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 in Prague
Sir Antonio Pappano
Friday 19 June 2026 • 7.30pm
Sir Antonio Pappano conducts Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem and Mahler's Fifth Symphony, on tour with the LSO in Prague.
On Tour in Litomyšl
Sir Antonio Pappano
Saturday 20 June 2026 • 5pm
Sir Antonio Pappano and the LSO explore beauty, grief and conflict on tour in Litomyšl with Tchaikovsky’s searing Pathétique, alongside Elgar's Enigma Variations.
Wagner: Tristan and Isolde
Sir Antonio Pappano
Wednesday 1 July 2026 • 5pm
Sir Antonio Pappano leads world-class soloists and the LSO in one of the greatest and most intense of operatic love stories – Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.
On Tour in Baden-Baden
Sir Antonio Pappano and Vilde Frang
Sunday 5 July 2026 • 5pm
Vilde Frang plays Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Sir Antonio Pappano leads world-class soloists and the LSO in the third act of one of the most intense of operatic love stories – Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.
Wagner: Tristan and Isolde
Sir Antonio Pappano
Sunday 12 July 2026 • 5pm
Sir Antonio Pappano leads world-class soloists and the LSO in one of the greatest and most intense of operatic love stories – Wagner's Tristan and Isolde.
Sir Antonio Pappano: Berlioz's Requiem
BBC Proms
15 August 2026 • 7.30pm
Sir Antonio Pappano conducts the LSO in Berlioz's Requiem at the BBC Proms.
On Tour in Ljubljana
Sir Antonio Pappano and Bruce Liu
Wednesday 2 September 2026 • 8pm
Bruce Liu performs Beethoven's majestic Third Piano Concerto before Sir Antonio Pappano conducts Anton Bruckner’s monumental, visionary symphonic statement on tour in Ljubljana.
On Tour in Ljubljana
Sir Antonio Pappano
Thursday 3 September 2026 • 8pm
A profound exploration of life, death and transcendence, Mahler’s Symphony No 2 combines lyrical intimacy with overwhelming dramatic power on tour in Ljubljana.
On Tour in Bonn
Sir Antonio Pappano
Friday 4 September 2026 • 7.30pm
Sir Antonio Pappano summons the Orchestra’s full might for a grand symphonic celebration of music by Beethoven and Bruckner on tour in Bonn.
On Tour in Bonn
Sir Antonio Pappano and Vilde Frang
Saturday 5 September 2026 • 7.30pm
Norwegian superstar violinist Vilde Frang performs Beethoven’s deeply moving Violin Concerto while Sir Antonio Pappano leads Tchaikovsky's anguished and triumph-filled Fifth Symphony on tour in Bonn.
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
