London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been celebrated as one of the world’s great orchestras since Sir Thomas Beecham founded it in 1932. Their home is right here at the Southbank Centre, in our Royal Festival Hall.

Uniquely groundbreaking and exhilarating to watch and hear, the LPO aims to bring wonder to the modern world with every performance, cementing its position as a leading orchestra for the 21st century.

Its Principal Conductors have included some of the greatest historic names like Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In 2021 Edward Gardner became the 13th Principal Conductor, taking the orchestra into its tenth decade. Vladimir Jurowski became Conductor Emeritus in recognition of his impact as Principal Conductor, 2007–21. Karina Canellakis is the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor and Tania León its Composer-in-Residence.

The LPO regularly welcomes some of the biggest names in classical music to perform with them, and recent series at the Southbank Centre have seen them joined by artists including Gidon Kremer, Leif Ove Andsnes, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Víkingur Ólafsson, Amjad Ali Khan and Isabelle Faust.