Eight artists. Eight orchestral works. One shared experience.

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Eight artists. Eight pieces of orchestral music. Creativity driven by the power of listening.

In a world full of noise, what happens when we really listen? The London Philharmonic Orchestra asked eight postgraduate students from the Royal College of Art, under the tutelage of Neville Brody, to listen deeply to a piece of music, and create an artwork in response. See what they created, discover the music that inspired them, and come and experience the power of listening for yourself at an LPO concert.

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White clay-like sculptural forms and musical symbols arranged against a vivid hot-pink background. The upper-left form is inscribed “ESCAPE INSTRUMENTS FOR MOVEMENTS,” while abstract shapes resembling instruments, musical notes, strings, and organic figures fill the composition.

That’s the sound of your shoulders dropping

Artwork designed by: Ishita Sharma

While listening to: Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony, first movement

Conducted by: Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Featuring: James O'Donnell

‘Forget all your responsibilities for a few minutes, let your body and your mind relax as you go with the flow of Saint-Saëns’s beautiful, calm melody.’ – Jesús Herrera, Artistic Director

‘It was deeply meditative. Sitting still with the music, I entered a deep state of flow where it guided my imagination, revealing visions that then I could translate onto paper through ink.’ – Ishita Sharma, artist

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Escape in four movements

Artwork designed by: Anna Korbel

While listening to: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5

Conducted by: Kurt Masur

‘How do you deal with despair? Faced with losing his hearing, Beethoven’s answer was to create some of the most exciting orchestral music of all time.’ – Jesús Herrera, Artistic Director

‘This project has offered me an inspiring opportunity to combine my passion for performing classical music with my illustration practice. It has been a pleasure.’ – Anna Korbel, artist

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Black-and-white abstract artwork of dense vertical threads or strings cascading across the frame, with bright reflective highlights and geometric forms emerging in the background. White vertical text reads “STRINGS,” “THAT SAY,” and “WHAT YOU CAN’T.”

Strings that say what you can’t

Artwork designed by: Yejin Seo

While listening to: Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony, fourth movement

Conducted by: Karina Canellakis

‘Sometimes it’s impossible to express how you feel or who you really are in words. So Tchaikovsky poured it all into his final symphony.’ – Jesús Herrera, Artistic Director

‘Sitting with the finale’s silence, I entered a stillness. Restraint began guiding the image itself. It reveals only as much as the symphony withheld.’ – Yejin Seo, artist

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An hour of rush

Artwork designed by: Megan Peng

While listening to: Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, second movement

Conducted by: Bernard Haitink

‘Shostakovich lived in constant fear of a knock on the door from Stalin’s secret police. This one’s less ‘soothing classics’, more ‘twentieth-century terror.’ – Jesús Herrera, Artistic Director

‘I’ve been exploring ways of slowing down through running and photography, so experiencing music as another way of intentionally directing attention felt really meaningful.’ – Megan Peng, artist

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Letting go, one note at a time

Artwork designed by: Ruwani Rajapakse

While listening to: Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius

Conducted by: Edward Gardner

‘What might dying feel like? Elgar imagines a man guided by a guardian angel, as his soul journeys towards the next world.’ – Jesús Herrera, Artistic Director

‘Listening to orchestral music, especially live, gives me goosebumps. The Dream of Gerontius moved me deeply. Its fleeting life shaped my artwork’s mood and aesthetic.’ – Ruwani Rajapakse, artist

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Abstract black, white, and pink artwork featuring layered musical staves, circular symbols and geometric shapes reflecting Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony, fourth movement and the text 'Chaos perfectly orchestrated'.

Chaos, perfectly orchestrated

Artwork designed by: Zengyue Zhao

While listening to: Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony, fourth movement

Conducted by: Vladimir Jurowski

‘Those nineteenth-century creative types didn’t hold back on the angst. Byron’s poem Manfred inspired this musical depiction of a tormented anti-hero battling with a horde of evil spirits.’ – Jesús Herrera, Artistic Director

‘I felt constant urgency and tension in the music, which inspired me to translate its shifting rhythms into an ordered, dynamic geometric language of dots, lines, and planes.’ – Zengyue Zhao, artist

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Abstract pink, white and black artwork depicting a young person with cloud-like creatures and trumpets swirling around their enlarged ear, reflecting Mahler's First Symphony and the text 'where your brain stops scrolling'.

Where your brain stops scrolling

Artwork designed by: CTZ

While listening to: Mahler’s Symphony No. 1

Conducted by: Klaus Tennstedt

‘Fed up with a million things competing for your attention? We prescribe a Mahler symphony – lose track of time as you’re immersed in a different world.‘ – Jesús Herrera, Artistic Director

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Abstract pink, white and black artwork with a feather and a french horn, reflecting the finale of Stravinsky's The Firebird and the text 'Heavy brass, lighter mind'.

Heavy brass, lighter mind

Artwork designed by: Yunqi Peng

While listening to: Stravinsky’s The Firebird, Finale

Conducted by: Vladimir Jurowski

‘Leave the drama to Stravinsky and the brass players of the LPO, as they tell of enchanted warriors freed by the courage of a prince and the magic of the Firebird.‘ – Jesús Herrera, Artistic Director

‘The music’s ascent from darkness to light shaped my visual narrative, using shifting colour contrasts, repeated patterns, and a halo developed through dialogue with LPO team.‘ – Yungi Peng, artist

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