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Best Classical and Opera nights in November

By Claudia Pritchard on 18/10/2017

Thrill to Tchaikovsky, be amazed by Beethoven, or follow a woman with a secret at English National Opera

Patricia Kopatchinskaja is the soloist in the elusive Schumann Violin Concerto. Photo: Julia Wesely

Beethoven's Eroica, Royal Festival Hall

Revolutionary zeal was coursing through Beethoven when he wrote his Third Symphony in 1804, which he proudly dedicated to Napoleon. But before a note could be played he heard his hero had declared himself Emperor, the furious composer tore out the symphony's title page

WHEN

On 08 Nov 2017, 7:30 PM – 9:45 PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX

Nico Muhly is one of the most talented composers working today. Photo: Ana Cuba

Marnie, English National Opera

Winston Graham's novel Marnie inspired the 1964 film of the same name, directed by Alfred Hitchcock – for whom a single woman dodging the law was an ideal subject. Now Marnie's story is told in a nailbiting opera, the work of Nico Muhly, the brilliant young American composer

WHEN

18 Nov 2017 – 03 Dec 2017, times vary; five performances, running time TBC

WHERE

English National Opera
London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4ES

Soprano Joyce DiDonato plays the ambitious queen in Semiramide. Photo: W Hösl

Rossini's Semiramide, Royal Opera House

Opera, like theatre, has a long tradition of characters who do not recognise their own children, and in his masterpiece Semiramide, Rossini makes full dramatic use of this device. Starring Joyce DiDonato at some performances as a tyrannical queen who chooses as heir a stranger. Or is he?

WHEN

19 Nov 2017 – 16 Dec 2017, eight performances, one at 3PM

WHERE

Royal Opera House
Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9DD

Beatrice Rana is one of the most exciting young pianists appearing today. Photo: Marie Staggat

Tchaikovsky's Winter Daydreams, Royal Festival Hall

The Italian-born pianist Beatrice Rana has become the hottest property in classical music with prize after prize, and now the Gramophone award 2017 for best young artist, and you can catch this amazing talent when she joins the London Philharmonic Orchestra for an all-Russian programme

WHEN

On 22 Nov 2017, 7:30 PM – 9:45 PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX

Julia Fischer is the violinist in Respighi's Autumn Poem. Photograph: Felix Broede

An Autumn Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall

Poetic, romantic and impressionistic symphonic, the Autumn Symphony by Joseph Marx was first performed to a surprised audience in 1922, and has everything that a modern listener expects from a big orchestral work. Catch this first ever London – and UK – performance

WHEN

On 29 Nov 2017, 7:30 PM – 9:45 PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in Mahler 9. Photo: Minna Hatinen

Mahler's Ninth Symphony, Royal Festival Hall

Mahler’s last great statement, his profound Symphony No 9, is unpacked when the great Finnish-born conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra promise to bring this epic to dazzling life. A good-natured waltz warps into burlesque and on through a dazzling range of sensations

WHEN

On 30 Nov 2017, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

WHERE

Royal Festival Hall
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX

Best Classical and Opera nights in November

Thrill to Tchaikovsky, be amazed by Beethoven, or follow a woman with a secret at English National Opera

Beethoven's Eroica, Royal Festival Hall

Marnie, English National Opera

Rossini's Semiramide, Royal Opera House

Tchaikovsky's Winter Daydreams, Royal Festival Hall

An Autumn Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall

Mahler's Ninth Symphony, Royal Festival Hall

November highlights

Royal Opera House

Rossini

English National Opera

Nico Muhly

Beethoven

Tchaikovsky

Mahler

Philharmonic Orchestra

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Vladimir Jurowski

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Royal Opera House 2017/18: curtain up on a whole world of emotions

This is Rattle, Barbican Centre

Vladimir Jurowski: champion of the London Philharmonic Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra 2017/18: Concerts to book now

The top six must-sees at English National Opera 2017/18

The five top must-see operas at Covent Garden this autumn