London Philharmonic Orchestra's 2023/24 season celebrates 60 years of being resident in Eastbourne

Congress Theatre, Eastbourne

The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) has residencies at Brighton's Dome Theatre, Saffron Hall in Essex and at Eastbourne's Congress Theatre and the 2023/24 season celebrates the orchestra's 60 years as resident orchestra in Eastbourne. The theatre is the largest on the South Coast, the present theatre was built in 1963.

The first concert in Eastbourne was on 23 September 1934, just two years after the orchestra was established, and founder Sir Thomas Beecham conducted a programme of Rossini, Handel, Beethoven, Wagner and Borodin. Since then, the Orchestra has played over 350 concerts, including during the Second World War, performing much loved repertoire with many soloists and conductors soloists and conductors.

The LPO's 2023/24 season in Eastbourne will feature Alessandro Crudele conducting Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto with Chloë Hanslip, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. Other performers featuring in the season include one of the inaugural LPO Fellow Conductors, Charlotte Politi, conductors Bertie Baigent, Gabriella Teychenné, Kahchun Wong, and Gemma New, LPO’s Principal Clarinet Benjamin Mellefont is the soloist in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, and other soloists include pianist Samson Tsoy, cellist Laura van der Heijden, violinists Francesca Dego and Randall Goosby.

The LPO is bringing its BrightSparks schools’ concerts to Eastbourne for the first time. These performances are an opportunity for Key Stage 2 children to experience the thrill of hearing a full orchestra, possibly for the first time. The orchestra is also launching LPO Music Makers with two Eastbourne schools, a new project for Key Stage 2 children and teachers inspired by the music and musicians of the LPO. Encouraging a lifelong love of music begins in the classroom and the aims of LPO Music Makers are to build teachers’ confidence teaching music in school, inspire school communities through close-up access to world-class musicians, enable children’s musical skills and knowledge, and support schools in embedding music into their wider culture. 

Full details of the Eastbourne season from the LPO website.

The LPO also has seasons and community activity at Brighton's Dome Theatre, and Saffron Hall.