Southbank Centre Season 2025/26
Celebrating 40 years of the
Celebrating 40 Fantastic Years of Making Music
1986. It was the year of the Westland Affair, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal at the World Cup in Mexico, the premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s opera The Mask of Orpheus… and in late June Wham! were at number 1 in the UK charts with The Edge of Heaven.
On 26 June, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment first stepped on to a stage.
40 years later we’re still doing it with that same Enlightenment spirit of discovery to unlock this remarkable period of music. Over the 2025 / 26 and 2026 / 27 seasons we will both rejoice in that legacy and look to the future.
“It was a bit Wild West in the best possible way. To do this you had to be very unusual… and that I found completely heaven.”
SIR SIMON RATTLE
Sunday 12 October, 7.00pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall
SOLOMON
HANDEL
Solomon
Solomon is among the most human and spectacular of Handel’s oratorios. Nardus Williams is the versatile soprano soloist,
valiantly singing three roles: Solomon’s Queen, the First Harlot and Nicaule, the Queen of Sheba.
Nardus Williams soprano
Helen Charlston mezzo-soprano
Hugo Hymas tenor
Florian Störtz bass-baritone
Choir of the Age of Enlightenment
John Butt conductor
Thursday 27 November, 7.00pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall
HAYDN: FROM ESTERHÁZA TO HANOVER SQUARE
JOSEPH HAYDN
Symphony No. 39
Sinfonia Concertante for oboe, bassoon, violin, cello & orchestra
Keyboard Concerto No. 11
Symphony No. 102
Sir András Schiff explores the thrilling contrasts of Haydn’s musical personality: from the electrifying ‘storm and stress’ era via an encounter with Hungarian folk music to the refinement of his London residencies.
Sir András Schiff fortepiano / director
Sunday 1 February, 7.00pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall
MOZART’S
WORLD: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
ARRIAGA
Overture in F minor
MOZART
Clarinet Concerto
MICHAEL HAYDN
Divertimento in G major
MOZART
Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Three composers whose lives are curiously entangled and linked by a date. Two of Mozart’s most enduringly popular orchestral pieces are framed by music from his friend Michael Haydn and the ‘Spanish Mozart’ Juan Arriaga, born 50 years to the day after Mozart.
Katherine Spencer clarinet
Sunday 8 February, 7.00pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall
IT SHALL CERTAINLY NOT BEND AND CRUSH ME
COMPLETELY
BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 4
Symphony No. 5
Adam Fischer conducts Beethoven’s defiant Fifth. Its finale is triumphantly reinforced by the appearance of trombones, piccolo and contrabassoon for the first time in a symphony. We begin with the joyous, playful Fourth Symphony that Berlioz once described as possessing a “celestial sweetness”.
Adam Fischer Conductor
Thursday 26 February, 7.00pm
Royal Festival Hall
