The Barbican has unveiled its forthcoming season of classical music, from September 2026 to July 2027
Across the 2026-2027 Barbican season – through curated concert series, composer spotlights, major anniversaries and a continued commitment to championing new music – the Barbican and its resident and associate orchestras and ensembles will present some of the very best that classical music has to offer, welcoming new and returning audiences to the artform.
Highlights from the forthcoming season will include a number of major celebrations, starting with the work of Caroline Shaw as the Barbican showcases her work and artistry in a Composer in Focus series. The 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death is commemorated across two landmark residencies with pianist Lang Lang and conductor Andris Nelsons with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig with all five piano concertos performed across the two three-night runs. The Barbican also marks Steve Reich’s 90th birthday, with multiple performances by percussionist Colin Currie and Barbican Resident Orchestra the London Symphony Orchestra.
The Barbican expands its programme of artistic residencies this year, inviting artists to present new projects and curate programmes close to their hearts as Artists in Residence. The forthcoming season will welcome sitarist Jasdeep Singh Degun, violinist Isabelle Faust, violist Lawrence Power and the Scottish Ensemble for residencies in 2026 and 2027.
Across its entire season, the Barbican will present over fifty world, UK and London premieres, including seven major Barbican commissions and co-commissions. The commitment to new music is crystallised in the LIMINAL series, which returns for its second year, showcasing music from new voices hovering between the scored, acoustic and electronic. The Barbican is also proud to present a full weekend festival of performances and workshops with Always, Already There, the inaugural London edition of the Afrodiasporic incubator project curated by vocalist and composer Elaine Mitchener, in partnership with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (GSMD). Premieres and daring staged work are also showcased in the Concert Theatre series of opera, dance and music theatre, which, this season, includes work by Renell Shaw, Tyshawn Sorey, Hannah Peel, Circa and more.
Alongside series and weekenders, the Barbican continues to place the very best in international artistry centre-stage. Beyond the major orchestras in the Beethoven 200 programme, the season will also include performances by the Czech Philharmonic, Bach Collegium Japan, Apollo’s Fire, Les Talens Lyriques, Il Pomo d’Oro and Pygmalion Ensemble. Soloists and recitalists across the season will include Seong-Jin Cho with the Czech Philharmonic, Benjamin Grosvenor and Sheku Kanneh-Mason who both separately join the Sinfonia of London as it returns twice across the season, plus Evgeny Kissin, Hélène Grimaud, Beatrice Rana and more.
For highlights from the Barbican’s Associates, the Barbican’s Resident Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, presents a season led by Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano shaped by new commissions and large-scale works featuring Víkingur Ólafsson, Yuja Wang, Janine Jansen with Sir Simon Rattle, Klaus Mäkelä, Barbara Hannigan and many more. Meanwhile, the BBC Symphony Orchestra presents a season led by Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo joined across the season by Semyon Bychkov, Anu Komsi, Fleur Barron among many others as well as collaborating with the Barbican in a performance of Caroline Shaw’s The Listeners. Across their season, Academy of Ancient Music and Music Director Laurence Cummings join with Anna Dennis and Ed Lyon, as well as with contemporary circus company Circa to present a reimagining of Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus through a fusion of music and physical theatre. Darbar Festival also returns, now in its 21st year, bringing Indian Classical artists such as Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali and Barbican resident artist Jasdeep Singh Degun.
Helen Wallace, Head of Music says: ‘Our perspective at the Barbican is always international and always artist led. With new and younger audiences taking more interest in classical music, it’s on us to present a dazzling, diverse array of musical experiences to show the range and breadth of what is possible. This is why we have invited a host of resident artists this season. These musicians have each been invited to curate and to dream – bringing projects across ballet, film, opera, orchestral and solo formats. In an age of homogenisation, artists have a unique power to reimagine and break new ground, whether through the theatrical stagings in our Concert Theatre series, or the extraordinary music featured in Always, Already There, the UK’s first ever Afro-diasporic incubator. I remain very grateful to our inspiring Resident Orchestra and Artistic Associates, who have all collaborated with us on this bold programme, and to our partners at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, whose talented students will be performing and creating across a number of major projects too.’
The full season press release, including detailed information about each event, can be viewed here.