Strauss, Stravinsky and Steve Reich: announcing our 2026 autumn season of events

The Academy opens the 2026/27 academic year with a programme of concerts spanning across all musical genres, including anniversary celebrations for Steve Reich and Janáček, concerts ranging from early music to world premieres, a fully staged opera and a tribute to a musical theatre legend.

Performing is not just an occasional event at the Academy, it is a way of life. With hundreds of public events every year, students immerse themselves in a vast breadth of repertoire,  explore their musical horizons to the limit and gain vital ensemble experience.

Here are just some of the highlights to look forward to next term:

Steve Reich at 90: London Sinfonietta SIDE-BY-SIDE, Sunday 27 September

Just days before Steve Reich’s 90th birthday, the Academy Manson Ensemble will perform Reich’s works in a SIDE-BY-SIDE concert with the London Sinfonietta and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood at the Royal Festival Hall.  

Jakub Hrůša conducts Janáček and Bartók, Friday 16 October

Jakub Hrůša,Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Music Director of The Royal Opera and Honorary Member of the Academy, conducts the Academy Symphony Orchestra (ASO) for the first time in a concert featuring Janáček’s rhapsody and music from Bartók’s pantomime ballet, The Miraculous Mandarin. 

Autumn Piano Festival, Tuesday 10 November

The Autumn Piano Festival marks 100 years since Janáček’s visit to the Academy. Students from the Piano Department perform his complete solo piano and chamber duo music, as well as ensemble pieces including the Concertino. 

Academy Jazz Ensemble with Femi Temowo and Nick Smart, Saturday 14 November

Composer and guitarist Femi Temowo performs with jazz students in a set of his own original music and arrangements of classic tunes, at SpiceJazz Soho at The Crazy Coqs

Academy Jazz Orchestra: Remembering Dizzy and Duke, Sunday 22 November

A special EFG London Jazz Festival concert at Pizza Express Dean Street celebrating the lives and music of Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington. This concert features music from the catalogues of both Dizzy and Duke in addition to selections from their great 1958 collaboration.

Royal Academy Opera: Capriccio, Monday 23 - Friday 27 November

Premiered at the height of the Second World War, Strauss’ introspective and poignant final opera contemplates the creation of art, and how theatre and music ultimately mirror the ‘mystery of reality’.

Semyon Bychkov conducts Wagner, Friday 4 December

The Academy’s Klemperer Chair of Conducting and Chief Conductor/Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic, Semyon Bychkov, returns to the Academy to conduct the ASO for a programme opening with the music from Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde.

Royal Academy Musical Theatre Company: Georgie: A Tribute to George Hall, Tuesday 8 December

A celebration of an extraordinary life devoted to the stage. A teacher at the Academy until the age of 101, George Hall shaped generations of many of the UK’s leading actors both at the Academy and as Head of Acting at Central School of Speech and Drama for 25 years. His legacy lives on, honoured in an unforgettable evening of song, story and tribute.