Celebrated French pianist Hélène Grimaud returns to the VSO to treat us to George Gershwin’s Concerto in F Major, brimming with enthusiasm and rhythm. English conductor Alexander Shelley summons the orchestra’s many musical colours in Ravel’s sensual ballet, Daphnis et Chloé. Peruvian composer Jimmy López’s Aino, hailed by The Chicago Tribune as “one of the most effective CSO commissions in recent seasons” receives its hotly anticipated Vancouver premiere.

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Grimaud Plays Gershwin

Orpheum

Three works inspired in very different ways by folk music and the mix of different cultures. Perú Negro (Black Peru), by San Diego Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López, was composed in 2012, and in the words of the composer “showcases my native country’s Afro-Peruvian heritage” while celebrating the exuberant fusion of African and Latin elements in the popular music of his native land. Alban Berg’s last completed work, his mystical Violin Concerto, was written in 1935 “to the memory of an angel”. The angel was Manon, the daughter of Alma Mahler (by her second husband) who had died a few months earlier at the age of 18. Berg includes in his concerto a beautiful folk-tune from the Southern Austrian Catholic region of Carinthia, and a haunting old German Protestant hymn-tune, which Bach had used several times. Mendelssohn’s "Scottish" Symphony, like his Hebrides Overture, was inspired by his youthful trip to Scotland where the young Berliner was overwhelmed by the feeling of a haunting and ancient culture. In his symphony we hear echoes of Scottish traditional music for bagpipes, fiddles and harps, the skipping rhythms of Scottish folk dancing, and Romantic impressions of ruined medieval castles and monasteries.

Folk Auras: Thayer Plays Berg Violin Concerto

Jacobs Music Center

BNY Classics showcases unforgettable performances by your Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, featuring timeless masterpieces, thrilling premieres, and renowned guest artists.

The Rite of Spring

Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts

This program creates a bridge between the 18th and 21st centuries, offering a striking contrast between the classical elegance of Mozart and Bologne and the dramatic intensity of Banks and López. Each piece highlights a distinct facet of the string quartet. Steven Banks, the renowned ambassador of classical saxophone, will also demonstrate how his instrument adds a unique flavour when paired with strings!

Strings and Saxophone

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

This program brings together three contrasting works, each exploring the theme of hope in the face of hardship. López and Childs delve into the pain of displacement and loss, while Mahler, in his quest for a transcendent refuge, paints a luminous picture of the heavenly joys of childhood. A compelling program that uses the power of classical music to inspire reflection on humanity, spiritual yearning, and the beauty of life.

López, Childs, and Mahler: Hope in the Heart of Exile

Place des Arts

Spain as evoked by the French composer Chabrier is followed by a lush new piano concerto, written by San Diego Symphony Composer-in-Residence Jimmy López for soloist Javier Perianes and filled with echoes of Latin melodies and dance rhythms. The program ends with Schumann’s magnificent Symphony No. 2, composed at dizzying speed after the composer’s recovery from an illness, and shot through with an exuberant love of life and energetic overflowing melodies.

Romantic Visions: Schumann’s Symphony No. 2

López’s symphonic poem Aino is a beautiful tribute to Finland, while Dvořák affirms his Slavic identity in his Symphony No. 6 by using material from a Slavic folk dance for the first time. Finally, let yourself be enchanted by Brahms’ legendary Violin Concerto, a mainstay of the instrument’s repertoire, which will be masterfully performed by the internationally acclaimed violinist James Ehnes.

Brahms & Dvořák : The Splendour of Romanticism

This festive concert features strains of Mediterranean/Hispanic culture, dance music and rousing good times, with a healthy dose of virtuosity thrown in.  Our own Jason Lin steps out in front of the orchestra to play one of the best violin concertos of 19th century France, inspired by the exotic music of Spain.

Chamber Orchestra Concert 2025

Cañada College

Conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya returns to lead the MSO, opening with his fellow Peruvian’s work Fiesta! and continuing with musical polyglot Joe Chindamo’s Concerto for Orchestra.

Journey to the Americas

Deakin University Geelong Waterfront Campus

Arts Centre Melbourne

Ji Young Lim plays Beethoven’s Violin Concerto

Lotte World Mall

Radiant rhythms and vibrant melodies await in this colourful celebración hispana, featuring Jimmy López Bellido’s spirited tribute to his Afro-Peruvian heritage, and Karen Gomyo’s blazing take on Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, where classical music meets Argentinian tango. The fiesta culminates in the south of Spain with Bizet’s Carmen Suites, including the crowd-pleasing favourites “Habanera”, “Toreador Song”, and more.

Bizet’s Carmen Suites

David Pecaut Square

Tchaikovsky & Sibelius

Hemmens Auditorium

Fiesta! by Jimmy López Bellido is an exuberant mix of European traditions with Afro-Peruvian and popular music vibes. Steven Banks performs Billy Childs’ Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra, taking the listener through a Black American experience from Africa through enslavement to empowerment. Richard Strauss' gorgeous Suite from Der Rosenkavalier is the perfect preamble to Ravel’s fantastic La Valse.

