After a 250-year absence, the ‘Dictionary Desk’ of celebrated 18th century writer Samuel Johnson makes a historic return to his former abode, Dr Johnson’s House in the City of London.
Summer Programme at the Barbican
The Barbican has launched its summer 2025 programme packed with events across its venues, public spaces, outdoors and even in its car park. The season includes Frequencies, a programme exploring the power of sound and sonic experience, Barbican’s iconic Outdoor Cinema, a series live music events and concerts including a Summer Jazz Series, two major shows kicking off the summer theatre season with multiple Olivier-Award winning Fiddler on the Roof, brand new exhibition Encounters: Giacometti x Huma Bhabha, and much more.
Frequencies
Frequencies is a packed cross arts programme exploring the power of sound and sonic experience to shape how we move, think, feel and to inspire change. Featuring a packed programme of film screenings, concerts, events, workshops and talks, the season kicks off in May and explores how the power of sound moves more than just the body, and how it continues to inspire generations to rebel and create change.
The Frequencies programme includes:
Feel the Sound, Thu 22 May to Sun 31 Aug, Barbican’s bold new multi-sensory immersive exhibition exploring our relationship to sound and new ways to experience it through a series of installations including new commissions and UK premieres.
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats, Thu 22 May to Sun 3 Aug, the world premiere of a new version of the award-winning Virtual Reality experience – a nostalgic immersive adventure of finding an Acid House rave in 1989 that pushes the technology even further to create a truly collective experience, where friends share the same virtual space.
Rebel Radio, Sun 1 to Mon 30 Jun, a month-long programme of broadcasts, talks, workshops, late night party and screenings celebrating London’s Pirate Radio story and exploring radio as a space for community, creativity, and subversion.
Live music events and concerts including:
A Warp Happening, Sat 14 Jun, a special day of music, screenings and performances led by the pioneering record label. The first Warp label-based event in over a decade will take place across the Barbican in an exclusive all-dayer, featuring Warp Vision: a feature length trip through the music video archives of the label, a host of Warp artists and culminating in a grand finale in the Barbican Hall.
Rampage: Carnival Classics 2, Fri 20 Jun, joined by the 30-piece Nu Civilisation Orchestra returning to the Barbican to reimagine Carnival classics and celebrate over three decades of iconic tracks that define the sounds of Notting Hill Carnival.
Ligeti Quartet: Nuc, Sat 21 Jun, performing tracks from their 2023 album Nuc, fusing acoustic and electronic music for string quartet by Mercury-nominated composer Anna Meredith alongside visual projections.
Jeff Mills + London Symphony Orchestra: Blue Potential, Sat 28 Jun, making his much-awaited return with the Barbican’s Resident Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra for a very special evening marking the 20th anniversary of Blue Potential, Mills’ groundbreaking 2005 project and 2006 album combining electronic and symphonic music.
Cinema screenings including:
Refugee Week: Haiyu (18) + ScreenTalk, Wed 18 June: Winner of the Sheffield Doc Fest Youth Jury Prize, Haiyu focusses on one of Western Sahara’s greatest singers, Mariem Hassan, whose life and music have given comfort and hope among the ongoing tragedy committed to the Sahrawis throughout the colonial era continuing up to this very day and has been used as a tool in the fight for independence in Africa's last colony.
Good Vibrations: Barbican Emerging Film Curator Alumna Lillian Crawford curates two events exploring neurodivergent responses to sound and music within a cinema space:
Outdoor Cinema, Wed 20 Aug to Sun 31 Aug, returns this summer with a sparkling selection of films to watch under the city’s stars, in the Barbican Sculpture Court. The Frequencies line-up, with films notable for their inventive and immersive soundscapes, include Dune, Uncle Boonmee, The Return of Godzilla, Babymother, Beau Travail and Björk’s Cornucopia.
Visual Arts
Encounters: Giacometti x Huma Bhabha, Thu 8 May to Sun 10 Aug
Inaugurating a new, intimate space within the Barbican, figurative sculptures from across Bhabha’s career are displayed alongside iconic works by Giacometti made mostly in the aftermath of World War II. Spanning nearly a century of artmaking and encompassing a range of media, this exhibition considers what occurs at the meeting point of works responding to the anguish and despair of a wounded world.
Theatre and Dance
Part of a three-year partnership between the Barbican and Trafalgar Theatre Productions:
Fiddler on the Roof, Sat 24 May to Sat 19 Jul, triumphant winner of three Olivier Awards for Best Musical Revival, Best Sound Design and Best Set Design Fiddler on the Roof transfers to the Barbican following a sold-out season at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
Good Night, Oscar, Thu 31 Jul to Sun 21 Sep, written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Wright, Good Night, Oscar is a dazzling, darkly funny drama about Oscar Levant; Hollywood actor, concert pianist and infamous wit. Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) who won a Tony Award for his performance, reprises his acclaimed Broadway role, reuniting with Ben Rappaport for the London premiere. Also starring Rosalie Craig (Company).
Music
Khatia Buniatishvili & Friends, Thu 12 Jun, the finale to Khatia Buniatishvili’s Barbican residency, the pianist invites friends from the performing world to join her for an intimate evening of music and words.
Classical Pride 2025: Voices of Pride, Fri 27 Jun to Thu 10 Jul, returns for its third year, featuring Barbican Resident Orchestra the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Oliver Zeffman, and a world premiere by Jake Heggie commissioned by Classical Pride, alongside a line-up of star soloists, plus a free performance by emerging musicians in the Hall at 6pm on 4 July.
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - Orchestral Qawwali with Abi Sampa, Sun 20 Jul, East meets West as The Orchestral Qawwali Project joins the CBSO, CBSO Chorus, and University of Birmingham Voices for a spellbinding performance.
Summer Jazz Series, Mon 16 Jun to Sat 26 Jul, running across June and July, the Summer Jazz Series features a selection of jazz artists including Tigran Hamasyan (Mon 16 Jun), Brad Mehldau Trio (Tue 24 Jun), and Take Me to the River All Stars (Sat 12 Jul). The series closes with a three-night residency from Herbie Hancock (Thu 24 – Sat 26 Jul), marking his 85th birthday.
Cinema
Queer 70s: LGBTQ+ Cinema in the Decade after Stonewall, Wed 11 Jun to Wed 16 Jul, a season inviting audiences to travel back to the 1970s, when LGBTQ+ lives were shown on screen with an unapologetic gusto unthinkable a decade before.
Outdoor Cinema, Wed 20 Aug to Sun 31 Aug, returns this summer with a joyful programme of films to watch under the city stars, in the cinematic surroundings of the Barbican Sculpture court. Screenings include Love & Basketball, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Grave of the Fireflies, Fire of Love and Little Shop of Horrors.
Barbican Architecture Tours
Running daily, Barbican’s 90-minute Architecture Tours cover the vast, bold and brutal Barbican estate. Led by expert guides, the tour covers the Barbican Centre and surrounding Brutalist estate, exploring the site’s little-known nooks and crannies, venturing through highwalks, leafy courts and sweeping crescents, giving visitors an insight into the vision and ambition behind the complex’s design and its past, present and future.
Access the Barbican’s full Summer 2025 programme.
