Composer

Isabel Yang, mezzo-soprano

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

This program brings together extraordinary forces of pianists and singers in repertoire that explores love, longing and lyricism across styles and eras. Playful, virtuosic and at times deeply intimate, this concert places collaborative music-making at centre stage.

UQ Pianists and UQ Singers: Too Many Pianists, Just Enough Singers and a Few Strings

Zelman Cowen Building (51)

Solve the hidden melody of this captivating musical cryptogram that has stumped audiences for over 125 years. “Commenced in a spirit of humour & continued in deep seriousness” by composer Edward Elgar, Enigma Variations showcases the true inspiration that friendship can bring. Concertmaster Grace Park brings the most popular American violin concerto to life in this program of treasured favorites conducted by Principal Guest Conductor Thomas Wilkins.

EPSG:4326

Elgar’s Enigma Variations & Barber’s Violin Concerto

Ferguson Center for the Arts

Sandler Center for the Performing Arts

2025/26 CSO Artist-in-Residence Joyce DiDonato is “a supreme artist, as much through sheer triumph of spirit as through musicianship” (Financial Times). The esteemed mezzo-soprano sings the Neruda Songs, Peter Lieberson’s heartbreakingly sensuous song cycle set to the poetry of Pablo Neruda. Edward Gardner concludes the program with Walton’s tumultuous and alluring First Symphony.

DiDonato Performs Neruda Songs

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

An American Celebration

St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral

Heart of a New World

Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center

Overture to a New World

Osmo Vänskä & Renaud Capuçon

Gasteig HP8

A concert full of beauty, optimism, and the American spirit! William Grant Still’s Wood Notes paints a musical picture of the natural world, followed by Barber’s gorgeous and expressive Violin Concerto. We end with Copland’s Appalachian Spring, a heartwarming and hopeful tribute to new beginnings, capturing the promise of a young pioneer couple starting their life together.

Promise of America

Texas Lutheran University

Norah Bernstein, soprano

Isabella De La Torre, soprano

From distant shores to dazzling stages, this program tells the story of artists who left their homelands in search of new opportunities, bringing with them rich musical traditions that would flourish in America. Their works—filled with passion, movement, and innovation—embody the spirit of reinvention and triumph. Dai Wei’s Dancing Moonlight shimmers with vibrant energy, blending Eastern and Western influences in a mesmerizing musical dialogue. Acclaimed violinist Vijay Gupta takes center stage for Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, a work of lyrical beauty and virtuosic brilliance that stands as a testament to Neo-Romanticism. Finally, Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances bursts with rhythmic fire and nostalgia, a dazzling reflection on past and future. This season finale is one of wonder, resilience, and breathtaking music.

American Dreams

Converse University

As the nation marks 250 years since its founding, the Canton Symphony Orchestra closes its 2025–2026 MasterWorks season with a program that reflects the evolving American story through voices both historic and contemporary. We the People is an orchestral reckoning with identity, heritage, and the complexities of shared national memory.

MasterWorks VII: We The People - An American Celebration

Zimmermann Symphony Center

Pictures at an Exhibition

Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts

Ax & Alexander

Artis–Naples

Erik DeMario, tenor and Jeremy Lee, piano

‘Tremendous’ declared one critic when Nadine Benjamin made her Glyndebourne debut, and this dazzling British soprano has a voice that has to be heard to be believed. Today she joins the London Philharmonic Orchestra to bring all her radiance, her insight and her effortless dramatic flair to Eastbourne. How to follow that? Rising star (and LPO Fellow Conductor) Nefeli Chadouli explores the epic vistas and northern forests of Sibelius’s First Symphony: a young genius in a new nation, pouring all his imagination into music as wild as a winter storm and as wonderful as the Northern Lights.

Sibelius’s First

Congress Theatre

The Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia presents the final concerts of the season

Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia - Masterworks 5 - Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

Charlottesville High School

University of Virginia

An American In Paris

Granada Theatre

Experience an evening of profound musical depth with "Stirring Emotions." The concert begins with Samuel Barber's hauntingly beautiful Adagio for Strings, a work that has become a poignant anthem of mourning and introspection, resonating with listeners worldwide.

Stirring Emotions

Eglinton St. George's United Church

Experience powerful masterpieces paired with emotionally resonant works, embodying remembrance, resilience, and hope, including Steve Reich’s Different Trains.

