Name: A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY
Start: 2025-07-12T19:30:00
Location: The Bushnell

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra's 2025 season promises an exhilarating journey through diverse genres and powerful performances. From opera and chamber music to film scores and orchestral masterpieces, this season brings together world-class conductors, talented musicians, and inspiring compositions. Each event offers a unique experience, celebrating musical innovation while paying homage to timeless classics. Whether it's Terence Blanchard's historic opera or a night under the stars in Bushnell Park, the HSO invites you to be moved, inspired, and transformed by the power of music.

A Symphony of Stories: Hartford Symphony Orchestra's 2025 Season Highlights

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra's 2025-2026 season is set to captivate audiences with a series of diverse and dynamic events. From the Young Artists Competition Finals to theatrical concerts featuring live actors, the season promises a rich array of orchestral experiences. Join us as we delve into each event, highlighting the contributions of talented musicians and the creative works that make this season a standout in the cultural calendar.

A Symphony of Events: Exploring Hartford Symphony Orchestra's 2025-2026 Season

In a dynamic display of musical prowess, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra presents a series of captivating events from June 2025 through April 2026. With performances ranging from Rachmaninoff classics to innovative theatrical concerts, the orchestra invites audiences into a world where music meets storytelling, community, and artistic evolution. Through the baton of esteemed conductors and the skills of talented musicians, these events promise to bridge cultures, traditions, and contemporary narratives, creating an enriching tapestry of sound.

A Symphony of Seasons: Hartford's Musical Calendar

Eric Roth

Hartford Symphony Orchestra

In July 2025, A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY returns with NEW, EXCLUSIVE, and OFFICIAL arrangements of music from the biggest FINAL FANTASY games!

A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY

The Bushnell

The 25/26 season kicks off with a thrilling blend of jazz, drama, and orchestral storytelling! Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, made famous by Fantasia, sets the stage with its enchanting chaos, followed by Bartók’s suspenseful Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin—performed by HSO for the first time in over 20 years.

Gershwin, Marsalis & Bartók

Under the direction of Viswa Subarraman the HSO performs a program of grandeur and evolution, highlighted by Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, a masterful balance of stormy intensity and lyrical beauty performed by guest artist Drew Petersen. Carl Nielsen’s Helios Overture opens with a radiant orchestral depiction of the sun’s journey, setting the stage for Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5, a triumphant work inspired by nature and transformation.

Beethoven & Sibelius

Adam Kerry Boyles leads a program rich in emotion and orchestral brilliance. Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, one of the most celebrated works for the instrument, performed by cellist Tommy Mesa. This sweeping, romantic masterpiece blends soaring melodies with moments of deep introspection, showcasing the cello’s expressive power.

Dvorák and Rachmaninoff

HSO’s Winter Dreams blends timeless beauty with bold reinvention. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 1, “Winter Dreams” evokes a snow-covered landscape through lush melodies and rich orchestration, capturing the magic and nostalgia of the season.

Winter Dreams

Romeo and Juliet: A Theatrical Concert, is a groundbreaking collaboration between the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Concert Theatre Works, and acclaimed director Bill Barclay. This co-commissioned production—also supported by the Royal Albert Hall and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, features live actors in costume, dynamic staging, and even sword fighting on stage. This performance goes beyond traditional concert presentations to create an immersive theatrical experience. The orchestra will perform alongside the action, blending Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy with some of the most evocative music ever written for the story.

Romeo and Juliet: A Theatrical Concert

Kalena Bovell conducts a program of orchestral grandeur. Respighi’s Pines of Rome, last performed by HSO in 2013, brings the Italian landscape to life with sweeping brass fanfares, atmospheric sounds, and lush harmonies.

Pines of Rome

This dynamic program, featuring works by Berlioz, Brahms, and Clarice Assad, blends intensity and expression. Berlioz’s King Lear Overture makes its HSO debut, capturing the play’s power struggles with dramatic orchestration. Assad takes the stage as soloist in her own FLOW, Concerto for Piano, offering a unique composer-performer perspective.

Brahms’ Third

In collaboration with the Wadsworth Atheneum, this program connects music, history, and art in a vivid exploration of sound and color.  The first half of the program brings to life the Wadsworth exhibit “Colorfast: The Story of Pigments and Dyes in Art”, with exhibit images set to music.  Each musical selection in this suite corresponds to a color in the visible spectrum of light (ROYGBIV).  Plus, there is one musical selection yet to be determined – you, the audience will be invited to participate in the selection process!  

Mendelssohn & Colorfast

A season finale of bold contrasts and artistic innovation, The Rite of Spring On-Screen brings music, film, and dance together in a dynamic conclusion. The program opens with Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration, a profound depiction of life’s final journey. We welcome back Curtis Stewart, the 2025\2026 Joyce C. Willis Artist in Residence to perform The Famous People, his reimagination of Dvorák’s Slavonic Dances through African American musical traditions, creating a bold fusion of styles.

A New World: intimate music from FINAL FANTASY

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