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2025 GRAMMY-winning Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’s incandescent Kauyumari kicks off the WSO’s New Era with a bang, its pulsing rhythms and its relentless energy serving as a metaphor for this exciting new chapter in the orchestra’s history. Following the success of the world premiere of his commissioned work Elegy for the Victims of 1898 at the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra’s November 2023 concert Project 1898, the WSO is proud to once again commission a new piece from Wilmington’s own Algernon Robinson. Drawing on his lifelong connection to the city and the orchestra, Robinson brings a fresh, forward-looking approach to composition, making him a visionary voice who bridges the WSO’s past and future, tradition and innovation. Tchaikovsky’s powerful, lyrical Symphony No. 5 is a journey through human emotion itself, from tragedy to triumph. Encompassing the melancholy of the first movement, the timeless beauty of the second movement (whose Horn solo has inspired numerous popular songs) and rhythmic excitement, it leads to a glorious, joyous conclusion: setting the scene for an exciting season – and Era – to come.

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s ebullient Ouverture in C Major opens the WSO’s second concert of the season with a combination of classical poise and romantic drama. It’s clear her unique musical personality comes from the same source as her famous brother Felix, but she has a trajectory and voice all her own – full of vitality and passion. In the second concert of our 2025/2026 Classics Series, the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra shines a spotlight on the rich, expressive voice of the viola with a deeply moving performance of Christian Colberg’s Viola Concerto. This evocative work—equal parts lyrical and bold—takes center stage in the hands of Paul Aguilar, the brilliant violist who recently earned 2nd place at the 2025 Sphinx Competition and is already making waves as a rising star on the national stage. Aguilar’s performance promises to be a tour de force, full of emotional depth and virtuosic flair, perfectly complementing Colberg’s cinematic writing and vivid orchestral color. Join us for a powerful evening of music that showcases the next generation of classical artistry.

Bring the whole family for an afternoon of musical discovery, imagination, and fun at the Wilmington Symphony’s annual Young People’s Concert, specially designed for children ages 6 and up!

Centered on the ideas of redemption, recovery, and resilience, this Classical Connections program takes its inspiration from the Japanese art of kintsugi: repairing broken pottery with gold and other beautiful materials – highlighting, rather than hiding, an object’s brokenness, and making the repair itself a thing of beauty. Desolate and contemplating suicide because of the inevitable advance of his deafness, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote that his destiny to create art alone would keep him alive. Written at the same time as his struggle with depression, Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus (Creatures of Prometheus) is an epic battle between darkness and light. Beethoven emerged from his darkness to create transcendent works of beauty and humanity, in spite of – or perhaps because of – his struggles.