Up Close with Violins of Hope

Figge Art Museum

Ewan is one of the most prominent oboe soloists in the UK. In 2020 Ewan won the woodwind final of BBC Young Musician, advancing to the Grand Final, and giving an “exemplary, richly shaded account” The Guardian, of Navarro’s “Legacy” concerto with the BBC Philharmonic. Since the competition he has been performing as a soloist in recitals around the UK.

Ewan Millar oboe & Tomos Boyles piano

The Bridgewater Hall

Tualatin Valley Symphony presents a riveting program including Sibelius' Finlandia, Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto, and Symphony No. 1 by 19-year-old Dmitri Shostakovich..

Music for Our Lives

Tigard Friends Church

The Columbus Symphony returns to the historic Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville for this performance featuring Barber’s poignant Adagio for Strings and Dvořák’s iconic “New World” Symphony.

From the New World

Stuart's Opera House

Wind Ensemble

Music Building and Recital Hall

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

Whenever an important statesperson is buried in the USA, Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings is played. It is one of the best-known works of classical music – and will be presented here together with the equally popular Clair de Lune. To conclude the program, a four-movement masterpiece: Dvořák's legendary "American" String Quartet.

Alma Quartet

Maison Messmer Baden-Baden

"Christ, you Lamb of God" – every churchgoer knows this chorale. In his Mutations from Bach, American composer Samuel Barber presents this melody in several variants – including in Bach's original arrangement, but here in a version for brass. First on the program, we will hear the blazing fanfare from the ballet La Péri. The brass section of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra will then present a selection of works for this exceptional ensemble.

Late Night Brass

The Baden-Baden Casino

Barber’s Adagio and Allegri’s Miserere prepare the way for James MacMillan’s great Passion meditation, in this emotionally-charged evening from Tenebrae and Britten Sinfonia.

Seven Last Words From The Cross

St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London

One Night Only - Verdi Requiem

Cannon Center For The Performing Arts

Join us for this special concert celebrating the 90th anniversary of the orchestra’s first performance.  That first concert, in 1936, took place at a time of great music, both classical and popular!  The entire program consists of works composed in or debuted in 1936, and as you can well imagine, features a wide variety of styles, as well as a lot of American composers:  George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Samuel Barber, and Aaron Copland.  Join us for this celebration of the start and launch into the future of ETSO.

A Ninety-Year Legacy: A Symphonic Celebration

The University of Texas at Tyler

Verdi's ultimate masterpiece, sung by a quartet that will leave you breathless: Jamie Barton, Limmie Pulliam, Kenneth Kellogg, and Lauren Margison.

Verdi's Requiem

Celebrate the ingenuity, independence, and pure joy of American music. In five concerts over four days, pianists-in-residence Peter Dugan, Avery Gagliano, and Jonathan Mamora will be joined by mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan and local musicians to explore the ways music reflects the American experience.

Cliburn Festival America 250: American Romantics

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

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

Beethoven's Eroica

Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts

Giordano Bellincampi leads a program rich in sweeping landscapes and deep emotional resonance. Vaughan Williams’ Toward the Unknown Region soars with adventurous choral harmonies, while Barber’s Violin Concerto, performed by Concertmaster Adelya Nartadjieva, balances tender lyricism with fiery brilliance. The evening concludes with Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, a dramatic and evocative masterpiece inspired by Scotland’s rugged beauty.

Barber & Mendelssohn

Jacoby Symphony Hall

Prepare to be mesmerized as two extraordinary violin masters, Gilles Apap and Eric Silberger, return to the stage for Dueling Violins—not as rivals, but as creative counterparts. Highlighting their individual artistry through solo works like Sinding’s Suite in A Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Barber’s deeply expressive Violin Concerto, Op. 14, and Sarasate’s fiery Zigeunerweisen, the two will also join forces for Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor. Anchoring the program is Haydn’s Symphony No. 47 in G Major, a luminous work that brings balance and depth to an unforgettable evening.

Dueling Violins

Overture Center for the Arts

We continue our longstanding relationship with the music of Sir James MacMillan with Holy Week performances of his Seven Last Words from the Cross.

Seven Last Words From The Cross With Tenebrae

St Martin-in-the-Fields Church | London

arc Shopping Centre

Snape Maltings

Cliburn Festival America 250: American Roots

Henley Symphony Orchestra’s 55th season continues with a flourish in Reading Concert Hall with an exhilarating programme of some of the greatest orchestral music of the 20th century American classical repertoire. Gershwin, Copland, Barber, and Bernstein were all prominent American composers who cultivated a distinct American sound by blending European traditions with American folk and jazz influences.

