The Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School will reunite this summer for concerts on two of the world’s most iconic stages: New York City’s Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms. An orchestra comprised of 46 students from each conservatoire will come together to perform under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen and with solo violinist Vilde Frang. The concerts will feature Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements, Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra and Berg’s Violin Concerto.

‘Whenever I have had the opportunity to work with emerging musicians I have been struck by the fearless energy and sense of adventure they bring.’

Esa-Pekka Salonen

These latest concerts mark the continuation of an artistic relationship which began in 2001. Since then, ensembles from the two conservatoires have performed a series of concerts at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in the company of Academy alum Sir Elton John, a joint commission of the opera Kommilitonen! by the late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, a Bach tour of New York, Boston and Leipzig with Masaaki Suzuki and Rachel Podger, as well as several commercial recordings.

'Music is about working across every divide and what better example than two great schools coming together to celebrate their shared ambitions.'

Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Principal of the Royal Academy of Music

Musicians from both sides of the Atlantic have collaborated before at the BBC Proms and in major New York cultural venues. The two institutions have appeared together at three previous Proms: in 2005 with Sir Colin Davis performing Berlioz and Vaughan Williams; in 2012 when John Adams conducted his piece City Noir alongside Ravel and Respighi; and in 2019 for the UK premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Metacosmos with Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, conducted by Academy alum Edward Gardner.

International exchanges, major performance opportunities and collaboration with leading artists are central to world-class music training. Opportunities such as this underpin the student experience at the Academy and throughout their studies, students regularly work alongside eminent musicians who are shaping the musical landscape.

‘The continuation of our partnership with the Royal Academy of Music through concerts in London and New York is what making music and art is all about, bringing people together.'

Damian Woetzel, President of The Juilliard School

Performances take place at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on Friday 7 August and at the BBC Proms on Monday 10 August 2026. General booking opens for the BBC Proms on Saturday 16 May and for the performance at Alice Tully Hall on 8 June 2026.

Pictured (top): Esa-Pekka Salonen © Andrew Eccles

Pictured (below): Vilde Frang (c) Marco Borggreve