If you think you’ve never heard the London Symphony Orchestra play then you’re almost certainly mistaken. One of the most recorded orchestras in the world, the LSO appears on more than 200 movie soundtracks, including the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films. Considered one of the world’s top orchestras, the LSO was formed in 1904 (initially as a profit-sharing collective of musicians) and has toured to Australia only three times before.
In May 2023, the London Symphony Orchestra will return to our shores – 114 musicians all told, and their conductor, LSO music director Sir Simon Rattle. The orchestra will perform in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and tickets are on sale from August 22, with a waitlist available to obtain tickets from August 19.
There will be just two concerts at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne. On Friday May 5, 2023, the orchestra will perform three 20th century works: John Adams’ Harmonielehre (1985), Claude Debussy’s La Mer (1903-5) and Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé Suite No 2 (1912).
The 40-minute Harmonielehre is a signature piece for the LSO and familiar from the soundtracks to True Detective and I Am Love. La Mer (The Sea) was inspired by the Impressionism art movement and the Hokusai print ‘The Great Wave’ and is one of Debussy’s most famous pieces. Daphnis and Chloé Suite No 2 is the second section of a famous ballet composed by Ravel for the groundbreaking Ballets Russes. Rattle says that the latter two works are notable as “a delightful nod to the orchestra’s special sense of colour and ability to play so quietly and delicately”.
On Saturday May 6 the LSO will pull out the big guns and perform the entirety of great Romantic composer Gustav Mahler’s epic Symphony No 7 (1904-5). Considered to represent a journey from dusk till dawn, the work spans moods from dark and grim to joyful; Rattle says it is “exactly the kind of piece that will show the LSO in all its glory”.
The concerts are presented in partnership with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The two orchestras were established within a few years of each other and are something of “kindred spirits”, according to MSO managing director, Sophie Galaise. “This is a fantastic opportunity for Victorian audiences to revel in the majesty of one of the world’s finest orchestras under the baton of an exemplary conductor,” says Galaise.
In addition to the two concerts, Sir Simon Rattle will appear in conversation on Thursday May 4 at 6.30pm at Iwaki Auditorium, ABC Southbank Centre. This tour represents the end of Sir Simon’s tenure as music director for the LSO as he is hanging up his baton to take up the position of chief conductor with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich.