John Williams & The Planets

Lake Michigan College Mendel Center

Few pieces transcend the emotional and raw power like Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, a masterpiece that has inspired audiences for generations. From its stirring opening to the triumphant Ode to Joy, this iconic symphony is a true celebration of unity, hope, and the indomitable human spirit. With its soaring choral finale and unforgettable melodies, Beethoven’s Ninth is more than just a concert—it’s an emotional and uplifting journey that speaks to the soul.

EPSG:4326

Beethoven Symphony No. 9

Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

Holst’s The Planets

Shermerhorn Symphony Center

Under Anthony Parnther, this program highlights voices of change as composer James Lee III channels Coretta Scott King in a new work featuring Angela Brown. ISO Principal Viola Yu Jin performs Chen Yi’s Xian shi, and Beethoven’s uplifting Symphony No. 8 closes this unique program.

Beethoven's 8th Symphony

Hilbert Circle Theatre

Alexandra Dariescu has made it her mission to create concert programmes that give underrepresented female composers equal billing with their better-known male colleagues.

Alexandra Dariescu

Southbank Centre

Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character” (New York Times),  clarinetist Anthony McGill enjoys a dynamic international solo and chamber music career and is  principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic — the first African-American principal player in  the organization's history. He is the recipient of the 2020 Avery Fisher Prize, one of classical  music’s most significant awards, and was named Musical America’s 2024 Instrumentalist of the  Year. American Stories, his album with the Pacifica Quartet, was nominated for a GRAMMY® for  Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. McGill appears as a soloist with top orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles  Philharmonics, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit  Symphony Orchestras. He performed alongside Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriela Montero at the inauguration of President Barack Obama, premiering a piece by John Williams.  As a chamber musician, McGill is a collaborator of the Brentano, Daedalus, Guarneri, JACK,  Miró, Pacifica, Shanghai, Takács, and Tokyo Quartets, and performs with leading artists  including Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Gloria Chien, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Mitsuko Uchida, and Lang Lang. He serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School and is the Artistic Director for Juilliard’s Music  Advancement Program. He holds the William R. and Hyunah Yu Brody Distinguished Chair at the  Curtis Institute of Music. In 2020, McGill’s #TakeTwoKnees campaign protesting the death of George Floyd and historic racial injustice went viral. In 2023, he partnered with Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative to organize a classical music industry convening at EJI’s Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, in which leaders and artists in classical music examined America’s history of racial inequality and how this legacy continues to impact their work. He is a Backun Artist and performs exclusively on Backun Clarinets.

Anthony Mcgill, Clarinet Isidore String Quartet

The Town Hall

From the optimistic spirit of Ellington's "New World A-Comin'" to the electrifying dance rhythms from Bernstein's On the Town to the innovative sounds of Karena Ingram's RAINN and the timeless brilliance of Gershwin's An American in Paris, immerse yourself in a musical melting pot of orchestral grandeur, iconic melodies, and cultural charm.

An American in Paris

Orpheum Theater

From Harriet Tubman to Napoleon, the season begins with a salute to freedom fighters and revolutionaries. Copland captures the enduring courage of The Great Emancipator. Stéphane Denève conducts Beethoven’s pioneering Third Symphony.

Reserve your seats for this performance today and enjoy unbeatable savings by subscribing to New World Symphony’s Saturday One or Sunday One series. Starting at just $20 a concert, both series feature illuminating performances with Stéphane Denève, Augustin Hadelich, Manfred Honeck, Kalena Bovell and 87 of the world’s best young musicians. 

Denève: Beethoven's Eroica

New World Center

Celebrations commence as Music Director Stéphane Denève and the SLSO usher in an exhilarating season of reuniting and reveling in the beautifully renovated Powell Hall. The season opens with a trio of fanfares reflecting past, present, and future. Multiple Grammy Award-winning artist Joyce DiDonato and members of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus join the orchestra for the world premiere of a song cycle by composer-in-residence Kevin Puts. And with the thundering roar of percussion and brass, Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben tells a triumphant tale of adventure and accomplishment.

Opening Weekend

Powell Hall

September’s chamber concert will be headlined by acclaimed Romanian pianist Alexandra Dariescu, who will also appear as soloist in the Orchestra’s season-opening concert the previous evening. The programme presents a diverse selection of solo and chamber music, ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach and Clara Schumann to James Lee III and Missy Mazzoli. Audiences will also have the rare opportunity to hear works by lesser-known composers such as Emmy Schäfer Klein and Leokadiya Kashperova. The ERSO Chamber Ensemble will be joined by a chamber arrangement of Wolfgang Amadus Mozart’s well-known Rondo in D major for piano and orchestra. Additional featured composers include Amy Beach, Florence Price, and Nadia Boulanger.

Alexandra Dariescu and Chamber Musicians of the ERSO

Tallinna Muusika- ja Balletikool / MUBA

Celebrate the mixed tapestry of 20th-century American music with a stunning concert featuring works by Gershwin, Bernstein, and John Carter woven alongside the rich contributions of Black composers: Quenton Blache, Regina Harris Baiocchi, Nkeiru Okoye, Omar Thomas, and James Lee III. This program shines with the brilliance of Met Opera star and internationally acclaimed soprano Angela Brown, whose powerful voice and artistry bring these timeless pieces to life. 

