Announcing: The ASO's 2025/26 Season
April 2, 2025
By James L. Paulk
In the 2025-26 ASO Season, Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann will lead concerts of major works by Mahler and Bruckner, iconic choral works including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Bach’s Mass in B minor, and piano concertos with marquis guest artists. The season will also include a special focus on American classical music, some Latin American adventure, and much more.
The season opens on September 19th with Lang Lang performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor”. Conducted by Gemma New, the program also includes Mozart’s Symphony No. 35, “Haffner” and his Eine Kleine Nachtmusik .
Gaetan Le Divelec, ASO Vice President for Artistic Planning, explained that the Beethoven Project and the special focus on the Classical style in the current season was important for “grounding the audience” in preparation for everything that follows, but also for “establishing the foundation for a true musical understanding between Nathalie and our musician: to drill down on idioms, details of articulation, and phrasing. This journey has really paid off, and we are hearing the results already.”
Maestro Stutzmann’s programs for next season complete the Beethoven project with his 9th Symphony and three of his piano concertos, but will now move forward into the Romantic period, with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6, and works by Franz Schubert and Richard Strauss.
The renowned ASO Chorus and the ASO Chamber Chorus will be featured in eight different concerts this season. In addition to the Beethoven 9th Symphony in November, Stutzmann will lead performances of Franz Schubert’s Mass No. 2 in G major and Bach’s magnificent Mass in B minor. One interesting touch: several of her concerts will include Bach Cantatas, performed by the elite ASO Chamber Chorus.
Nathalie’s first concert, in October, will open with Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man , to introduce the ASO’s American focus. That spotlight, which will continue into the 2026-27 season, coincides with the United States’ 250th anniversary. American works will appear throughout the season and in several special concerts.
In January, Leonard Slatkin will conduct the American premiere of his own work, Schubertiade: An Orchestral Fantasy , on a program that includes Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, with Randall Goosby as soloist, and Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3. Then, in April, Jerry Hou, our gifted former Associate Conductor, will return to lead a program featuring Jennifer Koh performing Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 1—an “iconic work that spoke to a generation and has had considerable impact on minimalism”, according to Le Divelec. That concert will include Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1, as well as the world premiere of a work by Nicky Sohn, winner of the Rapido! Competition, which the ASO co-sponsors.
American composers will also be featured in a Valentines Concert led by Teddy Abrams, which will feature charismatic clarinetist Martin Fröst in Artie Shaw’s Jazz Concerto and Copland’s Clarinet Concerto. This concert will introduce Valerie Coleman’s Renaissance: Concerto for Orchestra , an ASO co-commission. Leonard Bernstein’s "Symphonic Dances" from West Side Story will round out the program.
ASO Music Director Laureate Robert Spano will return for two concerts in April and May. The first program includes Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah” with soprano Kelley O’Connor as soloist, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with Stephen Hough as soloist. That concert will open with a work by Christopher Theofanidis: On the Bridge of the Eternal .
Spano’s second program will include two soloists. Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”, will feature Conrad Tao as piano soloist. And ASO Principal Violist Zhenwei Shi will be the soloist for Berlioz’s Harold in Italy .
In April, Giancarlo Guerrero, a native of Costa Rica, will conduct a program of Latin American music, to include works by five composers from different Latin countries. One highlight will be Venezuelan trumpeter Pacho Flores, soloist for his own composition: Morocota , and for Arturo Márquez’s Concierto de Otoño . Le Divelec described Flores as “one of a kind, even in the world of Latin American trumpets.”
Piano repertoire will have a special focus next season. In addition to the opening concert with Lang Lang (Beethoven 5th Concerto), Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 will be performed in November, with Francesco Piemontesi as soloist and Stutzmann conducting. And in March, Leif Ove Andsnes will be soloist for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, also under Stutzmann’s baton.
An October concert led by Vinay Parameswaran will celebrate Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light, and will include Nina Shekhar’s Lumina and The Voice of Nature (Concerto for Hindustani Violin) by Reena Esmail and Kala Ramnath. This program will also include Holst’s The Planets , which do appear to us as beacons of light in the night sky.
Renowned Conductor Philippe Jordan will lead a program in April featuring Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture and Symphonie fantastique , as well as Saint-Saëns’ Concerto No. 5, “Egyptian”, with Chamayou as soloist.
Fast-rising Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen will lead a December program featuring Sergey Khachatryan performing the Khachaturian Violin Concerto, and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2.
Other violin soloists next season will include Isabelle Faust, Alina Ibragimova, and Daniel Lozakovich. And in January, ASO Concertmaster David Coucheron will again perform as soloist and director for Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, on a program which also includes Mozart’s Symphony No. 25.
ASO’s Holiday Season programming in December will feature performances of Christmas with the ASO, led by ASO Director of Choruses Norman Mackenzie and featuring the Morehouse Glee Club. Mackenzie will also lead the ASO Chamber Chorus in concerts featuring Part One of Handel’s Messiah.
ASO’s 2025-26 Season, which runs from September 19 to June 7, combines traditional repertoire with adventure, with an exciting roster of marquee guest artists. You’ll want to renew early.