Name: Puccini’s Madama Butterfly
Start: 2026-01-11T14:00:00
Location: Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center

Embark on an auditory adventure with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's upcoming season, featuring a diverse array of performances that span cultural classics and groundbreaking compositions. From the existential musings of Mahler's symphonies to the whimsical scores of Danny Elfman, each performance promises to be a unique exploration of musical storytelling. Whether you're drawn to the deep emotional explorations of Puccini's operas or the eclectic fusion of jazz and classical in Gershwin's work, there's something for every music enthusiast.

Symphonic Journeys: From Mahler’s Epics to Elfman's Cinematic Soundscapes

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is set to captivate audiences with a stellar lineup of events that traverse genres and emotions. From the jazz-infused 'Rhapsody in Blue' to cinematic scores by Danny Elfman, and the epic 'Symphony of a Thousand' by Mahler, this season promises a remarkable journey through soundscapes. Featuring world-class performers like Fabio Luisi, Inon Barnatan, and Danny Elfman himself, these performances promise not just music, but a deep dive into cultural and emotional narratives that resonate beyond the concert hall.

A Symphony of Stories: Dallas Symphony Orchestra's Diverse Musical Journey

As the Dallas Symphony Orchestra unveils its new season, music lovers are in for a treat with a lineup that promises to excite and inspire. From classic American compositions and iconic operas to cinematic scores and epic symphonies, each performance offers a unique journey through sound and emotion. With renowned conductors, talented musicians, and awe-inspiring venues, this season's events exemplify the depth and diversity of orchestral music, inviting audiences to experience the transformative power of live performances.

A Symphony of Spectacular Soundscapes: Dallas Symphony Orchestra's Upcoming Season

Fabio Luisi

Kidon Choi

Fabio Sartori

Keith Jameson

Jennifer Rowley

Manuela Custer

Alessandro Luongo

Anthony Blake Clark

Paul Curran

Dallas Symphony Chorus

Dallas Symphony Orchestra

It’s that wonderful time of the year when families gather and celebrate the holidays with music— and when guest conductor Lawrence Loh, along with two popular vocalists, soprano Jasmine Habersham and baritone Reginald Smith, Jr., return to sing seasonal favorites for the holidays. Making things even more festive are the Dallas Symphony Chorus and Children’s Chorus. And, of course, what would Christmas Pops be without an audience sing-along and an appearance by that Jolly Old Elf, aka Santa Claus! It’s fun for the entire family and sure to create memories to cherish for a lifetime.

Christmas Pops

Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center

A one-night-only concert at the Meyerson starring the DSO brass, percussion and the Lay Family Concert Organ in an event that says HOLIDAYS! Returning for the third year, this DSO tradition is sure to be festive, joyful and inspiring.

Brassy Christmas

Assistant conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg leads the DSO in this “So long 2025!” and “Hello! 2026” celebratory concert on New Year’s Eve featuring Principal Second Violin, Angela Fuller Heyde. The high-spirited musical revels will include beloved waltzes, polkas, marches, overtures, favorite operetta excerpts, plus a few surprises to help ring in the new year. And you can bet that there’ll be some tunes by Johann Strauss, Jr., whose 200th birthday we celebrate in 2025! So, grab your friends and come party at this unforgettable night with the DSO!

New Year’s Eve

If any opera can break your heart, it surely is Madama Butterfly, the story of an innocent young Japanese girl, who — as her nickname foreshadows — is crushed by one of opera’s most callous cads, naval officer Lieutenant Pinkerton, who promises her a forever love. She is willing to give up her family and her religion to become a good “American” wife. From the ecstatic love duet on their wedding night, to the famous “humming chorus,” as she and her servant Suzuki await Pinkerton’s return, to the anguish of her suicide to preserve her honor — this deeply moving opera will resonate long after the last note has sounded. Performed by a star-studded cast of singers, orchestra and chorus, led by Luisi, a masterful opera conductor, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is this season’s stunning opera in concert.

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

The sweeping sonorities of Bruckner’s epic, final symphonic masterpiece unfold and rise sublimely like spires of a grand cathedral, inspiring awe and transporting you to a world with its own conception of time. A devoutly religious man, the composer’s dedication reads: “To the Lord of Lords, to my dear God, my last work, and I hope that He will grant me enough time to complete it and will generously accept my gift.” With this awe-inspiring symphony, he is already standing on the threshold of eternity.

Luisi Conducts Bruckner’s Ninth

Fresh from his wildly successful recent appearance with the DSO, Edward Gardner returns to conduct Holst’s most famous score, with the astrological character of each of the celestial bodies. Each planetary “portrait” reveals a fitting attribute, from Mars’ bellicose hammer blows to the haunting resonances of Neptune, “The Mystic,” with female voices singing wordlessly off stage till they fade away into the great unknown. Walton’s regal hymn of praise was commissioned to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953 and sung as she made her exit from Westminster Abbey. David Childs, euphonium sensation and brass faculty member of the University of North Texas, solos in the US premiere of a concerto by critically acclaimed Scottish composer James MacMillan, whose music is esteemed “for its rhythmic excitement and powerful emotional communication.”

Holst’s The Planets

Get on your feet and let’s get loud with the greatest hits of the ’90s and ‘OOs Latin pop explosion! La Vida Loca celebrates artists including Enrique Iglesias, Gloria Estefan, Santana, Ricky Martin and more. Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez, world-renowned vocalists Ender Thomas and Jackie Mendez, and multi-GRAMMY® award winners José Sibaja on trumpet and Luisito Quintero on percussion join your orchestra for a high-octane program featuring all-new symphonic arrangements by Lopez-Yañez and Sibaja.

La Vida Loca

Romance your Valentine at the DSO with the impassioned music of Tchaikovsky’s timeless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Tabita Berglund returns to lead the kaleidoscopic Symphonic Dances by the last of the Russian Romantics, Rachmaninoff. It’s his last, and many believe his greatest, work. Listen for the haunting alto saxophone solo, mysterious tubular bells, evocations of Russian Orthodox chants, a thundering Dies irae and a shadowy, eerie waltz. Sphinx alumna Melissa White is in the solo spotlight for the world premiere of Composer-in-Residence Sophia Jani’s Violin Concerto.

Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninoff

You’re invited to Mussorgsky’s musical “gallery crawl,” where you’ll encounter the titular pictures on exhibit, ten in all, plus “traveling music” in-between. Special highlights include the opening “Promenade,” as you stride into the gallery; the whimsical unhatched baby chicks pecking their way out of their shells; spooky Parisian “Catacombs;” and “The Great Gate of Kiev,” shaking you with the resounding pealing of bells in the grand finale. Artist-in-Residence Leonidas Kavakos takes a turn on the podium at this concert and leads our concertmaster in Prokofiev’s Concerto that both sparkles and dances with vibrantly colored passages, ending in a tumultuous flurry of notes.

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition

What do you do if you’ve had a falling-out with a cherished friend and advisor and want to make amends? Well, if you’re Johannes Brahms and violinist Josef Joachim is your friend, a Double Concerto is the perfect peace offering, expressed in musical language. A give-and-take between violin and cello as they trade phrases and musical gestures full of drama and lyricism, confirming the emotional capital they’ve invested in one another over the decades. Bringing the concerto to life are Chad Hoopes, internationally lauded faculty member of Southern Methodist University, and world-renowned cellist Jan Vogler. Maurice Cohn also leads the first DSO performance of Weill’s Second Symphony, composed in the fraught Post-World-War-I period. The funeral cortège-second movement, says commentator David Drew, is followed by a rondo finale with “marches and counter-marches, and a demented tarantella coda.”

Brahms’ Double Concerto

Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton explores the collaborative relationship between music and storytelling and the process and importance that this has in filmmaking. Composer Danny Elfman and visionary Hollywood filmmaker Tim Burton have created a unique concert experience, lending music and visuals to celebrate the 25-year partnership of two of Hollywood’s top creators. This live concert features Danny Elfman’s famous Tim Burton film scores brought to life on stage by orchestra, enhanced by visuals on the big screen of original sketches, drawings and storyboards.

Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton 

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.

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

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