American Song

King Street corner of the Capitol Square

BSO Music Director Jonathon Heyward leads a dynamic program possessing a strong sense of place. Completed while under siege, Beethoven melds Viennese sophistication with musical heroism amidst the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. Smetana's patriotic tribute to his homeland solidified his reputation as the "father of Czech music," a rousing and lush ode to the rivers and mountains surrounding Prague, culminating in a triumphant hymn. Composer in Residence James Lee III unveils the world premiere of his BSO-commissioned Concerto for Orchestra, channeling his own love of Baltimore in a daring and evocative new work.

Beethoven Emperor Piano Concerto featuring Bronfman

Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

The Music Center at Strathmore

A keen student of history, Brahms took 14 painstaking years to mount his First Symphony atop the shoulders of his hero, Beethoven. Now, Music Director Jonathon Heyward puts his own stamp on this essential pillar of the orchestral repertoire. In a commission from BSO Composer in Residence James Lee III, a new Cello Concerto features the talents of Joshua Roman, whose electrifying interpretations of solo repertoire draw from his creative perspective as a composer and improviser. An early overture by England’s Edward Elgar depicts a storied account of battles and royal intrigue from the 1300s. 

Brahms Symphony No. 1 with Heyward

James Lee III wrote the solo woodwind works of Principal Brothers to highlight these four Black artists who are orchestral principals and inspirational leaders in the field. PCMS is proud to bring together these exceptional players for an evening of contemporary wind music that also features Valerie Coleman’s Rubispheres and a world premiere by Belize-born British composer Errollyn Wallen.

Demarre McGill, flute

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

The visionary principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic is joined by one of America’s most beloved collaborative pianists and the cellist who took top honors in the 2019 Sphinx Competition.

Digital Concert: Anthony McGill, clarinet, Gloria Chien, piano, and Sterling Elliot, cello

Detroit Country Day School - Upper School

"Gillam strikes barren!" wrote The Guardian about Jess Gillam's latest solo album, which went straight to number one on the classical charts. Now the dynamic saxophonist can be experienced for the first time in the DR Koncerthuset. She brings Anna Clynes' alternately violent and lyrical saxophone concerto  Glasslands , inspired by Irish mythology.

Heyward & Planeterne

DR Koncerthuset

Some composers looked within for inspiration, while others looked up. Join us for Gustav Holst’s The Planets, evoking the astrological characterizations of our celestial neighbors. From the romantic lyricism of “Venus” to the golden song of “Jupiter,” the massive seven-movement suite spans a range of emotions. The program also includes Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula by contemporary composer James Lee, III, and Claude Debussy’s The Joyful Island, depicting a merry party arriving on the island known as the birthplace of Venus.

Symphonic Spectacular

Saenger Theatre

ANTHONY McGILL, clarinet & EMANUEL AX, piano

The Baker-Baum Concert Hall

Dvořák was convinced that the future music of this country must be founded on folk themes. “These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil.” Alongside Dvořák’s iconic work, this concert features composers who explore and express their visions of “America.” Those of Still and Price demonstrate the promise of Dvořák’s prediction through their use of African-American popular musical styles and melodies. In the haunting and powerful “Amer’ican” by Lee, audiences will be delighted to hear a direct quote of Dvořák’s Symphony from the New World.

New Musical World

Symphony Hall, Springfield

From the quicksilver charms of Mercury to the mystical stillness of Neptune, The Planets of Gustav Holst offer an immersive tour of the vast solar system. Composer in Residence James Lee III peers through the open roof of a festive sukkah and beholds the even greater distance to Orion’s Nebula, a nursery for newborn stars in the constellation that has captivated humans for millennia. Anna Clyne’s saxophone concerto takes us out of the ordinary world and into a fantastical realm ruled by a wailing banshee.

The Planets with Heyward

'A dazzling tour de force' was how The Scotsman described a solo recital by Yeol Eum Son – going on to praise her 'vital emotional connection with the music'. You can’t have missed the buzz around this remarkable Korean pianist; now hear her for yourself, as she joins conductor Jonathon Hayward and the full BBC Symphony Orchestra in Prokofiev’s ferocious Second Piano Concerto. Few living pianists play it better.

Yeol Eum Son plays Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto

Barbican Centre

“A dazzling tour de force” was how The Scotsman described a solo recital by Yeol Eum Son – going on to praise her “vital emotional connection with the music”. You can’t have missed the buzz around this remarkable Korean pianist; now hear her for yourself, as she joins conductor Jonathon Heyward and the full BBC Symphony Orchestra in Prokofiev’s ferocious Second Piano Concerto. Few living pianists play it better.

With his Fifth Symphony, Shostakovich outwitted Soviet authorities with the finesse of a double agent. Threatened by Stalin’s regime, the composer skillfully appeased Soviet officials with this gripping work packed with triumphant Russian themes, but also subversive satire and daring irony. Chief conductor of the Ravinia Festival Marin Alsop also leads the CSO in a captivating work about Harriet Tubman and a beloved Chopin concerto featuring pianist Lukáš Vondráček.

