Europe's first Classical Pride concert will take place tonight at the Barbican, including a new commission by Julian Anderson and three-part song cycle by Caroline Shaw. 

Ahead of the concert, tenor Nicky Spence performs Caroline’s Shaw’s Red Red Rose, from her three-part song cycle Is a Rose. Watch the exclusive video of Red Red Rose below.

The full work will be performed as part of the concert this evening, and is newly released as an EP on Platoon. In the recording, Oliver Zeffman leads the Philharmonia, and soloists Nicky Spence (tenor), Davoné Tines (bass-baritone) and Ella Taylor (soprano) through Shaw's melodic and arresting song cycle. 

Tonight’s concert, conceived and curated by conductor Oliver Zeffman, is presented by broadcaster Nick Grimshaw and will be the first time any major arts organisation or orchestra in Europe has given a classical concert for Pride. Zeffman will conduct the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, an LGTBQ+ community chorus and top international soloists, in an imaginative programme to celebrate the profound contribution that the LGBTQ+ community makes to classical music.

Featuring Pavel Kolesnikov, Samson Tsoy, Nicky Spence, Davóne Tines and Ella Taylor, the concert will explore music by LGBTQ+ composers, from Tchaikovsky to Poulenc and Bernstein, Caroline Shaw and a new commission from award-winning composer Julian Anderson. Celebrating these musicians not only for their artistic brilliance but also for their queerness, Classical Pride wants to show that LGBTQ+ people have always been at the heart of music at its highest level.

Check out Classical Pride