Six Weeks of Sizzling Summer Nights - 11 Concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican.

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The London Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Nights, six weeks of a remarkable range of concerts that offer something for everyone. From favourite symphonies by Dvořák, Shostakovich and Bruckner to the great concertos for violin and piano, choral works, a Family Concert for 7 – 12 year olds, and new works which take concert-goers on a fresh adventure with many of the world’s greatest artists – this is a spectacular series over 40 summer days.

The opening concerts feature Daniel Harding conducting the LSO with Pierre-Laurent Aimard soloist in Mozart Piano Concerto No 21 K467 (May 23), and the acclaimed Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger playing HK Gruber’s Aerial which was written for him (June 3). On June 6 the extraordinary composer/performer Thomas Adès will conduct his own works including Powder her Face suite from his opera, These Premises are Alarmed and but all shall be well alongside the UK premiere of Gerald Barry’s La Plus Forte and Bartok’s Piano Concerto No 1 with soloist Zoltán Kocsis.

Mark Elder will conduct a programme of Dvořák, Britten and Shostakovich on June 10; the Britten Violin Concerto will be performed by the remarkable violinist Janine Jansen. An afternoon LSO Discovery Family Concert will take place on 13 June at 2.30pm, followed at 7.30pm by the LSO Brass Ensemble, which will present a programme of 20th-century, contemporary and traditional miniatures, featuring the UK premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s Out of black dust. On June 16 Xian Zhang will conduct Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3 with Vladimir Feltsman as soloist. Peter Eötvös will conduct a wide ranging programme on June 20 which opens with Bach (arranged Webern) Fugue in Six Voices, Helmut Lachenmann Double (Grido II) for string orchestra, with a climax of Brahms Piano Concerto No 1 with the inimitable Maurizio Pollini soloist. Haydn The Seasons will be LSO President Sir Colin Davis’s major event in the LSO Summer Nights on June 27; an LSO Discovery Day that day from 10.00 am – 5.30 pm will begin with access to an LSO rehearsal, a talk from a leading Haydn expert and a chance to meet LSO players. LSO Summer Nights will close with a programme conducted by Daniel Harding featuring the Bruch Violin Concerto No 1 with Renaud Capuçon making his LSO debut as soloist and Bruckner Symphony No 7.

LSO Discovery, the LSO’s award-winning education and community programme will celebrate its 20th Anniversary with a special concert on June 28. Rachel Leach, the LSO conducted by Michal Dworzynski and a number of LSO Discovery groups from choirs to beginner instrumentalists will present an educational evening of music-making on the Barbican stage. From 5.30 pm that evening there will be a Foyer Festival featuring performances from local schools and community groups.

Throughout LSO Summer Nights there will be concerts by Guildhall Artists at the Barbican from 6.00 – 6.45 pm (admission free), part of the LINK alliance for creative excellence, a unique collaboration between the LSO, Barbican and Guildhall School. On June 10 the Nagata Quaret and Gunel Mirzayeva (piano) perform Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet; on June 27 the Idomeneo String Quartet performs string quartets by Haydn and on July 1 a performance of Janáček’s Mládí and Dvořák’s Serenade in D minor for winds, cello and double bass.

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