Sir Antonio Pappano
Features, videos, recordings and concerts with our Chief Conductor Designate
Sir Antonio Pappano is our Chief Conductor Designate from September 2023, and will become Chief Conductor in September 2024. 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.
News & Stories
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!’
Videos
Concerts
Mendelssohn’s Elijah
Vast. Breathtaking. Rapturous.
Sunday 28 January 2024 • 7pm
Sir Antonio Pappano, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Chorus join forces for Mendelssohn’s monumental oratorio.
Mendelssohn’s Elijah
Vast. Breathtaking. Rapturous.
Wednesday 31 January 2024 • 7pm
Sir Antonio Pappano, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Chorus join forces for Mendelssohn’s monumental oratorio.
Half Six Fix: Daphnis and Chloé
Lush. Mellifluous. Unearthly.
Wednesday 10 April 2024 • 6.30pm
Kick-start your evening with a 60-minute concert, featuring the gauzy, sensuous soundscape of Ravel’s pastoral ballet, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.
Bewitching Rhythms – Marsalis and Ravel
Dazzling. Mellifluous. Unearthly.
Thursday 11 April 2024 • 7pm
The gauzy, sensuous soundscape of Ravel’s pastoral ballet meets Wynton Marsalis’ jazz-inflected Trumpet Concerto, in this concert with conductor Sir Antonio Pappano and trumpet soloist Alison Balsom.
Sir Antonio Pappano & Alison Balsom
On Tour in Bristol
Friday 12 April 2024 • 7pm
The gauzy, sensuous soundscape of Ravel’s pastoral ballet meets Wynton Marsalis’ jazz-inflected Trumpet Concerto, on tour in Bristol.
Springtime Romance – Boulanger, Barber, Rachmaninoff
Wistful. Ardent. Breathtaking.
Sunday 14 April 2024 • 7pm
Sir Antonio Pappano conducts the LSO in Lili Boulanger’s lively tone poem, D’un matin de printemps, and Rachmaninoff's Symphony No 2. Janine Jansen is soloist for Barber's Violin Concerto.
Half Six Fix: Vaughan Williams 5
Sumptuous. Consoling. Beatific.
Wednesday 17 April 2024 • 6.30pm
Kick-start your evening with a 60-minute concert. Sir Antonio Pappano conducts Vaughan Williams' Fifth Symphony, a bittersweet piece that searched for hope in the midst of war.
LSO Artist Portrait: Bertrand Chamayou
Sumptuous. Consoling. Fanciful.
Thursday 18 April 2024 • 7pm
Sir Antonio Pappano conducts the LSO in Vaughan Williams' Symphony No 5, a work that reaches for hope in the midst of war. And the Orchestra is joined by Bertrand Chamayou – in his Artist Portrait series – for Ravel's playful Piano Concerto in G major.
Sir Antonio Pappano & Martha Argerich: Homage to Claudio Abbado
On Tour in Paris
Monday 22 April 2024 • 8pm
Sir Antonio Pappano pays tribute to Claudio Abbado on tour in Paris, joined by pianist Martha Argerich.
Sir Antonio Pappano & Alison Balsom
On Tour in Cologne
Tuesday 23 April 2024 • 8pm
Sir Antonio Pappano is joined by Alison Balsom to perform Marsalis, Barban and Vaughan Williams on tour in Cologne.
Recordings
Reviews
‘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
‘This energising blast of a concert … demonstrated that a long-established artistic relationship is heating up nicely ahead of the official September 2024 start date.’ ★★★★ The Times, Feb 2023
