Driving rhythms, vivid colors, and an electrical charge that could light up a city: Bernstein’s West Side Story and Gershwin’s Cuban Overture are symphonic favorites that explode with fire and passion. Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez is brought to life with the extraordinary depth and nuance of Spanish guitarist Rafael Aguirre. Opening the program, Kauyumari is Gabriela Ortiz’s celebration of community, spiritual guidance, and new beginnings. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

City Rhythms: West Side Story & Aranjuez

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Jader Bignamini uncorks Chabrier’s bubbly España before Joshua Bell takes center stage in Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, playing with characteristic charisma and flair. Ginastera’s Estancia opens the doors to a night filled with energy and virtuosity. We are sent off with pep in our step, dancing into the cool Fall evening.

Please note that this is a concert-only event. For an extended evening including a private reception, formal dinner, and afterparty, please purchase separately. All concert guests are invited to attend a pre-concert reception beginning at 5:00pm. See the full evening schedule by clicking "read more" below.

Opening Night Concert: Joshua Bell Plays Lalo

American music, restless and searching. Peter Oundjian is in his element in a program that sweeps from the virtuosity of Joan Tower’s Concerto for Orchestra to the lyricism of Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade, captured by rising star Paul Huang. From the open skies of Copland’s Appalachian Spring to the full-throttle surge of John Adams’ Frenzy, this program evokes the spirit of American energy in motion. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Bernstein & Appalachian Spring

From intimate storytelling to full orchestral color, this program proves we are more than the sum of our parts. Film composer Michael Abels’s Emerge finds musical meaning in a community reunited. Alexandra Dariescu brings the cinematic Piano Concerto by Leokadiya Kashperova back from obscurity. And Respighi brings the full orchestra to dazzling life in his radiant evocations of Rome. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Fountains & Pines of Rome

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ_ZQW5C2pw&amp;t=2s

The Artelize Podcast Presenting Will Shutes: 'Bring it down out of the clouds to human being level'

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFe6mW6x9pc

The Artelize Podcast: 'Amplifying What Makes Us Human'. A conversation with Zuly E. Inirio

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/4hagYvrYbuM

The Artelize Podcast and Kasper Holten - Pedefining Opera for the modern world

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36M5Hi6O80

The Artelize Podcast - A legacy of innovation in Opera: Celebrating Marc A. Scorca

A tour of England’s many musical characters: warmth in Anna Clyne’s Within Her Arms, a loving ode to her late mother; sparkle and bite in Benjamin Britten’s Piano Concerto, championed by soloist Leif Ove Andsnes; and noble humanity in Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, an affectionate series of portraits with the famous “Nimrod” at its heart. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Enigma Variations & Britten

Immerse yourself in the luminous world of French music. Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun shimmers with summer heat. Dutilleux’s visionary cello concerto, A whole distant world..., has been a lifelong passion for cellist Zuill Bailey. In Color, Marc-André Dalbavie combines sounds like a painter, before Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé erupts in sun-drenched orchestral splendor. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

French Splendor: Ravel, Debussy, and More

Two DSO musicians step into the spotlight in a program of grace, elegance, and joy. Fanny Mendelssohn’s Overture—her only purely orchestral work—is paired with Robert Schumann’s “Rhenish” symphony, music alive with optimism, fire and a deep sacred glow. Flutist Hannah Hammel Maser and harpist Alyssa Katahara are soloists in Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Mozart & Schumann’s Romantic Rhenish

No warm‑ups, no safety nets. Mahler’s Sixth Symphony hits hard: from its relentless opening march, to its fragile and haunted slow movement, to the hammer-blows of fate at its close. Jader Bignamini leads the DSO through the storm, pushing players to their expressive limits. This is Mahler without filters. Visceral, searching, unforgettable. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Mahler’s Symphony No. 6

A journey to beginnings. In ARCHORA, Anna Thorvaldsdóttir seeks the origins of life in music shaped by primordial forces. Katherine Balch’s violin concerto Artifacts is a fond tribute to the friendship between the composer and the DSO Concertmaster Robyn Bollinger. Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony grows a compelling world from the smallest musical seed. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances. 

Beethoven’s Fifth

Storm clouds gather, then they break. Samuel Coleridge‑Taylor’s Ballade sweeps listeners on a wild orchestral journey. Pianist Fabian Müller makes his DSO debut with Mozart, whose music “feels like taking a bath in spiritual water.” And Markus Stenz takes us on a journey from darkness to light in Brahms’s First Symphony, reaching incandescent heights, hymn soaring. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

From Darkness to Light: Brahms’s Symphony No. 1

Carlos Simon won’t take things lying down. His electrifying Wake Up!, a concerto for orchestra, pulls us forward in our seats, ready for what lies ahead. Johannes Brahms’s virtuosic Violin Concerto offers a lifetime of discovery for the searching mind of soloist Augustin Hadelich. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Augustin Hadelich Plays Brahms

Two anticipated debuts cap a program of cinematic sweep. Stella Chen, a prodigious violinist makes her DSO debut in Korngold’s lush concerto. Nicholas Collon, founder of the boundary-pushing Aurora Orchestra, brings nostalgia and bite to Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances and the fireworks of Lotta Wennäkoski’s Flounce. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances

Kodo’s Luminance brings the power and precision of taiko drumming to Orchestra Hall in a performance of rhythm, motion, and sound. With thunderous drumming, striking choreography, and extraordinary physical artistry, the internationally acclaimed ensemble creates an immersive experience that is both visually compelling and musically thrilling. Rooted in centuries-old tradition yet constantly evolving, Kodo offers a performance that audiences do not simply hear, but feel.

Kodo One Earth Tour 2027: LUMINANCE

We welcome the cool dawn with the playful energy of Lili Boulanger’s Of a Spring Morning. Pianist Zoltán Fejérvári infuses Bartók’s serene Third Piano Concerto with the lilt of their shared native Hungarian tongue. And conductor Edward Gardner, acclaimed for his Stravinsky performances, returns to the DSO for a Firebird crackling with danger and precision. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Stravinsky's Firebird

Break out your sequins and bellbottoms—we’re celebrating the best of The Bee Gees and beyond! “You Should [and will!] Be Dancing” in your seat as world-renowned a cappella sensation Rajaton brings smooth harmonies to hits that lit up the disco scene. Relive the magic of an unforgettable era in this high-octane concert!

EPSG:4326

Stayin' Alive: The Bee Gees & Beyond with Rajaton

Orchestra Hall

A tour through Rome and beyond. Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture sets the night ablaze, followed by Saint-Saëns’s Fifth Piano Concerto, a favorite of soloist Jean‑Yves Thibaudet, with its vibrant colors and harmonies. Bach’s majestic C minor Passacaglia and Fugue is refracted through Respighi’s kaleidoscope, bringing the night to a jubilant close. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Thibaudet plays Saint-Saëns

A program that pulses with a restless, fiery spirit. In Dobrinka Tabakova’s Orpheus' Comet, a grand fanfare emerges from fluttering orchestral textures. Daniil Trifonov brings electrifying virtuosity to Prokofiev’s ferocious Second Piano Concerto. Bignamini and the DSO capture every ounce of power in Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, ending in a fireball of light. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances. 

Shostakovich Symphony No. 5

James Ehnes is a beloved figure on the DSO stage. His intimate, personal approach connects with audiences, and he finds deep richness in Elgar’s expansive Violin Concerto. Conductor Domingo Hindoyan seeks playfulness in Dvořák’s music, and this performance of the Seventh Symphony will balance fire, lyricism, and lightness. A program infused with the Romantic spirit. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Ehnes plays Elgar

Rising Polish conductor Anna Sułkowska-Migoń is taking the world by storm. She makes her DSO debut in a program with rich Slavic roots. Grażyna Bacewicz’s short overture pulses with urgency and energy, followed by the poetic brilliance of Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto. Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony storms in, fate knocking, soaring defiantly. | Join us for a pre-concert talk 1 hour before most performances.

Orchestral events in Detroit, MI

City Rhythms: West Side S...

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Beethoven’s Fifth

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Beethoven’s Fifth

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From Darkness to Light: B...

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Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic ...

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Kodo One Earth Tour 2027:...

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Thibaudet plays Saint-Saë...

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Shostakovich Symphony No....

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Ehnes plays Elgar

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Detroit Symphony Orchestra