MARCH28, 2025
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra announces 2025–26 season
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2025–26 Delta Classical season, the ensemble’s 81st and the fourth under Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann. The season opens in September with a special performance by Lang Lang, and officially launches in October with Stutzmann conducting Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben and Elgar’s Cello Concerto with soloist Alisa Weilerstein.
Highlights include the conclusion of the orchestra’s Beethoven Project with Symphony No. 9, and major choral works such as Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. Guest artists this season include Hélène Grimaud, Leif Ove Andsnes, Isabelle Faust, and Alexandre Kantorow, who will give a solo recital.
The orchestra’s America @ 250 series will mark the United States’ semiquincentennial with music by American composers including Barber, Bernstein, Ellington, and new works by Valerie Coleman, Nicky Sohn, and Leonard Slatkin. Former music director Robert Spano returns for two programs featuring Bernstein’s symphonies.
For more details and tickets, visit aso.org
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MARCH 26, 2025
Kazuki Yamada receives 2024 Suntory Music Award
Conductor Kazuki Yamada has been named the recipient of the 56th Suntory Music Award. Presented by the Suntory Foundation for the Arts, the award recognizes individuals or ensembles who have made notable contributions to the development of Western-style music in Japan. The prize includes a monetary award of ¥7,000,000.
Yamada, who won the Besançon International Conducting Competition in 2009, was selected for his artistic achievements both in Japan and internationally, including recent performances with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra. The jury highlighted his evolving interpretative approach and his dedication to both orchestral and choral repertoire.
Yamada is currently Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. He maintains an active international career, with upcoming debuts at the Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and other leading orchestras.
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MARCH 25,2025
Dallas Symphony Orchestra unveils 125th anniversary season
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2025–26 season, celebrating its 125th anniversary with a wide-ranging program of symphonic and operatic works, premieres, and guest artists. Music Director Fabio Luisi will lead performances of Mahler’s Fourth and Eighth Symphonies, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in concert, and Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. The season will include six world premieres and one U.S. premiere, featuring works by Angélica Negrón, Kathryn Bostic, Sophia Jani, and Jonathan Leshnoff, among others.
Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos joins the orchestra as Artist-in-Residence, appearing in both concerto and chamber music programs. Additional soloists include Emanuel Ax, Hélène Grimaud, Karen Slack, and Julian Steckel. Several conductors will return or make their debuts with the DSO, including Marin Alsop, Edward Gardner, and Tabita Berglund.
Other highlights include a spring tour of California, the return of the orchestra’s Pops and Movies-in-Concert series, and the continuation of digital broadcasts.
You can find more information at dallassymphony.org.
PH: Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center
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MARCH 24, 2025
Toronto Symphony Orchestra announces 2026 European tour
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra will embark on a 14-day European tour from January 27 to February 9, 2026, marking Music Director Gustavo Gimeno’s first intercontinental tour with the ensemble. The tour includes performances in eight cities across six countries, with stops in Madrid (Jan 27–28), Zaragoza (Jan 29), Barcelona (Jan 30), Luxembourg City (Feb 2), Amsterdam (Feb 3), Hamburg (Feb 5), Antwerp (Feb 6), and Vienna (Feb 9).
The orchestra will present a variety of programs featuring works such as Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1, along with pieces by Canadian composers Kelly-Marie Murphy and Rufus Wainwright.
Featured soloists include pianist Bruce Liu, violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and sopranos Anna Prohaska and Christina Landshamer.
PH: Gustavo Gimeno
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MARCH 21, 2025
Semperoper Dresden announces 2025/2026 season under Daniele Gatti
The Semperoper Dresden has unveiled its 2025/2026 season, marking the inaugural year with Daniele Gatti as the new Kapellmeister of the Staatskapelle Dresden. The season features a blend of new productions and revivals, showcasing a diverse repertoire.
New Productions:
- Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi: Opening the season in October, this production is directed by Damiano Michieletto, with Nicola Alaimo in the title role. Daniele Gatti conducts.
- Parsifal by Richard Wagner: A new staging by Floris Visser, featuring Eric Cutler and Georg Zeppenfeld. Gatti leads the orchestra.
- The Snow Queen by Hans Abrahamsen: Directed by Immo Karaman, with Titus Engel conducting. Cast includes Christa Mayer, Georg Zeppenfeld, and Vera-Lotte Boecker.
- Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc: This marks the opera’s first staging in Dresden, directed by Jetske Mijnssen and conducted by Marie Jacquot, featuring Evelyn Herlitzius, Marjukka Tepponen, and Rosalía Cid.
- Carmen by Georges Bizet: Directed by Nadja Loschky, with Lorenzo Passerini on the podium and Ève-Maud Hubeaux as Carmen.
- Il cappello di paglia di Firenze by Nino Rota: A new production directed by Bernd Mottl and conducted by Daniele Squeo.
- As One by Laura Kaminsky: A contemporary addition to the season’s lineup.
Revivals:
The season also includes revivals of classic operas, with notable performances by Marina Monzó as Gilda in Rigoletto and Rosalía Cid as Musetta in La bohème.
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