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What’s On
François-Xavier Roth smiles at the audience from the stage

Beethoven and Unsuk Chin

LSO Artist Portrait: Bertrand Chamayou

Thursday 14 March 2024 • 7pm

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The Concert

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No 2
Unsuk Chin Piano Concerto
Interval – 20 minutes
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No 8

François-Xavier Roth  conductor
Bertrand Chamayou  piano
London Symphony Orchestra

The concert will finish at approximately 9.10pm (timings subject to change)

Tickets

£70 £55 £39 £25 £18
+ £4 booking fee per online/phone transaction

Wildcard Tickets

£12/£16 + booking fee as above
Guaranteed entry – your seat will be allocated on the day.
Limited releases throughout the season. Full details

Check for Wildcards

Save on Your Booking

Multibuy Discounts – save up to 40%
Under-18s – £6 tickets
14–25s – discounts for Young Barbican Members
Groups of 10+ – save at least 20%
Barbican Access Members – free companion tickets
Full details below

An allocation of tickets is available for NHS staff for selected LSO concerts through Tickets for Good. Visit ticketsforgood.org to register.

Prepare for the unexpected in Beethoven’s most surprising symphony, and Unsuk Chin’s brilliantly disorientating Piano Concerto.

The Programme

Beethoven wrote two light-hearted symphonies in especially difficult times. He composed his Second Symphony while struggling with his increasing deafness, and the Eighth coincides with a despairing letter to his ‘immortal beloved’, a mystery woman with whom he had a tragic affair. Yet Symphony No 2 contains an offbeat ‘scherzo’ or ‘joke’ movement, and the surprises come thick and fast in the Eighth. Listen out for the laughter and footsteps in the second movement, and the double-take in the finale when the symphony discovers it’s in the wrong key.

For François-Xavier Roth, Beethoven’s symphonies ‘work very well with modern music, maybe because his symphonies are an amazing example of radical, modern music, that changed the basis of composing and of the role of music in our life. We can hear Beethoven’s music with different ears, in dialogue with contemporary music from our time.’

Roth and the LSO bring a fresh perspective to Beethoven’s enduring works, and precision to the charming paradoxes of Unsuk Chin’s Concerto. Bertrand Chamayou dives deep into Chin’s oeuvre as part of an Artist Portrait series, which includes chamber music at LSO St Luke’s.

‘I wanted to be a pianist, but I couldn’t, so I became a composer … The piano is, for me, the king of instruments.’ – Unsuk Chin

Read the programme

 

Recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3

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Recorded for future broadcast on Marquee TV

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Header Image © Marco Borggreve

£10 Tickets for Students

Full-time students can book £10 tickets for this concert through Student Pulse London.

Find out more

Booking and Discounts

Booking Your Tickets

Online at lso.co.uk or barbican.org.uk
By phone on +44 20 7870 2500 (Monday to Friday 12–5.30pm)
In person at the Barbican Centre

£4 booking fee per transaction when booking online or by phone

Refunds and Exchanges

If you can no longer user your tickets, you can exchange them for another LSO concert or Barbican credit voucher (valid for six months). Please inform the Box Office at least 24 hours before the performance (two weeks for group bookings). A per-ticket administration fee applies for all exchange services.

Questions About Your Booking?

Contact the Barbican Box Office at tickets@barbican.org.uk.

Visit the Barbican website for conditions of sale.

The LSO reserves the right to change artists or programmes if necessary. If the event is cancelled, all bookers will receive a refund. All discounts are subject to availability and may not be combined. Box office calls may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance or training purposes.

Multibuy Discounts

Book 2 to 3 concerts and save 10%
Book 4 to 7 concerts and save 20%
Book 8 to 11 concerts and save 30%
Book 12 or more concerts and save 40%

Plus retain your discount for any later bookings within the season.

Multibuy Discounts: Full Details

Wildcards

£12 or £16 (£10 or £15 for Half Six Fix concerts), plus booking fee. You are guaranteed entry to the concert but you won’t know your exact seat until the evening of the performance. Will you be lucky and bag a top-price seat in the stalls? Find out more about Wildcards.

Young People

£6 tickets for under-18s. Discounted tickets are available for selected LSO concerts for 14–25s through Young Barbican, and for full-time students through Student Pulse London.

Groups of 10+

Save 20%, or 30% when booking two or more concerts in the same season, plus additional benefits. Find out more about group booking.

Access Members

Members of the Barbican’s Access Scheme can book wheelchair places priced at the lowest price for that event and book a free companion seat. Join the Barbican Access Scheme.

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