The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra because of a new rule requiring players to give the orchestra their exclusive services. The LSO itself later introduced a similar rule for its members. From the outset the LSO was organised on co-operative lines, with all players sharing the profits at the end of each season. This practice continued for the orchestra's first four decades.
Sir John Kenneth Tavener was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious works. Among his best known works are The Lamb (1982), The Protecting Veil (1988), and Song for Athene (1993).
Joanna Clare MacGregor is a British concert pianist, conductor, composer, and festival curator. She is Head of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music and a professor of the University of London. She was artistic director of the International Summer School & Festival at Dartington Hall from 2015 to 2019.
Sir Bryn Terfel Jones,, is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially primarily associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro, Leporello and Don Giovanni, and has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Puccini and Wagner.
Ian Charles Bostridge CBE is an English tenor, well known for his performances as an opera and lieder singer.
Adrian Brown is a British conductor. He is a proponent of contemporary music and has several first performances to his credit.
Sir Antonio Pappano is an English-Italian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Royal Opera House and chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.
The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London.
Voces8, styled VOCES8, is an a cappella octet from England. They have appeared internationally and made recordings of classical music, jazz, pop, and their own arrangements. Recent recordings are for Decca Classics and under their own label, Voces8 Records. Educational efforts are run by the Voces8 Foundation.
Simon John O'Neill is a New Zealand-born operatic tenor. In 1998, his image appeared on the New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp.
Zebedee Soanes is a British radio presenter who hosts the weekday evening music show Relaxing Evenings with Zeb Soanes on Classic FM.
Susan Gritton is an English operatic soprano. She was the 1994 winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and has sung leading roles in a wide-ranging repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Britten, Janáček and Strauss.
The BBC Singers is a professional British chamber choir, employed by the BBC. Its origins can be traced to 1924. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time professional British choir, the BBC Singers feature in live concerts, radio transmissions, recordings and education workshops. The choir often performs alongside other BBC Performing Groups, such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and is a regular guest at the BBC Proms. Broadcasts are made from locations around the country: London venues have included St Giles-without-Cripplegate, St John's, Smith Square and St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge.
Sinfonia Smith Square is an arts organisation and orchestra formed out of the merger of Southbank Sinfonia and St John's Smith Square. The organisation comprises a venue, Smith Square Hall, and a fellowship orchestra.
John Lubbock is an English music conductor and singer, and founder of the Orchestra of St John's Smith Square, now known as the Orchestra of St John's (OSJ), which he has brought to prominence including performances at The Proms as well as engaging in outreach and charity work.
Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE is a British baritone and composer.
The Fukushima Youth Sinfonietta (福島青年管弦楽団) is a youth orchestra based in Fukushima developed out of the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disaster. Panos Karan and the British NPO Keys of Change created the Fukushima Youth Sinfonietta (FYS) in March 2012 which mainly consists of middle-school students from the Fukushima Prefecture.
Joseph Swensen is a conductor, violinist, and composer. He is winner of awards, including the Leventritt Foundation Sponsorship Award and the Avery Fisher Career Award. In 2000, Swensen was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews, Scotland. In 2014, he gave a TedX talk with the title “Habitats for Music and the Sound of Math” about music education and the developing brain, at the New York Institute of Technology.
Leia Zhu is a British-Chinese classical violinist.
This is a summary of the year 2021 in British music.