Composer

EPSG:4326

Opening Weekend: Beethoven’s Second Symphony with Gábor Takács-Nagy

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

Thomas Ospital opens his organ recital with the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. But what composer Dudley Buck does with it will take your breath away — there’s nothing remotely patriotic or martial about it. And that’s not the only sly twist. The fact that Ospital — a Frenchman born in Bayonne in 1990 and, since 2015, titular organist of Saint-Eustache in Paris — should become the “Voice of America” is enough to make you smile. Just as amusing is the observation that America, an earlier, unofficial U.S. national anthem varied by Charles Ives, is actually based on an English tune. But Ospital doesn’t stop at clever punchlines. He will also play a brilliant transcription of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead as well as the Symphonie-Passion by the French organ master Marcel Dupré, who was inspired by the largest organ in the world, the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ in Philadelphia. The rousing “closer” is Iain Farrington’s Live Wire — a piece that sounds as if it were being played by a jazz band.

Thomas Ospital

KKL Luzern Concert Hall

The program, inspired by the spirit of America250, celebrates the diverse musical traditions and voices that have shaped our nation artistically. Featuring works by American composers, this free outdoor concert offers something for audiences of all ages. Whether you’re a lifelong concertgoer or discovering the orchestra for the first time, you will enjoy this unforgettable concert.

Pops in the Park

Quiet Waters Park

Downs Park

This Labor Day weekend, your Nashville Symphony transforms Walk of Fame Park into a multimedia celebration of America’s 250th birthday.

Leading the evening alongside Music Director Leonard Slatkin is acclaimed actor, humanitarian, and fellow Lincoln Medal recipient Gary Sinise, who narrates American Mosaic: a bold new composition honoring the people, places, and spirit of the United States. Created by composer Peter Boyer and renowned photographer Joe Sohm, and co-commissioned by the Nashville Symphony, the work weaves sweeping orchestral music, Sinise's live narration, and stunning 4K video from all 50 states into an unforgettable journey through America’s diverse sonic and scenic identity.

Around this centerpiece, the orchestra performs some of our nation’s most beloved pieces, including Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man and Charles Ives' Variations on America.

American Mosaic: A Free Community Concert

Walk of Fame Park

The American Chamber Music Society is deeply invested in inspiring and connecting with our local community. As one of the most intimate classical music experiences in Chicago, it is our honor to enrich our culture by performing repertoire ranging from centuries ago to the present, providing a variety of educational opportunities and offering tickets at a discounted price. There is nothing like sitting a few feet away from the best musicians in the world, especially when many of them are from your home town. I am confident the diverse and innovative programming of our events will leave you moved, exhilarated, and eager to return.

AMERICAN CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY with REED TETZLOFF, piano

Maverick Concert Hall

A Musical Gift- FREE Concert

Lincoln City Cultural Center

Go West! To open the summer Festival, Riccardo Chailly and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra explore a range of “American Dreams.” First up is George Gershwin, who fused classical music and jazz so brilliantly that the old divide between highbrow and popular music simply falls away. His snappy Cuban Overture, inspired by a visit to Havana, practically dances on rumba rhythms. In contrast, his grand Concerto in F — which Chailly considers “the first American piano concerto” — takes its cues from the Charleston and the blues. Gershwin called its finale “a rhythmic orgy”: the perfect showcase for a boundary-pushing artist like the 34-year-old Frank Dupree, with his overflowing energy and infectious joy in performance.

Lucerne Festival Orchestra | Riccardo Chailly | Frank Dupree | soloists of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO)

American classical music composers didn’t always view the nation’s various, vibrant folk music traditions as a valid source of inspiration—but once someone realized there’s not so much that separates a violin from a fiddle, this nation’s concert music tradition was permanently enriched. Aaron Copland used an earnest Shaker song, “Simple Gifts,” as the basis of his elegant score for the Martha Graham ballet Appalachian Spring—one of several Copland works that helped to firmly establish an American classical music style. Nearly 50 years earlier, Charles Ives – a composer who eagerly embraced the unpolished spirit of traditional folk idioms – adopted three hymns for his String Quartet No. 1 (“From the Salvation Army”), presented here alongside authentic folk tunes played by Grand Picnic. And Edgar Meyer, a virtuoso bassist and composer equally fluent in chamber music, bluegrass, jazz, and more, proves with his String Quintet that mixing classical discipline with folk-music exuberance is a well in no danger of running dry.

Appalachian Spring: Music From The Mountains

Southern Vermont Arts Center

Our programme will be giving a nod to mark the semiquincentennial (250th) anniversary of American Independence.

St Giles Orchestra July 2026 Concert

St Michael & All Angels Church Summertown

Since its inception, the RCM Junior Department has offered advanced training at the highest level to young musicians aged 8–18, nurturing its students with individually tailored programmes of one-to-one instrumental, voice and composition lessons, supported by chamber music, orchestral, choral and musicianship classes.

Many former RCMJD students are now leading and influential figures in the music industry.

RCM Junior Dept Chamber & Symphony Orchestras

Cadogan Hall

KASA Quartet, First Prize winner of the 2017 Coltman Chamber Music Competition, was founded in the summer of 2016 by Andy Liang, Aaron Schwartz, Stephanie Price-Wong and Kyle Price. KASA utilizes its fluency in multiple styles to curate fresh, innovative, genre-defying performances that harken the classical standard repertoire and fuse it with favorites of the jazz, musical theater, folk and pop standards. The quartet takes pride in creating and interpreting original arrangements and transcriptions of works by Jacob Collier, Marvin Hamlisch, George Gershwin among others. The ensemble has taught and performed as featured artists for the Ravinia Festival, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Austin Chamber Music Center, Second City Chamber Series, Miami Music Project, and Chamber Music Connection in addition to holding a residency each summer at the Caroga Lake Music Festival since its inception. KASA’s shared passion for bringing multiple genres together for their programming has attracted various audiences and presenters from different musical interests together for memorable performances and projects. KASA released its debut album in 2022, Forever Wild, Vol. 1 with each track featuring guest collaborations spanning a wide array of genres and styles.

KASA QUARTET with ANTHONY RATINOV, piano

In recognition of America’s 250th anniversary with a powerful program spanning multiple generations of American composers. Works by Copland and former Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery present soaring reflections on the ideals of freedom and equality, Ives salutes his native New England, and Martinů pays tribute to Plymouth Rock, which symbolized the opportunities that America had given him.

Lincoln Portrait & Ellington Harlem

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Closing concert of the Contemporary Music Workshop

Deutsche Ensemble Akademie e.V.

When Jennifer Higdon began to compose blue cathedral, she imagined a journey through a glass cathedral in the sky. Her creativity leaves the door wide open for you to explore “humanity’s perennial question of existence” with Charles Ives, and be drawn into Scriabin’s own brand of musical mysticism.

Søndergård and Tchaikovsky

Orchestra Hall Minneapolis

Giancarlo Guerrero leads the Grant Park Orchestra in Brahms’s Symphony No. 4, the composer’s poignant final symphony. Gabriela Lena Frank’s harrowing Conquest Requiem and Charles Ives’s eclectic Variations on America round out the program.

Brahms Symphony No. 4

Millennium Park

Renée Fleming joins conductor James Gaffigan in an exploration of the ever-changing relationship between humanity and the natural world. Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene blends stunning imagery of nature with reflections in music of the human experience in the environment. The program also includes masterpieces by two of the most important American composers of the 20th century: Charles Ives and Aaron Copland.

Renée Fleming’s Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene

Kennedy Center

Since the 2023/2024 season, Frenchman Pierre Bleuse has been chief conductor of the Paris-based Ensemble Intercontemporain. As the successor to great musicians such as Pierre Boulez and Peter Eötvös, he is thus the full-time guardian of modernism. NDR audiences have already experienced the trained violinist at the "Elbphilharmonie Visions" festival in 2025, among others. Now, as part of the Hamburg International Music Festival, Bleuse has compiled a program of 20th-century works whose common denominator is its complexity.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Pierre Bleuse

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Experience Rhapsody in Blue like never before! In a groundbreaking performance, the Austin Symphony Orchestra will bring George Gershwin himself to the stage—through the power of Steinway & Sons' Spirio | r technology. This state-of-the-art piano system will perform Gershwin’s own recorded keystrokes in perfect synchronization with the orchestra, allowing audiences to hear Rhapsody in Blue as Gershwin originally played it.

Rhapsody in Blue

The Long Center for the Performing Arts

Concert conducted by John Axelrod (UNDER 35)

Teatro Malibran

John Axelrod conducts Daugherty, Copland and Ives

American Chamber Music

Capri Theater

As spring gathers apace in May, the Komische Oper presents one of the twentieth century’s pivotal masterpieces: Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. A ballet depicting a springtime sacrificial ritual, it’s still one of the modern repertoire’s most imposing works, featuring intricate rhythms and bold melodies. The American conductor Tito Muñoz is also bringing us a fascinating work from across the Atlantic. While Stravinsky was scandalizing early twentieth-century Europe with his expressionist ballets, the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas—much less well known in Germany—was crafting his own orchestral masterpiece, Sensemayá, likewise inspired by ancient dance rituals. In addition, the soprano Josefine Mindus returns to the Komische Oper with Brett Dean’s contemporary Shakespearean meditation And Once I Played Ophelia. And what better way to conclude the evening than with Charles Ives’ existential inquiry, The Unanswered Question?

Spring!

Schiller Theater

This concert is in partnership with the Warren County Commission for the  250th Anniversary of the American Revolution

American Portraits

Glens Falls High School

America's 250th Birthday Orchestral Celebration

Cannon Center For The Performing Arts

University of Memphis

In this world premiere presentation, a captivating silent film by Dutch director Lucas van Woerkum explores the vastness of the cosmos and the intimacy of human experience.

Symphonic Cinema: The Planets

Sydney Opera House

Conductor in Residence Benjamin Northey is a superb conductor, in demand to lead everything from the great masterpieces to contemporary works and live to film concerts.

Open Rehearsal with Benjamin Northey

‘One of the most unusual pieces written for cello’ (Bachtrack), Kurtág’s brilliant Double Concerto engages both soloists and an orchestra divided into two sparring sections, physically separated within the performance space, in an intense dialogue. What results is an extraordinary listening experience: surrounded by music from several directions at once.

The Unanswered Question

The Bridgewater Hall

Dénes Várjon and Nicolas Altstaedt compete in Kurtág’s commanding Double Concerto, as Thomas Adès conducts. ‘One of the most unusual pieces written for cello’ (Bachtrack), Kurtág’s brilliant Double Concerto engages both soloists and an orchestra divided into two sparring sections, physically separated within the performance space, in an intense dialogue. What results is an extraordinary listening experience: surrounded by music from several directions at once. Ives’ The Unanswered Question also immerses the listener in sound, with druid-like strings beneath the questioning trumpet and increasingly chaotic woodwind. In contrast, Thomas Adès’ peaceful Lieux retrouvés (Rediscovered Places) explores natural and man-made landscapes whilst Debussy’s revolutionary Images, three orchestral montages combining harmony, texture and colour, creates musical paintings that changed orchestral writing forever.

The Hallé – The Unanswered Question

This evening takes a journey through eras, but also into the inner self of man, focusing on images of wandering, movement, and experiencing new impressions.

Constant motion

Musikverein Wien

Piano concertos don’t get any more fun than John Adams’s Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?, a showstopping whirlwind filled with funky grooves, propulsive rhythmic drive, and pop music influences from bebop to honky-tonk. Conducted by the composer himself, it’s the perfect showcase for Víkingur Ólafsson’s breathtaking piano prowess. To close this special celebration of American music, Adams leads Copland’s beloved Appalachian Spring, culminating in the stirring Shaker Hymn, “Simple Gifts.”

Adams Conducts Adams & Appalachian Spring

Jones Hall

An American In Paris

Granada Theatre

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, The Syracuse Orchestra performs music from around the world that celebrates freedom and our richly diverse local community.

Let Freedom Ring

St. Paul's Syracuse, the Downtown Episcopal Church

Influenced by Czech folk and expressionism, Haas’s Study for Strings is an energetic, introspective work now seen as a key piece of 20th-century Czech music. Themes of fate, migration and Martinů’s own journey echo through The Rock, reflecting nature, strength, and the enduring human spirit. Dissonance and overlapping melodies define Ives’s Three Places in New England – a bold blend of American folk and modernist experimentation. For our curtain call, Bernstein’s On the Town bursts with energy, fusing classical with popular jazz styles to make a dazzling finale.

Bernstein’s ‘On the Town’

MediaCityUK

Concert Chorale & University Chorus

Music Building and Recital Hall

Winner of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, Jeremy Denk is “a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs” (New York Times). Experience the soulful rhythms of Scott Joplin and Nina Simone, the rich harmonies of William Bolcom, alongside iconic works by Beethoven and Charles Ives. With Denk’s masterful artistry, this program promises an unforgettable evening of innovation and emotion.

Jeremy Denk is one of America’s foremost pianists and is also known for his original and insightful writing on music, which Alex Ross praises for its “arresting sensitivity and wit.” His New York Times bestselling memoir, Every Good Boy Does Fine, was published to universal acclaim by Random House in 2022. Meanwhile, his latest album of Mozart piano concertos was deemed “urgent and essential” by BBC Radio 3, while his recording of the Goldberg Variations reached No. 1 on the Billboard classical charts.

Jeremy Denk, piano

Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Winner of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize, Jeremy Denk is “a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs” (New York Times). Experience the soulful rhythms of Scott Joplin and Nina Simone, the rich harmonies of William Bolcom, alongside iconic works by Beethoven and Charles Ives.

Golda Schultz sings Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 — a haunting evocation of childhood memories — plus arias by Stravinsky and Carlisle Floyd. Alongside these, Kwamé Ryan conducts music by two quintessential American iconoclasts: Charles Ives’s The Unanswered Question and a new concerto by George Lewis, featuring the piano-and-percussion quartet Yarn/Wire.

Golda Schultz Sings Barber & Stravinsky

David Geffen Hall

The term «butterfly effect» is emblematic of the realization that in nature everything is connected to everything else and that the smallest interventions in a natural balance can trigger major effects. It is no different in art. In this program, the Junior Ballett, which embodies the dance of the future, explores the «Butterfly Effect». In addition to ballet director Cathy Marston, two representatives of a new generation of choreographers, Lucas Valente and Ihsan Rustem, created pieces for the Junior Ballet.

The Butterfly Effect

Zurich Opera House

March 2026 Concert

Comsewogue High School

Louis Langrée returns to lead Orchestra of St. Luke’s in a concert celebrating the music of iconic American composers. GRAMMY-nominated jazz pianist Gerald Clayton performs Duke Ellington’s works, alongside classic favorites by Charles Ives, Gershwin, and Bernstein.

Louis Langrée Conducts Gershwin, Ellington and Bernstein

Carnegie Hall

Join NWS Fellows and alumni in tracing the evolution of American chamber music from 18th century colonies to a tribute to Ellis Island. 

Ives, Monk, Cage & Eastman

New World Center

The Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia presents their 4th Masterworks concert entitled "Gershwin Piano Concerto in F"

Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia - Masterworks 4 - Gershwin Piano Concerto in F

Charlottesville High School

University of Virginia

The last of the three visiting orchestras presented by the Boston Symphony Orchestra this season, the Interlochen Arts Academy features cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a new work by composer and jazz ambassador Wynton Marsalis. Opening the program is one the great monuments of American music: Charles Ives’ spiritually searching Fourth Symphony has intricate, multilayered orchestral textures that are interwoven with rich allusions to traditional Christian hymns. Indian American composer Reena Esmail’s RE|member, is an energetic overture-like work exploring togetherness.

Interlochen Arts Academy with Yo-Yo Ma

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Boldness Unbound

Zeiterion Performing Arts Center

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and conductor Cristian Mӑcelaru join Interlochen Arts Academy students and members of The Philadelphia Orchestra for a vibrant celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday and the power of the youth creative voice.

Imagine US: Yo-Yo Ma and Interlochen Center for the Arts Celebrate America at 250 includes a captivating orchestral program—Reena Esmail’s “RE|member,” a reimagined performance of Charles Ives’s Symphony No. 4, and a new cello concerto by Wynton Marsalis—plus multidisciplinary elements created by students from all seven of the Academy’s artistic disciplines.

Imagine US: Yo-Yo Ma and Interlochen Center for the Arts Celebrate America at 250

Boston Symphony Hall

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Experience the beauty brought forth by some of the finest musicians to be found anywhere.

Undeniably among the most celebrated violinists of his era, Joshua Bell is also music director of the chamber ensemble The Academy of St Martin in the Fields. A musical powerhouse, the orchestra has gained worldwide acclaim for its joyful and inspiring performances as well as for a commitment to the musical freedom and expressiveness of its players. Bell and the orchestra will perform music by Camille Saint-Saëns, Antonin Dvořák, and Charles Ives.

Joshua Bell and The Academy of St Martin in the Fields

University of Iowa

With a career spanning almost four decades, GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated artists of his era. Bell has performed with virtually every major orchestra, and maintains engagements as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, conductor and as the Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Temple Theatre

Celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday and the power of the youth creative voice with a vibrant performance by Interlochen Arts Academy students and members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, featuring cellist Joshua McClendon.

Imagine US: Joshua McClendon and Interlochen Center for the Arts Celebrate America at 250 includes a captivating orchestral program—Reena Esmail’s “RE|member,” a reimagined performance of Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 4, and a new cello concerto by Wynton Marsalis featuring guest soloist Joshua McClendon—and multidisciplinary elements created by students from all seven of the Academy’s artistic disciplines. Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Music Director Designate Cristian Mӑcelaru conducts this one-of-a-kind convergence of eminent and emerging artists.

Imagine US: Joshua McClendon and Interlochen Center for the Arts Celebrate America at 250

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Impressive, athletic – and so vivid that individual scenes of our antics will be clearly recognizable: We are looking forward to performing a few lighthearted musical recreations under the direction of Robert Treviño. We will be playing a musical team game composed by Charles Ives, and our audience can look forward to seeing how this "Football Game," complete with woven-in fan chants and a referee's whistle to ensure fair play, unfolds. 

Visiting Erlangen

Heinrich-Lades-Halle

Continuing the celebration of America’s 250th birthday, the third subscription concert at the Holdcraft Performing Arts Center in Michigan City on March 8, 2026 will reflect on the themes of America’s struggles and triumphs as a young nation. The New World opens with Charles Ives’ Variations on America, followed by two pieces inspired by Abraham Lincoln, Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, and Stella Sung’s Lincoln’s Battle. Closing the concert will be Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, or New World Symphony, which Dvorak wrote during his brief, but significant time spent in New York City and inspired by African American spirituals and Native American traditions.

The New World

Pathways at Elston

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and conductor Cristian Mӑcelaru join Interlochen Arts Academy students for a vibrant celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday and the power of the youth creative voice. Imagine US: Yo-Yo Ma and Interlochen Center for the Arts Celebrate America at 250 includes a captivating orchestral program—Reena Esmail’s “RE|member,” a reimagined performance of Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 4, and a new cello concerto by Wynton Marsalis—plus multidisciplinary elements created by students from all seven of the Academy’s artistic disciplines.

Imagine US: Yo-Yo Ma & Interlochen Center for the Arts Celebrate America at 250

Interlochen Center for the Arts

Impressive, athletic – and so vivid that individual scenes of our antics will be clearly recognizable: We are looking forward to performing a few lighthearted musical recreations under the direction of Robert Treviño. We will be playing a musical team game composed by Charles Ives, and our audience can look forward to seeing how this "Football Game," complete with woven-in fan chants and a referee's whistle to ensure fair play, unfolds. The composer himself described the piece as a "caricature in two two-minute halves" and added: "Funny to listen to – but difficult to play!" We will also present the equally witty pranks of Till Eulenspiegel, that profound rogue whom Richard Strauss captured with all manner of mischief – and with such delight, because he wanted to hear "the people in the concert hall really laugh.

Robert Treviño, Janos Wollenweber

Bamberger Symphoniker

This concert celebrates the rich and varied voices that define American music. The first half features iconic works by Charles Ives, William Grant Still, and Aaron Copland—each capturing a distinct facet of American life, history, and ideals. The second half shifts to contemporary perspectives with Shuying Li’s meditative In This Breath and Clarice Assad’s dynamic Sin Fronteras, affirming the power of music to transcend boundaries, embrace diverse identities, and reflect the human experience in all its beautiful complexity.

Symphonic Wind Ensemble

Northwestern University

UC Berkeley Wind Ensemble 2026

UC Berkeley Department of Music

Barber American Voices

University of Nevada

A lively tribute to American music featuring Bernstein’s “Candide Overture,” Ives’ “Variations on America,” Copland’s timeless “Appalachian Spring” and more!

Variations on Americana

Lewis and Clark Community College

Dvořák & Copland

Artis–Naples

Two Brahms masterworks appear in the 2025-26 Season. Joshua Bell and Academy of St Martin in the Fields perform Brahms’ Violin Concerto (1878), and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performs his Symphony No. 4 which premiered seven years later. Brahms openly paid homage to Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, echoing several key aspects such as the interplay between timpani and violin. For the premiere, Brahms even programmed Beethoven’s to precede his own, further emphasizing the relationship. What makes Brahms’ unique are the cadenzas, which are considered some of the finest in all the violin repertoire.

Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts

University Chorale and Conductors Orchestra – Gabriel Fanelli, conductor (Doctoral Recital)

Auer Hall

This stirring concert is a celebration of American creativity with a patriotic blend of classical, jazz, and Broadway influences. We open with Charles Ives’s enigmatic The Unanswered Question, a work that floats in timeless stillness as it contemplates life’s eternal mysteries, and the premiere of Caprice by Boyd Eagle, a 20th century Native American jazz musician and composer and grandfather of our very own Maestro Daniel Hege. The celebration continues with Peter Boyer’s Rhapsody in Red, White and Blue, a modern showpiece for piano and orchestra that pulses with patriotic spirit and cinematic grandeur. Pianist Jeffrey Biegel is performing Boyer’s contemporary Rhapsody in all 50 states, and this performance represents Kansas.

Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue

Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center

Marc-André Hamelin, a pianist celebrated for his astonishing technique and profound musicality, explores the music of two restless visionaries: Ives, whose Concord Sonata salutes Transcendentalist thinkers from Emerson to Thoreau, and Scriabin, represented by his turbulent and soul-searching Third Piano Sonata. Robert Schumann’s mercurial Fantasy Pieces span humor, joy and brooding intensity.

Marc-André Hamelin

Celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding with the music that resonated through the American colonies during the fight for independence. Sounds of a New Nation brings to life the anthems, hymns, and symphonic works that shaped the soundscape of early America, juxtaposing patriotic fervor and European influences, and hear these anthems and hymns woven into the dizzying tapestry of Ives’s A Symphony.

Sounds of a New Nation

The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts

Pioneering composer John Adams conducts a marquee lineup of Cleveland Orchestra premieres, including his Frenzy, an audacious work that reflects our dizzying modernity, and his own arrangements of Astor Piazzolla’s irresistible Argentine tangos. Following a contemplative fugue by Ives, pianist Aaron Diehl takes center stage in a concerto composed for him, Timo Andres’s delightful American pastiche Made of Tunes.

Frenzied Tango

Severance Music Center

Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero opens the rich treasure chest of American music. Adolphus Hailstork’s An American Port of Call captures the relentless energy of the port of Norfolk, Virginia. Pianist Clayton Stephenson performs Gershwin’s jazz and blues-infused Concerto in F. Charles Ives composed his delightful and quirky Variations on “America” when he was only 17. Audiences at the 1934 premiere of Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony were so moved that they erupted in applause at the end of each movement. Decades later, the extraordinary work has returned to the standard repertoire with accolades.

Variations on America

State College of Florida - SCF Bradenton

Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

This program, entitled "Rooted Voices: Folk, Faith, and the Modern Imagination", invites audiences on a journey through works that explore the intersections of heritage, spirituality, and modern expression. Featuring music by Joseph Bologne, Charles Ives, Lili Boulanger, William Grant Still, and Maurice Ravel, the program reflects how composers across centuries have turned to the spiritual and the vernacular—folk melodies, sacred songs, and cultural memory—to express both individuality and universality in sound.

