Your at-home guide to our favourite London orchestras

By Claudia Pritchard on 20/5/2020

Magnificent music-making in London can still be enjoyed, with the city's finest players

Aurora Orchestra

Launched in 2005, Aurora blazed on to the London music scene with a winning mix of reinvigorated classics and new work by composers including Nico Muhly, Judith Weir and Anna Meredith. Under principal conductor Nicholas Collon, Aurora has been resident orchestra at Kings Place since 2009, and is a regular at the BBC Prom. With some 80 concerts each year, sometimes played from memory, the orchestra performs to over 30,000 people across the UK and internationally annually. Watch Aurora play Berlioz here.

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Often at the Royal Albert Hall at the heart of the BBC Proms, the BBC Symphony Orchestra is also associate orchestra at the Barbican, but you could say its true home is on the airwaves. Sakari Oramo is chief conductor, while Semyon Bychkov is often on the podium, and Proms favourite Sir Andrew Davies is conductor laureate. Formed in 1930, the orchestra is in the vanguard of new music too and encourages young audiences through the BBC's Ten Pieces scheme and family events. One of the BBC's five orchestras, flying the flag for music in Britain worldwide. Listen here.

Chineke!

Europe's first BAME orchestra champions up-and-coming classical musicians alongside world-class established artists such as violinist Tai Murray and founder, double bass player Chi-chi Nwanoku. At home at Southbank Centre, Chineke! performs orchestra classics and neglected works by BAME composers both past and present. With Chineke! Junior Orchestra developing players aged 11-22 and joyful concerts aimed at a wider audiences, the orchestra has opened up classical music to gifted musicians of all colours and for some has been a pathway into professional music since its foundation in 2015. Watch Chineke! here.

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Exciting times for the brilliant LPO as maestro Vladimir Jurowksi's 18 years with the Royal Festival Hall-based band come to an end with his move to Munich opera house. His role as the LPO's principal conductor is taken in 2021 by London-based Edward Gardner, with Karina Canellakis as principal guest conductor. Strong in the big Russian repertoire under Jurowski, the musicians are likely to take on some of Gardner's Nordic repertoire (he is also in charge in Bergen), and to expand the ever-popular opera in concert dates – Gardner was at English National Opera for 10 years, and the LPO one of Glyndebourne's orchestras too. Hear the LPO here:

London Sinfonietta

As London's leading performers of contemporary music the 16 virtuosos at the core of this orchestra are unfazed by whatever appears on their music stands, with often thrilling results. Expert interpreters of new music's established composers, such as the audience favourite Steve Reich, these players and those who augment the band break the mould time and time again. Formed 52 years ago, resident at Southbank Centre and associate artists at Kings Place, the London Sinfonietta has commissioned more than 400 works and showcased hundreds more. Hear the orchestra here.

London Symphony Orchestra

At home at the Barbican the London Symphony Orchestra struck gold in 2017 with the appointment of Sir Simon Rattle as music director. Founded in 1904, the LSO has witnessed innumerable musical landmarks, is considered among the best in the world, and under Rattle goes ever upward. The 100 or so players are self-governing, and admired by the world's best soloists. When the new London Music Centre opens, the LSO will likely move house. In the meantime, watch the LSO here:

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Playing music as earlier composers would have heard it, on historically accurate instruments, the OAE is the go-to orchestra for electrifying Handel and scintillating Bach. But life doesn't stop in the 18th century: working with scientists such as Professor Brian Cox, for instance, the OAE is constantly relating music to today's human condition. At home in Kings Place, and regulars at Glyndebourne, the OAE gets around. Listen to a witty and illuminating lecture recital, Schrodinger's Pandemic, here.

Philharmonia

Celebrating 70 years in 2020, the Philharmonia has an illustrious history, attracting conductors such as the great Herbert von Karajan. Resident at Southbank Centre, it defied the odds in the 60s to survive and thrive, now under the charismatic Esa-Pekka Salonen (pictured). Listen to him talking about the orchestra here.

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

In-coming conductor Vasily Petrenko takes the reins at the RPO from September 2020, leaving his current orchestras in Liverpool and Oslo. Born in St Petersburg, he could fill the gap left by the LPO's Vladimir Jurowski when it comes to the dynamic Russian repertoire. Regulars at the Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall, the RPO nurtures new audiences, and has discovered a massive new take-up for classical music during lockdown. On Sunday 31 May, at 2PM and available for two days, Marin Alsop conducts Shostakovich's powerful Symphony No 7. Listen on YouTube here.

Southbank Sinfonia

Founded in 2002 by music director Simon Over to help graduate musicians enter the profession, Southbank Sinfonia is a seedbed for leading orchestras worldwide, but has a distinct voice of its own. Free rush-hour concerts sooth commuters at the orchestra's home, St John’s, Waterloo, National Theatre-goers loved the musicians in Amadeus and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. Brilliant at music for kids, from home in lockdown the musicians riff on the music of their own countries here