Composer

Kick off our season of American icons with music from New York, by New Yorkers! We’re featuring music by George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and Aaron Copland, all New Yorkers who created some of the most quintessentially American music of the 20th century. From their apartments in The Big Apple, they captured the sounds not just of New York but the American West and beyond. And in a tribute to the world beyond New York, we will perform Kansas-based composer Alyssa Morris’s Tlapali, Tlahuilli, a dazzling orchestral re-telling of the Aztec myth depicting how the world received its color and light, featuring the principal woodwinds of the SSO.

The Big Apple

Missouri State University

America’s ardor for pushing boundaries led to the settling of America's west and exploring the cosmos. The Symphony celebrates this spirit of discovery with Aaron Copland's “Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo” and Gustav Holst's epic, “The Planets”.

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Exploration

Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center

Diverse. Devoted. Determined. In honor of America 250, the 80th anniversary of the Nashville Symphony, and the 20th anniversary of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, our opening program of the 2026/27 season celebrates the rich sonic kaleidoscope of American composers past and present.You’ll feel it all: from the boundless optimism of Joan Tower’s Made in America, a work for which the Nashville Symphony’s recording received our first GRAMMY® Award in 2008, to the solemn strains of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings marking the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001. 

Opening Weekend: An American Celebration

Shermerhorn Symphony Center

LSO kicks off its centennial season with Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Tyler White’s A Fivescore Festival: 100 Measures for 100 Years. To amplify the celebration, LSO is joined for both fanfares by The Pride of All Nebraska: The Cornhusker Marching Band. LSO then pays homage to the program of its very first concert in March of 1927 with Mozart’s Overture to Le nozze di Figaro and Liszt’s Les Préludes. The celebration culminates with 7-time GRAMMY Award-winning piano legend Emanuel Ax who joins the orchestra to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22.

Emanuel AX

University of Nebraska - Lincoln

For 25 years, Yuja Wang has dazzled the music world with her stupendous virtuosity, yet routine has never crept in. She is always searching for something new, eager to discover the unfamiliar and reinvent herself. The Festival theme “American Dreams” immediately resonated with her. That’s why she has added Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto to her repertoire: a work that picks up threads from Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff, yet also shows the influence of Bartók and jazz. The result was so striking that Barber received the Pulitzer Prize for it in 1963. The real fun starts in the second half, when Yuja Wang performs the Jazz Suite by the Ukrainian composer Alexander Tsfasman — taking on the musical direction herself. She has a true feeling for jazz and, not coincidentally, received the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for her album The American Project. Her longtime friend Teddy Abrams was on the podium for that recording. In Lucerne, he will conduct the first half of the concert, beginning with Aaron Copland’s refreshing Appalachian Spring, with its echoes of folk songs, hymns, square dances, and fiddle music. America at its best!

Mahler Chamber Orchestra | Yuja Wang | Teddy Abrams

KKL Luzern Concert Hall

Los Angeles Ballet makes its Hollywood Bowl debut, teaming up with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the first time ever, in a program of orchestral and dance delights. LAB’s Artistic Director Melissa Barak choreographs a new ballet set to Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari—a spiritual and celebratory piece about music’s power to heal, transform, and expose the intangible. LAB dancers also take on Balanchine’s jazzy choreography, described as “tap dance on pointe,” from the 1970 ballet of Gershwin songs titled Who Cares?

Los Angeles Ballet at the Bowl

Hollywood Bowl

The Festival Strings Lucerne and Daniel Dodds are tying together a delightful garland of the loveliest melodies and dances from the New World in keeping with this summer’s theme, “American Dreams.” Though the program begins with a Czech composer — Antonín Dvořák, with the vibrant and feather-light Scherzo from his Serenade for Strings — it fits perfectly, since Dvořák was the “midwife” who helped American music discover its own identity. The African American composer Florence Price carries his musical language forward: her touching Andante cantabile goes straight to the heart. Also on board is the “Bad Boy of Music,” George Antheil, with a cheeky Allegro from his First Serenade. John Corigliano sends us traveling toward a better world filled with pleasure and brightness in his sonorous Voyage, inspired by Charles Baudelaire’s famous poem L’Invitation au voyage. George Gershwin enchants with a gentle lullaby, and Leonard Bernstein invites us to waltz. And how to top all that? With the Hoe-Down from Aaron Copland’s ballet Rodeo, of course — a square dance in classic country style.

Festival Strings Lucerne | Daniel Dodds | Karl-Heinz Schütz

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

Turning brass into gold: five young trumpeters from Great Britain, Sweden, and Ukraine know the formula that countless alchemists have sought in vain. Founded four years ago at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Fiveby5 produces a radiant, golden brass sound with a brilliant sheen and has already won numerous prizes. Most recently, the quintet won the prestigious Philip Jones International Brass Ensemble Competition in 2025. This success has, among other things, led to their appearance at “In the Streets: City Stage”: the varied program ranges from Bach, Rameau, and Mozart to the rousing Hoe-Down from Aaron Copland’s cowboy ballet Rodeo.

“Brass Spectacular in Memory of Philip Jones”

KKL Lucerne

Kapellplatz

Of the People closes Litha Symphony’s 2026 season with a celebration of the composers who defined the American orchestral voice. From the sparkling wit of Bernstein's Candide Overture to the jazz-infused brilliance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and the monumental power of Copland's Symphony No. 3, the program captures the bold spirit and cultural richness of American music.

Of the People

Church of the Holy Apostles

Sounds of America

Taft High School

Copland Appalachian Spring, Beethoven Symphony No. 7, and Rountree For Martha (Variations on a Theme of Leonard Bernstein) Featuring Martha Graham Dance Company

Tanglewood Music Center

It is always a good day when Jon Deak shows up on your doorstep. This concert marks his triumphant return (indeed, his third visit!) to Newburyport and the first appearance at NCMF of his friend and collaborator, legendary Metropolitan opera soprano Lucy Shelton. The concert begins with Lucy performing Cathy Berberian’s tour-de-force for solo soprano with a score written not in musical notation but as a cartoon (the score will be projected so the audience can follow along). Also featured on the program is Haydn’s B Minor quartet. Papa Haydn was famous for his sunny disposition but this is an unusually dark and enigmatic work. As long as we are flipping traditional roles, Shostakovich, known a bit as the king of despair, has, with his first quartet in C Major, a work that is warm and even sunny at times.

Return of Jon Deak

Immaculate Conception Church, Newburyport

The Edinburgh Festival Chorus joins with our Rising Stars for a programme of American music from the 20th and 21st centuries.

This Shining Night

Usher Hall

The husband-and-wife duo of Lucas Meachem (the Grammy Award–winning baritone who’s been hailed as a "rock star of opera" by Opera Pulse) and Irina Meachem (praised as “a gifted collaborative pianist” by Voce di Meche) present a program of American art songs that “draws from the voices of poets and composers who illuminate the enduring tension between struggle and hope,” Irina wrote in a program note. “These songs,” she continued, “are reminders of where we’ve come from, what we carry forward, and how art continues to shape the way we endure, dream, and belong.”

Lucas & Irina Meachem Recital

New Mexico Museum of Art

Ask any music lover to name an important American orchestral work, and there’s a good chance the answer will be George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Originally written for Paul Whiteman’s jazz orchestra with solo piano in 1924, the piece entered the concert music repertoire in a plush arrangement by Ferde Grofé—but it’s the lean, stripped-down original that best illustrates Gershwin’s groundbreaking synthesis of classical music’s disciplined elegance and the swinging spontaneity of jazz. Countless composers since Gershwin’s day have incorporated elements of jazz in their works: Aaron Copland’s bluesy trumpet in Quiet City, William Bolcom’s buoyant bounce, the brass swagger and driving pulse of John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine. And the improvising violinist and composer Mads Tolling, formerly of Turtle Island String Quartet, show with his bluesy concerto Yggdrasil that classical music and jazz continue to make a potent pairing.

