Sir Simon Rattle, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Sir Simon Rattle has chosen to mark his 60th birthday with this major London residency at the Barbican and Southbank Centre. The concerts will focus on the music that means the most to him: a complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies in honour of the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, Mahler's Symphony No 2 and music by Helmut Lachenmann.

Programme to include:

Sibelius Symphony No 5
Sibelius Symphony No 6
Sibelius Symphony No 7

In the dazzling chorales of Sibelius's Fifth Symphony, premiered in 1915, Sibelius recreated the swans, cranes and wild geese circling over his lake-side home. Eight years later, the Finnish master completed his Sixth Symphony, a work he likened to 'the scent of the first snow'. The monumental, night sky fantasy of the Seventh would be his last, a work of grand, lonely beauty.