Guildhall School of Music & Drama announces its Summer 2025 Season
This summer, Guildhall School of Music & Drama presents a varied programme of events for the public to enjoy, including concerts, drama productions, opera and jazz.
Drama: Neil Bartlett's sparkling adaptation of Virgina Woolf’s Orlando is directed by Ellen McDougall
Opera: Director Oliver Platt and conductor James Henshaw delve into the emotional and spellbinding world of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas
Jazz: Renowned pianist and composer Nikki Iles directs the Guildhall Jazz Orchestra, showcasing new music from her latest album Face to Face
Music: Outstanding Guildhall vocalists Manon Ogwen Parry, Redmond Sanders and Seohyun Go take to the stage for the final of The Gold Medal, which will also include the world premiere of HOLME by two Guildhall alumni
Cross-art form: Guildhall School’s Making It Festival returns for a three-week celebration of new student-led work, featuring performances, installations and talks
Drama: A collection of short films – Hidden in Plain Sight – highlights the work of Guildhall’s actors and production designers in the largest cross-degree collaboration in the School
Children & Young People: National Open Youth Orchestra (NOYO), gives two world premieres of Liam Taylor-West’s Ring Out! and Yfat Soul Zisso’s Fragile
Details of the Summer Season’s events can be found below.
Music
Thursday 8 May, 7pm, Barbican Hall
The final of Guildhall School's most prestigious music prize returns with a concert in Barbican Hall, offering the chance to enjoy songs and arias performed by three outstanding Guildhall vocalists: soprano Manon Ogwen Parry, baritone Redmond Sanders and soprano Seohyun Go. In this concert the three exceptional soloists from the School’s Vocal and Opera departments will perform with piano accompaniment and with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer.
The evening closes with the adjudication by a panel of leading experts from the classical music industry and announcement of the winner. During the panel’s deliberations the orchestra will perform HOLME a newly commissioned work by alumnus Ben Pease Barton, supported by the inaugural Jane Manning – Anthony Payne Award, with text by David Bottomley and featuring current student mezzo-soprano Karima El Demerdasch as soloist.
This year's esteemed jury comprises Armin Zanner, Guildhall School's Vice-Principal & Director of Music, baritone Christopher Maltman, Director of MWA Management Maria Mot, Artistic Director of Dutch National Opera Studio Rosemary Joshua and soprano Natalya Romaniw, a former Gold Medal winner herself, now starring on the world's most prestigious opera stages.
Natalya Romaniw, 2011 Gold Medal winner and member of the jury for the 2025 Gold Medal, says:
"I am absolutely delighted to return to Guildhall School to witness Manon, Redmond and Seohyun compete for the Gold Medal. I was honoured to receive this award 14 years ago and since then my career has taken me to perform with some of the world’s leading opera companies. I am grateful for my time at Guildhall School and I eagerly look forward to seeing the next generation of stars shine in the Gold Medal final on 8 May."
Guildhall Wigmore Prize Recital
Sunday 27 July, 7.30pm, Wigmore Hall
The Guildhall Wigmore Prize annually awards an exceptional musician from Guildhall School of Music & Drama with a Wigmore Hall recital. The winner of the 2025 Guildhall Wigmore Prize, violinist Kryštof Kohout, performs a programme including works by Bartók, Janáček, Ravel and Telemann, accompanied by pianist Edward Leung.
Drama
Orlando by Virgina Woolf, adapted by Neil Bartlett
30 May – 4 June, Silk Street Theatre
Neil Bartlett's sparkling adaptation of Virginia Woolf's ground-breaking fantasy finds powerful contemporary relevance in the novelist’s vision of equal rights to love for bodies of every kind.
Orlando, a young nobleman in Queen Elizabeth I’s court, embarks on a remarkable journey through time, love and self-discovery. From infatuations to voyages and gender transformation, Orlando’s five centuries of life and love lead them toward the fundamental question: Who am I?
Ellen McDougall, former Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre, directs this contemporary and imaginative take on a timeless tale which promises to captivate audiences with its celebration of love, transformation, and the courage to truly be oneself.
This adaptation of Orlando premiered at London’s Garrick Theatre in 2022.
Opera
9 – 16 June, Milton Court Theatre
Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas is brought to life in the intimate setting of Guildhall School’s Milton Court Theatre. As one of the earliest and most enduring English operas, it remains a powerful and poignant exploration of destiny, sacrifice and the destructive force of the Gods.
Set in a strange realm where beauty and brutality collide, this powerful production directed by Oliver Platt and conducted by James Henshaw delves deep into the heart of Purcell’s spellbinding music, uncovering the mysticism and raw emotion of this timeless tale of love and loss that has captivated audiences for centuries
Jazz
Wednesday 21 May, 7pm, Milton Court Concert Hall
Scott Stroman, Clare Wheeler and Flora Medlicott direct this concert showcasing the talents of Guildhall Jazz department’s sensational vocal groups: the Guildhall Jazz Singers, Guildhall Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Guildhall Jazz Choir respectively.
Guildhall Jazz Orchestra with Nikki Iles
Friday 23 May, 7.30pm, Milton Court Concert Hall
Guildhall Jazz Orchestra welcomes back one of the UK’s most influential jazz artists, the renowned pianist and composer Nikki Iles, as guest director. The evening celebrates Iles’ works, showcasing original compositions including music from her latest album Face to Face.
Nikki Iles is widely admired as a pianist of imagination and subtlety. She has been forging her reputation since the eighties, collaborating with a who's who of jazz legends including Julian Argüelles, Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland, Rufus Reid, Tina May, Norma Winstone and many others. Her accolades include the 2022 Seattle Jazz Composition Prize, a prestigious artist residency with the NDR Radio Big Band in Hamburg in 2023, and recognition in the Queen's New Year’s Honours List.
The music for this Guildhall concert further cements Nikki's place in the pantheon of jazz composer/arrangers, with more than 30 albums spanning three decades, and marks a new chapter in her career to date. The programme of rich and varied repertoire will bring into the spotlight a body of work that has been maturing for decades.
Cross-Art Form Collaborations
Available from 11 June – 11 July, online broadcast
Delving into darkened corners, office blocks and underground safes, this collection of short films follows an eclectic set of friends, colleagues and strangers alike, all of whom are blissfully unaware of what is actually hidden in plain sight.
Guildhall School presents this annual series of short films curated by professional writers for the returning screen project. Throughout the spring term, the cohort transformed into a film production company, designing, constructing and performing in the School's largest cross-degree collaboration to date, bringing these compelling stories to life on screen.
The series features Stef Smith’s The Graduate (Scheme), Dare Aiyegbayo’s Sorry You’re Leaving, Tim Price’s Plus One and Daniel York’s The Empathy Stone.
17 June – 4 July
Making It Festival returns for 2025: a three-week celebration of new, original work made by Guildhall School’s vibrant and multi-skilled student community, featuring an eclectic line up of performances, installations and talks.
What does it mean to “make it” as an artist in the 21st century? As traditions evolve and power shifts, artists with the skills to create their own work become the trailblazers of our culture.Events include:
GradEx: Production Arts Graduate Exhibition 2025
Opera Makers
Final Year Actors’ Self-Led Performances
Collaborative Performance Making Showcase
Electronic & Produced Music Showcase
The jam-packed Festival programme also includes the return of last year’s sell-out cabaret, SMORGASBORD, as well as a series of post-show conversations, special events, installations and pop-up performances across the campus.
Full details of Making It Festival will be announced in late April.
Production Arts
GradEx: Production Arts Graduate Exhibition 2025
17, 19 & 20 June, 7–9pm, Making It Festival Hub, Silk St Theatre
An exhibition of the outstanding work of final-year students on Guildhall School’s Production Arts programmes, as they prepare to join the creative industry’s workforce.
It’s a chance to see up close a range of props, scenery, costumes, lighting, sound and video designs created for the School’s public operas, dramas, musicals and external projects, as well as portfolios and personal projects.
Part of Making It Festival 2025
Children and Young People
London Schools Symphony Orchestra
Tuesday 15 April, 7.30pm, Milton Court Concert Hall
London’s premier youth orchestra returns to Milton Court with leading British conductor and violinist Christopher Warren-Green. The programme references migration, something that has taken place throughout human existence, featuring Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird, 1919 version – the work that took him from Russia to Western Europe, before he settled in North America, and Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony, created whilst the composer was in residence in New York, referencing the people and cultures he interacted with during his life.
This year’s LSSO Conductor in Residence, Ammal Bhatia, makes his first appearance conducting the orchestra in Reena Esmail’s Ram Tori Maya, a work inspired and influenced by the composer’s Indian heritage, and Graham Fitkin’s Metal, acting as a tribute to ship bells that could be frequently heard in the port of Liverpool.
National Open Youth Orchestra: Ring Out! No more barriers, just great music
Sunday 27 April, 3pm, Milton Court Concert Hall – Relaxed, BSL interpreted performance
Fifteen brilliant young disabled and non-disabled musicians invite you into a musical universe without barriers, performing new pieces commissioned for the orchestra’s thrilling mix of acoustic and electronic instruments, including the Clarion. The concert, hosted by Guildhall School as the London partner of the National Open Youth Orchestra, features two world premieres of Liam Taylor-West’s Ring Out! and Yfat Soul Zisso’s Fragile, in addition to performances of Lucky Chops’ Behroozi, Meredith Monk’s Parlour Games, Kate Whitley’s Falling and Oliver Cross’ Barriers.
Junior Guildhall Symphony Orchestra & Brass Band
Saturday 5 July, 6pm, Milton Court Concert Hall
The talented young musicians of Junior Guildhall take to the Milton Court Concert Hall stage to round off their academic year. The programme will include Sibelius’ Symphony No 2 and a performance of Carnelian by Junior Guildhall composer Charlotte Robertson conducted by Dominic Wheeler.
Free events
Guildhall School’s free performances this summer showcase the incredible talent of its students and guest artists. Highlights include the annual visit from leading new-music vocal ensemble EXAUDI; a celebration of Joni Mitchell's Blue through art song; an exploration of rediscovered works by the French composer Edouard van Cleeff; a Plus-Minus Ensemble performance of new pieces by Guildhall composers; and the chance to experience the innovative sound of Guildhall School’s Live Electronics Orchestra.
Other exciting free events include the School’s ‘At Six’ concert series featuring varied programmes from pianists, string players and chamber ensembles, and masterclasses with renowned musicians including harpist Gwyneth Wentink, violinist Johannes Meissl and saxophonist Claude Delangle.
All events are free and open to the public, with no tickets required.
Upcoming Collaborations
A host of exciting collaborations with partner organisations include Electronic & Produced Musicshowcases at Somerset House, Cambridge Junction, Barbican Cinema and Grow Hackney; the Guildhall Session Orchestra performing at Camden’s Roundhouse with Corinne Bailey Rae; performances at the Austrian Cultural Forum as part of the ongoing collaboration between Guildhall School and University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna; a Guildhall Orchestral Artistry Showcase as part of the LSO Lunchtime Concert Series, and more.
Visit gsmd.ac.uk/events for full listings.