What's On

Displaying events between 01 June 2025 and 30 June 2025

The Poet and His Friends Dr Elena Vorotko brings to centre stage three 1840s Romantic fortepianos – Erard, Broadwood and Pleyel – to illuminate the intricacies of Chopin’s popular Scherzo No 2, revealing secrets only the composer’s contemporaries would have known. Dates: Thu 05 Booking and More Information
Fiesole Trio Beach Piano Trio in A minor, Op 150
Lera Auerbach Trio No 1, Op 28
Piazzola Otoño porteño and Invierno porteño from The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
 Dates: Tue 10 Booking and More Information
Masterclass: Fiona Kimm Mezzo-soprano and winner of the John Christie Award Fionna Kimm celebrates fifty years in the profession sharing her insight with Vocal Studies students. Dates: Tue 10 Booking and More Information
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Visiting professor, composer and film historian Neil Brand demonstrates the art of improvisation in John Barrymore’s thrilling 1920 classic, based on Robert Louis Stephenson’s gothic novel. Dates: Wed 11 Booking and More Information
Junior Academy: 110 years Young pianists celebrate Junior Academy’s 110th birthday with a selection of music dating from1915, including Debussy’s études. Dates: Wed 11 Booking and More Information
Strings Gallery Tour Barbara Meyer, Curator of Instruments, gives a special tour of the Museum Strings Gallery with instrument demonstrations by Academy students. Dates: Wed 11 Booking and More Information
Writing Mozart Cadenzas Joanna MacGregor introduces scintillating cadenzas composed by Academy pianists, discussing the art of developing material with a contemporary voice – including extracts from some of Mozart’s most famous concertos on two pianos. Dates: Thu 12 Booking and More Information
The Art of Transcription Mei-Ting Sun introduces performances of pianists’ own ambitious transcriptions, including Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite. Dates: Thu 12 Booking and More Information
Music for Two Pianos I A delicious programme of Rachmaninov’s early tableaux for two pianos and dazzling Suite no.2, with Sherri Lun’s new arrangement – for eight hands – of the slow movement from the cello sonata. Dates: Thu 12 Booking and More Information
Nine Renowned movie director Guido Contini examines his relationships with the most important women in his life as he suffers from a bad case of writer’s block and a potential mid-life crisis in this Tony-Award-winning musical. Dates: Thu 12, Fri 13, Sat 14, Sun 15 Booking and More Information
Programme Buy your programme ahead of time, and have it waiting for you at the venue. Dates: Thu 12, Fri 13, Sat 14, Sun 15, Fri 20, Sun 29 Booking and More Information
Piano, Multimedia, Film Audiovisual artist Kathy Hinde is inspired by behaviours and phenomena found in nature, in performances combining sound, sculpture, image and light. She and Academy pianists present interactive improvisations and immersive contemporary performances, fused with imagery. Dates: Thu 12 Booking and More Information
Shostakovich: The Complete Preludes and Fugues Emanuil Ivanov, winner of the 2019 Ferruccio Busoni Competition, performs Shostakovich’s majestic cycle: a deeply personal journey that is playful, tragic and triumphant. Dates: Thu 12 Booking and More Information
Musical Theatre Cabaret A cabaret event devised by members of the Musical Theatre Company to follow performances of Nine. Dates: Thu 12, Fri 13, Sun 15 Booking and More Information
Schumann: The Complete Piano Works II We continue our two-year project of Robert Schumann’s complete works for solo piano, exploring the intricate world of music’s visionary poet. Dates: Fri 13 Booking and More Information
Let’s Dance external hire event Dates: Sun 15 Booking and More Information
Advanced Diploma Recitals: Tom Zalmanov Tom Zalmanov

Mozart Sonata No 8 in A minor, K 310
Schubert Sonata No 22 in A, D 959
 Dates: Mon 16 Booking and More Information
Accordion Chamber Music Academy students curate and performed an exciting concert of chamber works spotlighting the accordion. Dates: Mon 16 Booking and More Information
Planetary A programme of new works inspired by stars and astronomical phenomena by Academy students, alongside pieces by Glen Downie and Arvo Pärt. Dates: Mon 16 Booking and More Information
Advanced Diploma Recitals: Rob Burton Rob Burton

