Image © Andy Paradise
Following a hugely successful 2022/23 tour of the U.S. that ended with an acclaimed sell-out concert at Carnegie Hall in New York – the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) will be ‘in residence’ in two US States during the 2023/24 season – we’re excited to be returning to Orlando in October 2023 and will launch a brand-new residency in Costa Mesa, California in January 2024, as part of our 10 concert US tour. The residencies will be the foundation for AFRPO-supported outreach programs through The Lilia Bloom Music Outreach Program (LBMOP) which honors our dear friend Lilia Bloom for her passionate and visionary leadership, bringing the RPO’s ground-breaking outreach projects to America and enabling us to continue our mission to enrich lives through exciting orchestral experiences.
Our new Costa Mesa residency will begin January 18th at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall where one of the world’s most esteemed violinists, Anne Akiko Meyers, will be joining us to enchant audiences with Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, and RPO Music Director Vasily Petrenko will lead the Orchestra on an evocative musical journey through Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic poem Scheherazade. During the tour, we will also be joined by pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, a fresh voice in classical music who has received the Leonard Bernstein award for young musicians, as well as critical acclaim for her 2019 debut album that champions the work of female composers. Isata will be joining the RPO throughout the January 2024 tour in performing Prokofiev’s powerful Piano Concerto No.3 and Clara Schumann’s dramatic Piano Concerto, both of which are a true showcase for any keyboard virtuoso.
Throughout the tour, Vasily Petrenko and the Orchestra will perform symphonies by Rachmaninov and Brahms, and Debussy’s atmospheric Danse at venues including The Soraya (Northridge, CA), Hancher Auditorium (Iowa City, IO), Tilles Center (Brookville, NY), and the Center for the Arts (Fairfax, VA). The RPO will also be making a return to the Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall in Athens, GA for the first time in twelve years where the program will include Mendelssohn’s brooding overture The Hebrides.
With more concerts to be announced, we eagerly await the opportunity to welcome you to our shows and to continue in our mission of bringing the joy and power of music to diverse and traditionally underserved communities and audiences through our work with the Lilia Bloom Music Outreach Program. Thanks to your generous donations, we’re able to combine music-making of the highest quality and impactful community and education programs with ground-breaking research into the impact of music on mental health and the wider human condition.
We can’t wait to welcome you to our performances and projects across the 2023/24 Season and continue our mission.