Górecki's Third Symphony

The London Philharmonic Orchestra bring Górecki's Symphony No. 3 to the Royal Festival Hall on Friday 19 February 2027, with conductor Andrey Boreyko leading the night. It's a double bill, as the LPO follow the Górecki with Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in B flat, so you're getting two full symphonies in one sitting.

If you've never come across Górecki's Third, it's better known as the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. He wrote it in 1976, in Communist-occupied Poland, and it's since grown into a global phenomenon. The soprano's voice opens on the poem 'Oh, sing for him, God's little songbirds / Since his mother cannot find him' and soars from the depths of despair. It's sung in Polish, with a printed English translation provided, so you can follow the words as they go. The whole performance runs about two hours and ten minutes, and it's supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

Taking the soprano part is Iwona Sobotka, a Polish singer who Sir Simon Rattle once described as having a 'uniquely beautiful sound quality matched with fierce intelligence'. She'll be fronting the LPO for the Górecki before the orchestra moves on to the Prokofiev, which is a very different beast entirely—a big, brassy, mid-century Russian symphony that should balance the evening out.

It starts at 7.30pm at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX. Standard entry is from £20, with concessions available.