On Thursday 5 December, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performed our legendary Christmas Celebration with John Rutter at the Royal Albert Hall. The matinee and evening concerts featured much-loved Christmas carols as well as seasonal classics from across the ages, performed by The Bach Choir, Taplow Girls’ Choir and tenor Nicky Spence, with BSL interpretation by Paul Whittaker and Stephen Heselton.
Our 2025 season Lights in the Dark at the Southbank Centre and Royal Albert Hall is dedicated to music written during turbulent times in history and despite composers' difficult personal circumstances, demonstrating how music can be a method for working through and reckoning with such experiences. We commissioned artist Shadric Toop to create a piece of art that incorporated many of the key elements and subjects of the music featured in the season - take a look at our breakdown of what each unique character, object and symbol represents below.
The public’s top 15 Christmas tunes for 2024 have been revealed – and the results see Tchaikovsky, Frederick Oakeley, Handel and even Martin Luther rubbing shoulders with George Michael, Wizzard, The Pogues and BandAid, as Britain picks the playlist to kick-start this year’s Christmas countdown.
On Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 November Joe Hisaishi conducted his first concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London since being appointed as the Orchestra's Composer-in-Association earlier this year. For two nights in a row, a packed crowd at the Royal Albert Hall gave a thunderous welcome to the globally-renowned composer as he conducted a selection of his own music, with guest soprano Grace Davidson, as well as a performance of Britten's classic Four Sea Interludes.
