2025/26 Season Highlights in North and South America

(August 2025)

The 2025–2026 season features a vibrant lineup of premieres and major performances by Boosey & Hawkes composers across North and South America. New orchestral works by John Adams, Steven Mackey, and Gabriela Ortiz debut and tour throughout the US, while Ana Sokolovic’s new opera Clown(s) premieres at Opéra de Montréal. Opera companies nationwide commemorate the centennial of Carlisle Floyd with new productions of his landmark stage works. The season also launches the “America at 250” celebrations, setting the stage for the nation’s milestone anniversary in 2026.

Explore performance highlights from this season’s programming below. For events in Europe, Asia, and Australasia, click here.

Mutiple dates
Aaron Copland at 125
One of America’s most iconic composers, Aaron Copland rings in his 125th anniversary on November 14, 2025, heralding in numerous “America at 250” concerts across the country that kick off this season. Notable highlights include full ballet performances of Appalachian Spring with both Kansas City Symphony led by Matthias Pintscher (Oct 10-12) and Louisville Orchestra & Ballet conducted by Teddy Abrams (Apr 11). The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Jun 18-21) and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Jun 12-14) present Lincoln Portrait this season, and Martha Graham Dance Company presents its legendary choreography for Appalachian Spring at Cal Performances (Feb 14).

Sep 18, New York
Anna Clyne, PALETTE (New York premiere)
Anna Clyne’s bold exploration of live orchestral processing culminates in PALETTE for Augmented Orchestra, receiving its New York premiere with the Juilliard Orchestra this fall. The work’s seven color-centric movements—Plum, Amber, Lava, Ebony, Teal, Tangerine, and Emerald—correspond to original paintings by Clyne, which were central to her music composition process. This artwork will be on view at Juilliard Station, next to the music school, from August 14-October 14.

Sep 26-28, Cleveland
Bernd Richard Deutsch, Urworte (North American premiere)
Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus in the North American premiere of Urworte, the final work commissioned during Deutsch’s tenure as the orchestra’s Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow. The epic, hourlong setting of Goethe’s poem explores the deep tensions between fate and freedom, love and loss, compulsion and transcendence.

Sep 30, Costa Mesa
Mark-Anthony Turnage, Arietta (World Premiere)
Turnage, who has been expanding his chamber music repertoire over the past decade, has composed a new work for the Calidore Quartet to be unveiled in a candlelit concert at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Turnage’s busy fall season also includes the world premiere of his new opera The Railway Children, based on the much-loved children’s classic by Edith Nesbit and premiering at Glyndebourne (Oct 20-Nov 8).

Oct 3-5, Philadelphia
John Adams, The Rock You Stand On (world premiere)
Adams’s new orchestral work for Marin Alsop premieres with The Philadelphia Orchestra, then tours to Katowice (Poland), Manchester, New York, Vienna, and Chicago. The Rock You Stand On, full of powerful, pulsating rhythms and rocking syncopations, has “a certain ‘big band' quality,” as described by the composer, “with the full orchestra at times executing irregular, bouncing figurations that are driven by an underlying jazz-inflected pulse.” Adams himself conducts the work with the Houston Symphony in the spring (Apr 18-19).

In his final season as music director of the LA Phil, Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the US premiere of Adams’s Frenzy (Oct 2-5) and tours the recent work to South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.

Oct 17, Davis
Gabriela Ortiz, Si el oxígeno fuera verde (North American premiere)
The Philharmonia in London—one of three organizations with whom Ortiz is in residence this season—embarks on an ambitious fall US tour with Ortiz’s new work Si el oxígeno fuera verde (If Oxygen Were Green), beginning in Davis, California, and ending at Carnegie Hall in New York. The new piece draws inspiration from the natural world—the complex network of plants, photosynthesis, and oxygen that make life possible on Earth.

This fall also sees the South American premiere of Yanga for choir, percussion quartet, and orchestra at Argentina’s Teatro Colón (Oct 17). This powerful work celebrates the life and legacy of Gaspar Yanga, a 16th-century African prince who led a rebellion against slavery in colonial Mexico and founded the first free Black settlement in the Americas.

Oct 18-19, Carmel-by-the-Sea
Steven Mackey, Anemology (world premiere)
Steven Mackey’s new saxophone concerto Anemology (meaning the study of air movement) draws on his previous background in physics and the qualities of wind, as well as the inspiring artistry of soloist Timothy McAllister—as Mackey describes, “His playing howls, grooves, flutters and flows like the wind.” McAllister premieres the work with the Monterey Symphony and Jayce Ogren, followed by performances with Utah Symphony and David Robertson (Oct 24-25), and Seattle Symphony and Lawrence Renes (Nov 20-22).

Oct 22, New York
Brett Dean, String Quartet No. 4 (world premiere)
The Belcea Quartet gives the world premiere of Brett Dean’s fourth string quartet at Carnegie Hall, then tours the work throughout the winter and spring to Paris, Amsterdam, Lyon, Vienna, and Cologne. Subtitled “A Little Book of Prayers,” the 20-minute pieces comprises five introspective movements written in memory of violinist Laura Samuel (1976-2024), who was a founding member of the quartet.

Oct 23-26, Baltimore
Mark Simpson, Israfel (North American premiere)
Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem about Israfel—the angel of music in Islamic tradition—Simpson set out to compose a piece that “sang, floated, morphed, moved, moved us, lifted us, had power, had fragility, had hope, uncertainty, beauty ... something to shake us.” Since its premiere in 2015, Israfel has garnered praise for its “refreshing ... blithe, uninhibited energy” (The Guardian). Recently championed by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the piece now makes its North American debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jonathon Heyward.

Nov 15, New York
Jeanine Tesori, Blue (New York City premiere)
New B&H signing Jeanine Tesori is Lincoln Center’s Visionary Artist, curating a broad range of events across the season including film screenings, panel discussions, and community choir events. A major highlight of the residency is the New York City premiere of her acclaimed opera Blue (Nov 15), written with librettist Tazewell Thompson, which tells an emotionally impactful story of a Black police officer grappling with the killing of his teenage son. Blue is co-presented by the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Lincoln Center Theater as a staged concert performance at David Geffen Hall.

Dec 3, New York
Lera Auerbach, Frozen Dreams (New York premiere)
New York City hosts two major back-to-back performances of Auerbach’s music this winter. The New York Philharmonic and Stéphane Denève present her widely acclaimed Icarus, a requiem inspired by the legendary myth (Nov 26–29). The following week, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck come to Carnegie Hall with an encore performance of Frozen Dreams (Dec 3, New York premiere), a 12-minute orchestral work the orchestra premiered in June 2025. Described by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as “chilling,” Frozen Dreams is a meditation on the fragile nature of memory, time, and perception.

Dec 7, Mexico
Enrico Chapela, Antiphaser (Mexican premiere)
Chapela’s concerto for electric violin and orchestra receives its Mexican premiere with soloist Dirén Checa, presented at the Gala Concert of the International Urtext Festival, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Urtext label. Classical Voice North America describes the work as fusing “the propulsive energy of rock with the kind of perpetual-motion dynamism that animates the fast movements of a Baroque concerto.”

Jan 22, New York
Sean Shepherd, Latticework (New York premiere)
Latticework is a 20-minute duo composed for violinist Leila Josefowicz and cellist Paul Watkins, who gave its premiere in June 2025 and perform the work at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York City in January. The work draws inspiration from the expressive range of the two instruments and references the structural innovations of 20th-century duos by Ravel and Bartók.

Jan 22-24, Dallas
James MacMillan, Where the Lugar meets the Glaisnock (North American premiere)
MacMillan’s piece for solo euphonium and strings receives its North American premiere with soloist David Childs and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. A deeply personal piece, Where the Lugar meets the Glaisnock is a salute to MacMillan’s grandfather, a coal miner and amateur euphonium player. Full of evocative folk song and plainchant, the piece is “suffused with a rhapsodic, out-of-doors lyricism” (The Telegraph).

Jan 24-25, Orlando
Osvaldo Golijov, Creation (Preview)
In the new year, the Orlando Philharmonic and Eric Jacobsen give a special preview performance of a new oratorio in development by Osvaldo Golijov and David Henry Hwang, to be premiered at a future date to be announced.

The following week, Golijov’s 2022 string octet Ever Yours receives its New York premiere with The Knights at Carnegie Hall (Feb 5). The string ensemble work, first performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet and Telegraph Quartet, is inspired by the deeply felt affection expressed in letters between Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo.

Jan 30-31, Minneapolis
Donghoon Shin, Threadsuns (North American premiere)
Threadsuns receives its North American premiere with the Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Fabien Gabel and featuring viola soloist Rebecca Albers. The 23-minute concerto explores a wide emotional range—from intimate shyness to violence and an ironic waltz—through a vivid dialogue between soloist and orchestra. Gabel also leads European performances with the Tonkünstler-Orchester at Vienna’s Musikverein (Mar 14–15).

Earlier in the season, Shin’s new piano concerto for Seong-Jin Cho premieres with the London Symphony Orchestra and Maxime Pascal at the Barbican (Nov 20).

Jan 31-Feb 8, Montreal
Ana Sokolovic, Clown(s) (world premiere)
Sokolovic’s new opera Clown(s) draws upon the worlds of Sand, Fellini, Chaplin, and Keaton to construct a favola in musica—a musical fable told across seven scenes. Combining an invented language, evocative music, and contemporary stage magic, this production conjures a whimsical, circus-inspired world.