Alexander Papp introspection through closed eyes
Edmund Finnis A Spiral Ascending
Other works to be announced
 Dates: Tue 17 Booking and More Information
Lingua Obscura Hear seldom-performed music by Slovene, Catalan, Irish, Swedish and Maltese composers – from Fran Gerbič to Morfydd Llwyn Owen – in a concert celebrating marginalised languages in the art song tradition. Dates: Tue 17 Booking and More Information
Ephemeral Cartographies Programme to also include brand-new works by members the group and composers including Edward Tait, Maddy Chassar Hesketh, Jacob Jordan, Edward Harris-Brown and Mina Mazur. Dates: Wed 18 Booking and More Information
CANCELLED Academy Flute Ensemble A concert of flute music directed by acclaimed concerto and recording soloist Anna Noakes. Dates: Thu 19 Booking and More Information
Bach Lecture-Recital Pianist and harpsichordist Xiaowen Shang offers a deep dive into Bach’s second set of preludes and fugues, played on various instruments from the Academy’s collection. Dates: Thu 19 Booking and More Information
Harp Showcase The Harp Department’s annual summer celebration concert, in association with Salvi Harps. A chance to hear our leavers and others perform some of their solo and ensemble pieces. Dates: Thu 19 Booking and More Information
Composing a Musical Life Adriana Festeu and Christopher White explore the musicality of various languages and their interaction with genre in this unconventional, plot-led lecture-recital. Dates: Fri 20 Booking and More Information
Strings in the Earth and Air with the Riot Ensemble A programme of richly diverse new music curated by the Academy’s cohort of PhD composers and featuring Berio’s early masterpiece, Chamber Music. Dates: Fri 20 Booking and More Information
Edward Gardner conducts the Academy Symphony Orchestra Daniel Kidane Sirens
Mark-Anthony Turnage Refugee
Nielsen Symphony No 4, Op 29, ‘The Inextinguishable’
 Dates: Fri 20 Booking and More Information
Sonic Meditations: Teach Yourself to Fly Oliveros Sonic Meditations No 14: Tumbling Song (with audience participation)
Feldman Only
Linda Catlin Smith In Black Ink
Oliveros Sonic Meditations No 23: Pure Noise (with audience participation)
Cage The Wonderful Widow of 18 Springs for baritone and piano
Ashkan Layegh New work for soprano and piano
Oliveros Sonic Meditations No 16
Archie John On Dreams for soprano and piano (world premiere of full cycle)
 Dates: Mon 23 Booking and More Information
Electronic Soundscapes and the Classical Guitar Join composer and guitarist Dr Milton Mermikides in a lecture and workshop exploring the potential of new technology for opening up new creative possibilities. Dates: Tue 24 Booking and More Information
Seen & Heard Returning for its fifth year, this series of concerts celebrates diversity in classical music. Dates: Tue 24, Fri 27 Booking and More Information
Masterclass: Susan Bullock A masterclass for Vocal Studies students with Susan Bullock CBE, one of the world’s most sought-after dramatic sopranos and Marjorie Thomas Visiting Professor of Singing at the Academy. Dates: Tue 24 Booking and More Information
Piano Gallery Tour Susana Caldeira, Head of Collections, and pianist Xiaowen Shang give an evening tour of the Museum Piano Gallery. Dates: Tue 24 Booking and More Information
Historical Bassoons Bassoon students from the Historically Informed Performance class present a memorable concert of Baroque solo and ensemble works. The programme includes music by Vivaldi, Boismortier, Fasch and Corrette’s Concerto for four bassoons, ‘Le phénix’. Dates: Wed 25 Booking and More Information
Josephine Knight Directs the Academy Cello Ensemble Cello students perform a varied selection of music led by our Alfredo Piatti Chair, international soloist Josephine Knight. Dates: Wed 25 Booking and More Information
Following Gut Feeling A genre-defying exploration of the violin in 21st-century music. Dates: Wed 25 Booking and More Information
Composer in Residence: Anna Meredith Philip Cashian, Head of Composition, interviews our latest Composer in Residence, Anna Meredith, about her unique and hugely diverse musical career, in an event that also includes a performance of fresh new music by Academy students. Dates: Thu 26 Booking and More Information
Barbican Quartet Recital The Barbican Quartet, prizewinners of the 2022 ARD International Music Competition, join Academy students in a performance of Brahms’s much-loved String Sextet No 1. After an interval, the concert will close with Verklärte Nacht, Schoenberg’s Expressionist – and Brahmsian – drama. Dates: Fri 27 Booking and More Information
Black and red illustration of William Purcell over a 1600s map of the British Isles
Resounding Shores: 'Tis Love That Has Warm'd Us This fantastical journey will include extracts from Purcell’s music for the stage and semi-operas exploring themes of love, magic, myth, authority, nature and transformation. Dates: Sun 29 Booking and More Information
Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award and Webb Award For Accompanists The highly prestigious Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award for postgraduate vocal students was created to celebrate the great British tenor Richard Lewis (1914-1990) and is generously endowed by the Richard Lewis Trust and the foundation set up by the eminent pathologist Dr Jean Shanks. Four prizes are awarded to singers, and an additional major award for the best accompanist is generously donated by the late Brenda Webb, a close friend and admirer of Richard Lewis. Dates: Mon 30 Booking and More Information
Composers’ Platform Be among the first to experience thrilling new sounds in this programme of world premieres by students from our Composition Department. Dates: Mon 30 Booking and More Information

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