We open our 2024/25 season with a portrait of one of the most misunderstood pioneers of the early 20th-century avant-garde. Arnold Schoenberg's early works such as his Chamber Symphony written in 1906 expanded the lush harmonies of late Romanticism to the extent that it scandalised audiences and incited them to riot at the strange physicality of the sounds they were hearing.
Schoenberg and his pupils among them Anton Webern pushed this experiment in chromaticism to its extreme conclusion eventually doing away with tonality in its entirety in the development of the twelve-tone system also known as serialism or dodecaphony. The school of composition had a profound effect on the rest of the 20th Century influencing composers who followed including Elisabeth Lutyens.
This most recent edition in London Sinfonietta's series of season-opening composer portraits celebrates Schoenberg in his 150th anniversary year. With pre-concert talks and video this event will provide a thought-provoking and engaging introduction to a composer who changed the tradition he worked within.
Arnold Schoenberg Serenade Op. 24
Anton Webern Symphony Op. 21
Arnold Schoenberg Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte Op. 41
Arnold Schoenberg Piano Pieces Op.19
Elisabeth Lutyens Six Tempi for 10 Instruments
Arnold Schoenberg Chamber Symphony Op. 9
Conductor Jonathan Berman
London Sinfonietta
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX, United Kingdom
