Recurring

SoundBox Features Adès And More

Throughout the 2023-34 season, the San Francisco Symphony will present its SoundBox series, curated by four musicians on each of four weekends. The small Soundbox space is designed to allow for multi-sensory, interactive experiences. Expect the unexpected. Get ready to see musical experiments in action. The details of the SoundBox programs remain under wraps, but […]

Premieres Pack LSO Program

There are two world premieres and a U.K. premiere in the April 7 program by the London Symphony Orchestra, appropriately titled Music of Tomorrow. François-Xavier Roth conducts works by Christian Drew, Unsuk Chin, Donghoon Shin, and Stef Conner, on a concert that concludes with Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. The new cello concert by Shin will […]

SFCO Premiere’s ‘Aqua’

Resilience is the title of the April 19-21 program by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. Trevor Weston’s Aqua, a commission made via the Emerging Black Composers Project, will receive its world premiere. Works by Caroline Shaw, Stravinsky, and Schumann are also on tap. https://www.thesfco.org/main-stage-202324

Skye’s ‘Horizon’ Hopes To Heal Divides

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has commissioned a new work from L.A.-based composer Derrick Skye. The premiere of To Be a Horizon, described as multicultural exploration designed to deconstruct cultural divides, will take place April 20-21, with guests Tereza Stanislav on violin and Yura Lee on viola. Conductor Jaime Martín will also lead Mozart’s Sinfonia […]

Beethoven’s Ninth Is 200

The chance to hear the Pittsburgh Symphony, under Manfred Honeck, play Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on the 200th anniversary of the work’s first performance is reason enough to head to Heinz Hall. But on the April 25-28 program, audiences will also be treated to a world premiere, a new work by Canadian composer Samy Moussa, whose […]

López Bellido Premiere In Houston

Peruvian-born Jimmy López Bellido will present the world premiere of a new work on April 26-28, courtesy of the Houston Symphony, under the baton of its conductor laureate, Andrés Orozco-Estrada. The bulk of the concert will be devoted to Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, with the Houston Symphony Chorus, countertenor Reginald Mobley, soprano Joélle Harvey, and […]

Hildegard, Hildur, Missy, and Sarah

Enargeia is a work for voice and orchestra, a compilation of songs by Hildegard von Bingen, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Missy Mazzoli, and Sarah Kirkland Snider as arranged by Jarkko Riihimäki. The piece will receive its North American premiere by the Toronto Symphony May 1-2, with mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo. Under the baton of Gustavo Gimeno, the program […]

A Baroque Opera’s Modern Premiere

Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682-1738) broke with operatic tradition with his ballet-opera Les Fêtes de Thalie, daring to include contemporary characters in the story rather than only historical or mythological ones. Opera Lafayette will present the modern premiere of this opera on May 4 in Washington, D.C., and on May 5 in New York. With music direction […]

Arditti Quartet Turns 50

The Arditti Quartet, celebrating its 50th season, will present world premiere of a new work by Sarah Nemtsov on May 11 at the Elbphilharmonie. The program consists of works from the late 20th century (Elliott Carter, Iannis Xenakis, Helmut Lachenmann) as well as the 21st (Olga Neuwirth, Brian Ferneyhough). https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/en/whats-on/50-years-of-the-arditti-quartet/20269  

Knights Premiere Reconceived Montgomery

The world premiere of a new orchestration for violin and chamber orchestra by Michi Wiancko of Jessie Montgomery’s Rhapsody No. 2 will open the Knights’ May 16 appearance at Carnegie Hall. Gabriel Kahan’s Heirloom and Anna Clyne’s Shorthand for cello and orchestra will also receive their New York premieres on a program that includes Mozart’s […]

Oratorio ‘Sacrifice of Isaac’ Premieres

On May 16 and 18, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will give the world premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff’s oratorio Sacrifice of Isaac. The ASO’s music director laureate, Robert Spano, conducts a program that includes another work involving sacrifice, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. https://www.aso.org/events/detail/robert-spano-rite-of-spring

Conrad Tao Premieres ‘A Thing Made Whole’

Working with the U.K.-based collective Distractfold, pianist Conrad Tao will play the world premiere of Andrew Greenwald’s A Thing Made Whole VIII. Also on this May 23 program at Kaufman Music Center are recent works by Jürg Frey, Hanna Hartman, and Mauricio Pauly. https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/distractfold-with-conrad-tao/

Petrenko Conducts Basevi Premiere

The Dallas Symphony has commissioned a new work from Italian composer Andrea Basevi, which will receive its world premiere under the baton of Vasily Petrenko at the DSO’s season finale on May 23-26. Basevi, a tenor himself, specializes in vocal writing; his new work will feature the Dallas Symphony Children’s Chorus. Guest soloist for the […]

Welser-Möst Premieres Violin, Harp Concerto

Cleveland Orchestra music director Franz Welser-Möst will conduct the world premiere of Jüri Reinvere’s Concerto for Violin and Harp, featuring violinist Leila Josefowicz and harpist Trina Struble. This May 23-25 program also includes the “Prelude and Liebestod” from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Mozart’s Serenade No. 10, the Gran Partita, for 12 wind instruments and […]

LACO Premieres ‘Sound Investment’

Although she is not yet 30, composer Nina Shekhar has already won a long list of awards and accepted commissions from some of America’s leading orchestras. The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will give the world premiere of her work Sound Investment on the May 24-25 concert conducted by Jaime Martín. Gabriela Montero will be the […]

New Opera Considers Refugee Children’s Plight

Composer Layale Chaker and librettist Lisa Schlesinger will see the world premiere of their opera Ruinous Gods May 24-June 1 at Spoleto USA. With stage direction by Omar Abi Azar and Maya Zbib and conducted by Kamna Gupta, the opera, loosely based on the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone, explores the psychological toll experienced […]

Spotlight on the Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique

In its 90th season, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal hopes to draw attention to the Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique, the spectacular organ in its home all, the Maison Symphonique de Montréal. Thus, the season finale on May 28-30 features four organists: Shin-Young Lee, Isabelle Demers, Jean-Willy Kunz, and Olivier Latry. With Rafael Payare on the podium, […]

Coleman Orchestral Work Premieres in Philly

Mitsuko Uchida will play Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major with the Philadelphia Orchestra May 30-June 2, 2024, in a program closing with Debussy’s La mer. Sandwiched between these French classics is a world premiere by an American: Valerie Coleman’s Concerto for Orchestra. This is the fourth commission by the Philadelphia Orchestra from this composer. […]

Esmail Quartet to Premiere at Spoleto USA

Spoleto USA will present the world premiere of Reena Esmail’s String Quartet. The June 5-6 chamber program also includes Darius Milhaud’s Suite for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano, and the Schumann Piano Quartet. https://spoletousa.org/events/bank-of-america-chamber-music/  

Honeck Leads Dougherty Concerto Premiere

In a program entitled Darkness to Light on June 7-9, 2024, the Pittsburgh Symphony will open with Jessie Montgomery’s 2017 piece Coincident Dances, celebrating the diversity and energy of New York City. The orchestra commissioned a new work by Michael Daugherty, Double Concerto for Oboe and Horn, which will receive its world premiere featuring oboist […]

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