Guest Artist Recital: Shannon Thomas (violin) and Stijn De Cock (piano)

St Alban's Chapel

Concert Band

University of Michigan

Mélisse Brunet returns to conduct Copland’s iconic Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo, Ives’ Variations on “America” and Bates’ The Rhapsody of Steve Jobs. Stewart Goodyear returns as soloist in Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, a 100-year-old work that fuses jazz, ragtime, and classical music into a sensational piece, rounding out this American celebration in music.

Celebrating America at 250: Gershwin, Copland & More

Phoenix Convention Center

Immerse yourself in a vibrant exploration with a program that asks the question “what is American music?” This dynamic program opens with the haunting beauty of Charles Ives’ Unanswered Question and explores Latin American influences in Juan David Osorio’s El Paraíso Según María and Arturo Márquez’s electrifying Danzón No. 2. The evening culminates with Dvořák’s passionate Cello Concerto in B minor, performed by the acclaimed Cuban-American cellist Tommy Mesa, whose artistry brings a unique perspective to this timeless masterpiece. Experience an unforgettable journey through music that transcends borders!

Dvořák’s Cello Concerto

Peace Center

Three American visionaries—Aaron Copland, Charles Ives and Valerie Coleman—have defined the American sound. Ryan Bancroft leads Copland’s Third Symphony with its quintessential folk-inspired melodies and the famous Fanfare for the Common Man. Coleman honors The Great Migration and Harlem Renaissance in her new Renaissance Concerto for orchestra.

Coleman + Copland

Eastman Wind Orchestra 2026

Eastman Theatre

LA Phil Creative Chair John Adams leads an All-American program, featuring his new piano concerto, After the Fall, with soloist Víkingur Ólafsson, a musician with “a magical touch” (BBC). “[A] dreamlike thrill ride,” the concerto is “a terrific addition to the composer’s catalog,” raved the San Francisco Chronicle.

Adams, Ólafsson & Copland

Walt Disney Concert Hall

With her deep knowledge of Nordic folk magic, Olga Ravn works to stage performances that reinterpret folk magic with inspiration from cultic ritual, the visual world of poetry and the concentration of performance art. It is this dialogue that now moves into the concert hall with a performance developed especially for the Copenhagen Phil.

Olga Ravn: Re-enchantment

The Conservatory Concert Hall

Pianist Yuja Wang joins forces with conductor and composer Thomas Adès in a dramatic piano concerto by the Finnish luminary Einojuhani Rautavaara. Adès also leads Saariaho’s Oltra mar — an ethereal meditation on love, time, and death — as well as Ives’s Orchestral Set No. 2 and America (A Prophecy), Adès’s own foreboding view of our nation’s fate.

Yuja Wang & Thomas Adès

In 1892, Antonín Dvořák was appointed director of the New York Conservatory of Music – with the task of developing an American national style. His Symphony “From the New World” captures the vastness of the landscape and evokes the songs of both indigenous and African American populations. However, the true father of American music is considered to be Charles Ives, whose enigmatic work The Unanswered Question was far ahead of its time. Dmitri Shostakovich’s expressive Violin Concerto No. 1, with its echoes of Jewish music, opens the programme, with our First Concertmaster, Daishin Kashimoto, as soloist. On the podium: Lahav Shani.

Composer

Charles Ives

Events

Upcoming events

18 - 20 Sep, 2026

Opening Weekend: Beethoven’s Second Symphony with Gábor Takács-Nagy · Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

23 - 24 Sep, 2026

Alessandro Carbonare, Francesca Dego and Alessandro Taverna · Teatro La Fenice

Oct 5, 2026

Holst’s Planets · Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra

Oct 17, 2026

Bertrand Chamayou – Piano recital · Prague Symphony Orchestra

Oct 24, 2026

Masterworks #1: Salute to America · Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra

Past events

18 - 20 Sep, 2026

Opening Weekend: Beethoven’s Second Symphony with Gábor Takács-Nagy · Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

Sep 12, 2026

Thomas Ospital · Lucerne Festival

About

Charles Ives hasn't added a bio