London Philharmonic Orchestra
Pekka Kuusisto plays Sibelius
- When
- Wed 24 Feb · 19:30
- Where
- Royal Festival Hall, London
The programme
The evening
Experience music at its most original and most vital.
Life, death, and everything in between. On a black river, a swan sings a deathless lament. High above a frozen landscape, a violin swoops and soars. And a whole orchestra breathes as one, as Michael Tippett grows a living, feeling symphony from the tiniest of cells. This is music at its most original and its most vital, and Edward Gardner begins with Sir George Benjamin’s brilliant homage to an old friend, before he’s joined by violinist Pekka Kuusisto in Sibelius’s Concerto. ‘I grew up with the idea that playing the violin was about being spontaneous’, says Kuusisto: no wonder things catch fire when he’s around.
*Edward Gardner’s position with the LPO is generously supported by Aud Jebsen.
<img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-32477" src="https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events-300x169.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80" alt="Black background - hand-drawn pink star and text in pink - 'In Search of Purpose'." width="300" height="169" srcset="https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events-300x169.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80 300w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events-1024x576.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80 1024w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events-768x432.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80 768w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events-1536x864.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80 1536w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events-400x225.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80 400w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events-800x450.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80 800w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events-640x360.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80 640w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events-1280x720.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80 1280w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80 1920w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80&w=192 192w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80&w=576 576w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80&w=960 960w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80&w=1152 1152w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80&w=1344 1344w, https://eun9nr6wow6.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/In-Search-of-Purpose-crop-for-web-events.png?strip=all&quality=92&webp=92&avif=80&w=1728 1728w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" data-eio="l" />
On stage
Edward Gardner
Conductor
Pekka Kuusisto
Violin