Rhapsody in Blue: Music From The City

Southern Vermont Arts Center

Filled with short and spirited solo works, this recital by Orion Weiss—hailed as a “brilliant pianist” by The New York Times and praised for his “head-spinning range of colors” by the Chicago Tribune—lets listeners revel in lesser-known gems by major 19th- and 20th-century composers, from Tchaikovsky to Copland.

Orion Weiss Piano Recital

“Encountering Nature” turns our American Adventures season toward wide skies and untamed landscapes, exploring how composers translate the natural world into sound. Copland’s Quiet City opens in hushed stillness, its solitary trumpet and English horn unfolding a spare, haunting dialogue that evokes empty streets at dusk and the quiet vastness beyond them. Intimate and searching, it captures the feeling of standing alone beneath an open sky. Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, “Titan,” expands that perspective to monumental scale, moving from pastoral dawn to storm-tossed intensity and, ultimately, blazing affirmation. Rustic dances, birdsong-like figures, and sweeping climaxes create a journey through nature’s serenity and power.

Encountering Nature

Riverwalk Center

For one afternoon only, the graduating and incoming Young Artists of Opera Australia come together for a compelling performance of music spanning Claudio Monteverdi to Gian Carlo Menotti.

Young Artists in Concert

Sydney Opera House

“The American Sound” considers how national identity resonates through music while honoring Colorado’s milestone year. The program opens with a special co-commission by Coloradan composer Leigha Amick: a bold fanfare celebrating Colorado, performed on the 150th anniversary of the state’s admission to the Union. Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings offers lyrical elegance and glowing warmth, while Copland’s Symphony No. 3 crowns the evening with expansive grandeur, weaving the iconic Fanfare for the Common Man into a sweeping symphonic statement that feels unmistakably American in scale, optimism, and sound. 

The American Sound: Colorado at 150

Academy Park

For years, our summer concert at Kleinhans Music Hall has been a thank you to our Donors and Subscribers. This year, we’re excited to welcome everyone because the BPO loves Buffalo and wants to share the music with the whole community! Led by JoAnn Falletta, this concert features a lively program with pieces the BPO musicians love but rarely perform. Celebrate the music, summer, and the community that makes it all possible!

Patron Appreciation Concert

Kleinhans Music Hall

Clarence Town Park

Deeply rooted in the American spirit, Copland’s The Tender Land portrays one young woman’s quiet but radical act of choosing her own future. Set against the open landscapes of the American West, The Tender Land is a coming-of-age story about longing, independence, and resilience in the face of hardship.

The Tender Land

Temple Har Shalom

A bold American portrait, live — Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, conducted by Gemma New with narration by Academy Award-nominated actor Josh Brolin, also featuring Jasmine Arielle Barnes’ American Lament performed by mezzo-soprano and Lehrer Vocal Institute Co-Director Sasha Cooke

Academy Chamber Orchestra: Copland, Barnes & Schumann

Lobero Theatre

North Park Community School #50

North Park Community School PS #50

The concert begins with Mozart’s Trio in E major, a graceful and lyrical work highlighting his gift for chamber music. From there, the program moves to the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Maurice Ravel, the great French composer of the early 20th century, whose music shimmers with color and atmosphere.

Saratoga Springs, NY

Skidmore College

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

Tito Muñoz makes a performance feel “like the center of a social triangle of concerts, parties, and going to church” (I Care If You Listen). Now, he throws more fun into the mix, turning the Hollywood Bowl into a sports arena during this soccer-themed classical program.

The Classical World Cup

Presented with support from Niagara Falls State Park, Beaver Island State Park, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and in-park partner, Montante International.

Beaver Island State Park

Christopher Bell conducts the Grant Park Orchestra in this annual Chicago tradition. The family-friendly celebration includes patriotic favorites alongside Gershwin’s Three Preludes with principal clarinetist Dario Brignoli and Carlos Gardel’s Tango (Por Una Cabeza) with concertmaster Jeremy Black.