Feb 26-Mar 1, Los Angeles
Gabriela Ortiz, Revolución diamantina (world premiere of ballet)
Revolución diamantina (2025 GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Composition) is Ortiz’s powerful response to the 2019 feminist uprising against violence toward women in Mexico. Named after a protest in which activists hurled pink glitter in Mexico City’s streets, the work features a percussion-rich, atmospheric score that “fizzes with a sense of restless unease” (BBC Music Magazine). Originally conceived as a ballet, Ortiz’s music is now choreographed for the first time by the acclaimed Brazilian dance company Grupo Corpo, known for fusing African rhythms, Brazilian culture, and classical technique.

Mar 7-8, Baltimore
Grace Evangeline Mason, New Work (world premiere)
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jonathan Heyward give the world premiere of a new environment-themed work by Grace Evangeline Mason, developed as part of the orchestra’s seasonlong collaboration with the Baltimore Museum of Art exploring climate and ecological themes. Earlier in the season, Heyward also leads performances of Mason’s The Imagined Forest with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Nov 20–22).

Mar 13-15, Houston
Carlisle Floyd, Of Mice and Men
Carlisle Floyd, widely regarded as a founding father of American opera, is celebrated in June 2026 with centennial tributes from leading institutions across the US, intersecting with “America at 250” festivities. Known for weaving American stories, folk tunes, and speech patterns into opera, Floyd’s legacy is honored through new productions and concert performances. Houston Grand Opera—where Floyd was closely associated—leads the celebrations with a new staging of Of Mice and Men (Mar 13–15), also presented by Lyric Opera of Kansas City (May 1-3) and Des Moines Metro Opera (Jun 27-Jul 18). Additional highlights include Susannah at Opera Omaha (Jan 30-Feb 1) and Sarasota Opera (Mar 14-28); and a double bill of Slow Dusk and Markheim at the Moores Opera Center (Apr16-19).

April 11, San Francisco
Steve Reich, Jacob’s Ladder (West coast premiere)
In Jacob’s Ladder, Steve Reich sets Hebrew Biblical texts that recount Jacob’s vision of angels ascending and descending a ladder between Heaven and Earth. Praised by The New York Times as “light, graceful, refreshing,” the work recently received a world premiere recording with the New York Philharmonic (Nonesuch Records) and now makes its US West Coast debut with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players.

Apr 16-19, Baltimore
Brett Dean, Fire Music (East coast premiere)
Fire Music is an orchestral work inspired by the devastating 2009 “Black Saturday” bushfires in Australia, reflecting on fire’s dual role as both a force of destruction and a source of renewal in Indigenous traditions. Marin Alsop conducts the East Coast premiere of the work with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in April.

The following month, Brett Dean unveils his third stage work, Of One Blood (May 10-Jun 29), which delves into the relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart—bound by lineage but divided by politics and religion. The opera premieres at the Bavarian State Opera under Vladimir Jurowski, with future productions planned by Santa Fe Opera, State Opera South Australia, and Garsington Opera.

Apr 24-25, Jacksonville
Anna Clyne, Woman of the Mountain (world premiere)
The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and conductor Courtney Lewis give the world premiere of Anna Clyne’s Woman of the Mountain, an orchestral work that references the traditional Irish song “Sliabh na mBan” (“Mountain of the Women”). The piece follows the journey of an extraordinary woman navigating the natural world in a quest for love, culminating at a mountain’s peak.

Additional premieres this spring include The Years for chorus and orchestra, receiving its North American premiere with the Charlotte Symphony and Master Chorale led by Stephanie Rhodes Russell (Apr 10–11), and Sirens for horn and string orchestra, which has its world premiere with soloist Ben Goldscheider and the London Mozart Players at St Martin-in-the-Fields (May 8).

May 7-9, Cleveland
Olga Neuwirth, Zones of Blue (North American premiere)
Clarinetist Jörg Widmann premieres Neuwirth’s new concerto in Munich and Barcelona before arriving in Cleveland for the North American premiere. The title “Zones of Blue” references the regions of the world where people are said to live significantly longer than the global average. Neuwirth also found inspiration in works such as Father Death Blues by American Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and poems by Tennessee Williams.

In February, Neuwirth’s "grand guignol opera” Monster’s Paradise, her third operatic collaboration with writer Elfriede Jelinek, will premiere at the Hamburg Staatsoper (Feb 1-Apr 12).

May 22, Cleveland
Jüri Reinvere, Concerto for Violin, Harp, and Orchestra (world premiere)
Violinist Leila Josefowicz and harpist Trina Struble are featured soloists with The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst for the world premiere of Jüri Reinvere’s Concerto for Violin, Harp, and Orchestra—a work that creates a compelling dialog between two stringed instruments rarely heard together.

In Germany, Reinvere’s Das Lied von den zwei Erden for soprano, kannel (an Estonian folk zither), and orchestra, also receives its world premiere with Aušrine Stundyte and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Matthias Pintscher (Jun 12).

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