Conductor Cristian Măcelaru Reveals 2025-2026 Season Highlights

GRAMMY Award-winning conductor Cristian Măcelaru announces a 2025-2026 season marking the start of his tenure as Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, among numerous other titled and guest engagements. In an inaugural CSO season blending cultural heritage and contemporary stories, Măcelaru leads a slate of concerts highlighted by an appearance by Yo-Yo Ma and the orchestra’s first-ever celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

In his role as Artistic Director of Romania’s George Enescu International Festival, he leads the second festival of his tenure, bringing some 4,000 of the world’s leading orchestral musicians, conductors, and soloists to Bucharest and cities around Romania. As Music Director of Orchestre National de France, he opens the orchestra’s season in Paris and leads a tour of the United States – highlighted by a much anticipated Carnegie Hall performance – as well as a tour of Romania, Slovakia, Austria, and the Czech Republic with pianist Rudolf Buchbinder.

In a continuing role with Cologne’s WDR Sinfonieorchester, where Măcelaru served as Chief Conductor for the previous six seasons, he now takes on his first season as Artistic Partner, conducting the orchestra’s season-opening concert and select other performances including touring dates in Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Duisburg, Germany. As Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra, he also leads the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra in a four-city U.S. tour with Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua McClendon, featuring the world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. His worldwide guest-conducting engagements bring him to debuts with the Münchner Philharmoniker and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, as well as return engagements with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philharmonia Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Tonhalle‑Orchester Zürich, and San Francisco Symphony. In the course of the season, he collaborates with such soloists as Lang Lang, Daniil Trifonov, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Rudolf Buchbinder, Joyce DiDonato, and more. He also begins a three-year tenure as a Distinguished Visiting Artist at Rice University in Houston, working with students through residencies in fall 2025 and spring 2026.

Măcelaru begins his season following summer engagements including an appearance with Orchestre National de France at the BBC Proms; appearances at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, where he serves as Music Director; and an engagement at the Interlochen Arts Festival, where he collaborates with pianist Lang Lang and fellow conductor Louis Langrée in a concert performance and educational initiative.

As the season gets underway, Măcelaru serves as Artistic Director of the George Enescu International Festival, running from August 24 to September 21, 2025, leading multiple concerts in Bucharest and the Romanian cities of Timișoara and Cluj Napoca, as well as one performance in the Republic of Moldova. In the festival’s Opening Concert, he leads the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir in the world premiere of a piece commissioned for the occasion, Dan Dediu’s Concerto for Orchestra. He goes on to conduct WDR Sinfonieorchester in a performance of Strauss’s Salome on September 1, 2025. In the start of an Orchestre National de France tour of Central and Eastern Europe, he conducts the orchestra in its Enescu Festival debut on September 18 and 19, 2025. The first date spotlights Anne-Sophie Mutter as soloist on Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1, while the second features a performance of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F Major by Rudolf Buchbinder, who also performs the piece for all subsequent European tour dates. In this edition of the Enescu Festival, marking 70 years since the death of namesake composer George Enescu, Măcelaru also conducts several of the great Romanian composer’s key works, including his Poème roumain Op. 1 in the festival’s Opening Concert and his Romanian Rhapsody No. 2 with Orchestre National de France.

Continuing his season with Orchestre National de France, Măcelaru opens the orchestra’s Paris season with a performance on September 11, 2025, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth through a program featuring the composer’s La Valse and Piano Trio in A Minor (arr. Tortelier), paired with Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F Major – performed here also by Rudolf Buchbinder. Following ONF’s performances at the George Enescu International Festival, the orchestra continues on tour with Buchbinder to Bratislava, Slovakia, performing Gershwin’s Piano Concerto alongside Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, Dvořák’s Rhapsody in A minor, and Ravel’s La Valse. They reprise the program on September 23, 2025 in Prague, Czech Republic. The tour concludes in Vienna, Austria on September 24, 2025, in a program pairing the Gershwin Concerto with works by Ravel. Returning to Paris, the orchestra is joined on September 27, 2025 by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, performing on Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1. The program also includes works by Enescu, Adès, and Dvořák. On October 9 and 10, 2025, ONF is featured at France’s Dijon Opera, joined by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato on works by Alma Mahler, which are paired on this program with works by Strauss and Gustav Mahler. The orchestra performs in Paris on October 30, 2025, joined by violinist Randall Goosby on Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, which is featured alongside Elsa Barraine’s Symphony No. 2 and Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe: Suite No. 2. The orchestra remains in Paris for a concert on October 31, 2025, featuring Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor with pianist Marie-Ange Nguci, as well as works by Debussy and Beethoven.

