Celebrate the many shades of America as we look forward to our nation’s 250th birthday. From Bernstein’s West Side Story and Copland’s Lincoln Portrait to Ellington’s MLK, Juan Pablo Contreras’s MeChicano, and America the Beautiful, this program showcases the very best music made in America. The full orchestra and chorus close the program with Tchaikovsky’s rousing 1812 Overture.

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Celebrating America at 250

Linda Ronstadt Music Hall

Mozart died at the age of 35 before he was able to complete his masterful Requiem. Maestro Gomez has conceived a “completion” by commissioning Tucson composer Dan Coleman to compose a work connecting the Requiem to Mozart’s choral gem Ave verum corpus. The quartet of soloists joining the TSO Chorus includes the return of Angela Brower for the second of two weeks.

Mozart’s Requiem

Catalina Foothills High School

Carl Orff’s singular and powerful work, bringing to life texts from the 11th and 12th centuries, comes to the stage with soloists Ashley Fabian, Joseph Tancredi, and Octavio Moreno plus the full might of the TSO Chorus. Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari, which plays tribute to the blue deer, a spiritual guide of the Huichol people of Mexico, is followed by Robert Muczynski’s Symphonic Memoir, premiered by the TSO in 1979 and the latest in the TSO’s exploration of this Tucson-based composer.

Carmina Burana

One of the brightest stars on the operatic stage and a Tucson favorite, internationally recognized mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke returns to the TSO for a riveting performance of Mahler’s colossal third symphony. Organized over six movements, the work is the composer’s hymn to nature and one of his most complete musical statements.

Mahler’s Third

Our Classic season culminates in one of the greatest of symphonic musical journeys from grief, following the death of a friend, to resolution, peace, and the beauty of afterlife and resurrection. The inclusion of vocal soloists and chorus draws comparisons with Beethoven’s own majestic choral symphony.

Mahler’s "Resurrection"

There is no greater expression of humanity in music than Beethoven’s choral symphony, culminating with the Ode to Joy. It became the lodestar for everything that followed, including the romantic outpourings of Wagner. The boisterous Mastersingers overture is paired with the song-cycle that was inspired by the passionate poems of his muse at the time, Mathilde Wesendonck.

Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus

14 - 15 Feb, 2026

Celebrating America at 250

Jan 31 - Feb 1, 2026

Mozart’s Requiem

Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus