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Fantasia Orchestra Announces 25/26 Season
11
August
2025
We’re so excited to launch our 2025–26 season – a landmark year for Fantasia Orchestra and the start of a bold new artistic chapter. This season is packed with new creative partnerships, genre-crossing repertoire, high-profile collaborations, and a residency at Smith Square Hall – one of London’s most exciting live classical music venues.
Last summer we made our acclaimed debut at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall alongside soloists and longstanding friends Sheku and Braimah Kanneh-Mason and Plínio Fernandes. Our programme brought together music by Bartók, Brahms, Dvořák, Laura Mvula, Piazzolla, and Nile Rodgers & Chic – a joyful mix that captured Fantasia’s trademark energy and spirit, and introduced us to a whole new audience.
Over the past decade, we’ve built a reputation for imaginative programming, a collaborative spirit, and some of the most talented players from across the UK. The new season takes that ethos even further.
Under the direction of our founder and conductor, Tom Fetherstonhaugh, we’ve hand-curated programmes that reflect his personal musical connections, friendships, and artistic vision.
The season opens with the first of four performances at Smith Square Hall on 23 November 2025 with Fantasia performing a carefully selected birdsong programme with soprano Lucy Crowe. Handel and Haydn perch next to Messiaen and Gershwin, and Berg's ‘The Nightingale’ segues into Sherwin's timeless classic ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’. Soar through centuries of music with one of the country's most exciting orchestras and finest of singers.
February sees the orchestra travel to Nottingham to make their debut at the Royal Concert Hall (16 February 2026) with long-time collaborator and friend Jess Gillam MBE. Jess was the youngest-ever soloist to perform at The Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and this programme mixes JS Bach with Kate Bush and Steve Reich with Joni Mitchell in a dazzling display of Jess’s virtuosity and Fantasia’s joyful spirit.
The residency at Smith Square Hall continues on 10 April with a unique collaboration with sitar virtuoso Jasdeep Singh Degun for an evening of Western and Indian fusion. Minimalist composer Terry Riley was deeply influenced by Indian classical music and his groundbreaking ‘In C’ is at the heart of this programme, featuring sitar, tabla and Fantasia’s own dynamic musicians. French Baroque composer Rameau's heart wrenching aria 'Tristes Apprêts' is played on the sitar, and Degun's own compositions take centre stage for this coming together of cultures, styles, and joyful music-making.
Steven Osborne is one of the nation's most renowned concert pianists — and he has a deep love of jazz. Fantasia Orchestra will team up with Osborne at Smith Square Hall on 29 May 2026 for a programme that will see Shostakovich's ‘Piano Concerto no. 1’ going hand-in-hand with some of Osborne's favourite jazz standards in a special coming together of the two genres. Rising star trumpeter Aaron Akugbo brings his versatile musicianship to Fantasia Orchestra, with beautifully mellow Gershwin and fierce, electric Shostakovich.
Finally, 3 July 2026 will see Fantasia returning to Smith Square Hall but this time for a special concert with Irish mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan. In this evening of twentieth century orchestral song, Niamh sings music by Steven Sondheim and Cole Porter alongside Richard Strauss and Alma Mahler. Numbers from beloved films and musicals go hand-in-hand with repertoire from beautiful song cycles and symphonies, creating a unique menu of musical gems not to be missed.
Tom Fetherstonhaugh, Artistic Director, said, "Fantasia’s 25/26 season is all about the kind of programming we’ve always dreamed of: multi-genre, boundary-pushing, and collaborative. Each concert is bespoke, featuring an international soloist who has chosen to present a wide range of music that they love. From JS Bach and Richard Strauss to Alma Mahler and Joni Mitchell, it will be a thrilling season of music-making and artistic exploration.”
Michael Garvey, Executive Director, added, "What makes Fantasia unique is the way each project is carefully crafted – we don’t work to a formula. Every concert is different, curated from scratch to really bring out the best from the artists involved and the music we want to share. It’s an incredibly exciting moment for the orchestra as we step into full artistic independence – and audiences are going to see that reflected in the ambition and diversity of what’s to come in the future as well."