Celebrating 40 Years:
From the Archives
As we celebrate 40 years of our Barbican home, and our residency, take a look back at a selection of highlights from that time.
1980s
Henry Wrong (Director of the Barbican) looks out over the site of the Barbican, building works in progress.
1980s
Anthony Camden (LSO Chair), Claudio Abbado (Principal Conductor) and Henry Wrong (Director of the Barbican) take a tour around the Barbican site.
3 March 1982
Her Majesty The Queen officially opens the Barbican Centre to the public, calling it 'one of the modern wonders of the world'.
The LSO performs its first concert as Resident Orchestra, with Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Elgar's Cello Concerto with Yo-Yo Ma.
1985
Claudio Abbado's idea for a sprawling festival utilising the Barbican's diverse resources with films, exhibition, lectures and foyer events – Mahler, Vienna and the Twentieth Century.
1986
We stage a Bernstein Festival. The following year Leonard Bernstein becomes President of the LSO, a title he holds until his death in 1990.
1989
Leonard Bernstein conducts a memorable Candide.
1990
LSO Discovery, our community and learning programme, is born.
1991
Michael Tilson Thomas devises and conducts a Childhood Festival …
… including his own From the Diary of Anne Frank, narrated by Audrey Hepburn.
1991
Prokofiev Festival.
1993
Festival of Britten, fronted by Rostropovich (as was the Prokofiev Festival) who electrified the Barbican Hall every time he came.
1994
The LSO celebrates its 90th birthday season, at the Barbican.
1995
Pierre Boulez celebrates his 70th birthday with the LSO, followed a few years later by …
1997
Rostrapovich celebrates his 70th birthday!
1999
Sir Colin Davis begins a series called a Berlioz Odyssey, conducting all of Berlioz's operas.
In the same year, LSO Live (the Orchestra's own recording label, and the first of its kind) is born. Davis' account of Les Troyens was one of the first LSO Live recordings released, and won a Grammy!
2004
The LSO's Centenary Gala concert from the Barbican, with, among others, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Tomas, Alfred Brendel, Dave Brubeck, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sarah Chang …
… and the LSO's Patron, Her Majesty The Queen.
2005/06
Bernard Haitink conducts all nine Beethoven symphonies, recorded for LSO Live, and still considered among the finest recordings in the repertoire.
2005
André Previn (who was Principal Conductor from 1968–79) celebrates his 75th birthday with the LSO.
2007
Sir Colin Davis becomes President of the LSO, the first person to hold the title since Leonard Bernstein. No one has since held the title.
2008
The premiere of James MacMillan's St John Passion.
2014
The premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies' Symphony No 10.
2017
This is Rattle: a ten-day festival opened Sir Simon Rattle's inaugural season as LSO Music Director
2019
Over 500 people, from first-time singers to regular choir members, fill the Barbican foyers with singing in a performance of David Laing's the public domain.
Searching for a way to capture shared experiences through music, Lang typed ‘One thing we all have is our …’ into the search engine Google, and used the auto-fill function to see how people around the world completed the sentence. He then used this information to compose the piece.
© Mark Allan
© Mark Allan
© Mark Allan
© Mark Allan
© Mark Allan
© Mark Allan
© Mark Allan
May 2021
The LSO performs to a live, socially-distanced Barbican audience for the first time in 14 months.
© Mark Allan
On the programme was Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Gabriel Fauré's Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande and Antonín Dvořák's Slavonic Dances Op 46.
© Mark Allan
3 March 2022
We celebrate 40 years of our Barbican home, with Haydn's glorious The Creation and a substantial programme of pre-concert performances, filling the Barbican foyers with music!
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