· 57 concerts spanning 12 UK venues, plus international festivals and tours
· 4 new music premieres
· 8 performances celebrating the Beethoven Bicentenary
· Beyond classical: Concerts celebrating video games, Motown, soul, Broadway, tango and film music
· An extended season for Vasily Petrenko, conducting masterworks at Cadogan Hall, Hull City Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, The Glasshouse in Gateshead and The Hexagon in Reading.
“For the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, turning 80 is both a celebration and a milestone as we look ahead to the next chapter. After eight decades, it’s safe to say that the Orchestra feels younger and fresher than ever. But it also has many stories to tell, and this 80th Anniversary Season places a waymarker on our journey of discovery, giving us the opportunity to share those stories anew, together. It’s a season full of reflections, remembrances and evocations: music that celebrates music, and the musicians who make it. And above all, music that celebrates our audience – the people who make the music complete.”
Vasily Petrenko, Music Director at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) today announces details of its full season for 2026–27. As the orchestra celebrates 80-years of music-making, the new season presents diverse programming and new concert formats that recognise and celebrate the changing face of today’s concert audience.
The new season announcement reflects insights from the RPO’s annual audience trends report, which reveals how significantly the UK orchestral audience is changing. Nationally, 46% of orchestral music’s audience describe themselves as new to the genre or starting journeys of discovery – compared to 38% who say they have enjoyed classical music for many years. With a broadening audience, so concert preferences are also changing. Whilst the allure of core classical repertoire holds firm for the fourth consecutive year at 24%, there is growing interest in film music concerts (29%), orchestral hits from the musicals (28%), pop/orchestral collaborations (28%) and video game music (13%).
The new anniversary season will see the RPO deliver on the public’s desire for wide-ranging concert formats and the Orchestra will spread its season across multiple venues, maximising support for music venues at a challenging time – and also giving more people local access to a world-class ensemble. This season’s venues include Cadogan Hall (London), the Royal Albert Hall, Hull City Hall, Royal & Derngate (Northampton), The Hawth (Crawley), The Hexagon (Reading), Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, G Live (Guildford), the Royal Concert Hall (Nottingham), The Glasshouse (Gateshead) and the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall (London).
Warwick Arts Centre
Season highlights
Classical masterworks: The Bicentenary of Beethoven’s death will be marked by performances of the Triple Concerto; Piano Concertos Nos.1, 4 and 5; the Violin Concerto; Symphonies Nos.5 and 9 – and the Egmont Overture. Six major works by Tchaikovsky will be celebrated, as well as symphonic landmarks, including Mahler Symphony No.2, Ein Heldenleben and also Sprach Zarathustra by Strauss, Symphonies Nos.1 and 4 by Brahms, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Stravinsky’s The Firebird.
Beyond the classical repertoire: Alongside the core symphonic season are concerts celebrating: Motown and soul, Broadway, Christmas music, film music, video game music, tango, love songs, Joe Hisaishi’s music, plus Tom Hanks’s recorded narration of The Moonwalkers for a special celebration of the Apollo moon missions.
New concert formats: Over and above the proven and popular Noisy Kids family concerts and a Relaxed Performance – designed specifically for audiences who may find traditional concerts challenging – the RPO will launch a brand-new concert format: Revealed which responds to the 29% of people new to the orchestral genre saying they like to research a piece of music before attending a concert. For this new series, multi-award-winning writer and historian Leah Broad will unwrap music by Tchaikovsky and Mozart in conversation with the conductor and RPO musicians, followed by a complete performance of each symphony.
New music: The RPO’s 80th anniversary season will also feature four premieres: World premieres of Errollyn Wallen’s FLAREcommissioned by the RPO for its 80th anniversary and Sun Sundered Head: Nocturne for Cello and Orchestra by Laurence Osborn. There will also be the UK premiere of Joe Hisaishi’s Concerto for Orchestra – and the London premiere of Swarm Fanfares by Dobrinka Tabakova.
Vasily Petrenko’s season: A powerful thread of artistic intensity that will unite the season, RPO’s acclaimed Music Director, Vasily Petrenko, will lead the Orchestra at more venues this season; making his London debut at Cadogan Hall, and conducting further performances at Hull City Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, The Glasshouse in Gateshead and The Hexagon in Reading. Building on the emphatic critical reception to his recent Mahler concerts, Petrenko’s RPO season includes: Mahler’s Resurrection, Beethoven’s Symphony No.5, Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances – as well as conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at 80 concert to open the season.
Vasily Petrenko, Music Director at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra comments:“Eighty years is both a long time and not very long at all. In the world of great orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic is, if we are being honest, still in something of a young age. Many of the finest European ensembles carry histories stretching back 150 years or more. And yet 80 years is also a very mature age. We have carried an extraordinary legacy since Sir Thomas Beecham founded this orchestra, and today, I look around at the musicians and feel something entirely unambiguous: the RPO is in the best shape I have ever seen it. So for me, our 80th anniversary season is a moment to look both ways. There is immense pride in where we have come from. And there is great excitement about where we are going.
“Our 80th anniversary season has, I believe, something for everyone. And I do not mean that lightly. Classical music has never belonged only to those who already know it. The greatest works speak to anyone willing to listen. That is what this season is built around: the belief that when you give people real access to this music, something happens. Something that is very difficult to put into words. That is, perhaps, the whole point.”
The RPO would also like to thank the many guest musicians, soloists and ensembles that will join it for the 2026–27 season. For full details, visit the RPO website.
Full details of the RPO season for 2026–27, visit Tickets & events – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra