Our friends and RPS Corporate Members City of London Sinfonia present THE EXOPLANETS: an extraordinary blend of theatre, live orchestral performance, and planetarium experience, co-produced by City of London Sinfonia and theatre company curious directive.

THE EXOPLANETS is a human story of everyday life mapped onto the cosmos. It is a love letter to imagination, to collaboration, and to the infinite pull of the unknown. It’s a journey across space, time, and the human heart.

At the heart of THE EXOPLANETS is composer Audrey, rebuilding her life after bereavement by opening her home to seven foster children. Each child becomes a planet of their own, reshaping her life with unique energy, challenges, and joy. Over three decades, their lives unfold in tandem with a growing symphonic suite, a musical tribute Audrey composes to the galaxies they build together. Inspired by the discovery of planets beyond our solar system, the music and storytelling of THE EXOPLANETS is based on real data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. 

Building on the legacy of Holst’s The Planets, this production ventures further, to celestial bodies no one could have imagined a century ago. The music brings together new compositions by seven visionary composers: RPS Composers Blasio Kavuma, Samantha Fernando, and Robin Haigh are joined by Theo Whitworth, Anibal Vidal, Zhenyan Li, and Pauchi Sasaki — each exploring the sound of a different and newly discovered exoplanet.

The Exoplanets will be first performed at  Norwich Theatre Royal on 6 and 7 September 2025, followed by the London premiere at Hackney Empire on 13 March 2026.

This Summer, CLS Chief executive Rowan Rutter's article for Philharmonic, the magazine for RPS Members, explored this project and the visionary New Frontiers the orchestra have in store this coming season. You can read the full article here, and find out more about RPS Membership here.

THE EXOPLANETS is a City of London Sinfonia and curious directive co-production, in association with Norwich Theatre and Norfolk and Suffolk Music Hub, with support from the Conceptual Image Laboratory (NASA), generously supported by Arts Council England, Cockayne – Grants for the Arts, the Vaughan Williams Foundation, and the Leche Trust.

You can find out more and book tickets via the link below.