Philharmonia Orchestra announces first half of 2026/27 London season

The Philharmonia Orchestra has today unveiled the first half of its 2026/27 London Southbank Centre season in which Dvořák, Elgar, Bruckner and Brahms sit alongside premieres by Taylor Mac and Julia Wolfe. The programme also features internationally acclaimed artists, soloists and conductors, including this season’s Featured Artists Sol Gabetta and Nobuyuki Tsujii, plus the welcome return of Herbert Blomstedt, Seong-Jin Cho and Nicola Benedetti.

Philharmonia Orchestra Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali said: ‘This season unites monumental works that are big on drama with intimate stories of humanity – which feels very relevant to the times in which we are living. I am very excited to welcome Sol Gabetta and Nobu back as Featured Artists in a programme that includes so many great artists for audiences to enjoy.’

Philharmonia Orchestra Chief Executive Thorben Dittes said: “The autumn programme features some much-loved musical friends of the Philharmonia, including Herbert Blomstedt, Seong-Jin Cho and our Featured Artists for the season Nobuyuki Tsuji and Sol Gabetta. We will also be marking the 250th anniversary of American independence with three very different projects: Julia Wolfe’s extraordinary ‘Fire in my Mouth’ – a modern-day oratorio dramatising the immigrant experience in early 20th century New York, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 From the New World, written during his time in America, as our season opener, and, for a Thanksgiving celebration with a fabulous contemporary twist, the UK premiere of MacArthur Genius Award winner Taylor Mac’s ‘A 24-Decade History of Popular Music’ in a version with a full orchestra.

“This season reflects the Philharmonia’s enduring commitment to both world-class performance and innovation. We believe in orchestral music as a living, evolving art form, continually renewed through the vision of the artists who bring it to life. Together, we look forward to welcoming everyone to the concert hall from September.”

The season officially opens on 24 September with three favourites in one evening: Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts Dvořák’s New World Symphony, Brahms’ high-spirited Academic Festival Overture, with Featured Artist, the Argentine cellist Sol Gabetta, performing Elgar’s poignant Cello Concerto. The evening concludes with a performance by the Philharmonia Jazz Quintet.

Ahead of this, on 22 September in collaboration with the Southbank Centre, the Orchestra gives the London premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Fire in my Mouth, conducted by Marin Alsop. A  powerful multimedia elegy for the victims of New York’s 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the work gives voice to 146 garment workers, mostly women from immigrant communities, through a haunting soundworld of choral writing, folk song and industrial noise. Co-presented with the Southbank Centre, the concert follows the works world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2024.

On 4 October, the Philharmonia once again welcomes the living legend Herbert Blomstedt – loved and revered in equal measure by the Philharmonia players – who returns to conduct Bruckner’s mighty Fifth Symphony at the age of 99.

Star pianist Seong-Jin Cho reunites with his ‘musical soulmate’ Santtu-Matias Rouvali on 22 October for Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, a virtuoso showpiece. The programme also includes Shostakovich’s Eleventh Symphony – a gripping, cinematic account of revolution, protest and historical tragedy – and Borodin’s musical tableau In the Steppes of Central Asia.

Exceptional Canadian violinist and long-standing Philharmonia collaborator, James Ehnes, performs Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in a vibrant programme of orchestral colour on 29 October. The concert also includes Dora Pejačević’s dramatic Overture for Large Orchestra, Josef Suk’s sparkling Scherzo Fantistique, and the blazing brilliance of Leoš Janáček’s Sinfonietta.

Mendelssohn’s beloved Violin Concerto shines in the hands of one of today’s great violinists, Nicola Benedetti, in a lyrical, virtuosic centrepiece perfect for a Sunday afternoon. Conductor Jakub Hrůša also reunites Mendelssohn with his friend Schumann, whose joyful Rhenish Symphony, inspired by life, love and the river Rhine, brings the concert to a radiant close.

Audience favourite and Featured Artist Nobuyuki Tsujii (“Nobu”) returns on 5 November to perform Shostakovich’s playful and heartfelt Piano Concerto No. 2. The programme also features Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s shimmering Primal Message, and concludes with highlights from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, including the iconic ‘Dance of the Knights’, conducted by Xian Zhang.

On 12 November, in a rare UK appearance, Emanuel (“Manny”) Ax joins conductor Manfred Honeck and the Philharmonia for Mozart’s majestic Piano Concerto K.503. Champagne sparkles in Die Fledermaus, while Richard Strauss’s Elektra delivers dark, gripping drama in an intense orchestral suite of opera, contrast, brilliance and emotional extremes.

Thursday 19 November brings supersized symphonic drama under the baton of Marin Alsop with Bernstein’s philosophical Serenade and Mahler’s epic Sixth Symphony, with Esther Yoo on violin.

Building on 2025’s multimedia projects, Gilbert & George Sex, Money, Race, Religion and Balls, this season, the Orchestra presents a dazzling, genre-defying journey through 240 years of American history. On Thursday 26 November, the UK orchestral premiere of Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music brings together iconic songs, bold storytelling and theatrical spectacle in a celebration of identity, community and shared experience.

Brahms’s German Requiem traces a deeply moving journey from grief to hope. Written after the death of the composer’s mother, this large-scale, deeply personal work replaces the traditional Latin text with German Bible passages, offering comfort to the living. Closing the autumn/winter half of the season on 29 November, Gerald Finley and Diana Damrau feature as soloists, with Damrau also performing songs by Richard Strauss, whose music has a long and special association with the Orchestra.