Press Release Date: Thursday 20 February 2020 Contact: Sophie Cohen, sophie.cohen@southbankcentre.co.uk / 020 7921 0888 OR Sara Oberthaler, sara.oberthaler@southbankcentre.co.uk / 020 7921 0992 Press images here SOUTHBANK CENTRE ANNOUNCES 2020/21 CLASSICAL MUSIC SEASON

Photos: Víkingur Ólafsson photo: Ari Magg/Deutsche Grammophon; Patricia Kopatchinskaja photo:Marco Borggreve; Bryce Dessner photo: Shervin Lainez

Southbank Centre, together with its unparalleled line up of Resident Orchestras - London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, London Sinfonietta - and Associate Orchestras - Aurora Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain - today announces a distinctive 2020/21 classical music season with over 230 concerts across Southbank Centre’s internationally renowned venues, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room.

● The season is defined by musicians who are changing music, led by three new Southbank Centre Associate Artists: Gramophone Artist of the Year, pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, Grammy Award-winning violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and composer Bryce Dessner, one of the very few artists to have won Grammy Awards both as a classical composer, and in rock (with his band The National).

● Daniel Barenboim returns to Southbank Centre performing the complete Beethoven Piano Trios alongside his violinist son Michael Barenboim and cellist Kian Soltani.

● For the first time, there are premieres by an equal number of female and male composers, with a line up of over 40 premiere performances (and more to be announced), including UK premieres by Sofia Gubaidulina, in the year she turns 90, and 94-year-old Betsy Jolas in the return of major global new music festival, SoundState.

● Conductor Vladimir Jurowski conducts 14 concerts in his final season as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of London Philharmonic Orchestra including two semi-staged performances of Wagner’s Ring Cycle and the world premiere of Sir James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio.

● In his 13th and final season as Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen focuses on music inspired by Greek myth, including Strauss’ Elektra with soprano soloists Irene Theorin and Lise Davidsen and the European premiere of his own work Gemini.

● Andris Nelsons and Europe’s oldest civic orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig mix tradition with a fresh approach to Bruckner as part of their ongoing partnership with Southbank Centre.

● The first major UK focus on the music of Canadian composer Claude Vivier includes a rare performance of his final work, the text of which eerily predicts his own murder.

● There are London premieres for contemporary operas addressing powerful subjects: Harriet: Scenes in the life of Harriet Tubman by Mexican composer Hilda Peredes explores the life of American abolitionist and campaigner, Harriet Tubman; Naciketa, inspired by Brahmin spiritual texts, is the next step in a line of operas in which composer Nigel Osborne integrates modernist and traditional music to create innovative music theatre. Ariel Dorfman’s libretto marries traditional musical forms with a storyline that takes place in communities which Osborne has come to know as an aid worker and Dorfman has defended as a human rights activist.

● London premiere of James Dillon’s Pharmakieta, one of nine London Sinfonietta premieres during 2020/21.

● All-female line up of sitarists in autumn 2020 events marking the centenary of Ravi Shankar’s birth and the finale of Southbank Centre’s Shankar 100 season: Zubin Mehta conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra and soloist, Southbank Centre Associate Artist Anoushka Shankar in Ravi Shankar’s Sitar Concerto; Darbar’s SitarFest features leading sitarists Anupama Bhagwat, Mita Nag and Roopa Panesar, and a rare chance to hear Sukanya Shankar, Ravi Shankar’s widow, in conversation.

Further highlights include:

● Mitsuko Uchida and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra continue their acclaimed exploration of Mozart concertos.

● Marking five years since its inaugural concert at Southbank Centre, Associate Orchestra Chineke! champions the work of ‘forgotten’ BME composers including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who enjoyed huge success at the start of the 20th century, his daughter Avril Coleridge-Taylor and 18th century composer Joseph Boulogne.

● Southbank Centre Artist in Residence, pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard explores Beethoven and his influence on modernist composers, and cellist Matthew Barley

and Hungarian pianist Dénes Várjon present an unusual take on Beethoven cello sonatas, interspersed with new compositions and improvisation (the culmination of Southbank Centre’s 2019/20 Beethoven 250 series).

● World premiere of a new work by Errolyn Wallen marks International Women’s Day. ● Aurora Orchestra takes music for a dance with Piazzolla tangos and Bernstein’s

Symphonic Dances from West Story performed from memory, alongside music by Frank Zappa.

● Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment launches interactive BAROQUEBUSTERS game show, exploring the 18th century musical hits still known to millions through films, adverts and ringtones.

● National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain brings a burst of youthful energy in the European premiere of Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’s Téenek.

● Vasily Petrenko, Music Director Designate of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducts the RPO four times.

● Southbank Sinfonia showcases the exceptional talent of its 33 young graduate musicians in wide ranging concerts.

● Southbank Sinfonia and the BBC Concert Orchestra both feature in BBC Radio 3’s Unclassified Live, which returns for a second season at Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Gillian Moore, Director of Music at Southbank Centre, comments: “This 2020/21 classical season is what Southbank Centre is all about, from traditional repertoire to the newest of the new, all performed by the world’s most enquiring musicians. It’s a season defined by musicians who are changing the musical landscape, from our uncompromisingly brilliant new Southbank Centre Associate Artists to the line up of composers in SoundState, the musical ambition of our world-leading Resident orchestras to the ‘game-changing’ Chineke! Orchestra, born at Southbank Centre five short years ago and Aurora Orchestra, redefining classical music for new - and existing - audiences. This is music that really has something to say, and we are strongly focused on widening the audience it speaks to. It’s crucial that classical music better reflects the world around us and there is a strong thread of socially engaged contemporary music and opera in 2020/21. It’s important that for the first time, an equal number of female and male composers feature in our extensive line-up of premieres and more music by black and minority ethnic composers, past and present (with additional new music programming to be announced later in the year). Taking a lead from our history, as ‘The People’s Palace’ of post-war culture, we are leading the way in stripping away barriers to concert going so that everyone, regardless of background, education or opportunity, knows that classical music at Southbank Centre is there for them. This informs everything we and our Resident and Associates do and it finds full voice in the joyous range of music in our 2020/21 season.” Thousands of seats for classical concerts at Southbank Centre are available for £15 or under, alongside many free events. An online Newcomers Guide to Classical Music offers a warm welcome to people new to classical music.

Southbank Centre’s 2020/21 classical music season goes on sale to Southbank Centre Members at 10am on Thursday 27 February and then on sale to the general public at 10am on Tuesday 3 March. For more information or to buy tickets please visit the Southbank Centre website HERE.

Southbank Centre 2020/21 season highlights in more detail Musicians who are changing music “I think we musicians can do much more but we just don’t trust ourselves. The musical boundary is wherever you want to locate it and if you simply push it away to the horizon there are lots of wonderful things you can do.” - Southbank Centre Associate Artist, Patricia Kopatchinskaja Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and composer Bryce Dessner are announced as new Southbank Centre Associate Artists. All three are known for marrying extraordinary musicality with a fearless and adventurous approach to programming and performance which is reflected in their Southbank Centre appearances during 2020/21 classical season (with further plans for the 2021/22 season to be announced).

● Associate Artist from October 2020 (and continuing in the 2021/22 season), the ‘breathtakingly brilliant’ [Gramophone] Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson’s 2020/21 season of concerts features music ranging across four centuries, from Rameau to new works. Appearances include two piano recitals, his London Philharmonic Orchestra debut in Grieg’s Piano Concerto and, as part of SoundState, a performance of Papillon by Bent Sørensen and a newly commissioned work by Edmund Finnis in a Philharmonia Music of Today early-evening concert. Ólafsson comments: “I admire people who keep an open ear, who challenge what they know about music and are not afraid to re-explore it. For me, there is no one way of doing things in music. With this in mind, I am grateful to have the chance to perform on so many occasions in Southbank Centre's 20/21 season as an Associate Artist. Southbank Centre is always bursting with life and it will be exciting to build an even closer rapport with its wonderful audiences through programmes which I hope will be diverse and colourful.”

● Associate Artist from Spring 2021 and extending into the following season, multi-award winning

violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja brings leading Swiss chamber orchestra Camerata Bern, of which she is Artistic Partner, to Southbank Centre for the first time, and gives full rein to her intensely theatrical approach to music in the title role of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, which she describes as ‘the most beautiful flower in an incredibly crazy garden’. Also Southbank Centre Associate Artist from Spring 2021, with further events to follow in 2021/22, American composer Bryce Dessner features in a BBC Radio 3 Unclassified Live concert, with André de Ridder conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra and mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor in the UK premiere of Voy a Dormir for mezzo-soprano & orchestra, a setting of four ‘deeply moving’ poems by Argentinian poet Alfonsina Storni. The Philharmonia profiles Dessner’s music in an early evening Music of Today concert.

Bryce Dessner comments: “Southbank Centres is an exciting space where creation in all its facets is celebrated and boundaries are happily blurred. As Associate Artist I’m looking forward to seeing where that journey takes us. To start things off, I’m thrilled to be working again with André de Ridder, BBC Concert Orchestra and Kelley O’Connor and the Philharmonia Orchestra." Dynamic music-making echoes across classical music at Southbank Centre, where an unparalleled line up of Resident and Associate Orchestras marry the highest musicality with an adventurous approach to programming, concert presentation and commissioning.