Independence Day Salute

Millennium Park

The South Bend Symphony and guest conductor David Lockington present a powerful community concert honoring the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes. Experience patriotic favorites and uplifting orchestral music in an inspiring celebration of freedom at the Morris Performing Arts Center.

Salute to Freedom

Morris Performing Arts Center

A summer night at Buffalo’s Outer Harbor with JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, celebrating the spirit of America through music.  From sweeping orchestral favorites to iconic themes, Western New Yorkers can gather together for a powerful celebration of America250, culminating in a glittering fireworks display over Lake Erie.

Sound & Sky on the Waterfront

Terminal B at the Outer Harbor

“Folklore and Fable” invites audiences into a world where storytelling and symphonic color intertwine, revealing how legends, fairy tales, and frontier myths continue to shape our musical imagination. Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite shimmers with delicate textures and pastel hues, each movement unfolding like a storybook illustration brought gently to life. Copland’s Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes shifts the scene to the American West, brimming with rustic charm, open-air vitality, and the unmistakable snap of “Hoe-Down.” Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite crowns the evening with elemental force, rising from shadowy enchantment to blazing triumph, its brilliant orchestration conjuring magic, menace, and redemption in a vivid, unforgettable sound. 

Folklore & Fable

Discover the rich tapestry of American choral music with a program of soulful spirituals and contemporary masterpieces in this free concert.

American Choral Masterworks with the Grant Park Chorus

South Shore Cultural Center

The Cleveland Orchestra returns to Cain Park! Join us for a free community concert in the heart of Cleveland Heights, performed under the direction of Black Panther conductor Anthony Parnther. Enjoy classic favorites, from John Williams to Dvořák, as well as new pieces you might not have heard before.

The Cleveland Orchestra recognizes and thanks Jayne M. Zborowsky for her support of this concert.

2026 Cain Park Community Concert

Severance Music Center

Experience a vibrant celebration of the American sound as the boundary-breaking orchestral collective The Knights joins forces with visionary pianist Conrad Tao for an afternoon of fearless music-making. Led by Artistic Directors Eric and Colin Jacobson, the program anchors the spirit of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, featuring Tao’s acclaimed, "explosive" interpretation within a broader narrative of musical innovation. From the pastoral beauty of Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite and Margaret Bonds’ soulful Troubled Water to contemporary rhapsodies by Jessie Montgomery and the ensemble's own Christina Courtin, this performance bridges the gap between classical tradition and modern energy.

The Knights & Conrad Tao

Venetian Theater at Caramoor

The Knights celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with a bold new festival across iconic New York City parks and the historic Caramoor Center. In a three-part musical showcase, audiences will experience the multifaceted potential and power of American music—rooted in history, alive in the present, shaped by many voices, and brimming with possibility.

The Knights at Caramoor with Conrad Tao

Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts

Copland Haydn Offenbach Weill

Gasteig HP8

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

Appalachian Spring

Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts

Giancarlo Guerrero conducts Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3, a masterful synthesis of the composer’s expansive American musical style. Piano virtuoso Stewart Goodyear returns to the Festival for Prokofiev’s charming Piano Concerto No. 3, presented alongside Reena Esmail’s emotionally impactful Black Iris.

Copland Symphony No. 3

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

Feel the first warm, aromatic breezes of spring with Copland’s beloved Appalachian Spring, an orchestral arrangement of his iconic ballet partnership with choreographer Martha Graham. This timeless work tells the story of a young frontier couple on their wedding day, capturing the hopes, dreams, and pioneering spirit of a nation envisioning a brighter future.

Sounds of America III: Appalachian Spring

Willson Auditorium

Lincoln Portrait

From the elegance of Strauss’s Emperor Waltz to favorites inspired by folk traditions, this concert will be a whirlwind of rhythm and celebration of culture and dance. Bring the whole family and experience how dance has inspired composers across cultures and centuries — no passport required!

Dances the World Over

Centerville High School

Build the excitement leading up to our nation’s 250th birthday! Festivities include iconic musical hits from American composers, Gershwin’s Cuban Overture, Bernstein’s Overture to Candide,Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, and musical favorites from stage and screen. Don’t miss this stellar season finale!

American Salute

Folsom Lake College

Observe a working rehearsal as the musicians and conductor put the finishing touches on the weekend’s concert program on Friday, February 6 at 10AM. Doors open at 9AM. Tickets are $17.14; coffee and donuts are included!

Friday Coffee Dress – Price & Tchaikovsky

Ohio Theatre

The orchestra’s waterfront concert is part of the nationwide America 250 celebration — a chance to come together and salute the American spirit through music. The program mixes patriotic favorites like Armed Forces Salute and America the Beautiful with Tchaikovsky’s explosive 1812 Overture, plus John Williams’ movie themes from Star Wars and Jaws, Broadway hits and classical crowd-pleasers.

Free Symphony by the Sea

Coachman Park

Our season concludes with three iconic compositions and two orchestral world premieres. Bernstein’s toe-tapping Three Dance Episodes from On the Town, Copland’s distinctively American Appalachian Spring Suite, and Gershwin’s jazz-infused Rhapsody in Blue are paired with two works rooted in Western New York. Michael Daugherty’s Niagara Falls is a musical journey through one of the world’s great scenic wonders, while Buffalo-born Paul Moravec’s Serenade—inspired by the Great Western Staircase at the New York State Capitol, a marvel of intricate sculpture and history—offers a stirring narrative of ascent and aspiration.

American Soundscapes

Jazz, blues and orchestral sounds converge in a rousing celebration of the American story. The CSO joins forces with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for Liberty (Symphony No. 5), jazz legend Wynton Marsalis’ latest symphonic work. The program opens with a new work by American icon John Adams and Copland’s Appalachian Spring, which celebrates the American pioneer spirit and famously quotes the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts.

Alsop Conducts Adams, Copland & Marsalis

Commissioned by Trinity for the 250th birthday of the United States, Great Awakenings: John Henry Hobart and America is a powerful new concert opera by acclaimed composer (and former Trinity organist) David Hurd. With a libretto by Christopher Dylan Herbert, a former member of the Trinity Choir, the work brings to life a pivotal era in American religious and civic history by celebrating the visionary leadership of Bishop Hobart (1775–1830), Trinity’s seventh rector (1816-1830). Demonstrating vibrant choral writing and expressive solos, Great Awakenings will be performed with Trinity Choir, Downtown Voices, and NOVUS. NOVUS will also present Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite for 13 instruments.

Great Awakenings

Trinity Church

Celebrate the richness of American music with the Festival Orchestra, under the dynamic direction of Music Director Timothy Myers, in the stunning, historic St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church. This program brings to life the charm, lyricism, and storytelling that define America’s musical heritage. Featuring Aaron Copland’s beloved Appalachian Spring Suite and its powerful setting of the Shaker tune “Simple Gifts,” the program also includes Samuel Barber’s luscious Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and Jessie Montgomery’s poignant Banner.

Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra: Appalachian Spring and American Classics

St. Matthew's Lutheran Church

Celebrate America’s 250th birthday with a vibrant program of iconic works by 20th-century American composers. Gershwin’s unforgettable Rhapsody in Blue blends classical form with jazz flair and features noted San Diego pianist Dan Yu as soloist. Also included are Copland’s stirring Fanfare for the Common Man, the mystical beauty of Hovhaness’s Mysterious Mountain, selections from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Copland’s Rodeo (including the lively Hoe Down and tender Corral Nocturne), and Bernstein’s effervescent Overture to West Side Story. From sweeping vistas to urban rhythms, this finale concert captures the spirit, soul and story of America.

An American Celebration

Poway Center for the Performing Arts

America @ 250

Ambassador Mansions & Gardens

Step into a turning point in history — Potsdam, Germany, 1945. The war has ended, but the future hangs in the balance. Truman, Churchill, and Stalin sit across the table, navigating mistrust, determination, and fragile hope as they shape the post-war world.
Amidst the tension of delicate political negotiations, the world leaders bonded over their love of music. Finding Peace at Potsdam brings this fascinating moment to life through powerful storytelling and stirring performances of their beloved classics. Experience the music of Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Kreisler, and more, woven together with insights that reveal the surprising role Hampton Roads played in this pivotal chapter of history.
It's more than a concert — it's an unforgettable journey through music and memory, where history's struggles and triumphs resonate in every note.

