LSO Family Concerts

This weekend we attended the latest Family Concert by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) at the Barbican Centre. If are looking for something to do with children in London, I recommend seeing if you can get tickets. You’ll need to plan several months ahead as these sell out fast.

LSO Family Concerts are a fun, informative way for families to experience live music together and learn more about the instruments of the orchestra.

Put on every few months, these events are an absolute delight. There are free workshops for children (and parents) that teach you to sing, play or create music. These could be bars or a chorus from the concert enabling you to join in with the orchestra. If you play an instrument, bring it along and you’ll get to perform with the LSO. The events are pitched for children over 7 but our 2yr old has thoroughly enjoyed both workshops and the concerts. You know your own children, don’t be put off by the 7+ recommendation.

The concerts themselves are signed. You might expect spoken word to be signed, but in this afternoon’s performance the interpreter did an incredible job of signing the full orchestral piece. It was beautiful to watch.

My favourite aspect of the events are the explanations offered by someone close to the production. In this afternoon’s performance, we heard from Rachel Leach, the composer of Dans Le Metro. She connected sections of the orchestra to key aspects of the story, explained repeating patterns and helped deconstruct the layers of the music in a way that made it feel more accessible for all. I’d love to see more popular albums offering similar explanations or hints for unfamiliar ears. It could be a valuable differentiator in a world increasingly dominated by statistically generated noise.

Useful Links

• London Symphony Orchestra: Family Concert - Symphonie fantastique - past event
• What’s On at the Barbican?
• LSO Family Concerts