● Conductors Vladimir Jurowski, Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, have each made a huge impact on Southbank Centre audiences, at the helm of memorable performances and outstanding orchestral series which have expanded the way in which we hear and think about music. This distinctive approach continues in multiple, ambitious appearances during Southbank Centre’s 2020/21 classical season, their final season in their respective roles. There are also several appearances by Jurowski and Salonen’s successors: Santu-Mattias Rouvali, Principal Conductor Designate at the Philharmonia conducts three distinctive concerts, and Edward Gardner, Principal Conductor Designate at the London Philharmonic Orchestra, opens the orchestra’s season (the first of four appearances).

● Chineke! Orchestra, which has been supported by Southbank Centre since its inaugural concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2015, continues to champion vital change and celebrate diversity both on and off stage. Evelyn Glennie joins Chineke! founder Chi-chi Nwanoku and orchestra in a world premiere by American composer Jill Jarman and young British composer James B Wilson commemorates the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott, which arose from the refusal of the Bristol Omnibus Company to employ black or Asian bus crews.

● Associate Orchestra since 2016, Aurora has staged a richly varied collection of ‘Orchestral Theatre’ productions at Southbank Centre that span diverse musical genres and art forms. These orchestral adventures offer bold new ways to experience classical music, incorporating elements of design, film, lighting and choreography; music by Zappa, Piazzolla (with tango dancers) and Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, performed from memory, all feature in 2020/21.

● Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment launches an interactive game show exploring the 18th century hits which are still known to millions today. BAROQUEBUSTERS revisits music from almost 400 years ago made famous through films, adverts, ringtones and pop songs, with live performance and smartphones at the ready. For many of their performances, the OAE will introduce the music from the stage to share insights and connect with the audience.

● London Sinfonietta offers public participation and on the spot audience collaboration in a new work by composer Cathy Milliken. A second London Sinfonietta project, Assemble, will fill Royal Festival Hall foyers with free new music, installations and performance, giving all-comers the chance to compose and perform music.

● There’s a burst of youthful energy from the world's greatest orchestra of teenagers, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, in a concert that includes the European premiere of Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’s Téenek and Jess Gillam as the soloist in John Harles’ saxophone concerto Brigflatts (inspired by Gillam’s home county, Cumbria). Visiting artists also embody this enquiring approach to music.

Mitsuko Uchida photo Decca/Justin Pumfrey; Daniel Barenboim photo Harald Hoffmann; Andris Nelsons photo: Marco Borggreve

● Daniel Barenboim, exploring the complete Beethoven Piano Trios, alongside his violinist son Michael Barenboim and cellist Kian Soltani (RFH, 16 & 17 Jan 2021), leads an international line up of guest musicians that reads as a ‘who’s who’ of classical music.*

● Andris Nelsons and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester continue their four year partnership with Southbank Centre in two concerts focused on Bruckner Symphonies. In the first concert, Nelsons conducts Bruckner’s Symphony No.7 and Wagner’s Wesendonk Lieder (RFH, 15 Feb 2021); the second concert features Bruckner’s final symphony (No.9) alongside the Prelude to Act 1 and Isolde’s aria Mild und leise from Act 3 of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. Andris Nelsons comments: “The Gewandhausorchester has a uniquely rich tradition and its impact on music history was and is immense. From the beginning, the Gewandhaus was home to the greatest composers of any given era from Bach and Mendelssohn to Schubert and Bruckner. The Gewandhausorchester’s sound reflects this history: it is flexible, sensitive, velvety and transparent, characterised by a deep understanding of the respective composers. But there is a human factor as well, I really feel a connection to these extraordinary musicians and I am euphoric about all the future possibilities of this orchestra, which has shaped music history so much already. I vividly remember the amazing reception we got at Royal Festival Hall at the start of our partnership with Southbank Centre in 2018 in the early days of my role as the Gewandhauskapellmeister. The audience was incredibly warm and made us feel so welcome; I’m very glad to be returning.”

● Mitsuko Uchida and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra continue their critically acclaimed exploration of Mozart’s Piano Concertos with Piano Concerto No.18 in B flat, K.456 and No.21 in C, K.467, alongside Janácek’s woodwind sextet Mladi (Youth). (RFH, 12 Mar 2021)

● Concluding Southbank Centre’s Beethoven 250 celebrations, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, in his final season as Southbank Centre Artist in Residence, examines the composer’s modernist legacy in recital, and in a chamber concert alongside cellist Jean Guihen-Queyras and clarinettist Mark Simpson.

● British cellist Matthew Barley and Hungarian pianist Dénes Várjon explore the variety and colour of Beethoven’s five cello sonatas, interspersed with new compositions, in an evening shaped by the power and excitement of improvisation, with pianist Tim West.

● Southbank Centre’s recital and chamber series feature the world’s finest instrumentalists. The International Organ Series centres on the music of JS Bach, with Olivier Latry, organist at Notre Dame de Paris and James McVinnie amongst the organists playing Royal Festival Hall’s magnificent 7,866 pipe organ. The International Chamber Music Series ranges over 500 years, from early music pioneer Jordi Savall’s unveiling of rarely performed music from the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV to an exceptional line up of new music and contemporary chamber opera. Imogen Cooper and Maurizio Pollini are amongst the pianists returning to the International Piano Series, with Eric Lu, winner of the 2019 Leeds International Piano Competition and the winner of the 2020 Chopin Piano Competition making their International Piano Series recital debuts.

(*See below for a further list of guest musicians at Southbank Centre in 2020/21). New Music

Tyshawn Sorey photo John Rogers; Claron McFadden in Harriet photo © KoenBroos.BE; Claude Vivier photo JE Billard; Shiva Feshareki photo: Alex Zelenska Southbank Centre’s award-winning composer weekends and seasons of new music make Southbank Centre a home-from-home for the world’s most inspiring composers. There are over 40 premieres during the 2020/21 classical season, with an equal number of female and male composers (with further premieres to be announced later in the year). New music highlights include:

● In May 2021, Southbank Centre will present the first major UK focus on Canadian composer Claude Vivier, following in the footsteps of acclaimed celebrations of the music of composers Ligeti (2018), Stockhausen (2019) and the forthcoming 2020 Varèse weekend. Vivier (1948-1983) was fatally stabbed in his Paris apartment aged 34 years old; his murderer, a 19-year-old man who may have been a prospective lover, was later caught and sentenced. His final (un-completed) work foretold his own murder, breaking off after the line:"Then he removed a dagger from his jacket and stabbed me through the heart." This prescient final work, Glaubst du an die Unsterblichkeit der Seele (Do you believe in the immortality of the soul) features in Southbank Centre’s focus on the music of Vivier, alongside his mesmerising vocal works (some written in an invented language) and chamber music. Performers include Canadian contemporary music ensemble Soundstreams, London Sinfonietta and Royal Academy of Music’s Manson Ensemble, conducted by Ilan Volkov, soprano Clare Booth, with the world premiere of specially commissioned homages to Vivier by composers Christopher Mayo and Canadian composer Nicole Lizée. (13-15 May 2021).

● Major new music festival SoundState returns in 2021, with Southbank Centre joining forces with Resident Orchestras London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Philharmonia Orchestra to bring together contemporary music’s most enquiring musicians and composers in a celebration of new music on a global scale. From large orchestral concerts to platforms for young artists, the SoundState line-up includes African American composer George Lewis curating a spotlight on composers from the diaspora, a Philharmonia Music of Today spotlight on jazz drummer and composer Tyshawn Sorey, first SoundState appearances from celebrated New York ensemble Roomful of Teeth and the Arditti Quartet and UK premieres by new LPO Composer in Residence Brett Dean. Additional premieres from Sofia Gubaidulina, Betsy Jolas, Tansy Davies, Shiva Feshareki, Dai Fujikura, Liza Lim, Bent Sørensen and Eric Tanguy (24 - 27 February 2021).

A strong line up of contemporary opera addressing powerful subjects includes:

● The life of African American abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman (subject of a recent Golden Globe and Oscar nominated film) is the inspiration for Belgium’s Musiektheater Transparant’s acclaimed production of Hilda Peredes’s opera Harriet: Scenes in the life of Harriet Tubman. Claron

McFadden takes the title role in the London premiere of the Ivor Novello Award-winning production. (QEH, 3 Oct 2020)

● Composer Nigel Osborne’s Naciketa, with words by playwright Ariel Dorfman, is a new contemporary chamber opera steeped in the ragas of India, the ancient Indian form of song, Dhrupad, the edgy urban Hi-Life rhythms of Africa and the melos of Chilean Nueva canción. It’s the next step in a line of operas in which Osborne integrates modernist and traditional music to create innovative music theatre. Ariel Dorfman’s libretto marries the traditional musical forms with a storyline that takes place in communities which Osborne has come to know as an aid worker and whose human rights Dorfman has defended. The story is inspired by the Upanishads, the Brahmin spiritual texts in which two protagonists, Music, and the boy, Naciketa, wrangle with Death/Yama, and by the fate of the lost children of our time; child prostitutes, child soldiers and those orphaned through oppression and conflict. Commissioned and produced by Opera Circus, with music performed by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s Kokoro ensemble.(QEH, 2 June 2021).

Further new music highlights and premieres include:

● Elizabeth Alker’s cult BBC Radio 3 programme Unclassified, which showcases an exciting new generation of composers, leaves the studio for Queen Elizabeth Hall with new music by Bryce Dessner, Julia Holter, Matthew Herbert, Aïsha Devi, Qasim Naqvi and Shards, played by BBC Concert Orchestra and the Southbank Sinfonia. André de Ridder conducts.

