Spring 2025 Highlights in North America
Explore highlights this spring in North America, including the Metropolitan Opera’s presentation of John Adams’s Antony and Cleopatra (conducted by the composer himself), the world premiere of Anna Clyne’s PALETTE for Augmented Orchestra in St. Louis, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Seoul Festival, curated by Unsuk Chin.
For season highlights taking place in Europe click here.
Feb 7, Philadelphia
SEBASTIAN CURRIER Mysterium (world premiere)
Currier unveils a brand-new choral piece, Mysterium, performed by The Crossing and Donald Nally in Philadelphia. The epic hourlong work explores the connection between the cosmos and personal human experience through texts by renowned Dutch physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf and his wife, prominent novelist Pia de Jong. In Mysterium, Currier makes the inaudible audible by translating the radiation forces surrounding the Earth into soundwaves, perceived as gentle white noise that envelops the chorus and audience.
February 14-15, St. Louis
ANNA CLYNE PALETTE (world premiere)
Clyne unveils her concerto for Augmented Orchestra, PALETTE, which uses live processing during the performance. The world premiere by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Stéphane Denève is followed by performances on Mar 1-2 with the New World Symphony. Each of PALETTE’s seven movements explores a different sound world correlating to a color: Plum, Amber, Lava, Ebony, Teal, Tangerine, and Emerald.
Feb 28, Oregon
STEVE REICH Different Trains (world premiere of version)
Reich’s iconic 1988 string quartet Different Trains has been arranged for string orchestra and electronics. This landmark piece in music history is a personal reflection on the Jewish composer’s childhood riding trains across the US during World War II, while children in Europe were also riding trains across the continent to Holocaust camps. The work’s expanded string orchestra version, created in coordination with Oregon Symphony’s Creative Chair Gabriel Kahane, will be premiered by the Oregon Symphony and Deanna Tham during the 80th anniversary year of the end of World War II.
Mar 14-16, St. Louis
MAGNUS LINDBERG Viola Concerto (North American premiere)
Lawrence Power tours Magnus Lindberg’s new Viola Concerto worldwide this season, performing with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen (UK premiere), NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and Alan Gilbert (German premiere), and Mozarteumorchester Salzburg and Aivis Greters (Austrian premiere) before presenting the North American premiere with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Hannu Lintu.
Mar 28-29, Minneapolis
Apr 4-6, St. Paul
JAMES MACMILLAN Minnesota feature
Composer-conductor James MacMillan is featured across multiple Minnesota presentations during one week between March and April. He makes his Minnesota Orchestra conducting debut (Mar 28-29) with Kiss on Wood, featuring cello soloist Sonia Mantell accompanied by string orchestra, and Woman of the Apocalypse, praised for its “big, splashy swirls of instrumental color” (San Francisco Chronicle). VocalEssence, Minneapolis’s premier vocal ensemble, presents a two-day MacMillan Festival, featuring the world premiere of new choral work “Haec dies” alongside many other beloved MacMillan works for choir (Apr 4-6).
Apr 3, New York
MEREDITH MONK Carnegie Hall celebration
The 2024-2025 season marks Meredith Monk’s 60th year of creating and performing. In collaboration with Juilliard, Carnegie Hall presents an interdisciplinary celebration of legendary composer, performer, director, and choreographer Meredith Monk. The program includes some of Monk’s inimitable works for chamber ensemble, among them several that include movement, performed by exceptional students who will have worked with Monk during her distinguished visiting artist residency at Juilliard.
Apr 17-19, Dallas
SEAN SHEPHERD Quadruple Concerto (world premiere)
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra has commissioned a new concerto for its principal winds (David Buck, flute; Erin Hannigan, oboe; Gregory Raden, clarinet; Ted Soluri, bassoon) from composer Sean Shepherd, who is himself a trained bassoonist. The world premiere is conducted by music director Fabio Luisi.
Apr 26-May 18, Los Angeles
OSVALDO GOLIJOV Ainadamar
Los Angeles Opera presents composer Osvaldo Golijov and librettist David Henry Hwang’s Ainadamar, a powerful homage to Federico García Lorca, in new production by Brazilian choreographer Deborah Colker that garnered a wave of accolades during its tour to Scottish Opera, Detroit Opera, Welsh National Opera, and most recently, the Metropolitan Opera.
May 1, New York
GABRIELA ORTIZ Mujer Angel (North American premiere)
This season, Gabriela Ortiz is composer-in-residence at Carnegie Hall, with music featured across numerous presentations with a wide range of performers and ensemble. This spring the acclaimed Attacca Quartet give the North American premiere of Ortiz's new string quartet Mujer Angel at Carnegie Hall (following the world premiere in March in Madrid, Spain). On June 18, The Met Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin perform Ortiz’s electrifying, dance hall–inspired Antropolis at Carnegie Hall.
May 12-Jun 7, New York
JOHN ADAMS Antony and Cleopatra (New York premiere)
In the spring, John Adams returns to New York to conduct his 2022 Shakespearean opera Antony and Cleopatra at the Metropolitan Opera, following presentations in San Francisco and Barcelona. The production, directed by Elkanah Pulitzer, features Adams champions Julia Bullock and Gerald Finley in the title roles.
May 17, New York
ERIC WHITACRE The Pacific Has No Memory (world premiere)
In the spring, virtuoso violinist Anne Akiko Meyers will premiere a new work for violin and strings with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
May 28-29, Montreal
ANA SOKOLOVIC You Can Die Properly Now (world premiere)
Sokolovic’s You Can Die Properly Now for soprano and orchestra is premiered by soprano Emma Pennel, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and Rafael Payare. The work sets texts by indigenous poet Michelle Sylliboy, and has been commissioned as a companion piece to Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde as part of a larger new music initiative examining what it means to be Canadian.
Jun 3-8, Los Angeles
UNSUK CHIN Seoul Festival at LA Phil
Unsuk Chin curates the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Seoul Festival,” which includes performances of Gougalon (Jun 3) with the LA Phil New Music Group, Ensemble TIMF, and conductor Soo-Yeoul Choi, and her Clarinet Concerto (Jun 7-8) performed by soloist Han Kim with the LA Phil, conducted by Hankyeol Yoon.
Jun 13-15, Pittsburgh
LERA AUERBACH New Work for Orchestra (world premiere)
Manfred Honeck, a close collaborator of Auerbach, conducts the world premiere of her new orchestral work with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, followed by the European premiere of the piece with the Wiener Symphoniker at the Musikverein (co-commissioners).