Alsop & Vondráček

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Music Director Jonathon Heyward sheds light on Dvořák’s sun-drenched Eighth Symphony, a celebration of the Bohemian countryside filled with cheerful birdsong and brilliant fanfare. James Lee III kicks off his tenure as BSO Composer in Residence with his Visions of Cahokia, an expressive three-movement work that depicts the Cahokia Mounds Historic Site and celebrates indigenous Mississippian culture. Violinist James Ehnes interprets Barber's sensitive and tuneful concerto with his signature elegance, an approach that solidified Ehnes as a GRAMMY®-winning recording artist.

Barber Violin Concerto with Ehnes & Heyward

BSO Music Director Jonathon Heyward takes the podium for a free community performance, featuring selections from Beethoven's beloved Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral," evoking vivid depictions of nature and rural scenes. Accompanying Beethoven's timeless work is BSO Composer in Residence James Lee III's Amer'ican and selections from Captivating Personas, praised by the Washington Post for its "deep colors, historical echoes and unabashed optimism."

Symphony in the City: Morgan State University

Morgan State University

Festival Program Three

Kneisel Hall

LSO’s season finale begins with Kenji Bunch’s driving Groovebox Fantasy, then LSO presents the Nebraska premiere of James Lee III’s Courageous Lights, a concerto based on three outstanding women activists who strive to achieve positive change in their respective spheres of influence. Lee’s piece features LSO’s own English Horn, American Prize finalist, Darci Gamerl. The season closes with Ravel’s arrangement of Mussorgsky’s expansive and dramatic Pictures at an Exhibition.

Pictures at an Exhibition

University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character” (The New York Times), clarinetist Anthony McGill is one of classical music’s most recognizable and brilliantly multifaceted figures.  Alabama-born soprano Susanna Phillips continues to establish herself as one of today’s most sought-after singing actors and recitalists, and is a recipient of The Metropolitan Opera’s 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award. Acclaimed by Opera News as being “among the top accompanists of her generation,” and “…a colouristic tour de force” by The New York Times, Grammy® Award-nominated pianist Myra Huang performs in recitals and chamber music concerts around the world.  They will perform music by William Grant Still, Franz Schubert, and James Lee III on April 1 at Washington Irving Campus. The virtual concert will be available on April 2.

A. McGill, S. Phillips, M. Huang

Washington Irving Campus

Experience the violinist that “sits atop the pantheon of stellar violinists” (NUVO), as Hilary Hahn brings the spice of Ginastera's Violin Concerto and Sarsate’s Carmen Fantasy to life. Feel the melodies that emanate sultriness in this adaptation of Bizet’s famous opera.

Hilary Hahn Plays Carmen Fantasy

Heinz Hall

Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony, in his own words, expresses “the spirit of life or manifestations of life, that is: everything that moves, that wants to live … just life and motion…”. This incendiary work makes for a fitting conclusion to this programme, conducted by John Storgårds, which seeks to define the human spirit. Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, arising from conflict seeks to celebrate an unshakeable sense of optimism. These two pieces bookend two more introspective UK premieres, Michigan-born composer James Lee III’s Shades of Unbroken Dreams with pianist Alexandra Dariescu – a piano concerto marking the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech – and Helena’s Song arranged for violin and orchestra from Sebastian Fagerlund’s unnerving operatic family drama Autumn Sonata, performed tonight by our Chief Conductor play-directing from the podium.

The Spirit of Life

The Bridgewater Hall

The Wind Symphony presents a program featuring works exploring human experience across time. The centerpiece of the concert is the consortium premiere of award-winning guest composer James Lee III’s Solar Testimonies, his symphony about the evolving life of a university community.

Illinois Wind Symphony

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Experience the full range of sound and emotion with music that spans tradition and innovation. Hear the world premiere of Chamber Symphony by acclaimed composer James Lee III, the vibrant textures of Anna Clyne’s Color Field, and the timeless brilliance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major. From contemporary commissions to classical mastery, this concert celebrates the dazzling diversity of orchestral music.

Spectrum

Butler University

Be among the first to witness the world premiere of a bold new commission by James Lee III, a work promising fresh perspectives and contemporary brilliance. The program embraces the spirit of the Americas with the open-hearted clarity of Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite and the kaleidoscopic, Inca-inspired textures of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Concertino Cusqueño. To close, violinist Grace Park leads a fiery excursion through Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons in Buenos Aires, blending urban grit with sultry, tango-infused passion.

James Lee III

Events

Upcoming events

Mar 13, 2027

Spectrum · Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra

Apr 15, 2027

Appalachian Spring & Four Seasons In Buenos Aires · Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra

Apr 16, 2027

Northshore Classics: Appalachian Spring & Four Seasons In Buenos Aires · Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra

Past events

May 15, 2026

John Williams & The Planets · Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra

9 - 10 May, 2026

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 · Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra

About

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