The best classical music in London: autumn 2017

By Helena Kealey on 5/9/2017

From Beethoven's revolutionary Eroica to Mendelssohn's sweetly lyrical melodic Violin Concerto: these are the must-see concerts coming to London this autumn

Sir Simon Rattle is leaving Berlin to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

This is Rattle, Barbican Centre

It starts with a Fanfare by Helen Grime, and Elgar's Enigma Variations, and ends with the musical equivalent of a fireworks display – three spectacular pieces by Stravinsky, and in between comes music familiar and unfamiliar: Sir Simon Rattle's new life as music director of the London Symphony Orchestra will, in short, be as varied as his plans for those musicians, their audience, and anyone else in London who will listen.

WHEN

14 Sep 2017 – 24 Sep 2017, times vary

WHERE

Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS

La Bohème opens the new season at Covent Garden. Graphic: AKA2

Puccini's La Bohème, Royal Opera House

At the Royal Opera House, the massive 2017/18 season opens with a new production of La Bohème by Richard Jones, one of a handful of directors working today whose new insights are never to be missed, even if he himself occasionally misses the point.

WHEN

11 Sep 2017 – 10 Oct 2017, 11 performances, with two Saturday matinees at 2PM

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Nadja Michael as Salome Royal Opera House, London, 2008 ROH © Robbie Jack - Corbis. Corbis Entertainmen. Getty Images

Opera: Passion, Power and Politics at the V&A

In an international first this autumn, the Victoria and Albert Museum is collaborating with the Royal Opera House to bring London the world’s only grand-scale exhibition of opera. Spanning genre and medium, period and place, Opera: Passion, Power and Politics looks set to be a grandiose celebration of a 400-year-old art form.

WHEN

30 Sep 2017 – 25 Feb 2018, 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM

WHERE

V&A
South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL

Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva founded and perform at the London Piano Festival. Photo: Sam Canetty-Clarke

London Piano Festival 2017, Kings Place

Is there anyone who doesn't wish they could play the piano – or play it better? This enviable talent will be demonstrated by some of the finest performers at the keyboard during the second London Piano Festival at Kings Place. Chopin, Liszt, Brahms... the list is dazzling.

WHEN

05 Oct 2017 – 08 Oct 2017, eight events, times vary

WHERE

Kings Place
90 York Way, London, N1 9AG

Veronika Eberle plays the meltingly lovely Mendelssohn Violin Concerto at the Barbican

Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, Barbican Hall

Brimming with sweetly lyrical melody and flashes of virtuosic magic, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto from 1844 has become one of the most popular in the repertoire. There’s an opportunity to find out why when the very lyrical German violinist Veronika Eberle plays it with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican.

WHEN

15 Oct 2017 – 19 Oct 2017, two performances

WHERE

Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS

Andrés Orozco-Estrada is principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Photograph: Werner Kmetitsch

Leningrad Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall

When his own city of St Petersburg, with its long artistic lineage, was besieged by the Nazis in 1942, Dmitri Shostakovich responded in music with his Symphony No 7 – it was relayed across the city by loudspeaker in defiance of the occupying troops. This October it will be played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under principal guest conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

WHEN

On 27 Oct 2017, 7:30 PM – 9:45 PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX

The Royal Festival Hall hosts a concert to remember brilliant cellist Jacqueline du Pré. Photo: Morley von Sternberg

Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall

The gifted British cellist Jacqueline du Pré lives on in her landmark recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto and in the memories of older concert-goers. And although it is 30 years since her death, her name alone galvanises music-lovers, who have a special chance to remember her at a gala concert.

WHEN

On 29 Oct 2017, 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX

Patricia Kopatchinskaja is the soloist in the elusive Schumann Violin Concerto. Photo: Julia Wesely

Beethoven's Eroica, Royal Festival Hall

Revolutionary zeal was coursing through Beethoven when he wrote his Third Symphony in 1804, which he proudly dedicated to Napoleon. But before a note could be played he heard his hero had declared himself Emperor, and flying into a rage, the composer tore the title page off the symphony’s manuscript. Opinion is divided on whether practical and financial considerations simply outweighed idealism in Beethoven’s change of heart, but whatever the reason, the music remains truly revolutionary.

WHEN

On 08 Nov 2017, 7:30 PM – 9:45 PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX