The Philharmonia Orchestra Announces February - June Concerts of the 2022/23 London Season

Featured Artist Sheku Kanneh-Mason plays Ernest Bloch's Schelomo (26 Feb) under Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste in a programme that also includes excerpts from Berlioz Roméo et Juliette and Sibelius's First Symphony. Immediately following this 3pm concert, Kanneh-Mason will hotfoot it to the Clore Ballroom and join the Philharnmonia's cello section for a free performance of Heitor Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileiras. Later in the season he takes part in a project with young string players from south London schools.

Sheku, along with newly announced Philharmonia Artist in Residence - musician and climate campaigner Love Ssega also speak in an Insights Day: Music, Protest and Change (26 Feb) with members of the Philharmonia Orchestra, asking 'How has music been used to ignite debate and action on crucial issues throughout history?'

Outstanding British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor joins the Philharmonia and Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv for Chopin's Second Piano Concerto (5 Feb), following his performance of the First in autumn 2022. Lyniv's programme also features Grazhyna, by her compatriot Boris Lyatoshynsky, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, 'Pathétique'.

Featured Composer Anna Clyne curates her second Music of Today concert (23 March) which will feature her own piece Overflow as well as the world premiere of a Philharmonia commissioned piece by Grace-Evangeline Mason, in an all female composer line-up. The UK premiere of Clyne's clarinet concerto 'Weathered' performed by Martin Fröst under conductor Pekka Kuusisto is part of a Romeo and Juliet themed programme including Bellini, Tchaikovsky and Bernstein.

Santtu-Matias Rouvali pairs Sibelius's Symphony No. 5 with a feast for fans of the French horn. The Philharmonia's renowned horn section is in the spotlight in Schumann's Konzertstück, preceded by Brahms's boisterous Academic Festival Overture (30 March). The 27 April programme begins with Sibelius's Karelia Suite, followed by soloist Randall Goosby performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. Santtu then conducts Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony, one of his most subversive and sardonic works.

On 18 May Santtu opens a two-concert focus on Stravinsky and Prokofiev with music from Stravinsky's first major ballet The Firebird, his first collaboration with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Prokofiev's Scythian Suite also started life as a commission from the Ballets Russes, intended to capitalise on the success of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Between these two comes Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 which makes huge technical demands of its soloist - Behzod Abduraimov. The second concert (21 May) features the captivating ballet score Petrushka, and Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto with Esther Yoo.

Three superstars join Santtu and the Philharmonia for the grand season finale (8 June), featuring Beethoven's Triple Concerto and Strauss's Ein Heldenleben.

Nicola Benedetti, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Benjamin Grosvenor pool their talents for Beethoven's Triple Concerto. Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali has chosen Strauss's A Hero's Life to close the season.

On 26 March Esa-Pekka Salonen makes his first return to the Philharmonia as Conductor Laureate. In the first half he is joined by Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel in excerpts from Wagner's operas, and in the second half he conducts Bruckner's Symphony No. 6.

The free early evening Music of Today series begins with two works by The National and film score composer Bryce Dessner (2 Feb), The Forest and Lachrimae. In May we have a special Composers' Academy concert - the culmination of nine months working with players and artists. Other free concerts include Philharmonia Chamber Players performing Bruckner's String Quintet (30 March) and Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio (4 May).

Also in the season, Dances of Death & Desire: Dvořák, Bartók & Strauss (2 Feb) features conductor Jakub Hrůša and Irish soprano Jennifer Davis in a programme that demonstrates music's power to seduce, disturb and shock. Sir John Eliot Gardiner takes the helm for a journey from a windswept Scottish island to the sunny Czech countryside with The Sea and the Land: Mendelssohn, Elgar & Dvořák (16 Feb) featuring Alice Coote in Elgar's ravishing Sea Pictures. On 16 March Paavo Järvi conducts Mahler's epic Third Symphony which features 100 orchestral musicians, a solo singer, Hongni Wu, and two choirs. Sir Stephen Hough performs Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 alongside Carl Nielsen's life-affirming Symphony No. 4, 'Inextinguishable' (4 May). Charismatic Kazuki Yamada conducts Saint-Saëns's Organ Symphony (7 May) in a programme that also includes Berg's Violin Concerto with Baiba Skride. The Philharmonia joins forces with The Bach Choir (25 May) for The World Imagined concert including pre-eminent choral composer Gabriel Jackson's work of the same name and Lili Boulanger's Buddhist prayer Prière quotidienne pour tout l'univers.

And there's fun for all the family at the screening of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes with live orchestral soundtrack (12 Feb), featuring an all-star, pre-recorded voice cast including Tamsin Greig, Gemma Chan, Rose Leslie, David Walliams, Rob Brydon, and Dominic West as the Wolf.

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