Marking the new year with an exciting event series, Sinfonia Smith Square has announced its Spring / Summer programme for 2025. Featuring an array of innovative performances, creative partnerships, and family events, the dynamic season is underpinned by a mission to champion both emerging and renowned musicians, ignite community impact, and expand its reach to new audiences.
Sinfonia Smith Square Hall will host a series of concerts throughout the season. On Thursday 6th February, the iconic venue will present a moving rendition of one of Rimsky-Korsakov’s greatest symphonic works, Scheherazade, directed by Lee Reynolds.
Reynolds, who collaborated with Sinfonia Smith Square last year on Schoenberg’s gripping Erwartung, now leads the orchestra through an evening of heart-wrenching drama, passion, mystery, and emotion. Later on, the critically acclaimed ConcertLab series, which explores innovative approaches to experiencing live music, will return. Audiences are invited to immerse themselves in a 360-degree surround-sound chamber at ConcertLab: 360° on Thursday 20th March, and step into a world of Beethoven at ConcertLab: The Beethoven Project on Thursday 24th April.
These evenings of musical discovery will be guided by Sinfonia Smith Square’s very own musicians who will share their inspirations, stories, and insights, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their artistic choices.
Sinfonia Smith Square’s popular lunchtime concert series will showcase the exceptional talent of internationally renowned musicians alongside emerging artists in 2025. A special concert featuring the full orchestra as they perform Mozart’s Symphony No. 39, will be conducted by Eugene Lee on Thursday 23rd January.
Honouring the venue’s commitment to making classical music accessible to all, guests can take advantage of a 2-for-1 ticket deal and get two tickets for just £6 to enjoy an hour of exquisite live music at lunchtime.
Sinfonia Smith Square’s current (and first-ever) Organ Fellow, Benjamin Collyer, presents a lunchtime recital on Thursday 27th February exploring a world of instrumental timbres alongside fellow scholar and Marimba player, Massimo Martone.
From 15th to 19th April, Sinfonia Smith Square’s renowned Easter Festival will delight audiences with a range of events, across an array of musical genres. Mozart’s epic and poignant Requiem will be brought to life in an enthralling partnership between Sinfonia Smith Square and National Youth Voices on Thursday 17th April.
From the sorrowful lamentations of the Lacrimosa to the intense Dies Irae, it is a piece that pulses with emotion and grips from start to finish. Polyphony and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment return to Smith Square for their annual performance of Bach’s St John Passion on Friday 18th April. This raw and more expressive piece offers explosive moments of operatic splendour.
Guests will enjoy vocal, choral and instrumental virtuosity as Polyphony and the OAE join forces under the direction of Stephen Layton. A further highlight of the Easter programme will be the London International Gospel Choir’s performance on Saturday 19th April, one of the capital’s largest community-based choirs whose diverse members sing a range of gospel, funk, soul, jazz and pop music.
Throughout the season, Sinfonia Smith Square will partner with Intelligence Squared, a leading forum for live talks, debates, and discussion from some of the world’s greatest minds. Sessions will include Music as Medicine and talks about economics and leading global powers with top industry experts, contemplating what the year ahead may bring.
Bringing music to ever-wider audiences, Sinfonia Smith Square will be holding a range of family concerts and workshops. On Saturday 15th March, families can experience works from composers that lived and worked in London, including George Frideric Handel, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Felix Mendelssohn and Errollyn Wallen, with interactive presentations from Sinfonia Smith Square’s Fellowship orchestra, games throughout and an opportunity to try out the musicians’ instruments. On Saturday 19th April, Benjamin Collyer will lead a free interactive workshop for families to discover the inner workings of the organ.
Sinfonia Smith Square has recently appointed their brand-new Associate Artistic Director, Toby Chadd. Looking ahead to the 2025 programme, he comments, This is a pivotal moment for London’s musical scene, as two brilliant institutions combine. On the one hand, there’s the vitality and boundary-crossing approach of Southbank Sinfonia, now Sinfonia Smith Square. On the other, Smith Square Hall (formerly St John’s) has
a formidable legacy of concert-giving and the finest acoustic in the capital. Bring them together, and there’s the opportunity to create an artistic beacon which incubates and presents transformative musical experiences. I’m thrilled to be collaborating with our partners, players and team to imagine and deliver ambitious creative horizons for Sinfonia Smith Square.
Toby has worked as a curator and director across a number of international festivals, venues and orchestras. He has recently returned to the UK from a decade in Australia, where he was the Director of Artistic Planning for the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Adelaide Festival’s Opera and Music Advisor. He has joined Sinfonia Smith Square Associate Artistic Director this year.
Location: Sinfonia Smith Square, Smith Square Hall, London, SW1P 3HA
Events
Title: Benjamin Collyer, Resonance | Date: Thursday 27 February, 1:05pm | Tickets: Ben Collyer, Organ Recital – Sinfonia Smith Square
Title: Sinfonia Smith Square, Family Concert: A London Adventure | Date: Saturday 15 March, 11.30am | Tickets: Family Concert: A London Adventure – Sinfonia Smith Square
Title: Sinfonia Smith Square, ConcertLab: 360° | Date: Thursday 20th March, 7:00pm | Tickets: ConcertLab: 360° – Sinfonia Smith Square
Title: Londinium Consort, Crossing Paths | Date: Thursday 17 April, 1.05pm | Tickets: Crossing Paths – Sinfonia Smith Square
Title: Sinfonia Smith Square & National Youth Voices, Mozart: Requiem | Date: Thursday 17 April, 7.00pm | Tickets: Mozart: Requiem – Sinfonia Smith Square
Title: Polyphony & The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Bach: St John Passion | Date: Friday 18 April, 2.30pm | Tickets: Bach: St John Passion – Sinfonia Smith Square
Title: Family Workshop with Ben Collyer, Try Out the Organ! | Date: Saturday 19 April, 11.00am | Tickets: Try Out the Organ! – Sinfonia Smith Square
Title: London International Gospel Choir | Date: Saturday 19 April, 7.00pm | Tickets
Website | Twitter @sinfoniasmithsq | Instagram @sinfoniasmithsq | Facebook Sinfonia Smith Square
About Sinfonia Smith Square
A beacon for the future of classical music, Sinfonia Smith Square is the coming together of two much-loved organisations: Southbank Sinfonia and St John’s Smith Square. Every year, Sinfonia Smith Square’s Fellowship programme welcomes 34 talented graduate musicians to form an orchestra.
Through world- class collaborations, bold programming, and educational leadership projects, the programme intensifies their professional development and advances their musical careers. Since its formation in 2002, it now has over 650 alumni, who have gone on to become leaders in the classical music world.
Smith Square Hall has been welcoming musicians and music lovers to its renowned acoustics since 1969. A Grade I listed Baroque masterpiece in the heart of Westminster, it champions emerging musicians, attracts world-class artists, and embeds the Fellowship programme at its heart. From lunchtime recitals, Baroque festivals, late night jazz, to activities for families, this orchestra-led venue brings the joy of music to ever-wider audiences.
Over the next few years, the organisation will be undertaking a restoration that will create and improve welcoming and accessible spaces for audiences, world-class artists, performers, and its Fellowship orchestra.
You might also enjoy more events here!
