Sarah Bardwell, Managing Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra reflects on the 80th anniversary season for 2026-2027

This week, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) announced its London season for 2026-2027, celebrating 80-years of music-making in the capital. Between September 2026 and June 2027, the RPO will perform 33 London concerts across three venues, with programming designed to appeal to young audiences and the launch of a new concert format that will welcome people attending a classical concert for the first time. Here, Sarah Bardwell, MD at the RPO reflects on the work done to create the new season.

“Given the challenges that the Arts and music venues have faced over the last decade, hitting an 80^th anniversary concert season is quite an achievement. If one takes a moment to think of the world in 1946: it was the year the United Nations General Assembly first convened, when Heathrow Airport opened fully for civilian use and when the Arts Council was incorporated by Royal Charter. 1946 was the year when B.B. King began working as a professional musician – and it was also the year when music greats José Carreras, Freddie Mercury, Dolly Parton and Al Green were born. These thoughts give a sense of the passage of time, and how the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has continually evolved and innovated to remain at the forefront of British orchestral music for the last eight decades.

“With this in mind, I’m very excited to be the Managing Director seeing the RPO into its 80^th season. It’s a great thing to reach 80. And the best thing about the RPO is we’re looking to build on these amazing foundations, whilst also looking to the future. For our 80^th London season, we are building on our history and our heritage and everything we’ve achieved so far, but absolutely standing on those really strong shoulders and looking to the future. That’s what it’s all about for us. We want to give people some really exciting music across all sorts of genres and we want to carry on reaching new audiences. Our 80^th anniversary is an historic milestone but, for us, it’s about looking to the future. 

“In recent years, we have been inspired by the diversification of the RPO audience and its growing appeal to young people. We have to make sure that new audiences come and enjoy what we have on offer, so we’ve made sure that we’ve got a great range of concerts and musical styles that will appeal to lots of different people. 

“Equally as exciting, for our new London season we’re trying a new concert format to attract new audiences, as well as afficionados, which is called RPO revealed. This is all about exploring the stories behind the music. For each of our RPO revealed concerts, we’re going to have conversations hosted by presenter, Leah Broad, who’s absolutely brilliant, and she’ll be talking to Vasily and some members of the orchestra about the specific work, giving examples and highlights to listen out for, before the RPO perform the whole piece. The point of RPO revealed is you don’t have to be an expert; you don’t need to have deep classical knowledge. You just have to be open-minded and up for experiencing something new. It will be a really fun, interesting way to discover the music in a different way. Sometimes people new to the genre are nervous about coming to their first concert and we’re trying to break down those barriers.

“Core to our London season are the three venues we play at, all of which are such valued partners. We have wonderful residences around the UK and we tour extensively abroad, but the 80^th anniversary London season launch is about celebrating London and its unquestionable position as a world centre for culture, innovation, music and the Arts. 

“Performing concerts across three different London venues, allows us to present a slightly different side of the orchestra in each place. The stages of each of our venues are different sizes, and so we put we have to play different music – and that really helps us broaden our audience for each. So, in the Royal Albert Hall we can do the really big, epic showcases of mainstream classical repertoire as well as putting on great popular shows – whether it’s game music, film music, or accompanying films: whether it’s Abba Symphonic or Orchestral Rock you can do a lot of different types of music at the Royal Albert Hall, a venue we love playing at.

“Cadogan Hall is smaller, it’s almost like a chamber hall for music. But we don’t play chamber music there. We can get a symphony orchestra on stage, to do slightly smaller symphonic works there. It’s another great space.  We’re also really excited that for the first time Vasily Petrenko, our Music Director, will be performing with us at Cadogan Hall. We perform 14 concerts there this year and for the first time Vasily Petrenko, our Music Director will be joining us there. 

“And then, of course, there’s the Royal Festival Hall, which whilst it more of a traditional venue for the classic symphony orchestra, we present music there with a fresh take. Interpreting some of the warhorses of orchestral repertoire with passion and verve and always opening with an introduction by our Vasily and sometimes even catching the back story with some of our musicians in the interval or afterwards. 

“When it comes to picking the music for a new season,  there’s a lot of things to factor in – it’s audiences, it’s repertoire, it’s what we can build on from the past and the new ideas that will help us evolve into future seasons. Vasily really is a key part of this process. He has great insight on the music that fire the imagination and excite people. He gets really excited about the projects that will stretch the orchestra and captivate an audience.

“For the new season we’re also delighted to welcome some special artists to the RPO family. Adam Hickox is doing a series of three concerts for us at Cadogan Hall as our Conductor-in-Residence. He’s programmed them. He’s thought through the three concerts he wants to bring and how he wants to bring the performances together as a series.  We’ve also previously had Artists in Residence and this year it’s Liya Petrova, who is a wonderful violinist, absolutely magical. 

“Pulling the season together, it’s great working with Vasily. He is brilliantly direct. He knows exactly what he wants, and that’s really helpful. Clarity – I like clarity. It’s lovely working with someone who’s full of really interesting ideas, you don’t want to keep doing the same old thing. So, together, we aspire for exciting new ideas but balance it with pragmatism – and that’s probably where the Orchestra’s 80 years’ experience comes into play. The RPO has always been proud to do things differently and to perform a wide range of concerts that presents orchestral music to the broadest possible audience. As we prepare to celebrate 80 years of music-making, we would like to thank everyone that has supported us and we are also excited to welcome new audiences this autumn that will start exciting new music journeys of discovery with us. Do join us.”

Full details of the new concert season for 2026-2027 are live on the new RPO website. For more details and booking information, visit Tickets & events – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra