Sir Antonio Pappano
Features, videos, recordings and concerts with our Chief Conductor.
Sir Antonio Pappano is our Chief Conductor. He first collaborated with the Orchestra in 1996 at Abbey Road Studios for a recording of Puccini’s opera La rondine, and we have worked together regularly since then.
‘I’ll never forget the first down beat, when the orchestra just exploded with activity and panache and derring-do,’ recalls Pappano. ‘It felt like I’d gotten into a Ferrari and pushed the gas pedal down!’
Sir Antonio Pappano became Music Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 2002, a position he held until the end of the 2023/24 season, and was Music Director of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome between 2005 and 2023. In 2012 he was made 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.
News & Stories
Sir Antonio Pappano: The 2025/26 Season
Sir Antonio Pappano begins his second season as Chief Conductor of the LSO, with works from British and American composers amongst the highlights.
Sir Antonio Pappano: The 2024/25 Season
Our Chief Conductor introduces his 2024/25 season, from brand new works to British symphonies and opera classics.
Pappano: My relationship with the LSO
‘I’ve always had a very close relationship with the Orchestra. But I want that relationship to deepen. I hope I surprise them. I know they’ll surprise me.’
Pappano: 'That's what a conductor is, you are serving the music'
Sir Antonio Pappano discusses what it means to be a conductor, and his own personal conducting style.
Sir Antonio Pappano: The 2023/24 Season
‘I worked with the LSO for the first time in 1996, at Abbey Road Studios, to record an opera. I’ll never forget the first down beat, when the orchestra just exploded with activity and panache and derring-do. It felt like I’d gotten into a Ferrari and pushed the gas pedal down!’
Press Release: LSO appoints Sir Antonio Pappano as Chief Conductor
Videos
Concerts
On Tour at Aldeburgh Festival
Sir Antonio Pappano and Allan Clayton
Saturday 28 June 2025 • 7.30pm
Music by Britten, Vaughan Williams and Elgar at the Aldeburgh Festival, with Sir Antonio Pappano and Allan Clayton.
On Tour at Aldeburgh Festival: Fantastique!
Sir Antonio Pappano
Sunday 29 June 2025 • 5pm
Music by Berlioz, Boulez and Debussy at the Aldeburgh Festival, with Sir Antonio Pappano.
Strauss' Salome
Sir Antonio Pappano
Friday 11 July 2025 • 7pm
Sir Antonio Pappano conducts a concert performance of Strauss’ scandalous opera Salome, with the brilliant soprano Asmik Grigorian in the title role.
Limited Tickets
Strauss' Salome
Sir Antonio Pappano
Sunday 13 July 2025 • 7pm
Sir Antonio Pappano conducts a concert performance of Strauss’ scandalous opera Salome, with the brilliant soprano Asmik Grigorian in the title role.
Limited Tickets
On Tour at the Edinburgh International Festival: Beethoven & Shostakovich
Sir Antonio Pappano
Tuesday 12 August 2025 • 7.30pm
Experience the power of two show-stopping symphonies at the Edinburgh International Festival, with insight from Sir Antonio Pappano and Nicola Benedetti.
On Tour at the Edinburgh International Festival: Britten, Vaughan Williams & Elgar
Sir Antonio Pappano, Ian Bostridge & LSO Musicians
Wednesday 13 August 2025 • 11am
Ian Bostridge joins Sir Antonio Pappano and LSO musicians for a programme of Britten and more at the Edinburgh International Festival.
On Tour at Edinburgh International Festival: Vaughan Williams
Sir Antonio Pappano, Vilde Frang & London Symphony Chorus
Thursday 14 August 2025 • 7.30pm
Join the LSO and conductor Sir Antonio Pappano at the Edinburgh International Festival for a programme of early 20th-century music with Vilde Frang.
On Tour at the Edinburgh International Festival: Puccini’s Suor Angelica
Sir Antonio Pappano
Saturday 16 August 2025 • 7pm
Sir Antonio Pappano conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Giacomo Puccini’s heartfelt opera.
Sir Antonio Pappano: Britten's War Requiem
Stream on BBC iPlayer
Sir Antonio Pappano conducts the LSO in Britten's War Requiem at the BBC Proms.
BBC Proms: Puccini and Strauss
Sir Antonio Pappano
Tuesday 19 August 2025 • 7.30pm
Sir Antonio Pappano and London Symphony Orchestra perform Puccini's Suor Angelica and Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten for the BBC Proms.
Recordings
Reviews
‘I can’t remember hearing [Britten’s War Requiem] make so powerful an impact as it did in this stupendous Prom performance conducted by Antonio Pappano … the London Symphony Orchestra played with phenomenal virtuosity.’
★★★★★ Richard Morrison, The Times, Aug 2024
‘Pappano leads the LSO with terrifying finesse for Coleridge-Taylor, Strauss and Liszt works, in anticipation of his new role as chief conductor in 2024.’ ★★★★ The Guardian, Feb 2023
‘Pappano brought to this irresistible epic simply everything: invaluable detail, supercharged rhythms, precipitous drama, a larger-than-life tale gloriously paced and fabulously played. If this is the LSO’s future, bring it on.’ ★★★★★ inews, Feb 2023
