Joyce DiDonato and Martha Argerich Among Highlights of Wigmore Hall's 2025 Spring Season

Highlights of Wigmore Hall’s spring season, running 2 January to 31 March 2025, include performances by piano icon Martha Argerich and celebrated mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, who returns to the Hall on 28 March to perform her acclaimed new interpretation of Schubert’s Winterreise, with pianist Maxim Emelyanychev. Argerich, alongside her duo partner of almost half a century, cellist Mischa Maisky, will perform works for cello and piano by Beethoven, Grieg, and Schubert on 6 February.

Contemporary music takes centre stage this spring, with over a quarter of the 166 concerts featuring works by living composers, including 28 world and UK premières. On 8 March, Caroline Shaw brings her residency to a close, joining forces with the hugely creative composer and storyteller Gabriel Kahane and vocal ensemble Siglo de Oro.

Wigmore Hall also welcomes two distinguished contemporary music groups making spring debuts: Ensemble Klang from The Hague on 17 January (and returning with Elaine Mitchener on 5 February) and Vienna's Klangforum Wien with concerts on 16 and 17 February focused on the Second Viennese School, including a performance of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, with its unique fusion of cabaret, song cycle and chamber music.

The Nash Ensemble premières new works by eight leading British composers on 18 March, all written for the Ensemble’s 60th anniversary this season, including pieces by Helen Grime and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Japanese pianist Maki Namekawa presents three UK premières of works by Philip Glass on 19 February, and vocal ensemble EXAUDI, alongside piano/percussion duo GBSR Duo, give the world première of a new work by Alex Tay on 22 February, commissioned by Wigmore Hall.

Other highlights include Imogen Cooper’s performance of Beethoven’s final three piano sonatas on 16 January and Leif Ove Andsnes, performing with members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in Vierne’s piano quintet on 12 March. Boris Giltburg continues his journey through Beethoven’s piano sonatas on 1 February and 25 March, while pianist Brad Mehldau presents Après Fauré on 9 February, his jazz homage to Gabriel Fauré, marking the centenary of the French composer’s death.

Shostakovich’s complete string quartets are explored in a new cycle by the Jerusalem Quartet, beginning on 23 February. On 9 March, the ensemble Nevermind offers new perspectives on a landmark of the piano repertoire when it performs a unique transcription of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for flute, violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord. On 21 February, soprano Louise Alder, tenor Mauro Peter, and pianist Joseph Middleton present Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch, while La Nuova Musica brings Charpentier’s Te Deum to life on 18 February, complete with its instantly recognizable prelude.
 

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