News

The Dresden Philharmonic presents a series of James MacMillan performances within its British Festival this season, including the German premiere of Symphony No.4 conducted by its dedicatee Donald Runnicles and Cantos Sagrados conducted by the composer himself.

The Musikverein in Vienna hosts celebrations for Kurt Schwertsik’s 90th birthday year with a concert by Kontrapunkte on 23 November. His popular tribute to Erik Satie for strings and bandoneon, Adieu Satie, receives multiple performances this season.

Homeland, Joan Armatrading’s new work for choir and orchestra, is premiered by the City of Birmingham Orchestra and Chorus on 7 December. The 15-minute score, setting Armatrading’s own texts, honours the city where the acclaimed singer songwriter spent her formative years.

The John Adams festival in Manchester, running 30 October to 1 November, sees the composer conducting concerts with the Hallé orchestra. The four-concert event features 11 Adams works, with highlights including the UK premiere of The Rock You Stand On, dedicated to long-standing champion of his music, Marin Alsop.

Nordic Christmas, now published as a vocal score, sees composer Kim André Arnesen celebrating Christmas music from his home region in Northern Europe.

2025 is the 80th birthday year of John Rutter, celebrated with a concert at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on 5 November featuring the premiere of I’ll make me a world. Decca has released the first album dedicated to Rutter’s works for orchestra, including the piano concerto Reflections.

Boosey & Hawkes and Sikorski launch a series of Prokofieff scores with a new performing edition of the complete ballet Romeo and Juliet, one of the composer’s most popular works.

The 2025/26 season brings three European orchestral residencies for Unsuk Chin, with the Hallé, the hr-Sinfonieorchester in Frankfurt and the Staatskapelle in Dresden. Events in Manchester include the UK premieres of Le Silence des Sirènes and Operascope and a revised version of her epic cosmological cantata Le Chant des Enfants des Étoiles.

Following recent stagings in Rotterdam, Los Angeles and New York and its nomination for a 2024 GRAMMY® Award, David T. Little’s Black Lodge travels to Sweden in November, with performances presented by Malmö Opera and Folksoperan in Stockholm.

In his new concerto for pianist Seong-Jin Cho, Donghoon Shin explores the Schumannesque duality between the impulsive Florestan and the introspective Eusebius. The London Symphony Orchestra presents the premiere at the Barbican in London on 20 November under the baton of Maxime Pascal.

Mark Simpson’s Israfel—inspired by Edgar Allan Poe—receives its North American premiere with the Baltimore Symphony and Jonathon Heyward in October.

This fall, composer Gabriela Ortiz unveils Si el oxígeno fuera verde, premiered by The Philharmonia under Santtu-Matias Rouvali in Europe and on the orchestra’s 80th-anniversary US tour.

Steven Mackey’s Anemology for saxophone soloist Timothy McAllister receives its world premiere with the Monterey Symphony and Jayce Ogren in October.

We follow baritone soloist Roderick Williams as he reflects on his experience performing Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in Hiroshima’s Peace Park, observing 80 years since the atomic bombing of the city.

On 29 August 2025, the composer and pianist Rodion Shchedrin passed away at the age of 92. His music fearlessly combined elements of folklore, archaic early forms of music and the avant-garde – creating a sound world that was uniquely his own.

Boosey & Hawkes is pleased to announce a new worldwide publishing agreement with the renowned Japanese composer and conductor, Joe Hisaishi.

The coming season brings an extensive collection of new and recent works by Boosey & Hawkes and Sikorski composers, including world premieres by Michel van der Aa, John Adams, Brett Dean, Olga Neuwirth, Gabriela Ortiz, Matthias Pintscher and Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Read our season preview of premieres, new productions, and other performance highlights in North and South America.

Boosey & Hawkes, a Concord company, has signed acclaimed composer Jeanine Tesori to represent her entire classical music catalog, including existing and future works. Tesori is celebrated for her contributions to opera and musical theatre, including works such as Grounded and Blue.

Following close upon the success of his opera Festen, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s The Railway Children, based on the classic novel by Edith Nesbit, is premiered at Glyndebourne on 30 October with a staged concert performance at London’s Southbank Centre on 8 November.