Name: Love Letter to New York
Start: 2026-09-16T18:30:00
Location: Forest Theater

Brad Hogarth

Bernard Holcomb

Malinda Derouen

Tammy L. Hall

Monterey Symphony

The Monterey Symphony presents Love Letter to New York September 15 and 16 at 6:30 PM at the outdoor Forest Theater in Carmel with Brad Hogarth, Associate Conductor, vocalists Malinda DeRouen and Bernard Holcomb, and pianist Tammy L. Hall. The concerts this year will not disappoint! Featuring music from Bernstein's On the Town, as well as music from popular films such as The Avengers and Spiderman; soaring hits from Duke Ellington and Shirley Horn, AND SO MUCH MORE!

Love Letter to New York

Forest Theater

European iconoclasts meet American masters. Composer Franz Berwald—an erstwhile orthopedic surgeon—stood apart from the early Romantic mainstream, cultivating a distinctly eccentric voice with his overture to Estrella di Soria. Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1, an early work from the so-called "bad boy of Russian music," conjures a dreamlike sound world, interweaving introspective lyricism with flashes of steely virtuosity. Completing the program are two pillars of 1940s Americana: the orchestral suite from Aaron Copland's iconic ballet Appalachian Spring and the probing musical argument of Samuel Barber's Second Essay for Orchestra.

Appalachian Spring + Alexi Kenney

Sunset Center Theater

Romantic classics share the program with a dynamic world premiere. Pianists Ran Dank and Soyeon Kate Lee return to the Monterey Symphony for the debut of Chen Yi's Concerto for Two Pianos, a work the couple co-commissioned with the Monterey Symphony to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Yi, a daughter of China's Cultural Revolution who emigrated to America, forged a singular voice with a brilliant synthesis of Chinese and Western traditions. In 1816, the teenage Franz Schubert dazzled Vienna with his Symphony No. 5, a work of youthful optimism, rhythmic vitality, and Classical grace. The program concludes with selections from Antonín Dvorák's folk-inspired Slavonic Dances.

Slavonic Dances + Two Pianos

Elegance gives way to exuberance in this compelling musical journey. Maurice Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin commemorates friends whom the composer lost in World War I, with each movement taking form of a French Baroque dance. Aaron Copland expresses the loneliness of modern urban life in his contemplative classic Quiet City, in which Monterey Symphony principals Dylan Girard (trumpet) and Ruth Stuart (English horn) step forward as soloists. Composed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Valerie Coleman's Seven O'Clock Shout dramatizes the nightly phenomenon of people stepping outside to cheer, clap, and bang pots in support of frontline workers. The program closes with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's mighty Symphony No. 5, a work that grapples with fate and its acceptance.

Tchaikovsky 5

For 150 years the symphonies of Johannes Brahms have remained essential cornerstones of the orchestral repertoire. The works chart a remarkable artistic journey: the long-gestated struggle of the First gives way to the confident serenity of the Second; the introspective complexity of the Third leads to the austere grandeur of the Fourth. This complete Brahms symphony cycle offers a rare opportunity to journey deep into the heart of the Romantic era. Maestro Jayce Ogren leads Symphonies No. 1 and No. 3 on Saturday evening followed by No. 2 and No. 4 on Sunday afternoon.

Brahms: The Symphonies

Vivid narratives animate a program that is at once intimate, playful, and intense. In the Piano Concerto No. 4, Ludwig van Beethoven diverges from his hallmark heroism with a piece that transforms solitary introspection into ebullient joy. The Monterey Symphony is joined by pianist Jonathan Biss, an artist the Chicago Tribune calls "one of today's foremost Beethoven exponents." A mischievous trickster gets himself in hot water in Richard Strauss's dazzling tone poem Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. The concert concludes with a disturbing tale of violence and obsession in the suite from Béla Bartók's expressionist ballet The Miraculous Mandarin.

Biss Plays Beethoven

Monterey Symphony's season finale features Gustav Mahler's monumental Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection"–an epic meditation on the deepest questions of life, death, and transcendence. The work calls for massive forces:  a heavily-expanded orchestra, choir, vocal soloists, and organ. VOLTI joins the orchestra along with celebrated soloists Andriana Chuchman (soprano) and Kelly O'Connor (mezzo-soprano). The program includes two additional Late Romantic treasures. In Antonin Dvorák's "Song to the Moon" (from his opera Rusalka) the water nymph Rusalka appeals to the moon to convey her love to a distant human prince. Giuseppe Verdi's sacred choral work Te Deum is among the composer's final works and culminates in a profound expression of the struggle between faith and doubt.