Philharmonia Orchestra, London: Festival in Mauritius

Join us for the Philharmonia Festival in Mauritius 2026.

Following their historic debut performances in Mauritius in 2024, the Philharmonia Orchestra returns in February 2026 as part of its global touring programme for its 80^th birthday with an expanded Festival – featuring double the concerts, double the music, and double the number of musicians.

The electrifying opening of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 is one of the most iconic and instantly recognisable moments in classical music. But there’s so much more to the piece than that stop-you-in-your-tracks opening. A 40-minute masterclass in orchestral writing, hear the symphony performed by the world-class musicians of the Philharmonia Orchestra, live in Mauritius – there’s a reason it’s remained one of the most popular pieces in the musical world and beyond.

The musicians of the Philharmonia are some of the best in the industry: enjoy the rare opportunity to witness some of the musicians move into the spotlight and become soloists, as they perform concerto movements by composers including Haydn, Mozart and Tchaikovsky.

BEETHOVEN Egmont Overture

MOZART Clarinet Concerto (second movement)

TCHAIKOVSKY Andante Cantabile (arr. cello and strings)

HAYDN Trumpet Concerto (third movement)

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5

Alexandre Bloch – conductor

Maura Marinucci – clarinet

Louisa Tuck – cello

Jason Evans – trumpet 

The Philharmonia Festival Mauritius is made possible by a leading donation from the Laurence Modiano Charitable Trust (LMCT)

Platinum Principal Partners

Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) 

Gold Principal Partners

Dev Joory & Anne Marie Shepherdson

Ninety Six Hotels Collection

Swan

Gold Supporting Partners

Monde de la Maison/Courts Mammouth

Summertimes

Leal

Alexandre Bloch – conductor

French conductor Alexandre Bloch has been appointed Principal Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica y Coro RTVE in Madrid with the start of the 2026–27 season. Bloch attracted international attention, winning first prize at the 2012 Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, and has since maintained a close relationship with the London Symphony. Admired for his musicality, enthusiasm and energy, he made his acclaimed Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra debut, replacing Mariss Jansons on short notice, not too long after.

Recent and upcoming guest engagements include debuts and returns with the London Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, The Hallé Manchester, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Euskadi Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, George Enescu Philharmonic Bucharest, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Utah Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, a tour with the European Union Youth Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Orchestre National de France, Vancouver Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, NCPA (Beijing) and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.  Equally at home in opera, Bloch has appeared with the Bayerische Staatsoper (Munich), where he returned in 2025 for two productions of Bizet’s Carmen and Hosokawa’s Matsukaze; the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf); Deutsche Oper Berlin; Opéra de Lille; and Opéra de Lyon.

Bloch was Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lille from 2016–2024, a tenure that inspired artistic and community growth. He programmed and explored a diverse, thrilling range of repertoire – a full Mahler cycle, most of the Stravinsky ballets, the large-scale French and German symphonies, as well as the intimate chamber forced canon of the classical masters Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. An advocate of new music, Bloch invited today’s most exciting composers, such as Magnus Lindberg, George Benjamin and Thierry Escaich, to be the Artists-in-Residence or featured in festivals. An innovator on and off the podium, he initiated special projects attracting new audiences into the concert hall with lyrical programs Bernstein’s Mass, Carmen, Tosca, les Pêcheurs de Perles, la Belle Hélène, Bohème, young audience concerts, and 2.0 concert formats. Under Bloch’s direction, the Orchestre National de Lille was nominated for a “2020 Gramophone Award: Orchestra of the Year” and has been featured extensively on different labels and broadcast channels such as Alpha Classics/Outhere, Pentatone, Mezzo TV, France Musique Radio.

He has collaborated with many internationally established soloists such as Frank-Peter Zimmermann, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Mischa Maisky, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Sol Gabetta, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Steven Isserlis, Sharon Kam, Alice Sara-Ott, Nemanja Radulovic, Veronika Eberle, Veronique Gens, and Xavier Demaîstre.

Former Principal Guest Conductor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Bloch was an ADAMI emerging talent and a Tanglewood Conducting Fellow, drawing the attention of mentors such as Mariss Jansons, Charles Dutoit, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Sir Mark Elder and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Philharmonia Orchestra

Founded in 1945, the Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the world’s great orchestras.

Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali took up the baton as Principal Conductor in 2021, and Marin Alsop joined him as Principal Guest Conductor in 2023. They follow in illustrious footsteps: Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Ricardo Muti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Christoph von Dohnányi, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Esa-Pekka Salonen are some of the key figures who have honed the renowned Philharmonia sound over eight decades.

The Orchestra has premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Kaija Saariaho, Errollyn Wallen, Laufey and many others, and performs with many of the world’s most admired soloists.

The Philharmonia thrives on creative collaborations: in the 2025/26 season, pianist Víkingur Ólafsson is Featured Artist, Gabriela Ortiz is Featured Composer, and dance, mime, theatre and drag artists Thick & Tight are Artists in Residence.

The Philharmonia is resident at the Southbank Centre in the heart of London, and also holds residencies in Basingstoke, Bedford, Canterbury and Leicester, at Garsington Opera and at the Three Choirs Festival. In each of these residencies, the Orchestra is deeply embedded in the community.

The Philharmonia tours extensively throughout Europe and has performed in China, Colombia, Japan, Mauritius and the United States. In October 2025 the Orchestra embarked on a major US tour, culminating in two performances at Carnegie Hall. The season also includes a tour of Korea, and performances at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Musikverein in Vienna, and many other leading European venues.

The Philharmonia is known for embracing innovative technology. The Orchestra’s recordings include benchmark LPs, more than 150 film and videogame soundtracks, and streamed performances. Its recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 is travelling through interstellar space on board the Voyager spacecraft, and its immersive installations and virtual reality (VR) experiences have introduced many thousands of people to orchestral music.

The Philharmonia Records label was established in 2023. The Orchestra has released live recordings of major works by Strauss, Mahler, Stravinsky and Shostakovich, with Santtu at the helm.

The Philharmonia’s Emerging Artists Programme nurtures and develops the next generation of instrumentalists and composers, with a focus on increasing diversity within the classical music industry.

The Philharmonia is a registered charity. It is proud to be supported by Arts Council England and grateful to the many generous individuals, businesses, trusts and foundations who make up its family of supporters.