While Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is temporarily closed this summer for planned improvements to the stage, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will present seven unique performances at The Tung Auditorium across the summer season.
Highlights include:
- A collaboration with Pegasus Opera Company celebrating the Windrush generation and the profound impact of Black British composers
- A joint performance with young musicians from the Royal Northern College of Music in the Liverpool premiere of Delia Stevens and Will Pound’s The Silent Planet, a folk-inspired interpretation of Holst’s The Planets that aligns with the RNCM’s The Future is Green initiative
- Five world premieres including works by Jack Sheen, Sky Macklay, Stephen Pratt and Timothy Jackson
- Chief Conductor Domingo Hindoyan returns with a musical journey through the Mediterranean with Rossini, Bizet and Tchaikovsky, and an evening of chamber works by Dvořák, Hindemith and Brahms
- Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Company Festival returns to showcase the talent of Liverpool’s brightest young musicians
From May to September the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will present a series of performances celebrating new music and familiar favourites.
The season begins on Friday 31 May.In collaboration with Pegasus Opera Company the Orchestra will perform Windrush – The Journey, which includes works by distinguished Black composers Chevalier de Saint Georges and Richard Thompson, alongside a premiere from the groundbreaking new commission Windrush Opera composed by Des Oliver with Libretto by Edson Burton. Conducted by Jeri Lynne Johnson, this concert will honour the legacy of the Windrush generation with a fusion of classical music, steel pan, jazz, and blues. To accompany this concert, a fascinating immersive exhibition showcasing the work of Black British composers through music and photographs and local Windrush testimony will be featured in the foyer of The Tung Auditorium.
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Artist in Residence Simone Lamsma brings the mood and music of Argentina’s capital with Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires on Sunday 9 June. The evening will also see performances of Sarasate’s passionate Introduction and Tarantella, before she is joined by Eva Thorarinsdottir for Bach’s Double Concerto. The concert also features Arvo Pärt’s Summa and Grieg’s Holberg Suite.
On Wednesday 19 June, conductor Jack Sheen leads Ensemble 10:10, Liverpool Philharmonic’s contemporary music ensemble. The programme features Sylvia Lim’s exploration of decay – Reframe – in addition to five world premieres, including Jack Sheen’s A Line, a curve or figure and Études, as well as Sky Macklay’s Microvariations, Stephen Pratt’s Noting the Landscape, and Timothy Jackson’s Traffic Jams and Anagrams, featuring solo cello by Jonathan Aasgaard.
On Sunday 23 June, led by violinist Thelma Handy, the Orchestra showcase five bright, vibrant and perfectly playful pieces including Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.3, Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Marianna Martines’ Overture / Symphony in C. This concert will also mark oboist Jonathan Small’s last ever solo performance with the Orchestra. As a final farewell, Jonathan will perform pieces by Bach and Dittersdorf on the oboe d’amore.
Domingo Hindoyan, Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducts a musical journey through the Mediterranean on Thursday 27 June. Audiences at The Tung will hear the electrifying overture to Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Bizet’s enchanting Symphony in C, and Tchaikovsky’s moving Souvenir de Florence.
Thursday 4 July will see a performance of The Silent Planet, a new suite by Delia Stevens and Will Pound, which reinterprets Holst’s epic work for a new era, featuring Earth as an additional movement. Driven by our changing climate, Stevens and Pound imagine each movement through 21st century experiences. Conducted by Clark Rundell with orchestrations by Ian Gardiner, Stevens and Pound will join musicians from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Northern College of Music, as well as speakers from youth-led global climate organisation Force of Nature.
Domingo Hindoyan returns with the Orchestra on Thursday 26 and Sunday 29 Septemberwith Serenades, an evening of chamber works by Dvořák, Hindemith and Brahms.
Also this summer, the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Company Festival returns with a series of concerts that showcase the talent of Liverpool’s brightest young musicians. On Saturday 6 July Youth Brass Band will perform a series of classics with conductor – and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra section leader trombone – Simon Cowen. On Saturday 13 July Youth Academy Orchestra will perform highlights from the orchestral repertoire, conducted by Alex Dunn, and the Youth Orchestra present the repertoire they will be performing at the Florence Youth Festival in Italy conducted by Lauren Wasynczuk. On Sunday 14 July Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Choir, Children’s Choir and Melody Makers will perform their end of year choral celebration concerts with conductors Alison White, Simon Emery and Ian Stephens. The Youth Session Orchestra will be performing pop hits new and old, and premiering brand-new songs written by members of the band on Saturday 20 July.
Tickets are available here.
The Tung Auditorium is a state-of-the-art concert venue, opened in 2022, situated within the Yoko Ono Lennon Centre as part of the University of Liverpool, just a few minutes’ walk from Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Liverpool Philharmonic’s contemporary music group Ensemble 10:10 is entering their third year as resident ensemble at The Tung Auditorium.
On Tour:
Also this summer, Liverpool Philharmonic present further performances and music-making projects in Barrow-in-Furness as part of a new partnership bringing more access to live music to the area. Concerts include: ‘Four Seasons of Buenos Aires’ on Friday 7 June with violinists Simone Lamsma, Eva Thorarinsdottir and the Strings of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; ‘A Little Night Music’ on Friday 21 June where the Orchestra perform well-known orchestral pieces like Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music) and Bach’s lively Brandenburg Concerto; and ‘Souvenir de Florence’ on Sunday 30 June where Chief Conductor Domingo Hindoyan returns to The Forum to conduct the Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s glorious piece along with works by Rossini and Bizet. More information available here.
Following the huge success of their previous collaborations, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the nation’s premier Beatles group The Bootleg Beatles join forces in a special concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of The Beatles’ 1967-1970 album, affectionately known as The Blue Album. This unique production will premiere at the M&S Bank Arena Liverpool on Friday 5 July 7.30pm, before touring to The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Gateshead on Sunday 7 July and Usher Hall, Edinburgh on Monday 8 July. More information available here.
READ MORE: LIVERPOOL’S BRAND NEW WORLD-CLASS CONCERT HALL ‘THE TUNG AUDITORIUM’ IS NOW OPEN
