After celebrating its 125th anniversary, The Philadelphia Orchestra turns toward the future with a 2026–27 season that balances large-scale repertoire, new commissions, and a sustained commitment to contemporary voices. Announced on January 29, the season marks the 15th year of Yannick Nézet-Séguin as music and artistic director and signals a period of consolidation rather than reinvention.
Instead of relying on headline-grabbing novelty, the programming outlines a clear artistic direction: symphonic cycles, commissioned works embedded in core programming, and concert opera as a defining strand of the orchestra’s identity.
Opening with Beethoven — and Joe Hisaishi
The season opens on September 24 with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, paired with the United States premiere of Orbis by Joe Hisaishi, the orchestra’s composer-in-residence. The pairing sets the tone for the season, framing new music in direct dialogue with the canon rather than isolating it in specialist programs.
Hisaishi’s presence extends across the season. In March, he returns to conduct the world premiere of his Piano Concerto, performed by Alice Sara Ott, alongside his Concerto for Orchestra, reinforcing his central role in the orchestra’s current artistic profile.
Commissions and contemporary voices
New music runs consistently through the season. Among the principal premieres and commissions are Symphonic Rituals from MASS, a new orchestral arrangement of Bernstein’s work by Garth Edwin Sunderland; Reena Esmail’s Concerto for Orchestra, led by Nézet-Séguin in May; The Party, a multidisciplinary collaboration by Austin Fisher with film by Alex Da Corte, conducted by Marin Alsop; and a new orchestration of Florence Price’s “Rainbow Waltz” by Valerie Coleman, closing the season.
These works appear alongside music by Julia Wolfe, Unsuk Chin, Gabriela Ortiz, Anna Meredith, Caroline Shaw, Erkki-Sven Tüür, and John Adams, forming a contemporary thread integrated into the orchestra’s main subscription programs rather than confined to thematic sidelines.
Mahler at the centre
Mahler remains a cornerstone of Nézet-Séguin’s tenure in Philadelphia. The 2026–27 season includes four symphonies — Nos. 1, 3, 5, and 7 — tracing a broad arc from youthful expansion to nocturnal ambiguity. Symphony No. 3, presented in May, brings together large choral and vocal forces and stands as one of the season’s major focal points.
Mahler’s works are framed alongside other large-scale scores led by Nézet-Séguin, including Carmina burana, Holst’s The Planets, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (“Pastoral”), reinforcing the orchestra’s emphasis on monumentality and sonic scale.
Opera in concert: Lohengrin
Concert opera continues to play a central role in the orchestra’s programming. Following recent performances of Tristan und Isolde, the 2026–27 season features Wagner’s Lohengrin in April — the orchestra’s first complete performances of the opera.
With tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac in the title role and soprano Elza van den Heever as Elsa, the performances follow the orchestra’s established approach to concert opera, placing the ensemble onstage and foregrounding the symphonic architecture of Wagner’s score.
Pianists, conductors, and orchestral voices
The season brings together a notable group of pianists, including Yunchan Lim, Seong-Jin Cho, Yefim Bronfman, Daniil Trifonov, and Yuja Wang, who appears both with the orchestra and in a solo recital.
Guest conductors include Simon Rattle, returning to Philadelphia for the first time in a decade, alongside Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Järvi, Fabio Luisi, Jane Glover, Daniele Rustioni, Dalia Stasevska, and Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider.
Orchestra musicians also step into the spotlight as soloists, with principal players featured in works by Hindemith, Mendelssohn, and Strauss, underscoring the ensemble’s internal artistic depth.
Between tradition and renewal
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2026–27 season does not attempt to redefine the institution. Instead, it sharpens priorities developed over the past decade: sustained engagement with contemporary music, large symphonic statements, and concert opera as a core artistic practice.
In the wake of its anniversary year, the focus shifts from celebration to continuity — measured, deliberate, and confident in direction.
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