Hull City Hall’s prestigious Classics Series and Lunchtime Organ Showcase recitals return this autumn with an amazing programme of masterpieces from across the globe.
The 2025/26 Hull City Hall Classics programme, in partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) and Hull Philharmonic Orchestra, includes nine concerts and welcomes some of the world’s finest conductors and musicians performing a selection of the greatest and best-loved classical works of all time.
The musical extravaganza starts with the RPO presenting Last Night of the Proms on 18 September. The flag waving programmeincludesTchaikovsky’s elegant Sleeping Beauty Waltz and of course Elgar’s majestic Pomp and Circumstance.
The following month the BBC National Orchestra of Wales make their debut at Hull City Hall with Schubert’s monumental Symphony No.9 and virtuoso violinist Tobias Feldman brings his ‘ravishing, unspotted lyricism’ to Mendelssohn’s endlessly romantic Violin Concerto on 23 October.
A triple treat is in store on 23 November when the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra join forces with singers from East Riding County Choir and Hull Choral Union for an unforgettable afternoon of Operatic Showstoppers including “March of the Toreador” from Carmen by Bizet, the poignant “Va Pensiero” fromNabucco, by Verdi’, and themesmerising “Humming Chorus” from Madama Butterfly.
The world-renowned musicians from the RPO return on 7 February with Principal Oboe John Roberts leading the way with Mozart’s operatic Oboe Concertoand renditions of“Béatrice et Bénédict” and Sibelius’ mighty Second Symphony
Later in the month Hull Philharmonic Orchestra bring some ‘Oh la la’ to the Hall. Vive La Musique on 28 February celebrates classical French music, starting with Berlioz’s mercurial Carnival Romain and winding up to the explosive crescendo of Saint-Saens’s mighty Organ Symphony.
As spring approaches, conductor Nil Venditti leads the mighty RPO for an evening of drama with Rossini’s Barber of Seville and Dvořák’s Cello Concertoon 26 March.
From Spain and France, the Classics Series heads across Europe to Russia as Hull Philharmonic Orchestra showcase Jewels of the East with classics including Shostakovitch’s celebratory Festive Overture and Mussorgsky’s iconic Pictures at an Exhibition on 9 May.
The next stop is Poland with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, performing a lost masterpiece by postwar Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, and trailblazing pianist Alexandra Dariescu brings her ‘balletic and expressive’ playing to Mozart’s technically demanding Piano Concerto No.21 on 21 May.
The final concert of the 25/26 Classics finishes on a high with the RPO performing a programme including Beethoven’s iconic Fifth Symphony, this mysterious and momentous masterwork is a fitting and triumphant finale on 11 June.
The Classics’ Series is on sale to subscribers from Friday 27 June, 10am and on general sale from Friday 4 July, 10am.
Meanwhile the Lunchtime Organ Showcase returns on Wednesday 10 September with Stephen Pinnock, Director of the Aberdeen City Music School, making his debut at Hull City Hall. He is followed by Thomas Howell, one of the youngest organists to play the majestic instrument, on Wednesday 8 October.
The concerts will continue monthly thereafter throughout the Autumn-Winter season, welcoming acclaimed organists from across the globe including America, Great Britain and Europe. Tickets go on general sale from Friday 4 July, 10am.
Tickets for both seasons are available from the Hull City Hall Box Office, calling 01482 300 306 or visiting www.hulltheatres.co.uk.