Singer

The Grand Rapids Symphony opens its 96th season with an Ode to Joy! Marcelo Lehninger conducts a must hear performance of Beethoven's Symphony No.9.

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Opening Night: Ode to Joy

DeVos Performance Hall

GOOD NEWS? When Thomas Adès fulfilled Kurt Masur's commission for the New York Philharmonic in 1999 with America - A Prophecy, he himself was surprised at how dark the music turned out to be. No heroic...

Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons conductor

Gewandhaus

Our celebration of Mozart begins at the very end. The circumstances surrounding Mozart’s unfinished Requiem are shrouded in mystery, but the music’s sorrow and beauty speak across the centuries. The Adagio and Fugue, another late work, is a dark and almost mystical vision. Acclaimed bass-baritone Dashon Burton returns to the SLSO in Detlev Glanert's arrangement of Brahms’ final song cycle, the Four Serious Songs.

Mozart's Requiem

Enterprise Center

Mozart's Requiem Joy and Sorrow

Stifel Theatre

Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the world-renowned Colorado Symphony Chorus with a renewal of Verdi’s monumental Requiem under the baton of guest conductor Alexander Shelley. The Chorus first performed this legendary work during its debut on October 25, 1984, at Boettcher Concert Hall. Nearly 40 years to the day, they breathe new life into Verdi’s compassionate projection of essential human emotions — devotion, agitation, and hope. A personal, reverent, and poignant tribute to Italian novelist Alessandro Manzoni, Verdi’s transcendent Requiem remains one of the most cherished choral works of all time.

Verdi Requiem: 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Colorado Symphony Chorus

Denver Performing Arts Complex

Grammy Award–winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor and acclaimed pianist Myra Huang present a recital program that spotlights dramatic and complex literary heroines. Grieg’s song cycle Haugtussa (The Mountain Maid) incorporates Norwegian folk melodies into its story about Veslemøy, a young shepherd girl who struggles with the burdens of having psychic powers, while Haydn’s cantata Arianna a Naxos takes listeners through Cretan Princess Arianna’s grief, wrath, and despair after she’s abandoned by her lover, Theseus. The program also features Korngold’s Five Songs, Op. 38, which incorporates lush melodies from the Academy Award–winning composer’s acclaimed film scores. 

Kelley O'Connor & Myra Huang Recital

New Mexico Museum of Art

Acclaimed by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune “as a performer of scintillating energy and imagination…with a fearless, fiery quality,” Aspen alumna Joyce Yang returns for Falla’s Night in the Gardens of Spain. Not quite a piano concerto, the piece can be seen as musical tribute to the composer’s beloved Andalusia. You’ll hear influences of flamenco, guitar, and in Falla’s words, “melancholy and mystery.” The concert begins with a short prayer and “serenade to the past” by Gabriela Lena Frank, inspired by the composer’s visit with her mother to the site in Peru where the Spanish defeated the Inca Empire.

AMFS: Chamber Symphony: Spano with Joyce Yang, Kelley O’Connor

Klein Music Tent

A transcendent experience awaits you — Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony is truly one of his greatest, most deeply emotional works. The stage and choral loft will be filled with musicians bringing you music that touches the soul.  Soprano Joelle Harvey and mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor give voice to this luminous work.

Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

The vibrant and eclectic style of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams is paired with biblical verse, modern Spanish-language poetry, and more in this contemporary take on the Christmas story, uniquely told from a mother’s point of view. Experience the power of this spellbinding masterpiece, which in Adams’s words explores “what is meant by a miracle.”

Adams’s El Niño

Jones Hall

Artistic Director Stéphane Denève returns for an emotional concert that explores true love and loss. Inspired by the love-drenched pages of William Shakespeare, Sergei Prokofiev creates musical fireworks in his portrayal of Romeo and Juliet. Soprano Kelley O’Connor—whose past NWS performance was hailed a tour de force by South Florida Classical Review—returns for one of Denève’s favorite works: Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs. James Lee III conjures the historic indigenous metropolis of Cahokia.

Denève: Prokofiev's Romeo + Juliet

New World Center

Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor's uniquely rich and alluring voice makes her one of the most compelling performers of her generation. Following her performance as the soloist in Mahler's Third Symphony with the Aspen Festival Orchestra, she is joined by AMFS Music Director Robert Spano on the piano for this intimate Harris Hall recital. 

Recital: Kelley O'Connor mezzo-soprano and Robert Spano piano

Aspen Meadows Resort

Hailed by the Cincinnati Business Courier for her “exquisite control, expressive beauty and a voice of sheer gold,” and the San Francisco Chronicle for her “ravishingly velvet vocal tone,” Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor performs four song cycles. Debussy’s three Chansons de Bilitis are sensuous and impressionistic evocations of an antique pagan world. Robert Spano composed his moving Sonnets to Orpheus for Kelly O’Connor based on poetry of Rilke. The five songs in Britten’s 1947 A Charm of Lullabies last only 12 minutes, and range from a true lullaby to scarier fare. Britten enjoyed composing on the theme of sleep and wrote some of his strangest music on the subject. This piece is no exception. In Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben, the female protagonist describes her life with her husband from first meeting through marriage to his death, and after. The text is characteristic of earlier days when a woman was defined solely by her relationship to a man, but the music is timeless. Hear one of the most compelling vocal artists of her generation joined by AMFS Music Director Robert Spano at the piano!

Tune in to a free livestream of this concert live from the Benedict Music Tent.

Livestream: Spano Leads Mahler's Third Symphony

In a list of works exemplifying the season theme of “The Adoration of Nature,” Mahler’s 3rd Symphony would be near the top. This gigantic and glorious six-movement hymn to Nature is the longest symphony in the standard repertoire. It’s also one of Mahler’s most optimistic, extroverted works. For Mahler, Nature wasn’t just the natural world; it was the entire world. Just as Nature overflows with astonishing colors and breathtaking beauty, Mahler’s universe of a symphony teems with brilliant orchestration and stunning melodies. It’s a 99-minute visceral and emotional rollercoaster with shifts of mood and surprising contrasts. The first movement, “Pan Awakens – Summer Marches In” bursts into life with a confident march. The second, “What the Flowers and Meadows Tell Me’’ is a charming minuet. Next comes the bustling scherzo, “What the Animals of the Forest Tell Me,” followed by the dark stillness of “What the Night Tells Me.” This movement features mezzo-soprano Kelly O’Connor, known for her “ravishingly velvet vocal tone” (San Francisco Chronicle). Night breaks into sunshine with “What the Morning Bells Tell Me,” opening with the angelic sound of a children’s chorus. The final movement, “What Love Tells Me” is a gorgeously grand slow movement expressing Mahler’s belief that “God can only be comprehended as Love.”

Festival Orchestra: Spano Leads Mahler's Third Symphony

Mozart’s epic funeral mass was left unfinished after his untimely death at 35 and remains one of his most personal works. Featured in the climax of multi-Academy Award winning film Amadeus, the Requiem has infectious melodies that will leave you in awe of his towering genius.

Mozart’s Requiem

The Seattle Symphony brings together a program of music reflecting on the end of life. Mahler was inspired by Chinese poetry for his valedictory masterwork, Das Lied von der Erde. George Walker offers introverted and deeply personal reflections on four spiritual melodies in Folksongs for Orchestra. His Lyric for Strings, a touching tribute to the memory of his grandmother, is one of his best-loved works.

Songs of the Earth

Benaroya Hall

A storied holiday classic returns with a freshly enriched design to experience the beloved masterpiece, Messiah. This innovative presentation is newly organized to present the narrative clearly while still maintaining the great musical traditions of this noble work. A Chamber Chorus of the Colorado Symphony Chorus will join the soloists on stage to bring more immediacy to the narrative while the full forces of the Symphony Chorus continue to thrill with their exciting and exacting choral sound, presenting Handel’s masterpiece in an enhanced dramatic context that this story-telling composer would have appreciated.

Handel's Messiah – Awakening

The ultimate date night. Stéphane Denève conducts Ravel’s pastoral romance. Soprano Kelley O’Connor joins NWS to sing five love poems by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. 

Daphnis and Chloé

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts

The incomparable Stephen Hough, one of the greatest players of our time, returns to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1, a dazzler combining ferocious pianism with Hollywood lyricism. Music Director Laureate Robert Spano returns to conduct a pair of Bernstein symphonies over a two-week residency. This week's concert shines a spotlight on the ASO brass in Bernstein's tumultuous Jeremiah Symphony, based on the Biblical prophet. The Orchestra welcomes the Grammy® Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor.

Mezzo-soprano

Kelley O'Connor

Events

Upcoming events

19 - 21 Dec, 2025

Handel's Messiah – Awakening · Colorado Symphony

Mar 7, 2026

Daphnis and Chloé · New World Symphony

Apr 30 - May 2, 2026

America @ 250: Spano Conducts Rachmaninoff + Bernstein · Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Past events

12 - 13 Sep, 2025

Opening Night: Ode to Joy · Grand Rapids Symphony

Dec 20, 2024

Gewandhausorchester, Andris Nelsons conductor · Gewandhausorchester

Future and recently performed repertoire

Singer in Neruda Songs by Lieberson

New World Symphony

Singer in Messiah by Handel

Colorado Symphony

Singer in Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven

Grand Rapids Symphony

Singer in Festive Fanfare and Overture by Simon

Grand Rapids Symphony

About

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