On 26 May Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre shall welcome back one of the most acclaimed orchestras in the world, the London Symphony Orchestra. Having visited Vilnius in 2014 with a spectacular concert, the LSO now returns with one of today’s most famous conductors Sir Antonio Pappano and violin virtuoso Nikolaj Znaider, to perform L. van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and E. Elgar’s Symphony No. 2.
The London Symphony Orchestra is London’s oldest surviving orchestra and is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading orchestras. The LSO performs 120 concerts a year with an enviable family of artists including Sir Simon Rattle, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gianandrea Noseda, Daniel Harding, Bernard Haitink, Valery Gergiev and André Previn, and has long-standing relationships with some of the leading musicians in the world – Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Mitsuko Uchida and Maria João Pires amongst others. The Orchestra is self-governing and made up of nearly a hundred talented players who also perform regularly as soloists or in chamber concerts.
The LSO is proud to be Resident Orchestra at the Barbican and our home has enabled us to establish a truly loyal audience and fulfil many artistic aspirations. The LSO also enjoys successful residencies in New York, Paris and Tokyo and our regular tour destinations include China, South Korea, plus many major European cities. Last season also saw the Orchestra’s first tour to Australia in 30 years, and an extensive tour of the United States with Michael Tilson Thomas. The LSO is widely acclaimed internationally by audiences and critics alike.
The LSO is set apart from other international orchestras by the depth of its commitment to music education, reaching over 60,000 people each year. The Orchestra is a world-leader in recording music for CD, film, television and events. LSO Live is the most successful label of its kind and has over a hundred titles, all of which are available globally.
One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed for his charismatic leadership and inspirational performances in both symphonic and operatic repertoire, Sir Antonio Pappano has been Music Director of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden since 2002, and Music Director of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome since 2007. A. Pappano has appeared as a guest conductor with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin, Vienna, New York and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Chicago and Boston Symphonies, the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras and the Orchestre de Paris. He maintains a particularly strong relationship with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducting them annually at their home in London’s Barbican Hall, and widely on tour. A. Pappano‘o awards and honours include Gramophone’s Artist of the Year in 2000, the 2003 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, the 2004 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award, and the Bruno Walter prize from the Académie du Disque Lyrique in Paris. In 2012 he was created a Cavaliere di Gran Croce of the Republic of Italy, and a Knight of the British Empire for his services to music, and in 2015 he was named the 100th recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal, the body’s highest honour.
Nikolaj Znaider is renowned as a brilliantly versatile musician, performing both as a virtuoso violin soloist and as a conductor with the world’s preeminent orchestras. He was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Mariinsky Orchestra Saint Petersburg in 2010, and was previously Principal Guest Conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Znaider enjoys a close relationship with the Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna and will return to conduct the orchestra in June 2016. As a soloist, Znaider continues to perform regularly with the world’s leading orchestras. Highlights of the coming season include performances with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Stéphane Denève, Staatskapelle Dresden with Christian Thielemann, and on tour with the London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Antonio Pappano. Nikolaj Znaider plays the Kreisler Guarnerius del Gesu 1741, on extended loan to him by the Royal Danish Theater through the generosity of the VELUX Foundation and the Knud Højgaard Foundation.
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