Tyshawn Sorey’s new work for string quartet and percussion, For Grachan Moncur III, is dedicated to a trailblazing jazz trombonist. Featuring Sorey himself and his frequent collaborators, the JACK Quartet, the piece will receive its U.S. premiere at the 92nd St. Y on Dec. 16. The concert will also be livestreamed. https://www.92ny.org/event/jack-quartet-with-tyshawn-sorey
Leonid Desyatnikov is a Ukrainian composer born in 1955. His piano duet Trompe-l'œil will receive its U.S. premiere at a Carnegie Hall recital by pianists Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy on Feb. 13. The duo will also play Stravinsky’s four-handed arrangement of The Rite of Spring and Schubert’s Fantasia in F minor, D. 940. https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2024/02/13/pavel-kolesnikov-piano-samson-tsoy-piano-0730pm
On Feb. 29-March 1, Long Yu will conduct the New York Philharmonic orchestra and chorus in the U.S. premiere of Émigré, a semi-staged oratorio by Aaron Zigman and Mark Campbell about Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai to escape the Holocaust. The work was co-commission by the NY Phil and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Soloists […]
The Tanglewood Festival Chorus and cellist Blaise Déjardin join the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the American premiere of The Dong with the Luminous Nose. This work by Elena Langer was a BSO co-commission. The program, conducted by Mark Elder, also includes Ravel’s complete Mother Goose, Dvořák’s symphonic poem The Noonday Witch, and Janáček’s Sinfonietta. March […]
Quatuor Van Kuijk, from France, makes their Carnegie Hall debut on March 21 with the U.S. premiere of the jazz-inspired Ces messieurs by fellow Frenchman Baptiste Trotignon. The concert opens intensely, with Beethoven’s late quartet, Op. 131 in C-sharp minor. Several works by Fauré and Satie are also on the program. https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2024/03/21/quatuor-van-kuijk-0730pm
French composer Guillaum Connesson has named his new organ concerto Concerto da Requiem, and it will receive its American premiere on March 21-23. Organist Christian Schmitt will present the work with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton on Paavo Järvi. The program opens with Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and concludes with […]
On March 28-30, 2024, Domingo Hindoyan conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a BSO co-commission, the American premiere of Symphony No. 6 by Grammy-winning composer Roberto Sierra. Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto is also scheduled, with Pablo Ferrández as soloist. The program is rounded out with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7. https://www.bso.org/events/sierra-elgar-dvorak
On April 11-13, the Minnesota Orchestra presents the U.S. premiere of Rise Up, O Sun! by Jamaican composer Eleanor Alberga. Concertmaster Erin Keefe is soloist for the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, and Thomas Søndergård leads the Minnesota Chorale in Brahms’ Schicksalslied. https://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/tickets/calendar/classical/sondergard-keefe-and-brahms/
Project 19 is an initiative launched by the New York Philharmonic in 2020 to commission works by female composers. The latest creation in that series is Olga Neuwirth’s Keyframes for a Hippogriff — Musical Calligrams, which will receive its U.S. premiere on April 18-20. Neuwirth’s work uses texts by Ariosto, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Friedrich […]
At age 91, Sofia Gubaidulina is still an active composer. The Boston Symphony Orchestra will present the American premiere of her Prologue for Orchestra on April 25-27, 2024. With Andris Nelsons conducting, the program also features Thomas Rolfs as soloist in the Trumpet Concerto of another living composer, Detlev Glanert. Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 4 completes […]
Composer Bryce Dessner will be in the spotlight for two weekends at the Cincinnati Symphony, the second featuring the U.S. premiere of his new piano concerto, with Alice Sara Ott as soloist. Dessner’s short work, Mari, opens the May 3-4 program, which concludes with Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony under the baton of Louis Langrée. https://www.cincinnatisymphony.org/tickets-and-events/buy-tickets/cso/2324-cso-season/beethoven-symphony-no.-7--dessner-premieres/
On May 5 at Carnegie Hall, Simon Rattle will conduct the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in the U.S. premiere of a new work by Thomas Adès. The program also includes the Prelude and “Liebestod” from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde as well as Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, Pastoral. https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2024/05/03/bavarian-radio-symphony-orchestra-0800pm
South Korean composer Unsuk Chin was co-commissioned to write Alaraph ‘Ritus des Herzschlags’ for the San Francisco Symphony, which will give its U.S. premiere on May 16-18. Chin has described the work as having two main inspirations: pulsating binary stars and the traditions of Korean courtly and folk music. Ryan Bancroft conducts this program, which includes […]
Renowned composer Tan Dun will grace the podium for a May 18-19 program, leading the Baltimore Symphony in his own music plus two works by Stravinsky: Fireworks and Song of the Nightingale. Besides Tan Dun’s Passacaglia: Secret of Wind and Birds, the composer/conductor will present the U.S. premiere of his Five Muses of Dunhuang. https://my.bsomusic.org/overview/18302
Innocence, an opera by the late Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, will receive its U.S. premiere June 1-21 at the San Francisco Opera. The story, told in eight languages through Sofi Oksanen’s libretto, deals with the long-term emotional consequences of a school shooting in Helsinki. The production will be conducted by Saariaho specialist Clément Mao-Takacs. https://www.sfopera.com/
The U.S. premiere of The Listeners, by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek, will be presented by Opera Philadelphia Sept. 25-29. The Listeners examines the lengths to which we, as Americans, are willing to go to find a sense of place and purpose. Lileana Blain-Cruz directs this production. https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/in-theaters-2024-2025/the-listeners/
The U.S. premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s Neharot, a tribute to those who suffered in the pandemic, will occur on Oct. 10-13, with Pintscher himself conducting the New York Philharmonic. Gil Shaham will play Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, and the program concludes with Schoenberg’s Pelleas and Melisande. https://www.nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/2425/pintscher-shaham/
Anna Clyne’s Time and Tides will receive its U.S. premiere on Oct. 18-20 with the Detroit Symphony under Tabita Berglund, who joins the orchestra this season as principal guest conductor. This new concerto will feature violinist Pekka Kuusisto. The program also includes Britten’s Four Sea Interludes and Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen Suite. https://www.dso.org/events-and-tickets/events/24-25-fall/sea-scenes-sibelius-and-britten
On Oct. 24-26, British composer Hannah Kendall will receive the American premiere of her work O flower of fire, inspired by Guyanese-British poet Martin Carter, with Antonio Pappano leading the Boston Symphony. Jean-Yves Thibaudet will play Liszt’s dazzling Piano Concerto No. 2, and the program concludes with Strauss’ philosophical tone poem, Also sprach Zarathustra. https://www.bso.org/events/kendall-liszt-strauss?performance=2024-10-24-19:30
Gianandrea Noseda leads the National Symphony and oboist Alexei Ogrintchouk in the U.S. premiere of Alexander Raskatov’s Oboe Concerto, Time’s River, on Oct. 31-Nov. 2. Prokofiev’s Summer Night opens the program, which ends with Tchaikovsky’s sweeping Pathétique Symphony No. 6. https://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/home/2024-2025/noseda-ogrintchouk/