● London Sinfonietta gives nine world premieres during 2020/21, including Luke Bedford’s In the Voices of the Living, with tenor Mark Padmore, Laura Bowler’s setting of the Extinction Rebellion manifesto, Extinction, the London premiere of James Dillon’s Pharmakeia in the composer’s 70th birthday year, and new works by George Lewis, Cathy Milliken and Nicole Lizée.

● London Philharmonic Orchestra gives the world premieres of Sir James MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio, a new guitar concerto by David Bruce, with soloist Miloš Karadaglić and Danny Elfman’s percussion concerto, with soloist Colin Currie; European premiere of Piano Concerto No.3 by Elena Kats-Chernin; UK premieres of Magnus Lindberg’s Cello Concerto No.2, Brett Dean’s The Players for accordion & orchestra and Alexey Retinsky’s De Profundis.

● Philharmonia Orchestra gives the European premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Gemini, two concertos by James Newton Howard and works by Sky MacKlay and Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir.

● BBC Concert Orchestra gives the world premiere of David Knott’s Guitar Concerto, with soloist Craig Ogden and Dobrinka Tabakova’s Concerto for orchestra.

● Southbank Sinfonia features new works by young composers Blasio Kavuma and Yfat Soul Zisso. ● London Chamber Ensemble celebrates International Women’s Day, with a concert featuring one

hundred years of British music by women, including the world premiere of a new work by Errolyn Wallen, and music by Rebecca Clarke, Helen Grime, Judith Weir, Thea Musgrave and rarely performed music that was almost destroyed by its composer Grace Williams. (QEH, 8 March 2021) Music for everyone Through its annual Imagine Children’s Festival and events throughout the year, Southbank Centre is a go-to destination for families. BBC Concert Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and Southbank Sinfonia all give family concerts in 2020/21. Highlights include: the Philharmonia in the London premiere of Gaspard’s Foxtrot by composer Jonathan Dove, with live narration and illustration by the creators of the Gaspard the Fox books, Zeb Soanes and James Mayhew; the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s FUNharmonics Pied Piper of Hamelin (based on the Michael Morpurgo book)..

Southbank Centre’s online Newcomers Guide to Classical Music offers an accessible and informative welcome to classical music including reflections of a first time concert goer, an ‘eye-spy’ tour of Southbank Centre’s iconic concert halls and advice on attending a first concert. Southbank Centre is a nexus for professional development of musicians and composers. Its Women in Music Breakfasts, which offer a supportive platform for women from across the music industry to meet and share their experiences, continue in 2020/21; Southbank Centre’s pioneering model has attracted international attention. Southbank Centre is a second-home to many composers: its Composers Collective offers a chance for emerging composers to meet their distinguished counterparts; there are also informal young composer gatherings and the chance to meet and hear from composers and performers as part of Southbank Centre’s burgeoning new music programme. SoundState 2021 new music festival will feature a comprehensive range of free workshops and advice sessions for nascent composers. Several music and performance organisations call Southbank Centre ‘home’, including award-winning jazz collective Tomorrow’s Warriors and street-arts organisation, Kinetika Bloco and Southbank Centre also partners with organisations including Streetwise Opera, who rehearse and meet at Southbank Centre. There are also hundreds of opportunities for people of all ages to make music at Southbank Centre. Each month, workshops, talks, lectures and behind the scenes tours (many free) also offer people the chance to make music and learn more about the stories and artists behind the music. Wide ranging events include: the chance to go ‘behind the pipes’ of Royal Festival Hall’s organ; Voicelab, Southbank Centre’s vocal initiative which encourages people to explore their voice and perform as part of Southbank Centre’s classical season; What You Need to Know in depth study days, and the chance to play Southbank Centre’s Javanese Gamelan (the centre has been running gamelan workshops since 1987, the longest running public programme in the UK). * Coming to Southbank Centre in 2020/21 … In a season high on musical invention, an outstanding international line-up of guest musicians includes: Conductors: Vladimir Jurowski; Esa-Pekka Salonen; Principal Conductor Designate of the London Philharmonic Orchestra Edward Gardner; Principal Conductor Designate of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Santtu-Matias Rouvali; Riccardo Muti (conducting Philharmonia Orchestra in a performance of Verdi’s Requiem); Karina Canellakis; Elim Chan; Alondra de la Parra; Han-Na Chang; Ivàn Fischer; Àdam Fischer; André de Ridder; Vasily Petrenko; Sir Andrew Davis; Sir Roger Norrington; Sir Mark Elder; Anna-Maria Helsing; Vimbayi Kasiboni; Thomas Søndergård; Sian Edwards; Geoffrey Patterson; Nicolas Collon; Cristian Curnyn; Hannu Lintu; Robin Ticciati; Christoph von Dohnanyi; Masaaki Suzuki; Kwamé Ryan; Philippe Herreweghe; Joseph Young and Bramwell Tovey. Instrumentalists: Southbank Centre Associate Artists percussionist Colin Currie (in music by Steve Reich and Danny Elfman) and sitar player Anoushka Shankar; pianists including Mitsuko Uchida; Yuja Wang; Maurizio Pollini; Yefim Bronfman; Paul Lewis; Steven Osborne; Eric Lu and Gerard Aimontche; violinists Alina Ibragimova; Isabelle Faust; Nicola Benedetti; Gil Shaham and Frank Peter Zimmerman; cellists Alisa Weilerstein; Jean-Gilhen Queyras; Alban Gerhardt; Abel Selaocoe and Laura van der Heijden; guitarist Miloš Karadaglić; saxophonist Jess Gillam; early music pioneer Jordi Savall; clarinettist Mark Simpson; organists James McVinnie; Olivier Latry; Robert Quinney and Isabelle Demers; shamisen player Hidejiro Honjoh.

