Music Worcester 2025–2026 Season To Feature Simone Dinnerstein, Kyung-wha Chung, And Orchestre National De France

Music Worcester will continue its 2025–2026 season with a wide-ranging fall lineup highlighted by Simone Dinnerstein headlining BACHtoberfest Weekend, a recital by legendary violinist Kyung-Wha Chung, and the long-awaited U.S. return of Orchestre National de France. Tickets and subscription packages are available at musicworcester.org.

The season will open on Sunday, October 5 with Boston-based early music ensemble Musicians of the Old Post Road performing Bach’s Cantatas BWV 170, 173, and 209, the latter being one of only two cantatas written in Italian. This concert marks the first of eleven events in the second year of THE COMPLETE BACH, Music Worcester’s ambitious multi-year project to present all of J.S. Bach’s known works, culminating in 2035 on the composer’s 350th birthday.

BACHtoberfest Weekend will follow October 24–26 with Simone Dinnerstein making her conducting debut at Mechanics Hall. She will lead her ensemble Baroklyn from the keyboard in a program featuring Bach’s works from their recent chart-topping album Complicité. The ensemble will be joined by CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Arts) and mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano in performances of Bach cantatas including Es ist das Heil uns kommen her (BWV 9). On Saturday, October 25, Peter Krasinski will perform Bach’s organ works on Mechanics Hall’s historic Hook Organ, and that evening Dinnerstein will reunite with cellist Alexis Gerlach for a program pairing Bach’s Viola da Gamba Sonatas with the complete Inventions and Sinfonias. On Sunday, October 26, the BACHtoberfest Choir, comprised of more than one hundred singers from across the country under the direction of Chris Shepard, will perform Bach Cantatas BWV 29, 41, and 190.

Violinist Kyung-Wha Chung will return to the Mechanics Hall stage on Sunday, November 2 with pianist Kevin Kenner for a recital featuring works by Debussy, Schubert, Schoenberg, and Franck. This performance is part of her limited eight-stop North American tour celebrating sixty years of artistry.

On Friday, November 7, Orchestre National de France will make its Music Worcester debut with an all-French program led by conductor Cristian Măcelaru and featuring pianist Daniil Trifonov. The program will include Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2 in honor of the composer’s 150th anniversary, the Second Symphony by Elsa Barraine, and Saint-Saëns.

Additional fall highlights will include Grammy-nominated American Patchwork Quartet in concert on November 14 at the Prior Performing Arts Center at Holy Cross, presented in collaboration with Music Worcester. The holiday season will launch with the Worcester Chorus’s annual Messiah at Mechanics Hall on December 6 and the Worcester Chorus Women’s Ensemble Holiday Concert at Trinity Lutheran Church on December 21.

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