Boston Modern Orchestra Project Unveils 2026 Winter-Spring Highlights

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) has announced the wide-ranging program of its Winter-Spring 2026 season, approaching its 30th year.

Led by its artistic director/conductor Gil Rose, this season’s highlights include: Boston performances of a trio of monodramas, the revival of a neglected opera, and the world premiere of three BMOP-commissioned orchestral works by some of today’s leading American composers; the continuation of its ongoing partnership with Odyssey Opera; and the prospective releases of seven new orchestral recordings on its Grammy Award-winning record label, BMOP/sound.

The Winter-Spring series begins by BMOP partnering with its Boston-based sister organization Odyssey Opera, in two events. February 21, 2026, brings an intimate monodrama concert featuring three vocal luminaries: sopranos Julia Mintzer and Sarah Coburand, and one of the world’s most sought-after baritones, Michael Chioldi. March 13, 2026, The Last Savage (1964) satirical opera makes its Boston premiere. Premiered by the Metropolitan Opera in 1964 to the displeasure of critics, Gian Carlo Menotti’s over-the-top satire is given a second chance with modern audiences delighting in its dry wit and topicality.

The concert series culminates in a spring April 19, 2026, concert showcasing the virtuosity of the musicians of BMOP with the premiere of three diverse works by American composers: John Aylward, Avner Dorman, Lisa Bielawa, and Anthony De Ritis, with special guest artists Kristina Cooper and Tessa Lark.

BMOP’s in-house record label, BMOP/sound, will release world premiere recordings every month, including Eric Sawyer: Civil Disobedience (February), Eric Moe: No Time Like the Present (March), Ulysses Kay: Frederick Douglass (May), and Richard Danielpour: The Celestial Circus (July). In addition to its traditional album cycle, BMOP/sound releases stand-alone digital works as part of its new Singles series. Upcoming single releases include: Shelley Washington: Both (February),Gian Carlo Menotti: Errand into the Maze (April), and Evan Ziporyn: Hard Drive (June).

BMOP IN CONCERT Lineup

MONO E MONO (E MONO)
Sat February 21 at 8:00 p.m. | NEC’s Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough Street, Boston)
Gil Rose, conductor
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Odyssey Opera
Julia Mintzer, soprano
Michael Chioldi, baritone
Sarah Coburn, soprano

BMOP and Odyssey Opera bring a trio of monodramas to fire the spirit of mid-winter. William Bolcom’s opera, Medusa, conveys her experience as the only mortal Gorgon. Celebrating the upcoming centenary of Carlisle Floyd’s birth, his rarely performed Flower and Hawk gives an intimate look at the wealthy and powerful Eleanor of Aquitaine. Ron Perera’s The White Whale is a gripping character study of Captain Ahab from Herman Melville’s novel, “Moby-Dick.”

William Bolcom      Medusa (2023) 
RONALD PERERA         The White Whale (1981) 
CARLISLE FLOYD         Flower and Hawk (1972) 

THE LAST SAVAGE
Fri March 13 at 8:00 p.m. | The Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Avenue, Boston)
Gil Rose, conductor
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Odyssey Opera
Phillip Lopez, bass-baritone
Sharleen Joynt, coloratura soprano
Anay Matanovič, soprano
Omar Najmi, tenor
Gabriel Preisser, baritone
Michelle Trainor, soprano

BMOP collaborates with Odyssey Opera on its fully staged production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Last Savage. The three act opera buffa’s eclectic score and unexpected libretto delightfully subvert convention through Mozartian musical tropes. Set in a satirical vision of mid‑20th‑century society, the opera follows Kitty, the spirited daughter of a wealthy American anthropologist, who insists on finding and taming a “savage” to prove her independence. She discovers Abdul, a young man living in the wilderness of India, and drags him back to the modern world as her prize specimen. 

Yet Abdul’s transformation into a polished socialite exposes the absurdities of both primitive stereotypes and the shallow sophistication of high society. Menotti’s witty libretto skewers cultural pretensions, consumerism, and the clash between tradition and progress, while his score blends lyrical arias, jazzy rhythms, and pastiche of operatic conventions. The result is a playful yet biting comedy that asks whether civilization itself is the true masquerade. This production highlights the opera’s enduring relevance, inviting audiences to laugh at its outrageous characters while reflecting on the timeless human desire to define—and defy—what is “savage” and what is “civilized.”

