Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra announces new season

Fans of classical music are in for a treat as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2024/25 season has been announced.

The upcoming season includes music from all decades and genres, with something to suit every taste. Concert highlights include ‘Symphonic 90s’, ‘A Night at the Musicals’, ‘The Liverpool Songbook’ and live orchestral screenings of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets™ and How to Train Your Dragon.

Popular classics will also be performed, including symphonies by Mahler and Bruckner, as well as performances by returning soloists such as Sir Bryn Terfel, Víkingur Ólafsson, Chloë Hanslip and Pacho Flor. Liverpool artists Jennifer Johnston, Kathryn Stott and Daniel Greenway are set to return for special performances.

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The season opens on Thursday, October 17 with a concert encompassing Chief Conductor Domingo Hindoyan's musical passions, from the melancholic Four Last Songs by Strauss with soprano Sarah Wegener, to the concluding sounds of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.

A series of family concerts designed with young audiences in mind include special events for under 5s, as well as ‘The Fantastic Philharmonic Time Machine’ and the ‘The Bear Hunt Adventure’, inspired by the children’s story We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. The annual festive celebration, ‘Santa Comes to Town’ returns, as well as ‘White Christmas’, a concert featuring well-known Christmas hits from Let it Snow! to Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

The ‘Symphonic 90s’ will be an evening of classics from that decade, including tracks by Take That, Steps, Oasis and the Spice Girls performed by the Orchestra and vocalists, conducted by Steve Bell.

After the success of last year’s event, Liverpool Philharmonic are once again celebrating Eurovision with the return of ‘Douze Points’. This season will also see the Orchestra team up with West End vocalists for ‘A Night at the Musicals’, as well as a celebration of music made and inspired by the city the Orchestra call home in ‘The Liverpool Songbook’.

For those who enjoy listening to choral music, the Philharmonic Choir will be taking centre stage on several occasions. In addition to their annual performances in Handel’s Messiah, the choir will perform alongside the orchestra in Holst’s The Planets conducted by Andrew Manze; Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with Sir Bryn Terfel; Mahler’s Symphony No.3 and Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Domingo Hindoyan; and Janáček’s ear-tingling Glagolitic Mass. In the annual Spirit of Christmas concerts the choir will be joined by the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Choir and guest artist Roderick Williams will be the presenter for the series. Spirit of Christmas will be conducted by the Director of Choirs and Singing, Matthew Hamilton.

Following her recent debut with the English National Opera, Liverpool-born mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston returns to perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Orchestra under the baton of Domingo Hindoyan. In a moving farewell, Kathryn Stott will give her final recital performance in the city where her career began.

A host of artists will return to perform with the Orchestra this season, including Sir Bryn Terfel with a rendition of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast alongside the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir. Trumpeter Pacho Flores will bring the sounds of South America to the heart of Liverpool with the world premiere of a new work by Daniel Freiberg. Pianists Simon Trpčeski, Víkingur Ólafsson and Paul Lewis will be performing a range of repertoire by Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Schubert. Violinists Chloë Hanslip and Michael Barenboim return for works by Glass, Roustom and Bartók.

Domingo Hindoyan, Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, said: “This season is one of real joy for me as it’s now my fourth year with this wonderful Orchestra. The way our artistic relationship has grown over this time has created a strong creative partnership and I can’t wait to continue to work together and make more beautiful music.

"I’m particularly looking forward to bringing music from South America to the Hall and continuing our journey of Bruckner, this time with the Ninth Symphony. This season we will also focus on repertoire surrounding my love of music for the voice.”

A digital programme containing all the season events is available to read here.

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