News

Brett Dean is Composer in Residence across the coming season with the Berlin Philharmonic, the orchestra where he was violist for 14 years. His return brings two new commissions, multiple roles as composer, instrumentalist and mentor for young musicians at the Karajan Academy, and his conducting debut with the orchestra.

The UK premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new Festen Suite at the BBC Proms garnered acclaim from press and public alike. The 25-minute orchestral work captures the opera’s party framework while darker undercurrents rise to the surface, with the music alternating between exuberance and blues-tinged elegy.

Steve Reich discusses his new work for large ensemble, In All Your Ways, the centerpiece of his 90th-birthday celebrations during the 2026–2027 season. The work receives its world premiere in Edinburgh International Festival with the Colin Currie Group on August 28, then tours to Amsterdam, Toronto, New York, London, Berkeley, Paris, and Los Angeles.

Flanders Opera presents the first Belgian staging of Louis Andriessen’s magnum opus De Materie in September in a new production by Phia Ménard, with eight performances in Antwerp. This year also celebrates the 50th anniversary of Andriessen’s ground-breaking minimalist work Hoketus with performances in the autumn by Het Muziek in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Den Bosch.

The coming season brings an extensive collection of new and recent works by Boosey & Hawkes and Sikorski composers, including Unsuk Chin, Anna Clyne, Brett Dean, Magnus Lindberg, James MacMillan and Mark-Anthony Turnage, together with celebrations for Steve Reich’s 90th and John Adams’s 80th.

The Hallé in Manchester opens its new season with the world premiere of James MacMillan’s Symphony No.6 under the baton of Kahchun Wong. MacMillan is the orchestra’s Featured Composer across a year of concerts, with other highlights including Christmas Oratorio and Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia with Mark Elder on the podium and Concerto for Orchestra with the composer conducting.

The first performance of Steve Reich’s new large ensemble work, In All Your Ways, is presented by the Colin Currie Group at the Edinburgh International Festival on 28 August. Further performances honouring the composer’s 90th birthday on 3 October see the new score travelling across the coming season to Amsterdam, Toronto, New York, Berkeley, London, Paris, Hamburg and Los Angeles.

Setting texts by Carol Ann Duffy, Brett Dean’s new song cycle The World’s Wife is unveiled at the BBC Proms on 29 July, with soprano Claire Booth. Following its world premiere with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth, further performances are planned by co-commissioners in Europe and Australia.

Gerald Finzi’s ode to the patron saint of music, For St Cecilia, provides the finale of the First Night of the 2026 BBC Proms on 17 July, with BBC forces conducted by Dalia Stasevska.

In August, the Orchestre Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin premiere Ana Sokolovic’s Montréal cirque.

La Reina Roja by Gabriela Ortiz receives its world premiere in July with the Impossible Orchestra, Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, and Alondra de la Parra.

Based on Garth Greenwell's acclaimed novel, David T. Little's award-winning opera receives its first recording with tenor Karim Sulayman and Alarm Will Sound conducted by Alan Pierson.

Performances worldwide salute the centennial of Carlisle Floyd, the Dean of American Opera, throughout the 2025–2026 and 2026–2027 seasons. The festivities culminate with a star-studded Centennial Celebration Concert at Carnegie Hall on June 20.

Royal Communications has announced that composer and conductor James MacMillan is appointed to the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle.

A busy three weeks for Jüri Reinvere sees two major premieres by leading orchestras on two continents. His double concerto for violin, harp and orchestra was unveiled in Cleveland on 22 May, and 12 June brings the premiere of The Song of the Two Earths for soprano, Estonian zither and orchestra in Munich.

Of One Blood, the new opera by Brett Dean, was premiered to acclaim at the Bavarian State Opera in May, with future performances scheduled at Santa Fe Opera, State Opera South Australia, and Garsington Opera in the UK. Telling of the rivalry between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, the opera was staged in Munich by Claus Guth with Vladimir Jurowski conducting.

On 25 June in Regensburg, Hans Winterberg’s Symphony No. 3, completed in 1955, receives its belated and much anticipated world premiere. The edition of Winterberg’s complete works is currently marking a series of milestones, including world premiere recordings and the completion of the first edition of his chamber music.

This summer brings first European performances of Gabriela Ortiz’s triple GRAMMY Award-winning Revolución diamantina conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. This powerful symphonic tribute to the feminist Glitter Revolution in her native Mexico City can be heard at the Berlin Philharmonie, the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival.

The first musical by Elena Kats-Chernin explores the dubious career of the illusionist Kalanag – alias Helmut Schreiber – spanning the Nazi film industry and the post-war entertainment business.

Christopher Tin’s The Pursuit of Happiness receives its world premiere on July 1 at Lincoln Center with piano soloist Lara Downes and American Composers Orchestra.