BMW Classics

Sunday 15 June 2025 5pm BST
Trafalgar Square & Online

Gioachino Rossini
Overture: Semiramide
Giacomo Puccini
Capriccio sinfonico
Isabella Gellis
Opera for Orchestra (world premiere) *
Giuseppe Verdi
Triumphal March & Dance from ‘Aida’
Victor de Sabata
Juventus

Sir Antonio Pappano conductor
LSO Discovery Young Musicians *
Guildhall School Musicians *
London Symphony Orchestra

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The 2025 programme celebrated Sir Antonio Pappano’s Italian heritage with the prerequisite passion and soaring melodies from some of the great Italian composers for opera and orchestra.

The concert opened with the spirited overture to Rossini’s final Italian opera Semiramide, before Puccini’s dramatic early orchestral work Capriccio sinfonico, filled with familiar themes that the composer would go on to revisit for some of his biggest operas.

At the centre of the concert, the LSO gave the world premiere of Isabella Gellis’ new work Opera for Orchestra, which had been specially commissioned for this occasion. Her piece, written for a mixed-ability orchestra, brought together LSO and Guildhall School musicians with 55 young musicians from east London as part of the LSO Discovery programmes.

To finish, the Orchestra performed the rousing Triumphal March from Verdi’s opera Aida, and the final flourish of Victor de Sabata’s luscious symphonic hymn to youth, Juventus.

Read the digital Concert Guide to find out more about what was performed.

This annual event highlights the continued partnership between BMW Group and the London Symphony Orchestra, which for over a decade has brought superlative live orchestral music to audiences in one of the world’s most iconic public spaces and to tens of thousands more watching around the globe via streaming.