Metal Star Mr Lordi Joins Philharmonia Orchestra & Suzi Quatro For Orchestral Rock Concert

Rock and heavy metal will collide with the force of a full symphony orchestra when Eurovision winner Mr Lordi, Suzi Quatro and Alison Mosshart join the Philharmonia Orchestra for a one-night performance at London's Southbank Centre this spring.

Taking place on 22 April 2026 as part of Multitudes, a multi-arts festival powered by orchestral music, Forged in Sound: Heavy Metal Orchestrated brings together a 100-strong orchestra, a rock house band and three legendary figures of rock and metal for an evening that explores the surprising musical kinship between classical music and heavy metal.

Mr Lordi, frontman of Eurovision-winning, Finnish metal band Lordi, said of the collaboration: “I think classical music and harder rock music – metal if you will – have actually a lot in common. The fusion between the two might seem, at first, to be a collision of extreme opposites, but they're both genres that can unleash the amount of power that any other genres really aren't capable of.”

Conducted by the Philharmonia's Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, the concert moves between iconic orchestral works and full-throttle symphonic versions of rock and metal anthems – from Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and Holst's Mars from The Planets to Metallica's Enter Sandman, Guns N' Roses' Knockin' on Heaven's Door and Lordi's Hard Rock Hallelujah.

Rouvali – who played drums in rock bands before becoming a conductor – conceived the project as a way of exploring the shared DNA between two seemingly distant musical worlds. Both genres thrive on spectacle, intensity and emotional scale, from the thunderous brass of Wagner to the electrifying riffs of stadium rock.

The evening opens with orchestral repertoire that traces the lineage from classical music to modern metal, such as Shostakovich's Symphony No.10, II. Allegro and Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre, before the Philharmonia Orchestra is joined on stage by a house band and guest performers Mr Lordi, Suzi Quatro and Alison Mosshart for the second act.

Mr Lordi – whose band won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 with Hard Rock Hallelujah and is known for his elaborate monster costumes – brings theatrical metal spectacle to the Royal Festival Hall stage alongside awe-inspiring vocals, while rock pioneer Suzi Quatro, whose 1973 hit Can the Can made her one of the defining voices of glam rock, joins the orchestra for orchestral versions of her classic songs. Alison Mosshart, best known as the lead vocalist of The Kills and The Dead Weather, will bring a selection of hits, including The Kills' Doing It to Death, to this new symphonic setting.

The programme features orchestral arrangements of the rock and metal repertoire by Toby Chadd, Fiona Brice and Iain Farrington.

Forged in Sound: Heavy Metal Orchestrated is commissioned by the Southbank Centre and the Philharmonia Orchestra and forms part of Multitudes, the Southbank Centre's multi-arts festival exploring the possibilities of orchestral music.

Launched in 2025 to critical and audience acclaim, Multitudes reimagines the orchestral music experience by fusing it with fashion, dance, film, circus and visual art. The multi-arts festival features all six of the Southbank Centre's six Resident Orchestras – Aurora Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Philharmonia Orchestra – alongside a stellar lineup of world-class musicians, musical ensembles, dancers, visual artists and filmmakers.

Having attracted 59% new bookers to the Southbank Centre's classical music programme in its debut year, Multitudes looks to the future of classical music through bold, interdisciplinary work that expands the possibilities of the orchestral experience while celebrating its scale, power and emotional depth. The festival sits within the Southbank Centre's visionary Spring/Summer classical season, building on its 75-year history as one of the UK's foremost presenters of classical music.