A 146-strong all-woman choir opens it. Steve Reich turns 90 and gets four events across the closing weekend, including one billed as a classical club night with a DJ set afterwards.
Season Opening Week is the Southbank Centre launching its whole classical year in six days, and it’s about ten minutes’ walk from us.
Tuesday 22 to Sunday 27 September 2026.
When: Tuesday 22 – Sunday 27 September 2026
Where: Southbank Centre – Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room & Clore Ballroom
Tickets: all eleven events are ticketed
“The start of a classical year full of stories, old and new, that speak to us today.”
What It Actually Is
The Southbank Centre runs its classical programme in seasons, and Season Opening Week is the launch of Autumn/Winter 2026/27. Their strapline for it: “the start of a classical year full of stories, old and new, that speak to us today.”
Eleven events across four venues – Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room and the Clore Ballroom.
All of them are ticketed. Worth saying plainly, because the Southbank Centre does a lot of free programming and this particular week isn’t it.
The Full Programme
| Date | Event | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 22 September, 8pm | Fire in My Mouth | Royal Festival Hall |
| Wednesday 23 September, 7pm | The Multi-Story Orchestra: Dreamer | Queen Elizabeth Hall |
| Thursday 24 September, 7.30pm | Santtu & Sol Gabetta | Royal Festival Hall |
| Friday 25 September, 7.30pm | Pekka Kuusisto, Ale Carr & Aurora Orchestra: Four Seasons | Queen Elizabeth Hall |
| Saturday 26 September, 6pm | Mariam Batsashvili: Bach & Liszt | Queen Elizabeth Hall |
| Saturday 26 September, 7pm | Britten’s War Requiem | Royal Festival Hall |
| Sunday 27 September, 2pm | Jean Rondeau: Goldberg Variations | Queen Elizabeth Hall |
- Fire in My Mouth is the big opening statement and the one to book if you only go to one thing – the London premiere of Julia Wolfe’s oratorio about the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, performed by the Philharmonia with a 146-strong all-woman choir.
- Santtu & Sol Gabetta is the most straightforwardly gorgeous evening of the week: Brahms, the Elgar Cello Concerto and Dvořák’s New World Symphony.
- Britten’s War Requiem is the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s season opener.
- Jean Rondeau: Goldberg Variations is Bach’s Goldbergs played on organ, which is not how you usually hear them.
Steve Reich at 90
The closing weekend belongs to Steve Reich, who turns 90 this year, and it’s four events rather than one.
Triple Quartet in the Purcell Room on Saturday includes the UK premiere of a new version of Different Trains.
Steve Reich at 90: After Dark on Saturday at 9.30pm in the Queen Elizabeth Hall is described as a classical club night, with a DJ set. That’s a genuinely unusual thing for the Southbank Centre to programme and it’s the event we’d point you at if the words “classical music” normally put you off.
Music for 18 Musicians on Sunday in the Clore Ballroom, performed with Paraorchestra.
London Sinfonietta & Jonny Greenwood on Sunday at 3.30pm in the Royal Festival Hall. Radiohead’s guitarist has been writing and performing contemporary classical work for two decades now and this pairing makes complete sense.
Free Things On at the Same Time
The week itself is ticketed, but the Southbank Centre site is full of free work in late September and it’s worth building it into your day:
- Gift to the Future – a site-wide poetry installation, running until 27 September.
- Quentin Blake: The Southbank Parade – free, on until 8 November, and part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary year. The centre opened on 1 May 1951 for the Festival of Britain.
- Luke Jerram: Stepping Out on the Riverside Terrace, until 30 September.
- Musquiqui Chihying at the Hayward Gallery, until 18 October. The Anish Kapoor exhibition running alongside it is ticketed.
Where to Go Before
Concerts at the Royal Festival Hall start at 7.30pm or 8pm. You’ll want somewhere to be from about six.
We’re Draughts Waterloo, at Arch 16 in the Leake Street Arches – the graffiti tunnel that runs under Waterloo station. It’s around a ten-minute walk to the Royal Festival Hall, straight along the river.
Bar, full kitchen, and over 1,000 board games. Which is a slightly odd thing to do before a Britten War Requiem and, we’d argue, a much better one than standing in a concourse bar with a warm glass of wine.
Come at six, eat properly, play something, walk over.
It also works after. Sunday’s Reich programme finishes mid-afternoon and there’s nowhere better to sit and argue about Music for 18 Musicians for two hours.
Book ahead – late September weekends fill up. draughtslondon.com
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Southbank Centre Season Opening Week 2026?
Tuesday 22 to Sunday 27 September 2026. It launches the Southbank Centre’s Classical Music Autumn/Winter 2026/27 season.
What’s on during Season Opening Week?
Eleven ticketed events across the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Clore Ballroom. Highlights include the London premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Fire in My Mouth with a 146-strong all-woman choir, Britten’s War Requiem, Dvořák’s New World Symphony, and a four-event Steve Reich at 90 strand across the closing weekend.
Are Season Opening Week events free?
No. All eleven events are ticketed. However, several free exhibitions and installations run at the Southbank Centre during the same period, including Quentin Blake: The Southbank Parade and the Gift to the Future poetry installation.
What is Steve Reich at 90?
A four-event strand across the closing weekend of Season Opening Week marking the composer’s 90th birthday. It includes Triple Quartet with a UK premiere of Different Trains, a late-night classical club night with a DJ set, Music for 18 Musicians performed with Paraorchestra, and the London Sinfonietta with Jonny Greenwood.
Which venues host Season Opening Week?
Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room and the Clore Ballroom – all within the Southbank Centre complex on the South Bank. The Hayward Gallery is not part of this programme.
How do I get to the Southbank Centre?
Waterloo station is the closest major hub – the Southbank Centre is around a five-minute walk from the main exit, served by the Jubilee, Northern and Bakerloo lines plus National Rail. Embankment and Charing Cross are a short walk across the Golden Jubilee Bridges.
Where should I eat before a Southbank Centre concert?
Draughts Waterloo is at Arch 16, Leake Street, SE1 7NN, about ten minutes’ walk from the Royal Festival Hall. We serve food and drinks to your table alongside a library of over 1,000 board games, so you can make an evening of it rather than rushing a meal before curtain.
How much are Season Opening Week tickets?
Prices vary by event and are shown at the point of booking on the Southbank Centre website. Multi-buy offers are available across the programme.
Is 2026 a special year for the Southbank Centre?
Yes – it’s the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary. The site opened on 1 May 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain, and the free Quentin Blake: The Southbank Parade installation explicitly marks that anniversary.