GIAN CARLO MENOTTI /libst. MENOTTI    The Last Savage (1964)

PREMIERE4
Sun April 19 at 3:00 p.m. | NEC’s Jordan Hall (30 Gainsborough Street, Boston)
Gil Rose, conductor
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Kristina Cooper, cello
Tessa Lark, violin

BMOP programs an invigorating evening of new orchestral works, presenting the world premieres of John Aylward’s potent History of the World, Avner Dorman’s Cello Concerto featuring internationally heralded Kristina Cooper, and Anthony De Ritis’s Jiggedy Jingle Jaunty Jaunty for orchestra and electronics. Also on the program is the Boston premiere of Lisa Bielawa’s violin concerto for the hugely-talented violinist Tessa Lark. 

John Aylward         History of the World (2025)
AVNER DORMAN        Cello Concerto (2025) 
                                                          Kristina Cooper, cello
LISA BIELAWA              Violin Concerto No. 2: PULSE (2025)
                                                              Tessa Lark, violin
ANTHONY DE RITIS    Jiggedy Jingle Jaunty Jaunty (2026)

BMOP ON RECORD

January – Eric Sawyer: Civil Disobedience (#1108) 
Available on SACD and all streaming services                                                       
Civil Disobedience is Eric Sawyer’s second BMOP/sound album, once again revisiting the lives and legacies of American icons. By setting Thoreau’s infamous essay Civil Disobedience, Sawyer recontextualizes the writer’s most prescient work as it fits into the 21st century. This release also features the Claremont Trio in Sawyer's transcendentalist-inspired "Fantasy Concerto" and his foray into the world of singer-songwriter, "Ways of Being," featuring Krista River and Kristen Watson.

February – Shelley Washington: Both (Singles #2002)                     
Available to stream in Dolby Atmos®
Shelley Washington makes her BMOP/sound debut with Both, an exploration of the multitudes contained within the composer. By examining the dualities in her life and the tension created by them, Washington is able to cultivate unique and exciting textures. As these develop across the four movements, a constant sense of reflection and recollection stokes nostalgia, finally giving way to unbridled optimism.  

March - Eric Moe: No Time Like the Present (#1109)                          
Available on SACD and all streaming services
Eric Moe returns to BMOP/sound with No Time Like the Present, demonstrating the refinement of his compositional voice as well as the changing world in which he creates. Moe’s ability to weave angularity and lyricism within the orchestra in "Repeat Offender" is matched by his deftness as concerto soloist in "The Sweetness of Despair, the Necessity of Hope," creating a palette overflowing with color.

April – Gian Carlo Menotti: Errand into the Maze (Singles #2003)
Available to stream in Dolby Atmos®
Gian Carlo Menotti composed Errand into the Maze for visionary dancer Martha Graham's ballet, refocusing the infamous tale of the Minotaur through a feminist lens. This work maintains its lasting power through its subversive narrative and expertly crafted score. Menotti joins such composers as Carlos Surinach and William Schuman in the BMOP catalog, whose collaborations with Graham are never lacking imagination, direction, and dance.

May – Ulysses Kay: Frederick Douglass (#1110)                                    
Available on SACD and all streaming services
The second installment in the As Told By series, Ulysses Kay’s Frederick Douglass captures a segment of the life of one of the United States’ most read yet least understood figures. A man of mythic proportions, Douglass is given the treatment of a complex and conflicted individual, subverting the uncomplicated two-dimensional narrative. Among the first Black composers to leave his mark in the United States classical tradition, Kay’s sprawling musical language is animated today by BMOP and a cast of today and tomorrow’s most talented voices. Among them are Kenneth Kellogg as Frederick Douglass, Melody Moore as Helen Douglass, Leroy Davis as Howard Davis, and Neal Ferreira as Aubrey, a Young Officer. 

June – Evan Ziporyn: Hard Drive (Singles #2004)
Available to stream in Dolby Atmos®
Few composers are featured by BMOP more often than Evan Ziporyn. Hard Drive brings movement and expression to a device that's both ubiquitous and rarely noticed. This angular, perpetually spinning piece arrives at a rock-flavored climax, enhanced by electric guitar and unyielding rhythmic interest. 

July – Richard Danielpour: The Celestial Circus (#1110)               
Available on SACD and all streaming services
The Celestial Circus by Richard Danielpour is a testament to the colors afforded to adventurous orchestrators and daring performers. Lisa Pegher returns to the BMOP catalog, bringing her characteristic intensity and precision to "The Wounded Healer" with an array of percussion instruments, some more familiar than others. The serene, sparkling character of Danielpour’s "Lacrimae Angeli" gives way to the biblical din of destruction, as the cycle of death and rebirth is explored across cultures.

Photo credit: Steven Pisano