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CineConcerts is inviting fans back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ for an evening of music and magic in the Harry Potter™ Film Concert Series. Relive the magic of Harry Potter™ soaring across the big screen in high-definition and experience the music of a live symphony orchestra performing Nicholas Hooper’s unforgettable score.

It’s always an event when Emanuel Ax performs, and Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto will showcase his prodigious virtuosity. This grand work speaks with a bold new voice in the dramatic key of C minor that Beethoven turned to for his revolutionary works. So, hang onto your seat when, after a gargantuan orchestral introduction, the piano announces its presence with three crashing fortissimo chords! The exhilarating Harmonielehre is one of Adams’ most popular works. A fascinating fusion of minimalism and late Romanticism — rushing waves of color, pulsing rhythms and shimmering textures — it promises an unforgettable musical journey at its DSO premiere. The composer points to the final movement that “culminates in a tidal wave of brass and percussion over a pedal point on E-flat Major.” Beginning this concert is the piece that sparked Barber’s career, The School for Scandal. His first work for orchestra is filled with romance and drama, ending on a note of joyous harmony.

As though transported to an alternate universe, you’ll witness the artists of Troupe Vertigo defying gravity and casting their spell in their show “Cirque Noir.” It’s an alluring, film noir-inspired circus of thrills and chills, set to a jazzy, nocturnal score, performed by the DSO and led by Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik. Enhanced by atmospheric lighting, the stunning visuals and choreography, executed by aerial acrobats, dancers and contortionists entertain you with riveting feats that may well leave you speechless.

Mahler’s sunny Fourth, whose ethereal last movement describes a child’s vision of heavenly life — overflowing bowls of tasty food, angels, saints and St. Cecilia and her kindred playing music to accompany the dancing of 11,000 virgins — radiantly portrayed by powerful and stunningly resonant soprano, Sofia Formina. Bachtrack says “her high notes were very secure in brilliant.” Music Director Fabio Luisi also leads the vivacious “Oxford” Symphony, composed on the occasion of Haydn’s receiving an honorary Doctor of Music degree at that university and conducting the work after the ceremony.

Characterized by ravishingly beautiful passages, graceful melodies and deeply felt passion, Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece has spoken to the heart of generations of adoring audiences. Leonidas Kavakos, our Artist-in-Residence, steps into the spotlight at our celebratory Gala. Whether this is the first or 50th time you’ve heard this masterpiece, the soloist says, “each and every time the listener goes away taking something new and something fresh and something beautiful with them. That is what a great piece of art is all about.” Opening this festive occasion is the Egmont Overture, named for the title character of Goethe’s play. The stirring music reflects the nobility of the man who dies a hero to his people.

A double helping of Respighi awaits you with music by this orchestrator extraordinaire. In The Fountains of Rome, he focuses on four magnificent aquatic landmarks “contemplated at the hour… in which their beauty appears most impressive to the observer.” Fish and fowl and mythological beings of all kinds are suggested — nymphs, naiads, sea horses, Neptune — with the score suitably splashy and noisy. In the final movement of Church Windows, “Pope Gregory the Great” Respighi pays homage to this powerful figure in the history of church music (i.e. Gregorian chant) and pulls out all the stops, including organ and bells. The Fifth Piano Concerto, inspired by the composer’s journey to Cairo, is a nice mix of “pseudo-Egyptian” exoticism (hence the nickname) and Saint-Saëns’ trademark flashiness. You’ll also enjoy the DSO premiere of the evocatively named What do flowers do at night? by Composer-in-Residence Sophia Jani.

Headlining this all-American program is the red, white, and blue Rhapsody in Blue that Gershwin described as a sort of “musical kaleidoscope of America.” Inon Barnatan “fine music-making wedded to astounding technique” (The Washington Post) stars in this beloved American classic, an effervescent mix of jazz and classical music. The composer himself was at the keyboard at the premiere, and the audience went wild with enthusiasm, propelling this concerto to iconic status. Angélica Negrón’s gripping work for orchestra, chorus and four soloists is an elegy for lost sounds and incorporates birdsong, whale calls, sounds of forests and oceans. It is not to be missed!

Dolly Parton brings her music to orchestras worldwide! Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs In Symphony, is an innovative multimedia experience featuring Dolly on screen, leading audiences in a visual-musical journey of her songs, her life, and her stories. Accompanied by guest vocalists and musicians, audiences will hear new and innovative orchestrations of her hit songs, including “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” and “I Will Always Love You,” in addition to her personal favorites and “If You Hadn’t Been There” from her upcoming Broadway musical. Co-produced by Dolly Parton together with Schirmer Theatrical and Sony Music Publishing.

For Schubert, writing a song was not just putting the words to music, but rather translating the poetry into music. And never more so than in his most well-known cycle of 24 songs, Winterreise (Winter’s Journey), set upon poems by Wilhelm Müller. Baritone Matthias Goerne (“today’s leading interpreter of German art songs” (Chicago Tribune) and pianist Daniil Trifonov (“one of the most awesome pianists of our time” (New York Times) interpret Schubert’s gripping, heart-wrenching songs at this not-to-be-missed recital. The austere beauty and power of Winterreise is sure to resonate in your heart and soul.

Celebrated conductor Marin Alsop leads the DSO in the tale of the notorious libertine, Don Juan. But the brilliant score by the then-just-24-year-old Richard Strauss shows us a different man…one who is world-and-pleasure-weary, bored with searching for the ideal woman. Beginning with Don’s theme — the rising thunder of horns — to sensuous love music of exquisite beauty; to the eerie, shuddering gestures of the iconic lover’s demise, Don Juan requires a virtuoso orchestra, especially horns. The graphic music scandalized the audience at the premiere but established young Strauss’ genius. Kathryn Bostic, award-winning composer of film, TV and Broadway music — whose accolades include being the first female African American score composer to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — pays homage to Gladys Bentley, African American blues singer of the Harlem Renaissance.