Philharmonia Orchestra

Orchestra Series
Philharmonia Orchestra
Santtu-Matias Rouvali, music director
Víkingur Ólafsson, piano
Monday, October 27, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
Music Center at Strathmore

One of Britain’s most celebrated ensembles, the Philharmonia Orchestra returns after two decades, under the baton of its electrifying music director, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, in his highly anticipated Washington Performing Arts debut. The program begins with a new work by visionary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz, followed by Ravel’s jazzy and luminous Piano Concerto in G Major, performed by the incomparable Víkingur Ólafsson—praised for his “ferocious keyboard technique with a razor-sharp intellect that puts those gifts to powerful interpretive use” (On a Pacific Aisle).

The evening concludes with Sibelius’s majestic Fifth Symphony, an elemental and heroic work by the great Finnish composer that perfectly showcases the Philharmonia’s richness and the dynamic leadership of his compatriot, Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali.