Rock and heavy metal anthems and orchestral music collide with epic force in the Philharmonia Orchestra’s head-banging show

Epic. Loud. Flamboyant. Classical music and heavy metal have more in common than you might think.

Drawing inspiration from metal’s industrial roots, the 100-strong Philharmonia Orchestra (alongside other musical collaborators to be announced) brings its powerful sound to some of the biggest pieces of orchestral music ever composed – think Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries – and full throttle orchestral versions of rock and heavy metal anthems.

Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali taps into his past as a rock drummer for a performance that brings together the defiant and often iconoclastic energy of two extraordinary musical forms.

Commissioned by Southbank Centre and the Philharmonia Orchestra.