March 2026 Concert

Reading Concert Hall

March Concert 2026

Pomona College

Your toes will be tapping when The Santa Fe Symphony presents Symphonic Dances from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, just one of the works featured on this high-spirited afternoon of symphonic dances. In what promises to be another stunning performance led by Music Director Guillermo Figueroa, the concert also includes a side-by-side performance with members of The Santa Fe Symphony Youth Orchestra performing Moncayo’s Huapango. Gabriela Lena Frank’s Three Latin American Dances and Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 round out the program.

symphonic dances

Lensic Performing Arts Center

Violinist Tessa Lark and conductor Shiyeon Sung make welcome returns for a program of Lili Boulanger, Barber’s Violin Concerto, and music from Bizet’s classic opera Carmen.

A traditionalist in the era of atonality, Barber’s concerto contrasts lyricism with folk-like melodies and an incredibly breakneck finale. An American classic, it remains one of the most performed 20th century violin concertos.

Bizet and Barber

Linda Ronstadt Music Hall

Rising star violinist Alexi Kenney and Principal Guest Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera Daniele Rustioni join together for one of the most-performed 20th century masterpieces. From the first note, the violin makes its presence known with soaring, lyrical serenity and, traversing a lush middle movement of somewhat darker hue, plunges into a moto perpetuo (perpetual motion) with wild abandon that calls on all of the soloist’s virtuoso resources. You’ll also be treated to a first-time DSO performance of Casella’s Second Symphony, described by Gramophone as “a turbulent, lusciously opulent outpouring,” reminiscent of Strauss, Mahler and Rimsky-Korsakov.

Alexi Kenney Plays Barber

Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center

Maestro Tausk leads the orchestra in Sergei Prokofiev’s exhilarating Fifth Symphony, written at the height of WWII and considered by the composer to be one of his best works. Virtuoso Paul Huang, known for his “masterly account of Barber’s Violin Concerto” (The New York Times) returns to dazzle Vancouver audiences with this lyrical masterpiece. Savour the delicate beauty of O Rose by former VSO Composer in Residence, the late Jocelyn Morlock.

Tausk Conducts Prokofiev 5

Orpheum

Violinist Erin Keefe, Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra and a Curtis faculty member, leads this conductorless chamber orchestra of young musicians from the Curtis Institute of Music. The program includes Mozart’s masterful Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra, performed by Keefe and Curtis President and renowned violist Roberto Díaz.

Curtis Chamber Orchestra Erin Keefe, violin Roberto Díaz, viola

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Join us for an inspiring evening of music that reflects the spirit, diversity, and rich cultural tapestry of America. In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, this program features works rooted in American identity and history – both homegrown and seen through the eyes of an admirer. The evening opens with William Grant Still’s Miniatures for Woodwind Quintet – a charming collection of folk-inspired vignettes drawn from various cultures across the Americas, followed by Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and concluding with Antonín Dvořák’s “American” String Quartet, a work infused with the rhythms and melodies of African American spirituals and Native American music.

American Impressions

Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist

With a French perspective

Bochumer Symphoniker

A stirring send-off to our beloved Maestro. The final Classical concert with our Conductor Gordon Gerrard—a momentous occasion marking the close of an extraordinary chapter in our orchestra’s story.

Echoes Of A Decade

Conexus Arts Centre

You should always be prepared for surprises with this young man. Asked what he would do if he had a whole day off, Sterling Elliott replied: "Work on my car. At the moment I'm trying to get the gearbox back into my car, a two-man job that I'm stubbornly trying to teach myself. It is not only in the garage that he is ambitious, otherwise the young man from Virginia would not have catapulted himself to where he now stands artistically: in the premier league of cellists of his generation. Elliott has long been a sought-after performer in the USA, but now he is also making a name for himself on this side of the Atlantic. Sterling Elliott presents himself in the Debut series and has another ambassador of the US classical music scene on board with the highly romantic Cello Sonata by Samuel Barber.

Sterling Elliott, Violoncello

Alte Oper

" My Father Explains Our Night Sky to Me Every Saturday " ... how poor the world would be without mnemonics ! This one , about the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus , and Neptune, also belongs in our educational luggage. The celestial body Pluto is no longer on our mnemonic list; a few years ago it was deemed too small and therefore rigorously banished from the planetary sky.

Galactic

Cologne Philharmonie

The Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra offers a wide-ranging program of American music to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States. Joan Tower's bold Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and Leonard Bernstein's unforgettable Symphonic Dances from West Side Story will contrast deeply contemplative music by Samuel Barber and Jonathan Bailey Holland. John Williams' cool jazz score for the film Catch Me if You Can is reimagined as a spellbinding concerto for alto saxophone, expertly played by Champaign's own Taimur Sullivan. The lively Fandangos of Roberto Sierra will bring the evening to an uproarious close.

Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra: Happy Birthday, America! American Highlights

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

The Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra offers a wide-ranging program of American music to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States. Joan Tower’s bold Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and Leonard Bernstein’s unforgettable Symphonic Dances from West Side Story will contrast deeply contemplative music by Samuel Barber and Jonathan Bailey Holland. John Williams’ cool jazz score for the film Catch Me if You Can is reimagined as a spell-binding concerto for alto saxophone, expertly played by Champaign’s own Taimur Sullivan. The lively Fandangos of Roberto Sierra will bring the evening to an uproarious close.

Happy Birthday, America!

This electrifying program celebrates the bold sounds and unmistakable spirit of American music. Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” brims with jazzy swagger, while Adams’ “Absolute Jest” spins Beethoven into a playful whirlwind. Barber’s Adagio for Strings offers a moment of breathtaking beauty, and Still’s “Afro-American” Symphony blends classical tradition with the soul of the blues in a powerful tale of resilience and joy.

An American Portrait: Gershwin, Barber & Beyond

Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center

The always-evolving Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble features musicians from the legendary Met Orchestra in a variety of unique programs. Together, along with special guest artists from the Metropolitan Opera and beyond, they explore a boundless world of chamber music, adapting to fit the instrumental needs of any piece—from all-time classics to hard-to-find hidden gems and standout works by many of today’s significant composers. In this Sunday matinee, they perform works by American composers Caroline Shaw, Copland, Beach, G. Walker, Barber, and John Adams, joined by Yannick Nézet-Séguin as pianist and conductor.

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble 2026 Concert 4

Carnegie Hall

Barber American Voices

University of Nevada

Barber + Blue Cathedral

Riverview Theatre

MSM Symphony Orchestra and MSM Opera Theatre present Opera in Concert

Manhattan School of Music

Join members of OSL for an evening of music by three defining American composers.
A legendary orchestrator and one of the rare EGOT winners, Jonathan Tunick returns to OSL following his 2024 appearance conducting his arrangement of A Little Night Music. This program features the premiere of his newly commissioned clarinet quintet, as well as select songs by Stephen Sondheim, a tribute to Tunick’s long-standing collaboration with the iconic musical theater composer.

Barber, Sondheim, and Tunick

The Great American Songbook, Classically Speaking

For over 25 years, the Miró Quartet has performed on the world’s most prestigious stages, showcasing their “collective intelligence [and] uncanny precision” (Musical America). Their program includes excerpts from master works by Samuel Barber and Florence Price, as well as a PCMS co-commission for soprano and quartet by the genre-defying, Brooklyn-based composer Tamar-kali. The new work spotlights Philadelphia’s own soprano Karen Slack, who brings “the right mix of grace and fire” (Schmopera) to this much-anticipated local premiere.

Miró Quartet Karen Slack, soprano

A former Horizons Young Artist, Elliott has soloed with the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, among other leading orchestras. A dynamic and engaging musician, his program features works by 20th-century masters.

Sterling Elliott, cello Janice Carissa, piano Union College

Union College

Symphony IV:  James Garlick plays Barber's Violin Concerto, plus Dvorak's 7th and Copland's Quiet City

Port Angeles High School

It’s an evening in and out of the opera pit with imaginative works by Johann Strauss II, Montgomery, and Stravinsky, and Francisco Fullana’s Omaha debut on Barber’s renowned Violin Concerto.

Stravinsky’s Firebird

Omaha Performing Arts

Romantic Revelations

Zeiterion Performing Arts Center

Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

The ingenious Barbara Hannigan conducts an all-American evening that’s capped by an orchestral suite of timeless tunes from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Rounding out this cross-country road trip are bold, evocative works by American mavericks Carl Ruggles and George Crumb, and Barber’s nostalgic Knoxville: Summer of 1915, based on a poem by James Agee and featuring award-winning Swedish soprano Johanna Wallroth.

Hannigan Conducts Gershwin

Severance Music Center

Step into the rich soundscape of American music with a concert that celebrates sweeping melodies, heartfelt lyricism, and bold orchestral colors. William Schuman’s New England Triptych sets the stage with vibrant energy, drawing inspiration from the spirit of early American composer William Billings. Rising star Amaryn Olmeda then takes the spotlight in Barber’s Violin Concerto, a masterpiece of lush beauty and breathtaking virtuosity. The evening reaches a glorious conclusion with Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2, "Romantic", a soaring work filled with passion, grandeur, and one of the most unforgettable melodies in American symphonic music.

