Unlike Vienna, where composers were born and raised, London built its musical empire by borrowing, stealing, and reshaping the sounds of outsiders.
Handel was a German who became England’s musical icon. Haydn was an Austrian who found freedom there. Chopin, Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Debussy passed through as exiles and visitors. Britten, one of the few native geniuses, spent years escaping it.
Through music and storytelling, we explore London as a city that never belonged to one tradition—but instead took the music of others and made it its own.