Finding Peace at Potsdam

Christopher Newport University

Chrysler Hall Norfolk

As part of our season long observance of America 250, this concert takes a look at the role music played in one of the most tumultuous times in the history of the world. At 1945’s Potsdam Conference, works by Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Kreisler, and others were one of the only things that united the assembled Allies–represented by President Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. In this new production, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra & Chorus will incorporate storytelling to show just how powerful music can be, and how Hampton Roads played a part in this pivotal moment.

Ferguson Center for the Arts

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

Celebrate creative ingenuity with conductor Robert Spano and renowned classical saxophonist Steven Banks. From Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite to Joan Tower’s new Saxophone Concerto, this program pulses with vitality. Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5 brings lyrical warmth and a sense of peace.

Hilbert Circle Theatre

In this interactive performance, students will discover how composers use rhythm, texture, instrumentation and movement to create vivid musical worlds.

Orchestral Colour and Story

Coliseum Theatre

Exciting young Western Sydney composer Holly Harrison matches that energy in Hi-Vis, drawing on elements of electronic dance music, brass fanfares and disco to recreate the energy and sounds of suburban life.

The Sydney Symphony performs Orchestral Favourites

Civic Theatre Newcastle

We celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with a world premiere by our Composer-in-Residence, reflecting on the nation's past, present, and future.

Orchestra Concert 7 - Season Finale · American Spirit

First Church OKC

Schoenberg was one of the most revolutionary & challenging composers, but his early works are among the most lyrical & romantic pieces ever written. Mahler’s heart-rending Adagietto needs little introduction and is regularly in the Top 40 of Classic FM’s annual Hall of Fame, while Schoenberg’s impassioned Transfigured Night is a musical realisation of a Richard Dehmel poem, in which a young woman confesses to her betrothed that she bears another man’s child, conceived before they met. His acceptance of her, and resolve to raise the baby as theirs, is one of the most touching moments in classical music.

English Symphony Orchestra Residency: Schoenberg, Mahler, Elgar, Taylor & Copland

Cheltenham Town Hall

Celebrate the rich tapestry of American classical music in a concert that highlights the pioneering sounds of Aaron Copland. From the sweeping landscapes of the American heartland to the vibrant rhythms of urban life, experience music that is as diverse and dynamic as the country itself. Join us for an unforgettable performance that honors the spirit and innovation of American classical music!

The Music of our Time: Sounds of America at 250

Musical Instrument Museum

Explore how music and poetry unite to amplify powerful voices of dissent, resistance, and hope with the Portland Chamber Orchestra. Banner & Burden: Music and Spoken Word is a bold collaboration with the Oregon Poetry Association, featuring original spoken word performances by emerging young poets whose words illuminate the tribulations—and triumphs—of our community.

This moving program showcases evocative works by composers who have used their music to speak truth to power, including the vibrant, contemporary voice of Jessie Montgomery, Valerie Coleman’s celebration of identity and unity, and the deeply expressive music of Dmitri Shostakovich, composed in the shadow of political oppression.

Banner & Burden: Music and Spoken Word

Patricia Reser Center for the Arts

With the performance of Shostakovich’s 5th symphony, the Diablo Symphony remembers this great composer in his 50th anniversary season. The difficulties under which Shostakovich composed permeate the deep and complex emotions of this extraordinary and brilliant work. Performed alongside works by two American composers which celebrate the joys and bravery of everyday existence, this program explores the whole gamut of human emotions. Don’t miss this powerful finale to our season!

Season Finale: Shostakovich 5

Lesher Center for the Arts

This concert opens Outcry: New World, a series exploring music shaped by the idea of America — its landscapes, its energy, and its cultural imagination.

