- The Southbank Centre’s resident orchestras, the Philharmonia Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra conclude the current series of purely digital events from the Royal Festival Hall as part of Inside Out. On 30 May, the International Booker Prize 2021 shortlist will be exclusively revealed by the Southbank Centre.
- The Southbank Centre will reopen on 28 May with socially-distanced concerts, subject to government health advice. The first wave of programming will be announced on 14 April. Streamed events in Inside Out and In the Green Room will continue to bring content to audiences at home while restrictions remain in place.
Credit: Elim Chan ️ Willeke Machels; Alina Ibragimova ️ Eva Vermandel; Stephen Hough ️ Sim Canetty-Clarke
The Southbank Centre today announces the final slate of purely digital events in its ongoing series Inside Out, an online season of music and literature which has been running since September 2020.
The latest additions to the line-up for Inside Out will feature the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra, as well as the International Booker Prize’s 2021 Shortlist Readings.
Since launching in September, Inside Out has featured over 90 streamed events, giving a platform to the venue’s family of orchestras to broadcast to global audiences and bringing world-class talks and events into homes worldwide while doors have been closed.
From 28 May, the Southbank Centre will reopen to audiences after a year of closure for an unforgettable summer of music, art, literature and dance – the first wave of programming will be announced on 14 April with the Royal Festival Hall welcoming back audiences for socially-distanced concerts, a number of which will also be hybrid. Meanwhile, the global series, Inside Out will continue to bring content to audiences online until 9 June alongside a new digital series, In the Green Room from 12 April – 14 June, revealed last week and featuring globally-known names in conversation with Southbank Centre’s curators and programmers.
Newly-announced Inside Out highlights from the Philharmonia Orchestra include: John Wilson joining the orchestra for the first time since conducting one of its first virtual events back in June with an all-English programme (15 April); Steven Isserlis with Schumann’s Cello Concerto under Simone Young (30 April); Alice Coote who’ll perform Britten’s Phaedra with Sir John Eliot Gardiner (7 May); Alina Ibragimova with Mozart’s Violin Concerto under Elim Chan (13 May); and Steven Osborne who returns for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with Martyn Brabbins (20 May). Tickets start at £10 and concerts will be captured before their premiere date. Full details for the Philharmonia’s upcoming Inside Out events at the Southbank Centre are available here.
Key highlights from the London Philharmonic Orchestra include: Miah Persson with Maxim Emelyanychev for a programme of Berlioz and Schumann (5 May); Gil Shaham performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto under Ryan Bancroft (12 May); and Stephen Hough returning to perform Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (19 May). All LPO concerts are streamed on Marquee TV and tickets will be free for the first seven days after broadcast. Concerts will be captured before their premiere date. Full details for the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s upcoming Inside Out events at the Southbank Centre are available here and the LPO will be releasing final listings for their Inside Out events up to 9 June in the near future.
Also announced today, the Southbank Centre will continue its long-standing relationship with the International Booker Prize to present the 2021 Shortlist Readings via TicketCo on Sunday 30 May. In this special, one-off event, audiences will meet the 2021 shortlist in an evening of readings in both English and the books’ original languages. The winner will be announced on Wednesday 3 June. The 2021 International Booker Prize judging panel is chaired by Lucy Hughes-Hallett and consists of: Aida Edemariam, Neel Mukherjee, Olivette Otele, and George Szirtes. Tickets will be available to the general public from 2pm today. Further information here.
Previously announced Inside Out events yet to be streamed globally include London Philharmonic Orchestra: ‘Towards Freedom’ (31 March); Philharmonia Orchestra: ‘Tchaikovsky & Sibelius’ (1 April); Kazuo and Naomi Ishiguro (5 April); London Philharmonic Orchestra: ‘London Calling’ (7 April); London Philharmonic Orchestra: ‘Bohemian Rhapsodies’ (14 April); London Philharmonia Orchestra: ‘The Emperor Concerto’ (21 April); London Philharmonic Orchestra: ‘La Vie Parisienne’ (28 April); Olivia Laing (30 April); and Jhumpa Lahiri (6 May).
Full Inside Out listings are available here. Press access to the Royal Festival Hall for recordings of streamed events will be possible from 12 April.
Gillian Moore CBE, Director of Music and Performing Arts, Southbank Centre, says: “After a year of closure we’re all starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel, with our doors set to reopen on 28 May. As we announce the remaining events in our ongoing digital series Inside Out, it’s a real moment to pause and look back at the year that has passed. We are so grateful to our family of orchestras who have been the backbone of our virtual season, bringing content to global audiences since last September. The Philharmonia Orchestra and London Philharmonia Orchestra will close out this ambitious programme and I can’t wait to tune in for more world-class music-making in the weeks ahead.”
Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature and Spoken Word, Southbank Centre, says: “Southbank Centre is honoured to host a range of literary awards and prizes, but welcoming back the International Booker is particularly meaningful at a moment when travel to other countries remains a remote prospect. The shortlist readings open a window onto the finest fiction from around the world and celebrate the vital contributions that translators make in keeping us connected. This unique event is the finale of an online programme of talks and readings within Inside Out which has been filled with leading lights of literature from around the world, from Arundhati Roy to Kazuo Ishiguro.