Singers: sisters Mary Bevan and Sophie Bevan; Gerald Finley; Mark Padmore; Irene Theorin; Lise Davidsen; Torsten Kerl; Brindley Sherratt; Elena Pankratova; Patricia Bardon; Ruxandra Donose; Matthew Rose; Allan Clayton; Burkhard Fritz; Toby Spence; Marcus Farnsworth; Alan Oke; Anna Larsson; Camilla Tilling, Miah Persson and Jessica Aszodi. - Ends -

Contacts: Sophie Cohen sophie.cohen@southbankcentre.co.uk / 020 7921 0888 (until 27 Feb only).* Sara Oberthaler sara.oberthaler@southbankcentre.co.uk / 020 7921 0992 Press ticket requests to: Alex Kemsley / alex.kemsley@southbankcentre.co.uk /020 7921 0888 * Please note: new press office contact from 3 March 2020: Anna Hughes, Press Manager, Classical Music anna.hughes@southbankcentre.co.uk Further details of Southbank Centre series, including: new Associate Artists; visits of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig; Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Mitsuko Uchida; Vivier Weekend; SoundState new music festival; Shankar 100; chamber music; piano and organ recitals here. See the full Southbank Centre 20/21 season online from 9.15am on Thursday 20 February here. Join the Conversation: @southbankcentre #Classical2021

About Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre and one of the UK's top five visitor attractions, occupying a 17 acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. We exist to present great cultural experiences that bring people together and we achieve this by providing the space for artists to create and present their best work and by creating a place where as many people as possible can come together to experience bold, unusual and eye-opening work. We want to take people out of the everyday, every day. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is made up of Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery as well as being home to the National Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. It is also home to four Resident Orchestras (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment) and four Associate Orchestras (Aurora Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain).

Southbank Centre Resident Orchestras - 2020/21 concert season London Philharmonic Orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2020/21 season at Southbank Centre features its distinctive and creative programming, including 11 premieres and three new commissions. Vladimir Jurowski – the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor – enters his final season in the role, conducting 14 performances including the ambitious double Ring Cycle (RFH, 25 Jan-10 Feb 2021). Jurowski’s successor, Edward Gardner, conducts 4 concerts including the season opener and a new music concert as part of the Southbank Centre’s SoundState festival, featuring premieres of works by Eric Tanguy, Sofia Gubaidulina and Brett Dean, the LPO’s new Composer in Residence (RFH, 27 Feb 2021). The LPO continues its 2020 Vision series, a year-long exploration into the definitive sounds of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. The LPO has chosen pieces that represent the definitive sounds of the 21st century, each paired with the defining masterpieces of Beethoven and his contemporaries of the 19th century, in addition to leading works from the 20th. The year-long series culminates in a major new choral work by Sir James MacMillan, commissioned by the LPO. MacMillan’s Christmas Oratorio will be performed by Vladimir Jurowski, Mary Bevan, Christopher Maltman and the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir (RFH, 12 Dec 2020).

The outstanding line-up of guest conductors includes: Karina Canellakis conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 (RFH, 8 Oct 2020); Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducting the UK premiere of Lindberg’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with Anssi Karttunen (RFH, 7 Oct 2020); Zubin Mehta conducting Ravi Shankar’s Sitar Concerto No. 2 with Anoushka Shankar (RFH, 18 Nov 2020); Thomas Søndergård conducting Schubert’s Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 (RFH, 25 and 28 Nov 2020) and Klaus Mäkelä conducting Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (RFH, 13 Mar 2021)]. Two major world premieres include David Bruce’s new work for guitar performed by Miloš Karadaglić (RFH, 14 Feb 2021) and Colin Currie performs Danny Elfman’s Percussion Concerto (RFH, 26 Mar 2021). A number of major artists make their debut with the Orchestra, including pianist Víkingur Ólafsson (RFH, 9 Oct 2020) and conductor Maxim Emelyanychev (RFH, 24 Mar 2021). See further details of London Philharmonic Orchestra’s season here

