Multitudes

Following a brilliant sold-out debut in 2025, this multi-arts festival powered by orchestral music, returns to the Southbank Centre, presenting an exciting lineup of performances that bring together visual arts, classical music, dance, and theatre.

Highlights of this year's festival programme include:

THU 16 APR at 7:30pm
Aurora Orchestra: The Rite By Heart
Premiered in 2023 at The Proms, this groundbreaking, theatrically-staged exploration of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring redefines the possibilities of ‘Orchestral Theatre’, combining thrilling, memorised performance with movement and actors.

WED 22 APR at 7:30pm
Philharmonia Orchestra: Forged in Sound: Heavy Metal Orchestrated 
This headbanging show fusing heavy metal and classical, sees the 100-strong orchestra (and other collaborators) bring their powerful sound to the biggest classical, rock and heavy metal works ever written for an orchestra. 

WED 22 Apr at 7:30pm
Echoes of Hill and Horizon 
Step into a world of soaring, immersive soundscapes as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment uses the Southbank Centre’s pioneering Concrete Voids sound system to turn the Queen Elizabeth Hall into a three-dimensional instrument, with immersive visuals from light art pioneers Squidsoup. The evening's repertoire includes Vaughn Williams' Fantasia on a Theme and Tallis' The Lark Ascending.

THU 23 APR at 7:30pm
Turangalîla: Infinite Love
A super-sized Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko turns the dial up to 11 for a performance of Messiaen’s cosmic symphony, with animations from the acclaimed mixed-media theatre company 1927 Studios.

FRI 24 APR at 7:45pm & SAT 25 APR at 3pm and 7:45pm
Art of Fugue
The spirited performances of The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra meets Circa’s gravity-defying acrobatics, bringing new form to Bach’s The Art of Fugue. 

SAT 25 APR at 7:30pm
Wozzeck: Wretches Like Us
Alban Berg’s devastating opera thrums with drama, intrigue and searing music in this semi-staged version from the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

SUN 26 APR at 7:30pm
An Evening with an Immigrant
Be swept up by poet and playwright Inua Ellams’ powerful and widely acclaimed solo show telling his story of leaving Nigeria for England aged 12, performed with the live world premiere of a specially commissioned,  rich and expansive orchestral score by Laura Mvula.

WED 29 APR at 7:30pm
Inferno
Mat Collishaw’s video installation reimagines Liszt’s Dante Symphony, performed live by the BBC Concert Orchestra. Taking place in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer and auditorium, Collishaw draws on historical depictions of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ and imagery of man-made climate change, to reinterpret Dante's medieval warnings about hell through the lens of environmental destruction.

THU 30 APR at 7:45pm
Papillons
Manchester Collective joins forces with dance-theatre company Thick & Tight and electronic music artist CHAINES for Saariaho’s fragile yet fierce Sept papillons. Dissolving the boundaries between classical music and other art forms, this searing live performance flits between ballet and cabaret, the absurd and the disarmingly moving.

THU 30 APR at 7:30pm
Sympoesia
Poets including Out-Spoken’s Joelle Taylor and Anthony Anaxagorou are joined by the London Sinfonietta in a performance that weaves together poetry and music. Featuring a brand-new commission alongside notable modern works.

THU 30 APR at 7:30pm 
Un-natural Harmony: The Sound Alexander McQueen
A spectacular collaboration between the London Contemporary Orchestra led by Robert Ames and John Gosling, McQueen’s longtime music director and collaborator. The LCO performs an eclectic score inspired by McQueen’s musical influences and, under the direction of Elayce Ismail, the concert features a new film by Douglas Hart and Eddie Whelan, and a live performance choreographed by Holly Blakey.