Description
AMERICAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES 2026-27 SEASON
PROGRAMS MARK 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF SEPTEMBER 11, AND INCLUDE AN ALL-BEETHOVEN CONCERT HONORING THE BICENTENNIAL OF HIS DEATH, AN EVENING OF MOZART AND HIS MUSICAL INFLUENCERS, AND STRAUSS’S COMIC OPERA INTERMEZZO
SEPTEMBER 11, 2026 – APRIL 1, 2027
Season of Five Symphonic Performances Opens with a Free Program Presented at Bryant Park and the Kupferberg Center for the Arts, Followed by Concerts at Carnegie Hall and Riverside Church with The Bard Festival Chorale
ASO 2026-27 season announcement
Season Highlights include a concert of music by Hasse, Benda, and Joseph Haydn’s little brother, Michael, all eminent composers from Mozart’s time that are rarely heard today (Nov. 5 at Riverside Church); an all-Beethoven program spanning such early works as the Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II to his later Consecration of the House Overture (Jan. 29 at Carnegie Hall); and the presentation of Strauss’s light-hearted opera Intermezzo (Apr. 1 at Carnegie Hall). The ASO will be joined by the Bard Festival Chorale led by James Bagwell for the November and January performances.
Friday, September 11, 2026, at 7:00 PM, Bryant Park
Sunday, September 13, 2026, at 3:00 PM, Kupferberg Center
American Symphony Orchestra
Leon Botstein, Conductor
Aaron Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
George Walker: Lyric for Strings
Charles Ives: The Gong on the Hook and Ladder
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 44 in E minor “Trauersinfonie”
Gustav Mahler (arr. Cliff Colnot): Adagio from Symphony No. 10
This year’s program, presented in partnership with Bryant Park, will be performed on the 25th anniversary of September 11. While serving as an occasion for remembrance, the program also celebrates the enduring strength of the human spirit. The majesty of Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, the anguished beauty of Mahler’s Adagio from Symphony No. 10, the poignancy of George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, the imagery of Ives’s The Gong on the Hook and Ladder, and the intensity of Haydn’s Symphony No. 44, (“Mourning Symphony”) together pay tribute to the contributions of ordinary Americans, as well as the courage and sacrifice of 9/11 heroes.
Attendance for both performances is free. RSVP to Kupferberg is required. Bryant Park staff lends out hundreds of free picnic blankets, provides bistro chairs, and offers a curated selection of food and drink to purchase from local vendors. Seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Mozart & Friends
Thursday, November 5, 2026, at 8:00 PM, Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive
American Symphony Orchestra
Leon Botstein, Conductor
Bard Festival Chorale
James Bagwell, Music Director of the Bard Festival Chorale
Soloists to be announced at a later date
Johann Adolf Hasse: Miserere in C minor
Michael Haydn: Missa Sancti Joannis Nepomuceni
Georg Anton Benda (arr. C.P.E. Bach): Gott steigt herab (God comes down)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mass in C Major, K. 317 “Coronation Mass”
The ASO returns to Riverside Church with a program focusing on Mozart and the composers who influenced him, with particular emphasis on the tradition of sacred music. Once widely celebrated, composers such as Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783), Georg Anton Benda (1722-1795), and Michael Haydn (1737-1806)—Franz Joseph Haydn’s younger brother—may be less familiar to audiences today, but were important influences on Mozart’s work. Hasse’s Miserere in C minor blends operatic lyricism with sacred solemnity. Likewise, Benda brought a dramatic flair to sacred music in his cantata, Gott steigt herab, while Haydn’s compact Missa Sancti Joannis Nepomuceni exemplifies the simplicity that characterized liturgical music in Salzburg under Archbishop Colloredo. The program concludes with Mozart’s beloved “Coronation” Mass in C Major, a work offering a variety of musical ideas that surpass anything he had written in the genre ahead of that time.
Tickets, starting at $25, will go on sale on September 1 at americansymphony.org.
