The London Symphony Orchestra in Trafalgar Square
Experience the magic of classical music ‘in the wild’ this month with BMW Classics, the London Symphony Orchestra’s (LSO) free outdoor summer concert in Trafalgar Square. Conducted by the LSO’s Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, the concert celebrates his Italian heritage with all the passion and soaring melodies of the great Italian composers for opera and orchestra including highlights from Puccini, Rossini and Verdi. The concert also features the world premiere performance of Opera for Orchestra by Isabella Gellis, specially commissioned for this event. Gates open at 3.45pm and the concert begins at 5pm. This is a real ‘summer in London’ highlight, back for its 13th iteration, so pack a picnic and enjoy!
Trafalgar Square, London, one performance only, Sunday 15 June 2025.
Flamenco Festival 2025
Celebrate the soul of Spain right here in London in the special 20th anniversary edition of the Flamenco Festival at Sadler’s Wells and venues across the city. The Festival is dedicated to showcasing and promoting Spanish culture, and presents the very best in flamenco. This year’s Festival includes the UK premiere of new shows by ‘the queen of flamenco’ Sara Baras, performances by Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, and a range of events highlighting the continuing evolution of this dramatic and passionate art form. Don’t miss Muerta de Amor, the new work by Andalusian dancer and choreographer Manuel Liñán at Sadler’s Wells, a dramatic piece that embraces desire and fantasy with his trademark subversive brilliance. And the acclaimed duo La Plazuela will make their London debut at the Jazz Café on 7 June. They have gained international recognition for their innovative sound that blends their Andalusian roots in flamenco with funk, pop, and electronic music.
Sadler’s Wells and other venues, 27 May to 8 June 2025.
Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party
Legendary fashion photographer Cecil Beaton had a bouquet of creative talents that extended well beyond the camera. He was an accomplished costume and set designer working in stage and screen, and a talented artist. This charming exhibition at the Garden Museum highlights the importance of gardens and flowers in his work, both as a motif and as a source of inspiration. Photographs, paintings, drawings and designs come together to explore the importance of flowers played in Beaton’s creative practice. A couple of especially lovely royal portraits are also included. The exhibition is only small, but it is included in the museum admission fee, so it’s a wonderful little summer bonus. Housed in a beautiful old church next to Lambeth Palace, the Garden Museum is one of London’s hidden treasures. It caters well for little visitors too, so feel free to bring the kids or grandees.
The Garden Museum, Lambeth Palace Road, 14 May to 21 September 2025.
The Edwardians: Age of Elegance
Immerse yourself in the glamour and opulence of the Edwardian era in this stunning exhibition at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. The exhibition shines a light on two of the UK’s most fashionable royal couples from the golden age, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and King George V and Queen Mary. Peek into their family lives and their glittering social circles, from global travels to spectacular royal events. Rather surprisingly, this is the first Royal Collection Trust exhibition devoted to the Edwardian era and many of the pieces have never been on public display before. You can see more than 300 items from fashion and jewellery to paintings, photographs, books, sculpture and ceramics, including pieces from some of the period’s most celebrated artists, writers and designers, such as Carl Fabergé, Edward Burne-Jones, John Singer Sargent, William Morris, Oscar Wilde and Edward Elgar.
The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, 11 April to 23 November 2025.
Our Cosmic Dust
A real treat this month is Our Cosmic Dust at Park Theatre. This magical play was created by award-winning Tokyo writer and director Michinari Ozawa, translated by British-Japanese theatre-maker Susan Momoko Hingley. It was the winner of three of Japan’s most prestigious Yomiuri Theatre Awards for Outstanding Theatrical Production, Outstanding Director and Best Actress. Our Cosmic Dust blends intricate puppetry, hand-drawn illustrations and inventive video design to create a visually stunning and delightfully unexpected theatrical experience. It’s a touching and uplifting tale about how we deal with grief by trusting others and finding solace in the cosmos, as seen through the eyes of Shotaro, a young boy who sets out to find his late father among the stars. Highly recommended.
Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, 2 June to 5 July 2025.
Wisdom Should be Sung
Wisdom Should be Sung is the first solo exhibition in the UK of work by the late Sophie Podolski and includes drawings, etchings, collages, archival materials and texts from her amazing phantasmagoric imagination. A Belgian poet, writer and artist, Podolski – who was schizophrenic – created a huge body of work in just six years, including more than 300 drawings, graphic poems and a novel, Le pays où tout est permis (‘The country where everything is permitted’). Podolski was part of a vivid countercultural scene known as ‘the freakies’ who were united by the aesthetic aim to ‘overthrow the semantic order’. Podolski’s work was critically lauded for its formal innovation, feminist drive and disrespect for the status quo. Sadly, she took her own life in 1974, aged 21. Alongside Wisdom Should be Sung, Goldsmiths CCA is showing My Body Temperature is Feeling Good, a solo exhibition by the late British artist Milly Thompson. She was an active part of the London-based cult art group BANK and went on to establish a solo practice as a painter, sculptor, video artist and writer. This exhibition presents works from 2010 onwards, in which Thompson irreverently lampooned the hegemonic force of luxury consumer culture on women and celebrated the middle-aged female body for its libidinal power. See these two exhibitions together at Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) in St James’.