The programme brings together three works written in the United States, spanning more than a century of American musical life. Celestis by Aaron Jay Kernis opens the evening with a glowing, expansive soundworld, its slow-moving textures and rich orchestration reflecting the breadth and confidence of contemporary American orchestral writing. 

That sense of space and clarity continues in Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, a work that has become inseparable from the sound of America itself. Its open harmonies, folk-inflected melodies, and rhythmic vitality evoke community, movement, and possibility. 

Outcry – New World

Smith Square Hall

An uplifting program of resilience, remembrance, and inspiration. Featuring stirring works like Fanfare for the Common Man, selections from Shostakovich’s mighty Fifth Symphony, and the moving Song of Hope. Trumpet soloists Dan Marbes, Adam Gaines, and Kevin Short, along with student and community brass players, join the Civic Symphony of Green Bay to celebrate the power of music to unite and heal. Concertmaster Taylor Giorgio will be featured on Schindler’s List.

Harmonies for Hope

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Britten's Young Apollo and Les Illuminations were written in Canada and America. Here, his setting of Rimbaud’s surrealist poetry is sung by acclaimed UK soprano, Elizabeth Watts. We also hear the sound of 1940s America in the works of Britten’s “very dear friend” and mentor in his bohemian New York circle, Aaron Copland.

Britten In America With Elizabeth Watts And Oleg Shebeta-dragan

The Halls

arc Shopping Centre

Kings Place

Jayce Ogren's insightful examination of American music continues in this wide-ranging program exploring the musical character of the nation on the approach of its 250th birthday. The concert opens with a profound arrangement of our National Anthem by Italian-American composer Luigi Zaninelli. Sarah Kirkland Snider, a composer with "an unerring knack for breathtaking beauty" (The New Yorker), presents an anticipated new work called Marmoris co-commissioned by Monterey Symphony. Next up is Leonard Bernstein's effervescent Symphonic Dances from West Side Story followed by icon Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait, narrated by surprise honorable guests from Monterey. The season concludes with William Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony, a 1934 work that reflects Black experience in America and has an enigmatic conclusion, representing an unresolved struggle.

USA 250 West Side Story + Lincoln Portrait

Sunset Center Theater

DeAndre Simmons and Laquita Mitchell take star turns as Porgy and Bess, with timeless classics like “Summertime” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” American mezzo-soprano Kate Jackman is our soloist for Copland’s poignant and delightful Old American Songs, alternating with a chorus of Greenville’s finest singers led by William Burgess.

Season Finale: Porgy and Bess

Peace Center

Selections from Margaret Bond’s fervent Montgomery Variations plus Samuel Barber’s lyrical Violin Concerto, featuring virtuoso soloist Nathan Meltzer, make up the first half of our final concert, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Aaron Copland’s magnificent Third Symphony, written in 1946 on commission from Serge Koussevitsky, boasts a heroic finale based on Copland’s earlier Fanfare for the Common Man. The piece was immediately hailed as “the greatest American symphony – it goes from the heart to the heart.”

Radiant Reflections: "American Reflections"

North Central College

IPO lowers the curtain on our 48thseason by celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This Semiquincentennial celebration features music by Joan Tower, Jessie Montgomery, John Philip Sousa and concludes with Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait. The evening will begin at 6:30pm with a FREE pre-concert lecture. Hosted by IPO bassist Alison Gaines, the lecture will feature narrator LaRob K. Rafael, IPO Gibb Music Director Stilian Kirov, and violist Matthew Lipman.

Composer

Aaron Copland

Events

Upcoming events

18 - 20 Sep, 2026

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

Sep 19, 2026

The American Voice · Symphony of Southeast Texas

19 - 20 Sep, 2026

Masterworks I – New World Symphony · Orchestra Iowa

Sep 24, 2026

Fanfares for the Common Man and the Uncommon Woman · Eugene Symphony

Sep 25, 2026

Eugene Symphony: Fanfares & Serenades · Eugene Symphony

Past events

Sep 12, 2026

The Big Apple · Springfield Symphony Orchestra

Sep 12, 2026

Exploration · Rapides Symphony Orchestra

About

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