It may turn out to be a titanic battle with unpredictable elements and noisy traffic but the London Symphony Orchestra was confident of success as it announced the first of three open-air concerts in Trafalgar Square.

The LSO said Valery Gergiev would conduct a free programme of Stravinsky on the evening of Saturday 12 May in a new partnership with BMW.

Kathryn McDowell, the LSO's managing director, said the concerts were part of the LSO's mission "to take the finest music to the widest possible audience".

She added: "It will appeal to first-time concert goers of all ages and also to more established classical music enthusiasts. Trafalgar Square is the perfect venue."

Gergiev said it was important for the LSO to go outside concert halls and he had had good experiences conducting outdoors in Munich, New York and Red Square, Moscow. Trafalgar Square will have its own challenges, not least being surrounded by buses and cars.

"Acoustic is an issue of course but there are many, many ways of making it work," said Gergiev. "And look, if classical music were to always hide behind the walls of Carnegie Hall or the Barbican, I don't think that would be the smartest solution."

He added: "I hope that performing these great works in such an impressive outdoor space will encourage many new people to experience the very special sound and experience of a truly great orchestra."

The first programme will include Stravinsky's Firebird Suite and The Rite of Spring with 100 young musicians from LSO Discovery – the orchestra's music education and community programme – also performing The Lite of Spring, a Stravinsky interpretation by Gareth Glyn.

It is thought to be the first full symphony orchestra concert in the square, although numerous art forms have been represented there in recent years including dance, opera and contemporary visual art on the fourth plinth, with the Scandinavian artists Elmgreen & Dragset next up on Thursday, unveiling their boy on a rocking horse.

The London mayor, Boris Johnson, said the LSO concert was "just one example of a series of feel-good, outdoor events taking place in the runup to the Olympics, creating a summer like no other".