MusicaNova Orchestra to Present 2026-27 'Alt Classical' Season
Music Director Warren Cohen leads programs at Tempe Center for the Arts and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.
This year, MusicaNova has a new way of describing what it does: alt classical. In its 2026-27 season, the orchestra pairs lesser-known works of Mahler, Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Haydn with brilliant pieces by less-familiar composers whose music deserves a wider audience.
The season includes three full orchestra concerts, beginning Oct. 10 at Tempe Center for the Arts, plus three chamber concerts at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.
“Alt classical is really what MusicaNova has always been about,” said Warren Cohen, MusicaNova Music Director and Founder. “We're interested in great music, not just the music everyone already knows. Sometimes that means hearing a familiar composer in a completely different way, and sometimes it means discovering a composer or piece you've never encountered before. That sense of discovery is what makes these programs exciting.”
2026-2027 SEASON
Mahler, the Unrequited Narcissist
- Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026 at 4 p.m.
- Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe
- Tickets start at $28.75 adults; $11.50 students
Gustav Mahler wanted to be loved. His first major symphonic work, however, did not make it easy. When Mahler unveiled his original Symphonic Poem in 1889, critics dismissed it as noise and audiences were unmoved. He repeatedly revised it, adding instruments, increasing its scale, and eventually removing the delicate Blumine movement. The work ultimately became his Symphony No. 1, known as the Titan.
MusicaNova goes back to the beginning with a performance of the original Symphonic Poem, a version only recently reconstructed. Audiences who know Mahler's First will hear something both familiar and new: lighter, more transparent, and revealing the music before years of revisions transformed it. Which raises the question of whether Mahler should have left well enough alone.
Beethoven: Walking Toward Light
- Friday, Feb. 12, 2027 at 4 p.m.
- Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe
- Tickets start at $28.75 adults; $11.50 students
Beethoven's Symphony No. 4, Bohdana Frolyak's Wandering Lights, Avril Coleridge-Taylor's Suite for String Orchestra, and Vincent d'Indy's Triple Concerto come together around a common theme: finding optimism in difficult times.
Beethoven turned a life marked by illness and deafness into music of extraordinary joy. Ukrainian composer Frolyak has written of hope, while Coleridge-Taylor expressed a belief during World War II that difficult times would eventually get better. Each work moves in its own way from darkness toward light.
KBAQ announcer and pianist Greg Kostraba leads the Sylvan Trio for d'Indy's Triple Concerto for piano, cello and flute, a rarely heard work by a major figure in French music.
Stravinsky, Haydn, and All That Jazz
- Sunday, May 2, 2027 at 4 p.m.
- Arizona Opera Black Box Theater, 1636 N. Central Ave., Phoenix
- Tickets start at $30.75 adults; $10.25 students
MusicaNova closes its orchestra season with a musical smorgasbord connecting classical music with the rhythms and energy of jazz.
The program features Haydn's Notturno in C Major, Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks Concerto, Anna Clyne's Fractured Time, George Antheil's A Jazz Symphony, Charles Ives' Over the Pavement (Scherzo), and Jacques Ibert's Divertissement.
Light, transparent and rhythmically alive, the program jumps across centuries and styles, tracing unexpected connections from Haydn to Stravinsky, Ives, and the jazz experiments of the early 20th century.
MusicaNova Chamber Concerts
MusicaNova will also present three chamber concerts at 4 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 100 W. Roosevelt St., Phoenix:
- Nov. 13, 2026 at 4 p.m. – MusicaNova string ensemble
- Jan. 15, 2027 at 4 p.m. – Tabla drumming
- March 13, 2027 at 4 p.m. – MusicaNova Wind Quintet
Additional program details will be announced.
Tickets and additional information at musicanovaaz.org
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The Tempest Arizona Theatre Matters (10/05-12/31) |
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Showcase: SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL Musical Theatre Alliance of Arizona (3/13-3/13) |
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It's A Wonderful Life Don Bluth Front Row Theatre (11/19-12/23) |
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Coffee Mixed with Cream Fountain Hills Theater (8/21-8/30) |
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Peter Hook And The Light The Van Buren (9/15-9/15) |
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Geoffrey Asmus 191 Toole (9/27-9/27) |
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Campbell, Rogers, and Denver: A Tribute Hale Centre Theatre Arizona (11/06-11/21) |
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The 3 International Tenors Hale Centre Theatre Arizona (9/01-9/05) |
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Godsmack, Stone Temple Pilots & Dorothy Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre (9/12-9/12) |
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Doja Cat Mortgage Matchup Center (10/29-10/29) |