When Jesús Herrera arrived at the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) as Artistic Director in June 2025, he brought with him a career that had taken him from the concert halls of Paris to the corridors of one of the world’s most respected classical music agencies, via a transformative chapter running an orchestra in his native Spain. Warm, candid and visibly energised by what lies ahead, he speaks to Juliette Barber about his journey into arts management, what it really means to lead one of the world’s great orchestras, and why Paavo Järvi leaves the players’ survey results in a category of their own
You studied piano performance in Paris and Salzburg before pivoting to music management. What drew you to the curatorial side of music?
I always knew, somehow, but the realisation didn’t come until quite far down the line, because I didn’t know that arts management was even an option. I’m from southern Spain, and the only model I had for making a living in music was teaching an instrument. Following the path of the great performers seemed like another galaxy. But even as a teenager, around 12 to 13, I was already thinking strategically about putting programmes together – if I learn this piece, I’ll develop this technique, and in eight years I’ll be able to do that. It was the same combination of enthusiasm and strategy that is exactly how I think about programming now.
The real turning point came when I was studying in Paris and living in student accommodation that had a small hall and a Steinway piano that nobody ever used. I started organising concerts for fellow students, but I had no idea what I was doing, and I didn’t know how to build an audience or communicate professionally. I believe you can always figure things out by doing them, and eventually I created an ambitious programme to support young artists. As the volume of work increased I realised it was organising concerts, not performing, that made me happiest – I had found my element.
You spent time at Intermusica, one of the most prominent classical music agencies in the world, before moving to run the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. What did leading an orchestra teach you that agency life couldn’t?
My first spell at Intermusica ended during Covid, but it just so happened that for me it opened a door, because I moved to Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León (OSCyL) in Spain, which was a phenomenal experience. I had known that orchestra for years and always thought it had tremendous potential. When I went through the interview process, I wrote about 60 pages laying out everything I wanted to do – I had a very clear vision. I arrived with no direct orchestral experience, but I think they noticed I understood what that orchestra could achieve.
I set myself a timeline: in this period, I will do this, this and this, and then I’ll come back to London. And we moved fast. During my time there we appointed Chief Conductor Thierry Fischer and Artistic Partners Elim Chan and Vasily Petrenko, launched a youth orchestra, a conducting competition, a new chamber music and recital series, and a new partnership with Signum Records. When I felt I had prepared the ground for the orchestra to continue that work itself, I returned to Intermusica. Stephen Lumsden, the Managing Director, had seen what I was doing in Spain and was incredibly generous, essentially offering me a blank canvas, so we created a new role around strategic partnerships and projects, and I really thought I’d stay for a long time. When the LPO told me there was a vacancy and asked if I wanted to apply, I didn’t take it too seriously at first. But I went through the process, and I got the job. I was a bit heartbroken to leave Intermusica again, but here we are.
On your appointment, Catherine Høgel, the LPO Chair, described you as a “dynamic and creative strategist” with a “forward-thinking vision”. You’ve spoken about the LPO as a model for the 21st-century orchestra. What does that mean in practice?
There are so many layers to this job. On one level, when I was a teenager listening to LPO recordings, this was an orchestra that felt untouchable. A legacy of the greatest music-making in the world. That sense of responsibility never leaves you, because whatever a leading orchestra does will be noticed. People follow the trends we set, which means we’d better get them right.
But what you actually confront day-to-day is an extremely active, reactive working rhythm – a complex, giant jigsaw puzzle, with pieces coming at you from every direction. And because the LPO doesn’t have the luxury of the subsidies many European orchestras enjoy, you are fighting for every penny, managing multiple open fronts simultaneously. The danger is that you start programming by numbers, fitting this stakeholder requirement here, that funding condition there, and it loses its artistic soul. So it’s vital to keep returning to the idealistic core: it should always start with the feeling of being there to serve the music. We’re custodians of an amazing legacy, and the music of the future. We have to serve the music first. Then, if you’re disciplined about how you achieve the practicalities, it all comes together.
The 2026–27 season, In Search of Purpose, marks the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death with his Fifth Symphony and a complete Piano Concerto cycle, and celebrates the London Philharmonic Choir’s 80th anniversary with four major choral works led by Edward Gardner. How much of your own vision does this season reflect?
The season sits within a broader identity we’ve been developing called “The Power of Listening”, and In Search of Purpose is its first chapter. We’re already working on chapters two and three. This kind of listening isn’t only about perceiving sound, it’s about really hearing each other, caring about what others have to say, what you can learn from the world around you, from the past and the present.
Beethoven is central because his story is so extraordinary – a man who lost the very thing he most cared about, who wrote in the Heiligenstadt Testament that he had lost faith in life, and yet found his purpose through music and gave the world some of its most optimistic art in his darkest moments. I wanted to portray him as the humanist and the optimist that he was. And the theme is deliberately open – it doesn’t restrict programming; it amplifies the essence of the music. The season opens with Britten’s War Requiem, the purpose of reconciliation, of finding peace in a world that is so messed up right now, and closes with Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, which is the ultimate purpose: coming to terms with death. Of the 27 concerts, around 24 feature a work with a direct link to a different angle of purpose, such as Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra and its existential questions, works by Shostakovich who spoke out in times of oppression. I hope the programme will help people see themselves in this music.
From the 2028–29 season, Paavo Järvi will succeed Edward Gardner as Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor. What were you looking for, and what convinced you he was the right choice for this particular moment in the LPO’s life?
After the players perform with a conductor, we always do an evaluation. Some conductors don’t work so well, some they tolerate, some they like. And then there’s a different category, and that’s where Paavo sits. If you see those surveys, he is in a category of his own. They adore him. And when you hear the orchestra perform with him, he has the capacity to get that extra percentage, that something you didn’t know was there. When you thought it couldn’t get any better, he finds it. Everyone is genuinely excited to work with him.
Järvi has an extraordinarily full schedule as Music Director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and Founder and Artistic Director of the Pärnu Music Festival and Estonian Festival Orchestra. How do you see the partnership working in practice, and what do you most hope it will bring to the orchestra?
He always replies to messages, faster than me, actually. He’s tremendously collaborative, and I think it’s because he’s genuinely excited. We’ve already started planning meetings and we just go crazy together as we love so many of the same things. We start dreaming, and the enthusiasm is felt at every level, not just with me but across the whole team. He has committed to 10 Royal Festival Hall programmes, plus the Proms, and two tours including a long-haul tour every year. That is more than enough to ensure the orchestra truly feels this is his orchestra, that its sound is his sound, and everything that comes with that.
Like me, he really likes history and feels a lot of respect for the great people who have achieved amazing things. As we approach the orchestra’s centenary in 2032, it’s a perfect moment to question who we are, what we can give or have given to the world, and what’s the responsibility that we’ve inherited from that legacy. Exploring the identity of the orchestra and presenting seasons where the essence of the music can be amplified, will be very important pillars for at least the early years of this partnership.
And finally, are you able to share any of the visions you are working on together?
We’re starting the 2026–27 season with “The Power of Listening”, making music that was written 200 years ago, 150 years ago, or five years ago really relevant to how people think and feel today. Järvi likes this very much, and we’ve already come up with a theme that resonates with him for his first season in 2028–29. We’re already working on this, and it’s going to be fascinating to see how far we can go together.
To discover more about the LPO’s 2026–27 season, In Search of Purpose, visit www.lpo.org.uk