Goldsmiths CCA, St James’, New Cross, London, 5 June to 24 August 2025.
Silent Disco: London Transport Museum
The London Transport Museum is embracing its inner disco diva with Iconic Silent Discos for one night only on Saturday 7 June. Step into the past and dance into the night with DJs spinning hits across three channels, from your favourite 1980s sing-alongs and 1990s hits to noughties bangers, indie anthems and more. Groove through the Museum’s authentic historic trains and vintage buses with your headphones on and the volume up. There are two sessions (early and late) and the fun is strictly for 18s and over. The drinks are flowing, the vibes are immaculate and the buses are polished!
London Transport Museum, Covent Garden, 7 June 2025. Ticketed.
Proms at St Jude’s
Head up to Hampstead Garden Suburb this month for Proms at St Jude’s, a world-class music and literary festival with walks, talks, workshops and concerts. From Sir Michael Palin’s There and Back to the Sea Shanties of The Old Time Sailors, the Proms at St Jude’s has a diverse and eclectic program. You’ll find Sir Vernon Bogdanor talking politics and Her Honour Wendy Joseph KC lifting the lid on our legal system.
St Jude’s on the Hill, Central Square, Hampstead Garden Suburb, 21-29 June 2025. Ticketed.
London Gallery Weekend
The world’s biggest Gallery Weekend takes over London for its fifth edition this month. With 125 galleries taking part, from established galleries to emerging spaces, the weekend celebrates the vibrancy and depth of the London art ecosystem. There are more than 60 free events alongside the gallery viewings, including talks, educational workshops, book launches, public parties and activities for children. Highlights include Polyphonies at Ames Yavus, a newly-opened contemporary gallery here in London with established spaces in Sydney and Singapore, Finding My Blue Sky, a vast group show curated by Dr Omar Kholeif as a ‘love letter to London’ across Lisson Gallery’s two spaces, and Ugo Rondinone’s fabulous the rainbow body with startling figurative sculptures in a brilliant fluorescent environment at Sadie Coles HQ. See all these and so much more at London Gallery Weekend.
At galleries across London, 6-8 June 2025.
London Design Biennale
The London Design Biennale is also celebrating its fifth edition this month. Taking place in the historic surrounds of Somerset House, the Biennale features world-leading design, innovation, creativity and research by exhibitors from across the globe. Taking place over three weeks, this international exhibition features curated installations accompanied by a program of events with thought-leadership talks, performances and workshops that showcase today’s leading designers and the ideas that can change our world. This year’s theme, ‘Surface Reflections’, explores how ideas are fuelled by a confluence of our internal experiences and external influences. Revelations in life are prompted by personal histories that inform who we are and together these form the multifaceted hues of human experience.
Somerset House on The Strand from 5-29 June 2025. Ticketed.
The London Open Live
June also sees the opening of this year’s The London Open Live at Whitechapel Gallery. Established in 1932 as an open call exhibition to showcase local artists and the creative energy of the East End, The London Open Live has evolved to encompass the whole city as a hub of global artistic activity. It seeks to present a potent snapshot of prescient themes and issues and has been a launch pad for many of the UK’s leading artists. This year’s focus is on performance and live art practices, which were seriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It showcases the importance of collective activity and fostering intimacy through a dynamic offering of new and recent live art. Performances will take place Thursdays to Sundays throughout summer and will be accompanied by a comprehensive program of films, talks and events.
Whitechapel Gallery, Whitechapel High Street, from 4 June to 7 September 2025.
Faces on stage – June
There’s always an opportunity to see a famous face from film and television live on stage in London. This month Tamsin Greig and Selina Cadell shine in Terrence Rattigan’s classic play The Deep Blue Sea at Theatre Royal Haymarket, Imelda Staunton stars alongside her daughter Bessie Carter in the George Bernard Shaw classic Mrs Warren’s Profession at the Garrick Theatre, Ewan McGregor and Elizabeth Debicki are still revisiting Ibsen in Lila Raicek’s My Master Builder at the Wyndham’s, Martin Freeman and Jack Lowden go head-to-head in The Fifth Step at Soho Place and Chris O’Dowd – much loved as Roy from The IT Crowd – takes centre stage in The Brightening Air at The Old Vic.
