South Florida Classical Review

Stéphane Denève will open the New World Symphony’s 2026-27 season with a Latin program October 3.

Two major choral works, a digital production of a significant 20th-century opera, a work for saxophone in tribute to jazz legend John Coltrane and a new double concerto for clarinet and flute highlight the 2026-2027 season of the New World Symphony.

Stéphane Denève, the orchestral academy’s artistic director, conducts seven programs plus a cinematic presentation. Denève opens the season October 3-4 with a Latin-themed program. Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers solos in Arturo Marquez’s concerto Fandango which Meyers commissioned, winning two Latin Grammy awards for the score’s recording. Works by Gabriela Ortiz, Debussy and Ravel’s oft-played Bolero complete the program.

Denève leads Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on October 10-11 with the Master Chorale of South Florida and soloists to be announced. An all-Prokofiev concert November 21-22 features violinist James Ehnes playing both of the Russian composer’s violin concertos. The two-violin and double bass trio Time for Three join Denève for Contact by Kevin Puts December 12-13.

A staging with digital projections and designs of Ravel’s one-act opera L’enfant et les sortileges on January 30-31 will feature mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard in the role of the child. Stravinsky’s ballet score Petrushka completes the program (with digital projections).

Among the other works Denève will lead during the season are Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Brahms’ Symphony No. 3. His final season program May 1-2 spotlights Guillaume Connesson’s Coltrane tribute A Kind of Trance with saxophonist Steven Banks. Music by Honegger, Carlos Simon and Gershwin complete the offerings.

At the New World’s now-annual joint concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra March 19-20, Denève conducts the massed forces in Respighi’s Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome. He also directs the live musical performance of an original score by Caroline Shaw at a screening of filmmaker Sam Green’s Trees-A Live Documentary on March 27.

Among the podium guests are veteran American conductor Leonard Slatkin. Recently appointed music director of the Nashville Symphony, Slatkin leads William Walton’s Cello Concerto (with Steven Isserlis) and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, a Slatkin specialty, on February 13. British conductor Sir Mark Elder, former longtime director of the Halle Orchestra in Manchester, is on the podium for Elgar’s Falstaff and excerpts from Wagner’s Gotterdämmerung with soprano Christine Goerke April 3-4.

The Master Chorale and soloists join Stephanie Childress, principal guest conductor of the Barcelona Symphony and Denève’s former assistant at the St. Louis Symphony, for Mozart’s Requiem and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Toward the Unknown Region on November 14. Jeannette Sorrell, longtime director of the Cleveland-based Baroque group Apollo’s Fire returns March 6-7 for a Bach-Mozart program.

A new double concerto by Billy Childs with brothers Anthony McGill (principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic) and Demarre McGill (principal flute, Seattle Symphony) highlights a program led by Kellen Gray January 16-17. Xian Zhang, music director of the New Jersey and Seattle symphonies, concludes the season May 8-9 with Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished) and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with soloist Joyce Yang.

The 90th birthday of American composer Steve Reich will be feted by conductors Andre de Ritter with a performance of Three Movements for Orchestra (October 24-25) and Brad Lubman leading Reich/Richter (April 25).  Among the other soloists during the season, Jennifer Koh plays Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 1 and Gabriela Montero assays Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

A five-concert chamber music series features many rarely heard pieces as well as such major scores as Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet, Smetana’s String Quartet No. 1 (“From My Life”) and Brahms’ String Quintet No. 1. Performances are at the New World Center in Miami Beach and the Arsht Center in Miami. nws.edu

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