2024. Presented by Rachel Leach, the LPO will perform at the Congress Theatre for local children aged 7–11 and their teachers, with free teacher CPD and resources as part of the offer. Our engagement in local primary schools will be further deepened by a second season of the LPO Music Makers project, with Rachel and LPO players running creative workshops in Eastbourne primary schools inspired by the BrightSparks concert themes (12 June).

The LPO will also offer two Overture days on the South Coast next season, in partnership with Create Music in Eastbourne and West Sussex Music in Worthing. Overture days are inspiring orchestral experience days for young musicians aged 10–15 to play side-by-side with LPO musicians and members of its Foyle Future Firsts development programme. Young musicians play in a big orchestra, work on instrumental techniques in sectional sessions, find out all about the professional world of an orchestra and perform for their friends and family. Overture events are free to attend, and young people from under-represented backgrounds are prioritised. The scheme acts as a pathway to the Orchestra’s Junior Artists programme, which supports the progression of older teenage musicians from under-represented backgrounds.

Saffron Walden

At Saffron Hall, the LPO and its Principal Conductor Edward Gardner will present Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture, with Benjamin Grosvenor performing Grieg’s Piano Concerto before the concert closes with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 (29 September). Young American cellist Zlatomir Fung will perform Weber’s Oberon Overture, followed by Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme as well as selections from Swan Lake, in a concert conducted by Tianyi Lu in place of Sir Andrew Davis following his recent death. Lu was mentored by Sir Andrew and assisted him at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra during her early conducting career – she will dedicate this performance to his memory (30 November).

Booking for LPO Residencies opens on Tuesday 4 June: lpo.org.uk/whats-on