It’s back to school! Come to the Southbank Centre for an amazing programme Thu 21 – Sun 24 Sep 2023, and enjoy a multi-buy discount for this classical music mini music festival. Classical music is an integral part of the Southbank Centre, and the “Opening Weekend” will celebrate the full breadth of the art form today.

Toks Dada, Head of Classical Music at the Southbank Centre, explains the success of the Southbank Centre’s “Opening Weekend” last year: “Our goal is to create as many ways for as many different people as possible to experience this wonderful art form called classical music, building on the success of our first Opening Weekend last year – during which we welcomed over 10,000 people across our spaces, many of whom visited the Southbank Centre for the very first time.”

The weekend will feature two major choral works, with Resident Orchestra the Philharmonia Orchestra, performing Verdi’s Requiem (21 Sept, RFH), and Resident Orchestra the London Philharmonic Orchestra performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with soprano Sally Matthews, mezzo-soprano Christine Rice and the London Philharmonic Choir (23 Sept, RFH).

Former Southbank Centre Resident Artist and star of 2022/23, Víkingur Olafsson, arrives in London launching his global Goldberg Variations tour (22 Sept, RFH).

Returning Resident Artists, Manchester Collective, make their season debut with a double bill beginning with Different Trains, featuring work by Barber, Steve Reich, Cassandra Miller and a world premiere by Jasmin Kent Rodgman co-commissioned by the Southbank Centre and Manchester Collective (22 Sept, QEH).

They will then move into the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer for a classical-inspired club night featuring music from titans of minimalism including Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

The Opening Weekend will also feature organist Carol Williams in Mad Rush (23 Sept, RFH) with a programme of organ classics, jazz arrangements, and Williams’ own compositions.

The Multi-Story Orchestra perform RPS award-winning The Endz (23 Sept, QEH), telling the story of two friends torn apart by gang violence in London, and a new version of immersive Living Programme Notes (24 Sept, Clore Ballroom) providing a deep dive into classical music for young people and their families.

The Philharmonia Orchestra appears a second time during the weekend with a programme including Shostakovich’s Concerto for piano, trumpet & strings featuring pianist Seong-Jin Cho and the Philharmonia’s Principal Trumpet Jason Evans (24 Sept, RFH).

The Hermes Experiment make their Opening Weekend debut (24 Sept, PUR), including a new work by composer Elaine Mitchener, commissioned by the Southbank Centre.

Lastly, violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, one of the new Resident Artists for 2023/24, will close the weekend (24 Sept, QEH) with her international trio featuring clarinettist Reto Bieri, and pianist Polina Leschenko, with a programme including a new work composed by Kopatchinskaja herself.

Playing across the Southbank Centre Thu 21 – Sun 24 Sep 2023.