Philharmonia Orchestra

The Philharmonia Orchestra announces its new season as Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre featuring its broadest range yet of distinctive programming and some of the greatest artists in classical music:

● In his 13th and final season as Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor, Esa-Pekka Salonen focuses on music inspired by Greek myths. In Origin Stories: Greek Myth in Music, Salonen conducts Scriabin’s Prometheus: The Poem of Fire with Yuja Wang as soloist (RFH, 24 Sep 2020) and Strauss’ Elektra with soprano soloists Irene Theorin and Lise Davidsen (RFH, 7 Feb 2021). And to close the 20/21 season (RFH 10 Jun 2021), Salonen conducts Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe (complete) alongside the European premiere of his own work Gemini.

● In autumn 2020, the Orchestra continues to celebrate its 75th anniversary, with two key moments. Riccardo Muti returns to conduct the Philharmonia for the first time since 2010, with Verdi’s Requiem (10 Dec 2020). The legendary Italian conductor was Chief Conductor of the Orchestra from 1972 to 1982.

● Principal Conductor Designate Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts three distinctive programmes that include Shostakovich’s 12th Symphony (RFH, 29 Oct 2020), Carl Orff’s choral epic Carmina Burana

(RFH, 21 Mar 2021) and Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (RFH, 6 May 2021) with new Philharmonia principal Carlos Ferreira.

● Salonen also takes up the role of curator, taking the helm of the Music of Today series. In a double-bill at Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of Southbank Centre’s SoundState series (PUR, 25 Feb 2021), the Orchestra works with American jazz drummer and composer Tyshawn Sorey and multi-award-winning Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson. Salonen has also programmed music by Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir (PUR, 29 Oct 2020) and American composer (and co-founder and guitarist of The National), Bryce Dessner (PUR, 4 Mar 2021).

● The season features some of the greatest artists in classical music: conductors Riccardo Muti and Herbert Blomstedt (RFH, 29 Nov 2020), violinists Joshua Bell (RFH, 11 Apr 2021) and Leonidas Kavakos (RFH, 18 Apr 2021) and to open the season, pianist Yuja Wang (RFH, 24 Sep 2020).

● The Philharmonia’s new strand of programming for families brings a London premiere to the Queen Elizabeth Hall: Gaspard’s Foxtrot, by Jonathan Dove, commissioned by the Orchestra.(QEH, 20 Feb 2021). See further details of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s season here London Sinfonietta London Sinfonietta’s 2020/21 Southbank season presents a host of exciting and significant premieres that seek to reflect and engage with the world we live in today. Laura Bowler’s Extinction sets text from Extinction Rebellion’s manifesto to music performed by mezzo soprano Jessica Aszodi (world premiere, PR, 30 Apr 2021) whereas Luke Bedford’s Lessons from the Past featuring tenor Mark Padmore uses voices from the past to tackle the challenges of today (world premiere, PR, 19 Jan 2021). There are also concerts as part of Southbank Centre’s SoundState and Vivier festivals.

London Sinfonietta curates and commissions for the Southbank Centre SoundState festival (George Lewis commission and Dai Fujikura premiere) and Claude Vivier focus (Nicole Lizée commission and rare performance of Lonely Child). There is the London premiere of a major new work by James Dillon. Pharmakeia is a new 45 minute ensemble commission which helps celebrate the composer’s 70th birthday. London Sinfonietta Plus students from Central School of St Martins create new works in response to the London premiere of acclaimed Scottish composer James Dillon’s Circe (QEH, 3 Dec 2020).

Providing access to new music for as many people as possible remains a key part of London Sinfonietta’s season, with opportunities across the 20/21 season to take part and create alongside the ensemble. Assembly presents a free afternoon of new music in the Clore Ballroom offering entry points for everyone from the newest audiences to the mega fan (RFH, 3 Oct 2020). Sound Out 2021 sees the culmination of a season of collaborations with schools and music hubs, with school groups able to experience the wonder of music-making in Royal Festival Hall in a concert performed and composed by their peers and London Sinfonietta musicians (March 2021). Plus as part of LSOPEN, a series dedicated to putting the public or their work on the stage, Cathy Milliken’s new work, inspired by Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and include two amateur choirs and contributions from members of the public and the audience on the night (world premiere, QEH, 17 Mar 2021). See further details of London Sinfonietta’s season here

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment In a season at Southbank Centre themed The Edge of Reason, the latest in its cycle Six Chapters of Enlightenment, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) asks if music can help us see the light in a world gone mad and examines what the big debates and artworks of the past can teach us as we stand, apparently, on the threshold of irrationality. The Orchestra will explore these issues and more, introducing the music from the stage and playing on instruments from the period in which the music was written. Highlights include:

● In a new multi-media interactive game show, BAROQUEBUSTERS (QEH, 13 January 2021) the OAE revisits popular baroque favourites and asks why hits of the 18th century have stood the test of time.

