Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Albert Hall Extends Partnership

The music partnership will see the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra continue as the Hall’s associate orchestra until 2029

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) first partnered with London’s Royal Albert Hall (RAH) in 2019 as the Hall’s Associate Orchestra — this collaboration has now been extended through 2029.

This news also follows the extension of Vasily Petrenko’s contract as Music Director of the RPO until 2030, and the appointment of Joe Hisaishi as RPO’s first Composer-in-Association. 

RPO and RAH’s partnership will continue to build on their shared missions to broaden artistic programming and reach more audiences. This comes at a time when new national research commissioned by the RPO reveals that the number of people who would like to experience an orchestral concert is increasing.

Tracking audience engagement with orchestral music for a five-year period since 2018, RPO’s research shows that more people are interested in experiencing live performances of music from musicals, film soundtracks, pop/classical crossover, TV soundtracks, family-friendly concerts, and video game soundtracks — subsequently, the new audience for orchestral music is now bigger than the long-established audience. 

The partnership between RPO and RAH will also strengthen the latter’s position as the home of classical music in London. In addition to hosting the BBC Proms, the RAH will host major concerts of RPO’s 2024/25 season, including Let's Face the Music, A Celebration of Motown, and John Rutter’s Christmas Celebration; In May 2025, Petrenko and the RPO will be joined at RAH by pianist Yunchan Lim and violinist Maxim Vengerov. 

“The sheer diversity of our concerts at the Royal Albert Hall enables us to present the joy of orchestral music to the broadest possible audience,” said RPO’s Managing Director James Williams in the press release. “[Our] exciting and diverse programming presents the inclusive face of orchestral music for today’s world — and we are delighted to be continuing our partnership at the Royal Albert Hall, and to be working with colleagues who share our passion for inclusivity, innovation and excellence.”

“We are immensely pleased to be continuing our relationship with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,” added Matthew Todd, RAH’s Director of Programming. “With 750,000 people experiencing the thrill of listening to a live orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in 2023, our partnership will help us in our ambition to share orchestral music with as wide an audience as possible. We are excited to be working with the RPO to increase participation in classical music, aiming to welcome new audiences as well as collaborate on education and outreach initiatives in support of our respective engagement programmes.”