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Details
Cadogan Hall
5 Sloane Terrace
Sloane Square, Belgravia
London
SW1X 9DQ
England
Tickets
Prices: £20-£40
Booking line: 020 7730 4500
Book Tickets
Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Concerto no.5 in E flat major 'Emperor', Op.73
Carey Tan – Symphony no.3 'The Rise and Fall of AI Humanity'
Carey Tan – Symphony no.2 'The Cries of War'
Sergei Rachmaninov – Piano Concerto no.2, Op.18
Performers
Kevin Tan – piano
Carey Tan – marimba
Programme Note
PART I
Carey Tan — Symphony No. 2: The Cries of War Carey Tan, marimba
I. Shadows of Misery · II. Reflection · III. The Pact
War does not end when the guns fall silent. Carey Tan's second symphony moves through devastation, haunted memory, and the fragile, hard-won possibility of reconciliation — conjuring an orchestral world of vivid colour and shattering emotional force. To hear it is to be shaken, and then stilled.
Winner of the Gold Prize (Composition) and the Inspirational Creativity Musical Genius Special Prize at the Global Genius Music Competition, 2025. First Prize, UK International Music Competition, 2026.
Ludwig van Beethoven — Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, "Emperor" Kevin Tan, piano
Beethoven's mightiest concerto needs no introduction — but in Kevin Tan's hands, it sounds as if it is being discovered for the first time. This is music of invincible grandeur and soaring lyricism, and when Kevin performed it at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2025, more than two thousand people rose to their feet. They clapped. They shouted. They wept. For five unbroken minutes, the hall refused to let him go. That is not a reception — that is a reckoning. On 7 September, he brings this performance to London.
— Interval —
PART II
Carey Tan — Symphony No. 3: The Rise and Fall of AI Humanity Carey Tan, marimba
I. Construction of AI Civilisation · II. Dwelling in Reality · III. Nature and the Universe · IV. Collapse and Destruction · V. Ashes and Echoes
What happens when humanity builds something greater than itself — and then loses control of it? Carey Tan's extraordinary third symphony charts the full arc: emergence, expansion, imbalance, and ruin. Across five movements of towering scale and intellectual depth, it asks the question our civilisation is only beginning to confront. The silence at its close is among the most powerful things you will experience in a concert hall.
Winner of the Gold Prize in Original Composition at the World Artistry Music Award, 2025.
Sergei Rachmaninov — Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 Kevin Tan, piano
Few works in all of music reach as directly into the human heart as Rachmaninov's Second. Kevin Tan brings to it everything the concerto demands — brilliance, tenderness, and an emotional directness that makes each phrase feel inevitable. This is the piece that reminds you why live music exists.
