South Florida Classical Review

The opening program of the New World Symphony’s 2026-2027 season this weekend will commence Stéphane Denève’s fourth season as artistic director, marking nearly two decades since the French conductor first led the fellows of the Miami Beach-based orchestral academy. 

Speaking via Zoom from Australia (where he was leading the Sydney Symphony Orchestra), Denève called his New World affiliation “a dream come true.” He noted that there has been a huge difference between his numerous guest appearances and the ability to direct the players on a regular basis. 

Denève relishes the greater opportunity to connect with members of the ensemble individually and become more involved in the spirit of the organization. “I hope to help them find sustainable joy and happiness” through music making, he said. He added that nearly every orchestra he conducts in his international career has New World alums on its roster. Denève finds that working with the young players makes him “full of hope for our art form.”

Denéve has endeavored to expose the fellows to the entire spectrum of musical literature. In addition to the standard symphonic canon, he has programmed opera, dance, vocal music and cinema scores. Last spring’s “American Choreographic Showcase” program, a collaboration with Miami City Ballet marked a high point of Denéve’s first three years at the helm.

The organization’s board recently renewed his contract through 2032, a strong vote of confidence in his leadership and vision. 

Denéve believes that the opportunity to do innovative presentations distinguish the ensemble from other orchestras. A strong supporter of media outreach, Denève hails the orchestra’s live webcasts (which are later available for extensive periods on the ensemble’s website) for “reaching people all over the planet.” The YouTube series “Modern Masterworks,” which features the conductor in conversation with composers, followed by performances of their music, is another project he strongly endorses.

The coming season promises to be Denève’s most ambitious to date. Two major choral works, a high-tech staging of a unique operatic masterpiece, a documentary film with an original score, more dance collaborations and much contemporary music highlight the musical agenda. 

The season opens October 3-4 with a Latin-themed program of works by Gabriela Ortiz, Arturo Márquez, Debussy and Ravel. Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers debuts with Fandango, a mariachi-tinged concerto written for her by Márquez. In keeping with Denève’s mission to “build bridges across organizations,” projections of dancers Stanislav Olshanski and Macarena Giménez from Miami City Ballet in a new choreographic version of Ravel’s Bolero by MCB dancer-choreographer Natalia Arja will accompany the orchestra’s performance of the score.

Last season concluded with a Bernstein-Gershwin program which, although planned over a year in advance, served as a memorial to New World founding artistic director Michael Tilson Thomas who passed away in April after a valiant battle with brain cancer. “We will carry forward the vision of MTT with respect while adapting to my own view but there will always be the spirit of MTT,” Denève emphasizes.

The October 10-11 concerts will be an official homage to Tilson Thomas. Seattle Symphony principal flutist Demarre McGill will play Tilson Thomas’s Notturno. The academy’s founder was a great Mahler conductor and the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 will serve as a tribute to his mastery of the composer’s works and his many performances of Mahler symphonies, both at New World and around the globe.

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was always central to Tilson Thomas’ repertoire and the concert will conclude with that monumental opus. (Two of the vocal soloists in the October concerts–soprano Ellie Dehn and mezzo Tamara Mumford-participated in Tilson Thomas’ last performance of the symphony in November, 2024 with the Houston Symphony.) “Every time I have done Beethoven’s Ninth, it has had the feeling of an occasion,” Denéve said. The concept of brotherhood in the text of Schiller’s Ode to Joy, which closes the symphony, “makes me want to hold the hand of everybody on the big ship earth,” he enthusiastically stated. He will try something new for this performance by placing the chorus among the orchestra rather behind it, while acknowledging the logistic and acoustical challenges of such a stage arrangement.

Ravel’s one-act opera L’enfant et les sortilèges is a work close to Denève’s heart. The conductor feels the tale of an unruly child being taught humility and compassion by a group of animals is one of Ravel’s masterworks and he describes Colette’s libretto as “pure enchantment.” The New World production on January 30 & 31, 2027 will feature immersive imagery that the conductor promises will be “something new, a technological tour de force.” The superb mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sings the role of the child. Stravinsky’s ballet score Petrushka shares the musical bill of fare.

A plethora of American music highlights the season. Denève notes that audiences are no longer resistant to music of our time. This reflects, in many ways, numerous contemporary composers writing in a manner that connects with listeners rather than embracing academic compositional dogmas. Music by Steve Reich and Philip Glass, two of the founding fathers of musical minimalism, highlight a program on October 24-25 conducted by Icelandic composer Daniel Bjarnason. Denève leads Kevin Puts’ Contact with the string trio Time for Three (two violins and bass) on December 12 and 13. Denève calls Puts’ score, a concerto in all but name, “a tremendous piece and a masterwork.” (Puts’ Rosalie was the high point of the multi-composer program last season with Miami City Ballet.

The conductor’s enthusiasm for mixed media will take full flight on March 27 with director Sam Green’s film Trees. Dealing with contemporary issues of climate and the environment, the “poetic documentary” will be presented with an original score by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Caroline Shaw, played live under Denève’s baton. Composer Carlos Simon, whose scores, Denève notes, are now played virtually everywhere, will be represented by two works. Simon’s Tales: A Folklore Symphony will be played January 16-17 under Kellen Gray while Denève directs Four Black American Dances on his final season program on May 1-2.

Denève has championed the music of French composer Guillaume Connesson, conducting many of his pieces with the New World musicians. Connesson’s scores may be viewed as modern day impressionism but the conductor sees A Kind of Trance, a saxophone concerto, as something distinctly different. An homage to jazz great John Coltrane and his legendary album “A Love Supreme.” Denève describes the 2015 composition as having “a sense of very rich harmonies with shimmering orchestration, the jazz and classical idioms in perfect blend.” He considers soloist Steven Banks “a new megastar” who was note perfect at the very first rehearsal of the piece when Denève led it in 2025 with the Cleveland Orchestra. Banks was previously a stunning soloist in Billy Childs’ Diaspora with the New World in 2024.

More standard fare throughout the season includes Denève conducting Brahms’ Third and Mahler’s First symphonies, an all-Prokofiev concert with James Ehnes assaying both of the composer’s violin concertos, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 with Leonard Slatkin on the podium and a Bach-Vivaldi-Mozart program under Baroque specialist Jeannette Sorrell.

Denéve views the season’s repertoire as a “a banquet with something for every taste.” The 2026-27 programs should prove stimulating for musicians and audience members alike.

Stéphane Denève conducts the New World Symphony in Debussy’s Iberia, Ravel’s Bolero and Márquez’s Fandango with violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. Ziwei Ma leads Ortiz’s Kouyumari. Performances are 7:30 p.m. October 3 and 2:30 p.m. October 4 at New World Center in Miami Beach. nws.edu

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