Sarasota Orchestra presents Melting Pot of Music

Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

Melting Pot of Music

The richness and beauty of the cello comes through brilliantly when CSO Principal Cello Ilya Finkelshteyn plays the spellbinding melodies of Saint-Saëns’ firework First Concerto. The magical evening ties-in music by Mozart and Jimmy López Bellido, each inspired by fairy tales. Prokofiev’s poignant and profound orchestral farewell provides a thrilling showpiece for the entire Orchestra.

The Magic Cello

Cincinnati Music Hall

A showstopping ode to the power of dance, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony brims with an unbridled energy certain to make your heart race. The composer's Violin Concerto — which ends with its own rollicking tune — trades in technical fireworks for transcendent lyricism, while Jimmy López Bellido's Fiesta! shakes up Baroque dance forms with elements of pop, techno, and Latin music.

Exhilarating Beethoven

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

Willamette University

Carmen and La mer

Naples Philharmonic

EarShot Readings: National Arts Centre Orchestra

National Arts Centre

Beethoven’s Ninth

Gichi-ziibi Center for the Arts

Experience a soundtrack to summer when you join the Utah Symphony under the stars for an evening of some of the greatest hits from classical music and film—with spirited works celebrating the USA, Latin America, and themes of exploration and adventure. This laid-back outdoor concert features movie music by John Williams, marches by John Philip Sousa, music from West Side Story, fiery rhythms of Márquez’s Danzón No. 2, passionate melodies from Bizet’s Carmen, and much more.

Utah Symphony at Thanksgiving Point

Ashton Gardens Waterfall

Feel all the passion and sizzle of Latin America as NAC Orchestra Creative Partner Gabriela Montero performs her Latin Concerto, “a portrait of Latin America in all its splendour.”

Montero's Latin Concerto

Southam Hall

Klaus Mäkelä, “the fast-rising star of conducting,” returns to lead a program highlighting the works of British composers: Elgar’s much-loved Cello Concerto, and Walton’s outlandishly exuberant oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast, featuring celebrated baritone Thomas Hampson. A vibrant opener by Jimmy López Bellido takes listeners on a quick excursion to South America filled with festive melodies and rollicking rhythms inspired by Afro-Peruvian folk music.

Elgar’s Cello Concerto

Severance Music Center

Journey across the globe in a program of rhythmic and high-energy music, led by charismatic conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya. Jimmy López Bellido’s Fiesta! fuses Latin American and Afro-Peruvian influences, modern pop music, and more. Inspired by the glittering, hypnotic beauty of Balinese gamelan, A Cassette from Banglé showcases the talents of Shepherd School of Music alumnus Daniel Leibovic. Prokofiev’s beloved Romeo and Juliet ballet score conjures the drama and intense passions of the world’s most famous love story.

Rhythmic Revelry

Alice Pratt Brown Hall

Festival Coordinator George Hanson leads a discussion about the creative process behind Jimmy’s new work. How do composers and performers collaborate, exchange ideas, and inspire each other? The atmosphere is casual with a Q and A opportunity for the audience.

Tucson Desert Song Festival – Meet the Artists: Michael Fabiano, tenor, Jimmy López Bellido, composer, & Nilo Cruz, poet

University of Arizona

After an ‘extraordinary’ Proms debut last season, rising-star conductor Klaus Mäkelä is reunited with sensational pianist Yuja Wang for Rachmaninov’s glittering Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini – its mercurial moods and technical demands a tour de force for any soloist. American baritone Thomas Hampson joins forces with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus for Walton’s biblical blockbuster Belshazzar’s Feast – a choral symphony with an epic impact. Orchestral colour is also on display in Jimmy López Bellido’s Perú negro – a vibrant homage to the songs, dances and traditions of Afro-Peruvian music.

Prom 27: Yuja Wang plays Rachmaninov

Royal Albert Hall

A celebration of the “beautiful voice”: Expect high notes and high drama in Wilmington Concert Opera’s 2023 Gala featuring all of your favorite arias and ensembles by composers whose names end in -ini or -etti.

Bel Canto Gala

Presbyterian Church of the Covenant

Joy radiates throughout this vibrant program, from Jimmy López’s high-energy Techno to the expressive sweep of Iowa’s James Poulsen’s Piano Concerto, recently recorded by Robert Thies with the Royal Philharmonic. The celebration culminates in the triumph over fate in Tchaikovsky’s powerful Fourth Symphony.

Jimmy López Bellido

Events

Upcoming events

15 - 16 May, 2027

Season Finale: Radical Joy – Tchaikovsky’s Fourth · Des Moines Symphony

Past events

22 - 23 May, 2026

Grimaud Plays Gershwin · Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

15 - 16 May, 2026

Folk Auras: Thayer Plays Berg Violin Concerto · San Diego Symphony

About

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