Steve Reich, John Adams Anniversaries to Headline 2026-27 Boosey & Hawkes Season

This season features worldwide musical celebrations of Steve Reich's 90th birthday and John Adams's 80th birthday. Osvaldo Golijov unveils Creation, a new evening-length oratorio, while Sofia Gubaidulina's final work, Prolog—completed by her longtime friend and fellow composer Elena Firsova—receives its premiere. The season also brings a wealth of world premieres from Unsuk Chin, Donghoon Shin, Joe Hisaishi, Tod Machover, Steven Mackey, and others.

On the opera stage, highlights include Christopher Tin's new Georgia O'Keeffe-inspired opera, Brett Dean's acclaimed Of One Blood, David T. Little's award-winning What Belongs to You, and Courtney Bryan's Suddenly Last Summer, a hybrid opera-play based on Tennessee Williams's iconic drama.

GABRIELA ORTIZ

SEP 12 · MEDELLÍN, COLOMBIA

Revolución diamantina · SOUTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín / Carlos Miguel Prieto

Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia / Tatiana Pérez-Hernández

Ortiz's GRAMMY-winning, widely acclaimed Revolucion diamantina, about Mexico's protests against violence toward women, makes its South American premiere with two Colombian orchestras on the same day: Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín, conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto, and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, conducted by Tatiana Pérez-Hernández.

Also this season: The Los Angeles Ballet and Los Angeles Philharmonic join forces at the Hollywood Bowl (Sep 8) to premiere a new ballet set to Ortiz's transfixing Kauyumari, choreographed by LAB's artistic director Melissa Barak.

JOHN ADAMS

SEP 16–19 · NEW YORK

On the Transmigration of Souls

New York Philharmonic and Chorus / Brooklyn Youth Chorus / Gustavo Dudamel

Gustavo Dudamel opens his first season as Music and Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic with a tribute to his new city, marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11 with a performance of Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls. The Pulitzer Prize–winning work was composed in memory of the victims of the 2001 attacks. After performances in New York, the orchestra then takes the work on a European tour from October 9–22.

Also this season: On the Transmigration of Souls is performed this fall under the baton of Marin Alsop, who conducts both the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo in Brazil (Sep 10–12) and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (Oct 15–18).

SOFIA GUBAIDULINA / ELENA FIRSOVA

SEP 24–26 · BOSTON

Prolog · WORLD PREMIERE

Boston Symphony Orchestra / Andris Nelsons

The Boston Symphony Orchestra, led by Andris Nelsons, unveils the final work Sofia Gubaidulina was composing before her death, completed by Elena Firsova, a fellow composer and close friend of 50 years. Gubaidulina conceived the orchestral work as a prologue to her acclaimed 2019 Beethoven-inspired The Wrath of God.

BRAHMS / DEJAN LAZIĆ

SEP 25–27 · FORT WORTH

Piano Concerto 'No. 4' in A minor · WORLD PREMIERE OF ARRANGEMENT

Dejan Lazić, piano / Fort Worth Symphony / Robert Spano

Inspired by Brahms's own tradition of transcription, pianist-composer Dejan Lazić reimagines the Double Concerto as a concerto for piano and orchestra, reconstructing the original violin and cello parts as an extension of Brahms's pianistic voice. Lazić himself performs the solo part in the world premiere of the arrangement.

Also this season: Lazić performs Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Robert Spano (Apr 15–17).

PUCCINI / CHRISTOPHER TIN

SEP 26–OCT 4 · MONTREAL

Turandot · CANADIAN PREMIERE

Francesca Zambello, director / Opéra de Montréal

Opéra de Montréal presents Turandot in the acclaimed production first seen at Washington National Opera, featuring a new completion of Puccini's unfinished opera by GRAMMY-winning composer Christopher Tin, with a libretto by Susan Stanton Lee. Tin's new finale, praised for drawing organically on Puccini's score while bringing the opera to a fresh dramatic conclusion, will also be presented by The Dallas Opera later this season (Feb 12–20).

Sofia Gubaidulina (left), photo by F Hoffmann / La Roche Ltd; and Steve Reich (right), photo by Jennifer Taylor

STEVE REICH AT 90

MULTIPLE DATES · ACROSS THE AMERICAS

Steve Reich turns 90 on October 3, 2026, with celebrations across the Americas and around the world. At the center is his new ensemble work, In All Your Ways, which receives its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival before traveling to presenters across Europe and North America, including Soundstreams in Toronto (Oct 6, North American premiere), Carnegie Hall in New York (Oct 22, US premiere), Cal Performances in Berkeley (Oct 24), and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Mar 7).

New York is a major hub for the celebrations, including five performances of Music for 18 Musicians at the Park Avenue Armory (Oct 14–18), alongside special events at Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, 92NY, Trinity Wall Street, National Sawdust, and the New York Philharmonic. Across the Americas, Reich celebrations continue at Cal Performances, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New World Symphony, and Philharmonic Society of Orange County. In South America, Reich/Richter receives its continental premiere at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (Nov 30).

Also this season: Anna Clyne unveils a new orchestration of Reich's Proverb, with first performances by The Hallé (Nov 5–7) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Mar 7).

PAQUITO D'RIVERA

OCT 3 · NEW YORK

Bridgetower Reimagined: Contradanza Mulattica · WORLD PREMIERE

Paquito D'Rivera, clarinet / Jonathan Cohler, clarinet / Rasa Vitkauskaite, piano / Ilya Kaler, violin / Dave Eggar, cello / Gregg August, bass

D'Rivera pays tribute to George Bridgetower, the mixed-race violin virtuoso for whom Beethoven originally composed his “Kreutzer” Sonata, in Bridgetower Reimagined. Drawing inspiration from the opening of Beethoven's sonata and Bridgetower's own ballad “Henry,” D'Rivera brings together jazz improvisation, waltz, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and contradanzas in this chamber ensemble work, recently recorded by the composer and premiering at Carnegie Hall.

LEOKADIYA KASHPEROVA

OCT 15–17 · DETROIT

Piano Concerto in A minor · NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

Alexandra Dariescu, piano / Detroit Symphony Orchestra / Jader Bignamini

More than a century after it brought Leokadiya Kashperova international recognition, her Piano Concerto receives its North American premiere with pianist Alexandra Dariescu and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Dariescu, who gave the concerto's first modern performance in 2022, returns to Kashperova's virtuosic Romantic score as part of the ongoing rediscovery of a composer once known primarily as Stravinsky's piano teacher.

DONGHOON SHIN

OCT 16–18 · LOS ANGELES

Dance Card · WORLD PREMIERE

Los Angeles Philharmonic / Elim Chan

Donghoon Shin unveils Dance Card, a new waltz-inspired concert opener commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and premiered under conductor Elim Chan. The work continues Shin's relationship with the LA Phil, which premiered his orchestral work Upon His Ghostly Solitude in 2023 to critical acclaim.

Also this season: Dance Card travels to Amsterdam in the spring, with performances at the Concertgebouw by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra (Apr 24–25).

COURTNEY BRYAN

OCT 22–25 · PHILADELPHIA

Suddenly Last Summer

Opera Philadelphia / Nathan Koci, conductor

Directed by Daniel Fish

Revival production directed by Mikhaela Mahony

Courtney Bryan's opera, based on Tennessee Williams's Southern Gothic drama, comes to Opera Philadelphia following its acclaimed world premiere at Bard. Soprano Mikaela Bennett stars as the embattled Catharine Holly, with Nathan Koci conducting this hybrid of opera and theater exploring truth, power, and a family's desperate attempt to silence its past.

Also this season: Bryan composes a new work for Philadelphia's Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra (Feb 5), inspired by Rebecca Cox Jackson, the pioneering 19th-century Black spiritual leader and Shaker eldress who founded a predominantly Black Shaker community in Philadelphia.

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