From November 7 to 9, 2025, Orchestre National de France takes on a three-night tour in the United States with pianist Daniil Trifonov, culminating in an appearance at Carnegie Hall – the orchestra's first in ten years. The program for all three concerts highlights Trifonov on Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, performed alongside Elsa Barraine’s Symphony No. 2 and two works by Ravel: Concerto in G and Daphnis and Chloe: Suite No. 2. The tour begins November 7, 2025 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA, followed by performances on November 8, 2025 at the Tilles Center in Brookville, NY and on November 9, 2025 at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Măcelaru next conducts the Orchestre National de France on December 18, 2025 in Paris, leading a program of Rachmaninoff’s Les Cloches and Symphony No. 3. On February 8, 2026, he leads the orchestra in a program of premieres, conducting the world premieres of Ondřej Adámek’s Scherben – Concerto for Violin, featuring soloist Christian Tetzlaff, and of a new work for orchestra by Sofia Avramidou – both of these commissioned by Radio France. In addition, the program includes the French premieres of Georges Aperghis’ Étude V for Orchestra and Concerto for Accordion, featuring soloist Jean-Étienne Sotty. Clarinet soloist Patrick Messina joins Măcelaru and the orchestra on March 21, 2026 for the world premiere of Tan Dun’s Clarinet Concerto, co-commissioned by Radio France along with the WDR Sinfonieorchester, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Chinese National Orchestra. The program also includes Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. From April 30 to May 7, 2026, ONF takes on a “Grand Tour” of France with violinist Frank Peter Zimmerman, bringing a program of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 to five performances in French cities. After performing the program in Paris on April 30, 2026, Măcelaru and the performers bring the program to the cities of Brest on May 4, 2026, Vannes on May 5, 2026, and Caen on May 6, 2026, before closing with a second performance in Paris on May 7, 2026. Măcelaru returns to Paris for his final ONF engagement on June 11, 2026, leading the orchestra in the world premiere of Thierry Escaich’s Concerto for Orchestra, a Radio France commission, performed alongside Escaich’s Five Verses on "Victimae paschali”, Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, and Anna Clyne’s Masquerade.
 

Măcelaru makes his official debut as Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on October 3 and 4, 2025 with a program featuring pianist Hélène Grimaud on Gershwin’s Concerto in F Major, performed alongside Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier Suite and Anna Clyne's Abstractions. On November 4, 2025, GRAMMY® Award-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma joins Măcelaru and the CSO for Elgar’s Cello Concerto, paired on this program with Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1. On November 29 and 30, 2025, Măcelaru leads a program centered on the cultural experiences, traditions and folklore that unite humanity, bringing together Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7; Copland’s Variations on a Shaker Melody from Appalachian Spring; Carlos Simon’s Tales: A Folklore Symphony; and PULSE, a new violin concerto by Lisa Bielawa performed by soloist Tessa Lark. Măcelaru and the CSO present Handel’s Messiah on December 5 and 6, 2025, joined in this holiday tradition by soprano Lauren Snouffer, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, tenor Nicholas Phan, bass Jonathan Lemalu, and the May Festival Chorus under the direction of Matthew Swanson. Pianist Daniil Trifonov joins Măcelaru and the CSO for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on January 10 and 11, 2026, in a program also featuring the U.S. premiere of Daníel Bjarnason’s complete Trilogy for Orchestra.
 

