South Florida Classical Review

Pianist Vikingur Ólafsson performs John Adams’ After the Fall concerto in his NWS debut next season. Photo: Ari Magg/DG

The New World Symphony’s 2025-2026 season will celebrate the 250^tth anniversary of America with a wide array of music by American composers. Artistic director Stéphane Denève will conduct eight programs in concert series at Miami Beach’s New World Center and the Arsht Center in Miami.

Denève opens the season October 4 and 5, leading Chuphsha! Harriet’s Ride to Freedom by James Lee III, a tribute to Harriet Tubman, Copland’s Lincoln Portrait (with narrator TBA) and Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony. Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider solos in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto October 25-26 with Denève directing Guillaume Connesson’s Maslenitsa and Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3. 

In a season preview presentation Wednesday night, Denève said, “Price’s symphony is a masterwork with a unique American sound.” Composer John Adams shares the podium with Denève January 17-18, 2026 for a  an all-Adams concert. Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson makes his New World debut playing Adams’ recent After the Fall piano concerto. The program also includes the composer’s Chairman Dances, I Still Dance and the Doctor Atomic Symphony.

March 14-15 brings an evening of “The Hollywood Sound.” Denève leads excepts from film scores by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Max Steiner. The conductor noted that Steiner studied with Brahms and was the godson of Richard Strauss. Connecting the musical links, the concert will conclude with Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra. Violinist Augustin Hadelich will be soloist in Korngold’s Violin Concerto, playing the work for the first time anywhere at the conductor’s request. 

On April 17, 18 and 19, Miami City Ballet joins Denève and the ensemble for “American Dance Odyssey,” including a tribute to choreographer Jerome Robbins (excerpts from Fancy Free and West Side Story) and the premiere of a choreographic concerto. New scores by Jennifer Higdon, Kevins Puts, Michael Abels, Carlos Simon and Sarah Kirkland Snider will be set to original choreography. The season concludes May 2-3 with longtime collaborator Jean-Yves Thibaudet joining Deneve for a Bernstein-Gershwin program.

Pittsburgh Symphony music director Manfred Honeck makes a welcome return, conducting Strauss’ Fledermaus Overture, Haydn’s Symphony No. 93 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 (December 13-14). Cellist Johannes Moser plays a concerto by German composer Detlev Glanert with guest conductor Domingo Hindoyan. Violinist Karen Gomyo takes solo honors in Bernstein’s Serenade in a program of works by mostly Latin American composers under Carlos Miguel Prieto.

Works by Jesse Montgomery and Margaret Bonds are featured in a concert with debuting conductor Kalena Bovell. Ryan Bancroft (conductor of the BBC Orchestra of Wales and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic) leads Charles Ives’ Country Band March, Copland’s Symphony No. 3 and Valerie Coleman’s Concerto for Orchestra (Renaissance), a New World Symphony co-commission on February 7-8.

The three-concert series at the Arsht Center opens October 18 with Denève leading a tribute to John Williams. Andrew Grams takes the podium January 10 for a jazz inspired program spotlighting the Marcus Roberts Trio in their improvisatory version of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Milhaud’s La creation du monde, Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown and Beige and Ellington’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite complete the program. Deneve concludes the series March 7 with mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor singing Peter Lieberson’s sensuous Neruda Songs and the complete ballet score for Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe with the Master Chorale of South Florida.

The Sunday afternoon chamber music series mixes contemporary scores with such repertoire staples as Schubert’s Trout Quintet, Dvořäk’s Piano Quartet No. 1, Bach’s Triple Concerto and Samuel Barber’s String Quartet (which includes the original version of the Adagio for Strings). Guest artists joining the NWS fellows include former Tokyo Quartet violinist Martin Beaver, flutist Claire Chase, baritone Thomas Maglioranza and violist Jennifer Snider Kozoros. The wide array of contemporary composers on the schedule include Esa-Pekka Salonen, Anna Clyne, Kaja Saariaho, Terry Riley, Marcos Balter, John Cage, Meredith Monk, Elliott Carter and Julius Eastman.

For further information go to nws.edu.

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