Philharmonia Orchestra announces 2021/22 London Season, their first under new Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, centred on Human / Nature: Music for a Precious Planet
The Philharmonia Orchestra announces the first half of its new season as Resident Orchestra at London’s Southbank Centre. The full orchestra of 80+ musicians returns to the Royal Festival Hall, joined by Featured Artist Pekka Kuusisto, alongside soloists Hilary Hahn, András Schiff, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and more.
A diverse and ambitious programme ranges from epic Strauss and Stravinsky to an all-Mozart evening and a live film screening with a mesmerising Philip Glass soundtrack.
Electrifying young Santtu-Matias Rouvali takes over as Principal Conductor – just the sixth in the Orchestra’s 76-year history.
Santtu opens the London season with an epic Strauss double bill, welcoming over 100 musicians back to the Royal Festival Hall stage.
Human / Nature: Music for a Precious Planet runs from 30 Sep – 2 Dec, looking at how composers across the centuries have responded to the natural world, and exploring the ways today’s composers are addressing the global climate crisis. Human / Nature is supported by Kathryn and Andrew Davis / The Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund.
Featured Artist Pekka Kuusisto plays Sibelius’s Violin Concerto alongside a focus on new music – performing a new concerto commissioned as part of Human / Nature by Bryce Dessner, conducting the world premiere of a new work by Isobel Waller-Bridge; and directing Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons from the violin with improvisation between movements.
Kuusisto refreshes the Philharmonia’s contemporary series Music of Today, curating and directing two performances, featuring composers including Gabriella Smith, John Luther Adams and Anna Thorvaldsdottír.
Other key artists include pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard in a birdsong-inspired programme featuring music by his teacher Olivier Messiaen, András Schiff play-directing an all-Mozart programme, conductor Xian Zhang performing Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde alongside Sarah Connolly and Andreas Schager, and violinist Hilary Hahn playing Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1.
Philip Glass’ landmark environmental film Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance on the Royal Festival Hall’s huge screen, with the influential minimalist score played live.
The season marks a return to live large-scale symphonic concerts with a continued commitment to streaming first-class performances around the world.
The second half of the 2021/22 season (Feb – Jun 2022) will be announced in the autumn.