On January 16 and 17, 2026, Măcelaru conducts the CSO in its first dedicated celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The program features CSO premieres of Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony and Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations, composed in the wake of the 1963 firebombing in Birmingham, Alabama. Bass Morris Robinson joins the orchestra as narrator in a special performance of Barber’s Adagio for Strings paired with original poetry by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Rita Dove.
 

In his final CSO dates of the season on April 24 and 25, 2026, Măcelaru reunites with award-winning South African Director Janni Younge for a colorful multimedia production of Stravinsky’s The Firebird. First performed at Wolf Trap in 2016, this production transports the ballet to a contemporary South African setting starring Younge’s towering puppets, maneuvered by expert puppeteers and dancers.

As Artistic Partner with WDR Sinfonieorchester, Măcelaru takes on select engagements beginning on September 5 and 6, 2025 in Cologne, where he conducts the orchestra’s season-opening production of Strauss’s Salome. He returns to Cologne on January 23 and 24, 2026 for performances with cellist Kian Soltani, conducting a program of Tchaikovsky’s Nocturne in D Minor for Cello and Orchestra and Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, as well as Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 in C Sharp Minor. Măcelaru and the orchestra then take the same program on tour with Soltani, performing January 28, 2026 in Frankfurt; January 30, 2026 in Hamburg; and February 1, 2026 in Duisburg, Germany. In his final WDR Sinfonieorchester engagement of the season, Măcelaru leads the orchestra in its season-closing performances on June 27, 2026 in Cologne and June 28, 2026 in Bad Kissingen, Germany. Violinist Isabelle Faust joins the orchestra for a program of Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 2 in C-sharp Minor and Enescu’s Symphony No. 3 in C Major.

Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Interlochen Center for the Arts’ World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Măcelaru leads the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra on tour with Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua McClendon in March 2026, collaborating with major orchestras in four U.S. Cities. Interlochen musicians will begin their tour in Interlochen before traveling to perform side-by-side with musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The tour highlights the world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, alongside Ives’ Symphony No. 4 and Reena Esmail’s RE | Member. The program is first performed on the Interlochen campus in Michigan on March 7, 2026, followed by dates at Detroit’s Max M. Fisher Music Center on March 10, 2026; Philadelphia’s Marian Anderson Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts on March 13, 2026; and Boston’s Symphony Hall on March 15, 2026.

Among his guest engagements for the 2025-2026 season, Măcelaru makes his debut with the Münchner Philharmoniker on October 18 and 19, 2025, leading the orchestra and piano soloist Rudolf Buchbinder in a performance of Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, along with Jennifer Higdon’s Fanfare Ritmico and Copland’s Symphony No. 3. 

He also debuts this season with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome on June 4 to 6, 2026, conducting a program of Barber’s Symphony No. 1, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, and Ravel’s Bolero.

In return engagements, Măcelaru conducts Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich on October 23 and 24, 2025, joined by clarinetist Martin Fröst for a performance of Anna Clyne’s Weathered for Clarinet and Orchestra, paired on this program with Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5. He appears with the Czech Philharmonic on March 25, 26, and 27, 2026, leading a program of Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto in D, featuring Nicola Benedetti, along with Bohuslav Martinů’s Symphony No.1. On April 9 and 10, 2026, he returns to Gewandhausorchester Leipzig for a program featuring violist Antoine Tamestit on Schnittke’s Viola Concerto, paired with Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 and Honegger’s Symphony No. 3 “Liturgique.” Joined again by Nicola Benedetti, he returns to London’s Philharmonia Orchestra on April 19, 2026 for a performance of Elgar’s Violin Concerto, Chaminade’s Callirhoë Suite, and Debussy’s La Mer. His final guest engagement of the season brings him to the San Francisco Symphony for the world premiere of an SF Symphony-commissioned work by Tyler Taylor—the 2024 winner of the SF Symphony’s Emerging Black Composers Project—along with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring Simon Trpčeski, and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9.