Yo-Yo Ma, Garrick Ohlsson, and More Set For Brevard Music Center 90th Anniversary Season
Gil Shaham, Branford Marsalis, and Béla Fleck are among guest artists at the Brevard, NC festival
The Brevard Music Center (BMC) will celebrate its 90th anniversary summer season in 2026, marking nearly a century as one of the nation's leading training grounds for young musicians and an internationally recognized festival where generations of artists have come together to learn, perform, and shape the future of classical music.
The 2026 orchestral summer season will open on Friday, June 26, when Artistic Director Keith Lockhart leads the Brevard Music Center Orchestra in Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, “Eroica,” paired with the return of pianist Garrick Ohlsson in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. This opening program sets the tone for a summer defined by ambitious repertoire and dynamic collaboration between faculty, students, and guest artists.
The season concludes on Sunday, August 2, with a defining moment of the anniversary year as Yo-Yo Ma returns to Brevard as the 2026 Legendary Artist. Performing Dvořák's Cello Concerto with Keith Lockhart and the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, Ma's appearance underscores the Center's longstanding relationship with the world's leading artists and its role in shaping generations of musicians.
Yo-Yo Ma's appearance anchors the anniversary season, and he is joined by an exceptional roster of guest artists appearing throughout the summer. Featured performers include violinists Gil Shaham, Nancy Zhou, and Amaryn Olmeda; violist Paul Neubauer; cellist Camille Thomas; baritone Reginald Smith, Jr.; and pianist Sophia Liu, whose performances span orchestral, chamber, and recital settings.
Complementing the core classical programming, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, GRAMMY-winning singer/songwriter Jason Isbell, and banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck headline the popular BMC Presents Series. Additional offerings include Bryan Sutton's NC Guitar Celebration, Nathan Chester and The Old Souls Motown Revival, Shannon Whitworth and Woody Platt with Orchestra, The Buena Vista Orchestra, and Fiddle Forward with Casey Driessen.
Education remains central to Brevard's identity. In 2026, Imani Winds and the Shanghai Quartet will hold the Thomas C. Bolton Distinguished Artist Chair, supported by The Payne Fund, while pianist Sir Stephen Hough will serve as the Ruby Norris Morgan Distinguished Artist Chair in Piano Performance and Instruction. These residencies include performances, teaching, seminars, and masterclasses, reinforcing Brevard's role as a place where learning and artistry intersect.
Guest conductors Rune Bergmann, Earl Lee, Anna Rakitina, Shih-Hung Young, and Naomi Woo join Artistic Director Keith Lockhart, Principal Guest Conductor JoAnn Falletta, and Resident Conductors Ken Lam and Kraig Alan Williams.
Influential composers featured in residence and performance include Andy Akiho, Zach Redler, Carlos Simon, James Stephenson, Joan Tower, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, underscoring the festival's ongoing commitment to the music of our time.
The Janiec Opera Company presents fully staged productions of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Zach Redler's The Falling and the Rising, and Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore, as well as a cabaret performance titled An Evening of Lerner & Loewe.
The season also includes a cinematic highlight with Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert, performed live alongside the film by the Brevard Sinfonia, Brevard Music Center's college orchestra.
Brevard Music Center's summer programming also extends well beyond the core orchestral season, with a broad slate of non-orchestral events that begins with Bryan Sutton's NC Guitar Celebration (May 30), the first concert of the summer and a kickoff to Brevard's cross-genre offerings, including Jazz@Brevard and its instrumental seminar programs. Throughout the season, BMC also presents major headliner appearances by Branford Marsalis (June 11), Nathan Chester and The Old Souls Motown Revival (June 27), Shannon Whitworth and Woody Platt with Orchestra (June 30), The Buena Vista Orchestra (July 11), Jason Isbell (July 19), Béla Fleck (August 15), and Fiddle Forward with Casey Driessen (August 22), alongside a series of free community concerts featuring the Jan and Beattie Wood Concerto Competition Finals (July 2), Just Brass (July 7), Brevard Symphonic Winds (July 21), and Supersonic (July 26). Together, these performances reflect the full breadth of Brevard's artistic life, spanning classical, jazz, bluegrass, folk, popular music, and community-focused programming.
Across nine decades, Brevard has welcomed many of the most celebrated artists of our time while maintaining its central mission as an educational institution. Alumni and faculty connections span major orchestras and ensembles worldwide, and its influence continues to shape the next generation of performers, composers, and educators. The 2026 season stands as both a reflection on that legacy and an affirmation of the Center's continuing role in the cultural life of the United States.
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