Southbank Centre News

The Southbank Centre, its six Resident Orchestras and wider orchestral partners have today announced Classical Music Spring/Summer 2023, an exciting, varied programme of over a hundred events featuring a wealth of established and emerging artists from the UK and internationally. 

18-year-old percussionist Jordan Ashman from Milton, Cambridgeshire is the winner of BBC Young Musician 2022.

17-year-old pianist Ethan Loch, from Glasgow, has won the Keyboard Final of BBC Young Musician 2022 and will progress through to the Grand Final of the competition. He is the fifth and last finalist to be announced as part of the 2022 edition of the contest, joining viola player Jaren Ziegler, flautist Sofía Patterson-Gutiérrez, trumpeter Sasha Canter, and percussionist Jordan Ashman.

Producers Fiery Angel Entertainment and Red Tail Entertainment just announced casting for the European Premiere of Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol – A New Musical at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall from 8 December 2022 to 8 January 2023.

Following releasing his first critically acclaimed Netflix stand-up special and book, plus subsequently touring in the USA and at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Montreal's Just For Laughs Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Phil Wang (That's My Time with David Letterman, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Live At The Apollo) announces the UK & Ireland leg of his world tour for Spring 2023.

World Music Institute will present Manchester Collective and Abel Selaocoe with Sirocco on October 7th. Sirocco is a joyful celebration of musical styles from around the globe.

Colin Currie Group and Synergy Vocals perform “A Steve Reich Celebration” at Carnegie Hall in New York (Nov 1) and Cal Performances in Berkeley (Nov 3) in a bi-coastal salute to the composer's 86th birthday.

Chinese Arts Now (CAN) has unveiled an exciting new name and bold new visual identity:  Kakilang (自己人)- 'one of us' in the Hokkien dialect, evoking kinship and affinity - widely used amongst East and Southeast Asian diasporic groups, is the company's new name. 

Apple and the Southbank Centre have launched a groundbreaking partnership to support Black creatives in the UK.

The ultimate UK talent contest for young classical performers, BBC Young Musician returns to BBC Four, Radio 3, iPlayer and Sounds this October for its 23rd instalment. 

Great British Bake Off Semi-Finalist 2021 and London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) fan Jürgen Krauss is baking the Orchestra a cake to celebrate its 90th birthday. The trombone player lives in Brighton and enjoys attending LPO concerts at Brighton Dome, where the Orchestra has a residency.

More than 100 extra shows are being added to the first ever live theatre tour of hit children's show Hey Duggee.

Making his Proms debut just last year, Víkingur Ólafsson brings his searing musical brilliance to the Southbank Centre.

Actor Alex Jennings will join the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) for the opening night of its 2022/23 season on Saturday 24 September when they perform Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

Queen's Theatre Hornchurch have released the first production photos of In This Smoking Chaos, the show continues from Wednesday 21 September to Saturday 24 September as part of the Theatre’s Blueprint Festival.

The Japan Art Association and Lord Patten of Barnes, Praemium Imperiale's International Advisor in the UK, have announced the recipients of the 2022 Praemium Imperiale Awards.

The Last Days Of Mankind is undeniably one of the strangest plays few people have heard of. Written by Karl Kraus during and about the First World War, this docudrama which ends in a Martian invasion is rich pickings for the dark cabaret trio. @wiltonmusichall @thetigerlillies

As the title suggests, the crip-cabaret crew Not Your Circus Dog collective are definitely, truly and utterly not f**king sorry. Anyone leaving this show not even slighty more aroused, enlightened or happier than when they arrived should be checked for signs of life.

The Southbank Centre has been presenting the Unlimited festival since 2012, with it being a celebration of work by Disabled, Deaf and Neurodivergent artists. Since 2013 Unlimited has awarded over £4.8 million to over 460 disabled artists and companies, and their work has been seen by over 5 million people worldwide

Internationally acclaimed Australian pianist, Sarah Grunstein, returns to the Sydney Opera House by popular demand, to perform two concerts in 2022.  While Grunstein is distinguished for her interpretation of Bach's works.