Beethoven: A Voyage Beyond
Friday, January 29, 2027, at 8:00 PM, Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
American Symphony Orchestra
Leon Botstein, Conductor
Bard Festival Chorale
James Bagwell, Music Director of the Bard Festival Chorale
Soloists to be announced at a later date
All-Beethoven Program
Die Weihe des Hauses, Op. 124 (The Consecration of the House): Overture
Tremate, empi, tremate, Op. 116 (Tremble, guilty ones, tremble)
Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II
Meerestille und glückliche Fahrt, Op. 112 (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage)
Mass in C Major, Op. 86
To honor Beethoven in 2027, two hundred years following the composer’s death, the ASO presents an all-Beethoven program showcasing several of his rarely performed works. Early scores such as the Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph II (1790) and the concert trio Tremate, empi, tremate (1802) reveal the unmistakable qualities of Beethoven’s genius: emotional intensity, raw energy, and dramatic breadth that would come to define his mature voice. Two late works—The Consecration of the House Overture and Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage—reflect his mastery of orchestral writing and musical depiction. The Mass in C Major, Beethoven’s first religious work in a traditional liturgical style, is one of his most underappreciated masterpieces. Marked by striking dynamic contrasts, the work reimagines the conventional Mass with emotional depth and originality.
Tickets, starting at $25, will go on sale on September 1 at carnegiehall.org, by calling Carnegie Hall at 212.247.7800, or by visiting the box office at 57th St. & 7th Ave.
Strauss’s Intermezzo
Thursday, April 1, 2027, at 8:00 PM, Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman
American Symphony Orchestra
Leon Botstein, Conductor
Richard Strauss: Intermezzo, Op. 72
Strauss’s Intermezzo (1924) is a deeply personal work for which he wrote his own libretto, inspired by episodes from his married life. Blending wit, warmth, and lyrical refinement, this comic opera offers a rare glimpse into Strauss’s lighter compositional side, portraying the misunderstandings and reconciliations of the opera’s story with technical command and musical sophistication. The role of Christine, based on Strauss’s wife Pauline, was created by soprano Lotte Lehmann for the opera’s 1924 premiere at Semperoper Dresden.
Tickets, starting at $25, will go on sale on September 1 at carnegiehall.org, by calling Carnegie Hall at 212.247.7800, or by visiting the box office at 57th St. & 7th Ave.
American Symphony Orchestra
The American Symphony Orchestra (ASO) was founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski with the mission of providing great music for everyone. Leon Botstein expanded that focus when he joined the ASO as Music Director in 1992 by creating concerts that explore music through the lens of the visual arts, literature, religion, and history, as well as by reviving rarely performed works that audiences would otherwise never hear performed live.
The ASO’s signature programming includes its Vanguard Series, which features concerts of seldom-performed orchestral repertoire presented at Carnegie Hall, Bryant Park, and other historic venues, and its Chamber Series—curated by ASO’s musicians—offering concert programs dedicated to reflecting the diverse perspectives of American culture. During the summer, the ASO is the orchestra-in-residence at Bard’s SummerScape and performs at the Bard Music Festival. All ASO presentations comprise a year-round series of vital and innovative programming for audiences of all backgrounds.
As part of its commitment to expanding the standard orchestral repertoire and ensuring accessibility to musical masterpieces, the ASO offers free streaming of exclusive live recordings on its digital platform, ASO Online. Content includes SummerScape operas, chamber performances, and short films. In many cases, these are the only existing recordings of some of the forgotten works that have been restored through ASO performances.
For more information, please visit americansymphony.org.
Leon Botstein
Leon Botstein has been music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra since 1992. He is also music director of The Orchestra Now, an innovative training orchestra composed of top musicians from around the world. He is co-artistic director of Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival, which take place at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, where he was president from 1975-2026. Mr. Botstein is also active as a guest conductor and can be heard on numerous recordings with the London Symphony (including a GRAMMY nominated recording of Popov’s First Symphony), the London Philharmonic, NDR-Hamburg, and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Botstein has revived numerous neglected operas, creating once-in-a-lifetime experiences for concertgoers and global audiences. Including rare repertoire such as Schoenberg’s massive Gurre-Lieder and the accompanying short-film, which documented the monumental undertaking, Strauss’s first opera, Guntram, and the U.S. Premiere of Sergei Taneyev’s final work, At the Reading of a Psalm. His recording of Paul Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner with the ASO was named one of the top recordings of 2015 by several publications, and his recent recording of Gershwin piano music with the Royal Philharmonic was hailed by The Guardian and called “something special…in a crowded field” by Musicweb International. He is a prolific author and music historian and the recipient of numerous honors for his contributions to the music industry. In 2019, The New York Times named Leon Botstein a “champion of overlooked works…who has tirelessly worked to bring to light worthy scores by neglected composers.”
More info at LeonBotstein.com.
The ASO’s Vanguard Series is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
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