Romance & Revolution

Williamsburg Community Chapel

A piano climbing from darkness to light. A pulsing rhythm, bright with energy and colour. And a passionate melody, soaring against a storm-swept sky. The opening of any piece of music draws you into a new emotional world, and however familiar the melodies that follow, a great live performance makes you feel like you’re experiencing it for the first time.

Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto in Edinburgh

Usher Hall

Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2

USO 2025-26 Season Concert 3

Mendocino College

Geneva Lewis Plays Barber

Hemmens Auditorium

Born in South Korea, Ms. Jung began studying marimba at age three, a rarity among percussionists. Since launching her career as a soloist, she has performed concertos with such leading orchestras and conductors as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with Marin Alsop, the Sarasota Orchestra with Giancarlo Guerrero, the Houston Symphony with Daniel Hege, the Aspen Festival Orchestra with Michael Stern, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra with Peter Oundjian, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic with JoAnn Falletta, the Grand Rapids Symphony with Marcelo Lehninger, and the Boise Philharmonic with Eric Garcia.

Rhapsody

Ridgefield Playhouse

We start the New Year with a special collaboration with our friends, Voces Solis.  Don't miss this wonderful performance with songs from the heart.

A Special Collaboration with Voces Solis

A celebration of one of the most beloved piano pieces in history, along with a beloved masterpiece. Natasha Paremski performs Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, also featuring Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9. ‘From The New World’ and Barber’s Adagio for Strings.

SBSO: Rachmanninov & Dvorak

Temple Theatre

Experience the bold energy and lyrical beauty of Julia Perry’s A Short Piece for Orchestra, followed by the emotional depth and virtuosity of Barber’s Cello Concerto. Concluding with Copland’s Symphony No. 3, patrons will be swept away by its grand, uplifting finale that embodies the spirit of American optimism.

Celebrating America: From Cello to Copland

DeVos Performance Hall

"Paul Jacobs is one of the great living virtuosos … he is utterly without artifice,” declares The Washington Post. Witness the musicianship of the first and only organist to win a Grammy Award as Jacobs performs Saint-Saëns’s “Organ” Symphony, a work so expressive the composer claimed, “I have given all that I had to give.” Jacobs also performs Samuel Barber’s exuberant Toccata Festiva. Beethoven penned four unique overtures to his opera Leonore; the MSO performs the sumptuous third iteration here, as well as brand new music by composer Edmund Finnis.

Saint-Saëns “Organ” Symphony

Warner Grand Theater

Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto

City Halls

In 1934 at Carnegie Hall, Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony received its New York premiere, which was met with wild enthusiasm by audiences. Prominent critics called it “the most distinctive and promising American symphonic proclamation which has so far been achieved” (New York American). Tonight, The Met Orchestra offers a rare opportunity to hear this now-shockingly neglected work, which remains every bit as powerful today. Plus, hear Metropolitan Opera star Isabel Leonard in a favorite from West Side Story and Barber’s gorgeous Knoxville: Summer of 1915. The concert concludes with the spirited suite from Fancy Free, Bernstein’s first collaboration with choreographer Jerome Robbins.

The Met Orchestra 2026 Concert 1

It is not every day you get to hear a saxophone virtuoso reimagine seminal works composed for bassoon, cello, and voice on his deeply expressive instrument of choice. In his Cal Performances debut, Steven Banks, “the saxophone’s best friend, fiercest advocate, and primary virtuoso in the classical realm” (Washington Post) and the first saxophonist to win the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant, offers a whirlwind musical tour on the mighty baritone saxophone.

Composer

Samuel Barber

Events

Upcoming events

12 - 31 May, 2026

Vanessa · Heartbeat Opera

May 14, 2026

Janse Barkley, tenor · Northwestern Bienen School of Music

15 - 16 May, 2026

Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony · Nashville Symphony

May 16, 2026

250 Years of America · North Valley Symphony Orchestra

May 16, 2026

Radiant Reflections: "American Reflections" · DuPage Symphony Orchestra

Past events

May 10, 2026

Isabel Yang, mezzo-soprano · Northwestern Bienen School of Music

May 10, 2026

UQ Pianists and UQ Singers: Too Many Pianists, Just Enough Singers and a Few Strings · The University of Queensland School of Music

About

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