Composer

Guitarist

Our 2025/2026 season culminates with the ultimate symphony — Beethoven’s Ninth, featuring an all-star cast of soloists chosen by Music Director Xian Zhang and joined by the massed forces of the Seattle Symphony Chorale. Revolutionary, epic and at 200 years old, still as driven as Beethoven’s own sense of our shared destiny, he crowned this summit of his music with the stunning addition of voices in a song for humanity, hope and joy. Xian pairs it with Artist in Focus Steven Mackey’s RIOT, for chorus, vocalist and the composer himself on electric guitar. This inspiring music places race and resilience in the foreground with a setting of words by Tracy K. Smith — culminating in positive affirmation and a celebration of perseverance, commitment and community.

EPSG:4326

Xian Conducts Beethoven 9

Benaroya Hall

David Robertson, SLSO Music Director from 2005 to 2018, returns to conduct a compelling program exploring evolution and change through works by four American musical luminaries. Robertson’s own piano concerto, written for and performed by Orli Shaham, explores themes of language and love. Steven Mackey’s Turn the Key expresses the joys of transformation, Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Something for the Dark is a meditation on renewal, and Leonard Bernstein’s Second Symphony features a solo piano voice representing the composer’s own introspective journey.

Bernstein and Robertson

Powell Hall

Contemporary Directions Ensemble

University of Michigan

Grammy-winning composer Steven Mackey comes to SFCM to work with the orchestra as they present his work, Urban Ocean—described as mysterious, deep, vast, powerful, and teeming with life. Mackey's residency will be known as the Andrew W. Imbrie Visiting Chair in Composition. The concert also features Gershwin’s An American In Paris, a jazz-influenced symphonic poem, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, which took 14 years for the composer to create, known for its stormy, passionate opening, its contrasting lyrical second and third movements, and triumphant, heroic finale. SFCM conducting student Chih-Yao Chang conducts Gershwin in this concert.

SFCM Orchestra Concert with Edwin Outwater

San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Conductor Lawrence Renes takes the podium for an evening of all American composers — John Adams, Aaron Copland and our Artist in Focus Steven Mackey. Seattle Symphony Principal Trumpet David Gordon and English Horn Stefan Farkas take star turns in Aaron Copland’s Quiet City, a gentle reflection of urban melancholy and uncertainty. Next, world-renowned saxophonist Timothy McAllister performs a concerto written especially for him by Grammy-winning composer Steven Mackey, who stretches the bounds of classical music by incorporating rock and blues elements, including electric instrumentation. Finally, John Adams’ moving Harmonielehre melds disparate trends of 20th-century music, from minimalist themes in frenzied rhythms to provocative eruptions of dissonance to dazzlingly cinematic soundscapes.

Mackey Saxophone Concerto

Our orchestra gives its very first performance of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1, unveiling a masterpiece brimming with youthful intensity and the raw vulnerability of a composer establishing his voice.

Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1

Salt Palace Convention Center

Start your morning off right with a behind-the-scenes look at the process of bringing our concerts to the stage. Finishing Touches gives our audience the opportunity to observe working rehearsals; selections from the program will be rehearsed at the discretion of the conductor.

Our orchestra gives its very first performance of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1, unveiling a masterpiece brimming with youthful intensity and the raw vulnerability of a composer establishing his voice.

Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1: Finishing Touches Rehearsal

The sumptuous themes of a Russian Romantic unite with rock-infused saxophone riffs in our stirring season opener. Rachmaninoff's supremely melodic Symphony No. 2 returns after Jayce Ogren made his brilliant Monterey Symphony debut with it in the spring of 2022. Trailblazing saxophonist Timothy McAllister also returns for the world premiere of a concerto called Anemology by GRAMMY-winning American composer Steven Mackey (whose Turn The Key we heard in Jayce's debut season). Born from his background as a rock guitarist, Mackey's music spins improvisatory motifs into large-scale works both grooving and dramatic.

Saxophone Concerto + Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2

Sunset Center Theater

Witness the future of classical music in-the-making as the New Jersey Symphony performs works by four emerging composers selected for the Edward T. Cone Composition Institute. Institute Director Steven Mackey hosts the culminating concert, as Christopher Rountree takes the podium.

New Scores: The Cone Composition Institute Concert

Princeton University

Join us on a journey from CPE Bach’s perfectly formed 1751 cello concerto, to Steven Mackey’s 2009 work Four Iconoclastic Episodes for violin, electric guitar and orchestra, which was written for Steven and Anthony Marwood to perform together. On the way we take in Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony – an arrangement by Rudolf Barshai of his 8th string quartet, originally written in 1945 and dedicated “to the victims of fascism and war”. The programme concludes with Tchaikovsky’s iconic Serenade for Strings.

Britten Sinfonia At Peasmarsh Festival

Church of Saint Mary, Rye

AMFS artist-faculty, all top musicians from renowned orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories, come together to play their favorite chamber music works. Always a joyful and creative 75 minutes of music-making.

Chamber Music 2024 Concert 7

Aspen Meadows Resort

Experience the future of classical music as the New Jersey Symphony showcases the works of four emerging composers at the Edward T. Cone Composition Institute Concert. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, this event is hosted by Institute Director Steven Mackey and conducted by Christopher Rountree. The concert features compositions by Leigha Amick, Santiago Beis, Paul Cosme, and Jessie Leov, each bringing a unique voice and perspective to the symphonic landscape.

Leigha Amick's "Cascade" is an orchestral response to Carl Stone's electronic piece "Mae Yao," transforming from disjunct, percussive material to smooth, lyrical passages through a passacaglia structure. Santiago Beis's "Spletna" explores the entanglement of present moments and fading memories, inspired by the Czech term coined by composer Leoš Janáček. Paul Cosme's "A Stranger in a Festival of Spirits" draws from various folk music and festival traditions of Pacific Asia, reflecting his experiences and connections with these cultures. Jessie Leov's "Speculations on a Rainbow" responds to Judy Millar's artwork "The Rainbow Loop," weaving through a shifting canvas of stability and turbulence, stillness and motion.

This concert not only highlights the innovative compositions of these talented artists but also offers a glimpse into the evolving world of contemporary classical music. The event concludes with a post-concert reception, providing an opportunity to meet the composers and enjoy a special Cone-inspired ice cream flavor crafted for the occasion.

Renowned conductor Robert Spano leads the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in a remarkable program featuring two exhilarating world premieres and a late-Romantic era classic. The afternoon opens with a newly commissioned work by James Ra. Praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “a composer to watch,” Ra’s compositions have been described as “coursing with adrenaline-pumping energy.”

Ra, Mackey, and Tchaikovsky

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

The New York Times praised their “luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism;” and the Philadelphia Inquirer observed their “seemingly infallible instincts for finding the center of gravity in every phrase and musical gesture.” Hear the Brentano Quartet joined by cellist Wilhelmina Smith in Steven Mackey’s quintet Joy Rhythm Study—a co-commission with the AMFS. In the composer’s words, “I began by exploring some rhythmic curiosities emerging from the confrontation/combination of seven in the time of two (or four) and then became preoccupied with the idea of transforming the resultant off-kilter experiments, hobbled oddities and precarious textures into something joyful through the course of the piece. The Brentano will also play one of Beethoven’s late quartets. At their British debut, the London Independent review raved, calling it “as momentous a performance of Beethoven’s Op. 130 Quartet as I’ve ever heard live… “Passionate, uninhibited and spellbinding.” The quartet’s affinity for Beethoven is reflected in its name, taken from Antoine Brentano, whom many scholars believe was the composer’s “Immortal Beloved.

Recital: Brentano Quartet with Wilhelmina Smith cello

Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim. Cellist Wilhemina Smith joins the quartet in this recital featuring an AMFS co-commissioned work by composer Steven Mackey. 

A Recital: Brentano Quintet  with Wilhemina Smith cello

These lunchtime discussions feature prominent performers, composers, and musicologists in lively discussions with AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher.

High Notes

Hotel Jerome

Fittingly, the New Jersey Symphony has tapped leading New Jersey composer and frequent Symphony collaborator Steven Mackey to celebrate the centennial with a new commission featuring original texts by former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.

Mozart & Steven Mackey

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

State Theatre New Jersey

Richardson Auditorium

Dvořák “turned the musical establishment upside down,” notes Brentano violist Serena Canin, when he proclaimed that “in the Negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music… There is nothing in the whole range of composition that cannot be supplied with themes from this source.” The magnificent Brentano Quartet brings this credo to life in a program that explores Dvořák and his American legacy.

Brentano Quartet

American Philosophical Society

Shining at the top of a new wave of guitarists, Sean Shibe creates imaginative programs aglow with innovation, new music, and passionate insights into classics. The Guardian enthused, “What’s really striking is the way in which Shibe sustains a world of intensity and introspection through playing that buzzes with vitality.” Named BBC New Generation Artists, the Van Kuijk Quartet’s “unanimity, tonal blend and intonation are close to flawless” (Gramophone).

Sean Shibe | Guitar & Van Kuijk Quartet

War Memorial and Performing Arts Center

For this winter’s "What I Hear" event, American composer Steven Mackey curates a program of chamber music in connection with the BSO's performance of his Concerto for Curved Space later that evening. New England Conservatory musicians perform his works String Theory, See Ya Thursday and Physical Property (with the composer on electric guitar), along with the second movement ‘Vivace’ from Beethoven’s Op. 135 string quartet. BSO Assistant Artistic Administrator Eric Valliere moderates a conversation with the composer.

"What I Hear" - Steven Mackey

New England Conservatory

The spark of genius ignites with commanding, unstoppable force in Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, setting off a grand display of musical fireworks every bit as astounding today as 200 years ago.

Mozart’s Jupiter & JIJI

Jones Hall

Xian Zhang leads a program perfect for orchestral thrill-seekers. New Jersey’s own Steven Mackey brings a brand-new piece written to highlight the strengths and individual characteristics of your Symphony musicians. Tchaikovsky’s exhilarating Symphony No. 4 brings the program to a resounding conclusion.

Composer, Guitarist

Steven Mackey

Events

Upcoming events

16 - 18 Oct, 2026

Mozart’s Jupiter & JIJI · Houston Symphony

May 15, 2027

New Jersey Symphony: Xian Zhang Conducts Tchaikovsky · New Jersey Performing Arts Center

Past events

18 - 21 Jun, 2026

Xian Conducts Beethoven 9 · Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra

6 - 7 Mar, 2026

Bernstein and Robertson · St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Guitar in Serenade for Strings by Tchaikovsky

Britten Sinfonia

About

Steven Mackey hasn't added a bio