● Handel’s Solomon (RFH, 20 October 2020), starring Lucy Crowe and Iestyn Davies, questions who holds moral authority in a secular world.

● The OAE forges into the 20th century with music by Richard Strauss and Dmitri Shostakovich (QEH, 4 June 2021).

● Conductor Robin Ticciati makes a rare return to Southbank Centre for major works by Brahms and Dvořák (RFH, 8 December 2020)

● OAE Emeritus Conductor Sir Roger Norrington presents Brian Newbould’s completion of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony No.9 (RFH, 22 February 2021).

● There are concerto appearances from violinists Nicola Benedetti (Mendelssohn), Alina Ibragimova (Brahms), and from pianist Alexander Melnikov (Shostakovich) who is making his OAE debut.

● Masaaki Suzuki explores plaintive music by Bach’s contemporaries (QEH, 30 April 2021) ● Mark Padmore oversees a conductor-less performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion during Lent

(RFH, 16 March 2021). See further details of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s season here Associate Orchestras Aurora Orchestra Aurora Orchestra continues its Orchestral Theatre series with three colourful new productions. Tick Tock explores ideas of time from the playful to the nightmarish, pairing Frank Zappa’s zany masterpiece The Adventures of Greggery Peccary with contrasting works by Elena Kats-Chernin, Leroy Anderson and John Adams (QEH, 1 Oct 2020). Seasons of Love journeys through diverse musical genres from tango to 20th-century classics to contemplate the varying shades of love, featuring a set of pieces with tango dancers, Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires and Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story performed from memory. (QEH, 20 Mar 2021). Concluding the series, Aurora collaborates with Nicola Benedetti for the first time, performing Beethoven’s soaring Violin Concerto. (QEH, 4 Jul 2021). www.auroraorchestra.com BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra showcases its unrivalled versatility at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Opening the season, it presents sounds from across musical boundaries alongside genre-busting South African cellist Abel Selaocoe (17 Nov). A concert later in the year reflects themes of identity, featuring music by Cole Porter and Andre Previn and re-imaginings of work by Emily Dickinson, Philip Levine and Toni Morrison (28 Jan). Continuing its experimentation with alternative musical formats, Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelsen joins the BBC CO in an immersive, live winter mix-tape, featuring music by Max Richter and Hildur Gudnarsdottir (4 Dec) and Matthew Sweet presents a concert of music from cult BBC television including Line of Duty, Doctor Who and Blue Planet (19 May). Elsewhere, Elizabeth Alker’s cult BBC Radio 3 programme, ‘Unclassified’ comes out of the studio for two more live concert editions and Dobrinka Tabakova’s journey as Composer-in-Residence of the BBC CO culminates in a new concerto for orchestra featuring Laura van der Heijden (30 Mar). www.bbc.co.uk/concertorchestra Chineke! Orchestra Chineke! Orchestra’s 2020-21 season opens with Gerard Aimontche performing Tchaikovsky’s sublime Piano Concerto No.1 (QEH, 19 Oct 2020). From the high drama of Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony and Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, the season also includes works by composers of BME heritage such as Avril Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Joseph Boulogne, which form the centrepiece to each concert. Free-man by James B Wilson was commissioned by Chineke! and

St. George’s Bristol and commemorates a landmark moment in British Civil Rights history – the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963 (QEH, 21 Feb 2021). Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE will be joined by Dame Evelyn Glennie to perform the world premiere of Jill Jarman’s Double Concerto for Double Bass and Percussion, Across the Divide, a reflection on communication and identity, belonging and a sense of place (QEH, 21 Feb 2021). Chineke! is pleased to welcome conductors Joseph Young (QEH, 19 Oct 2020) and Kwamé Ryan (QEH, 16 May 2021) who will be making their Queen Elizabeth Hall debuts with the Orchestra. www.chineke.org National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYO) is internationally celebrated as the world’s greatest orchestra of teenagers. Recruiting its 164 musicians from across the UK, NYO believes in empowering young people with a sense of responsibility for giving world-class performances and inspiring others. NYO’s 2020/21 concert as an Associate Orchestra at Southbank Centre explores themes of identity through music: without the personal stories, places, contexts, and identities woven within, can music be any more than sound? The concert includes the UK premiere of Gabriela Ortiz’s Téenek, its themes of diversity and communication between cultures brought to the fore by teenagers coming together from every corner of the UK. John Harle’s Briggflatts, a dazzling saxophone concerto played by Cumbrian soloist Jess Gillam, explores the enduring vitality and appeal of Cumbrian folk tunes, and Walton's Symphony No. 1 reaches to embody the entire UK through a great British symphonic soundscape. (RFH, 17 April 2021). www.nyo.org.uk