Upcoming Events: Classical

2012-2013 Season

• National Symphony Orchestra: John Adams, conductor / Jeremy Denk, piano, plays Ravel

  May 30 - Jun. 1, 2013
  Incomparable composer John Adams returns to conduct his City Noir as well as Ravel's Piano Concerto performed by Jeremy Denk, whom the New York Times says "plays with clean articulation, warmth, and power."

• National Symphony Orchestra: Jakub Hrusa, conductor / Augustin Hadelich, violin & Nadezhda Serdyuk, mezzo-soprano

  Jun. 6 - 8, 2013
  Augustin Hadelich, whom the Washington Post praises for being "in touch with the sunny side of a violin" makes his much-anticipated NSO debut performing Dvorák's Violin Concerto conducted by another young star, Jakub Hrusa.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Matthew Halls, conductor / David Hardy, cello, plays Dutilleux

  Jun. 13 - 15, 2013
  Dynamic young British conductor Matthew Halls returns after leading last season's Messiah for a program of Dutilleux's Tout un monde lointain featuring NSO Principal Cellist David Hardy, as well as works by Ravel and Vaughan Williams.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Krzysztof Urbanski, conductor / Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano, plays MacMillan & Saint-Saëns

  Jun. 20 - 22, 2013
  The NSO, conducted by Krzysztof Urbanski, alternates between programs featuring concerti by Macmillan and Saint-Saëns, both with celebrated pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, who plays with "classical refinement and cool beauty" (New York Times).

• NSO at Wolf Trap: Emil de Cou, conductor / Singin' in the Rain

  Sat., Aug. 3, 2013, 8:30 PM
  

2013-2014 Season

• National Symphony Orchestra: Season Opening Ball Concert: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Cameron Carpenter, organ

  Sun., Sep. 29, 2013, 7:00 PM
  Eschenbach officially opens the NSO's new season with a program featuring superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations. Also, Saint-Saëns's "Organ Symphony" finale features the NSO debut of young organist Cameron Carpenter.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / NSO Hechinger Commission: Roger Reynolds's george WASHINGTON

  Oct. 3 - 5, 2013
  Music Director Christoph Eschenbach leads a fascinating program that includes Saint-Saëns's "Organ Symphony" featuring NSO organist William Neil, as well as george WASHINGTON, a world premiere by Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Roger Reynolds.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Celebrating Wagner at 200: Act III of Parsifal, in concert

  Oct. 10 - 12, 2013
  This concert version of the final act from Wagner's epic opera Parsifal--about the quest for the Holy Grail--features tenor Nikolai Schukoff, baritone Thomas Hampson, bass Mikhail Petrenko, and The Washington Chorus.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Kristjan Järvi, conductor / Jennifer Koh, violin, plays Barber

  Oct. 31 - Nov. 2, 2013
  Young violinist Jennifer Koh, known for her "passionate zeal and vivid contrasts" (The New York Times), performs Barber's Violin Concerto led by gifted conductor Kristjan Järvi. Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances concludes the program.

• National Symphony Orchestra: John Storgårds, conductor / Sol Gabetta, cello, plays Shostakovich

  Nov. 7 - 9, 2013
  Finland's John Storgårds returns to the NSO to conduct Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto featuring Sol Gabetta, winner of Gramophone's 2010 Young Artist Award. The program also includes Schumann's "Spring" Symphony and a classic by Britten.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Neeme Järvi, conductor / Alice Sara Ott, piano, plays Liszt

  Nov. 14 - 16, 2013
  Neeme Järvi conducts Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring the NSO debut of Alice Sara Ott, whose playing ranges from "crystalline purity to powerfully raw" (Gramophone). Also on the program: excerpts from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.

• Renée Fleming: American Voices: Concert with the National Symphony Orchestra: Steven Reineke, conductor / Renée Fleming, host

  Sat., Nov. 23, 2013, 8:00 PM
  Legendary soprano Renée Fleming caps off her three-day Kennedy Center festival with this spectacular concert. Joining her will be special guest vocalists from the worlds of Broadway, opera, jazz, gospel, country, pop, and classical music.
  

• National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Brahms's Symphony No. 1, plus two by Mozart

  Dec. 5 - 7, 2013
  Maestro Eschenbach leads the NSO in Brahms's magnificent Symphony No. 1 and two classics by Mozart: the Die Zauberflöte Overture, as well as his Violin Concerto No. 4 featuring NSO concertmaster Nurit Bar-Josef.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Handel's Messiah

  Dec. 19 - 22, 2013
  Get in the holiday spirit with Handel's epic masterpiece, performed each year with a fresh perspective by the NSO and acclaimed guest artists. Conductor Rossen Milanov leads four soloists and The Choral Arts Society in the Goossens orchestration.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Sir Mark Elder, conductor / Stephen Hough, piano, plays Liszt

  Jan. 16 - 18, 2014
  Elder conducts Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 featuring Stephen Hough--known for "playing of utmost intimacy and lyricism" (San Francisco Chronicle)--plus R. Strauss's Don Quixote showcasing NSO principals David Hardy and Daniel Foster.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Dvorák's "From the New World" Symphony, plus Mozart and an NSO debut

  Jan. 23 - 25, 2014
  Eschenbach leads Dvorák's Symphony No. 9, Mozart's "Haffner" Symphony, and a recent work by Avner Dorman featuring the NSO debut of young Austrian percussionist Martin Grubinger, "a master of the high-speed chase" (New York Times).
  

• National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Beyond the Score: Dvorák's Symphony No. 9 - Whose World?

  Fri., Jan. 24, 2014, 8:00 PM
  For aficionados and newcomers alike, this series uses actors, narration, excerpts, and multimedia to share captivating stories behind a score, followed by a full performance of the work. This event explores Dvorák's towering "New World" Symphony.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Joshua Bell, violin, plays Mendelssohn; Matthias Goerne, baritone, & Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano, sing Hindemith

  Jan. 30 - Feb. 1, 2014
  Joshua Bell--"the greatest American violinist active today" (Boston Herald)--plays Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. Plus, singers Matthias Goerne and Michelle DeYoung join for Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom'd.
  

• National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Steven Isserlis, cello, plays Schumann

  Feb. 6 - 8, 2014
  Steven Isserlis, renowned for "the unrivaled intensity of his playing" (The Guardian), shines in Schumann's Cello Concerto on a program led by Christoph Eschenbach that also includes the Brahms/Schoenberg Piano Quartet and Haydn's Symphony No. 72.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Cristian Macelaru, conductor / Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin, plays Dvorák (Fri./Sat.) and a D.C. premiere (Thu.)

  Feb. 13 - 15, 2014
  "Brilliant violinist" (The New York Times) Anne-Sophie Mutter joins two programs led by conductor Cristian Macelaru in his NSO debut: one features Dvorák's Violin Concerto; the other offers a D.C. premiere written specifically for Mutter.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Christian Tetzlaff, violin, plays Widmann

  Feb. 27 - Mar. 1, 2014
  Christian Tetzlaff's "sheer, explosive virtuosity" (The New York Times) comes to the fore in Widmann's Violin Concerto. Beethoven's First and Second Symphonies frame the program, completing the NSO's recent Beethoven cycle.
  

• National Symphony Orchestra: Der Rosenkavalier in Concert, with Renée Fleming / Christoph Eschenbach, conductor

  Sat., Mar. 8, 2014, 6:00 PM
  Marking 150 years since Strauss's birth, soprano Renée Fleming headlines a concert performance of the composer's comic opera that features Sarah Connolly, Marisol Montalvo, Franz Hawlata, Adrian Eröd, Steve Davislim, and Washington Chorus.
  

• National Symphony Orchestra: Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, conductor / Daniil Trifonov, piano, plays Rachmaninoff; Kelley O'Connor, mezzo-soprano, sings Falla

  Mar. 13 - 15, 2014
  Conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos leads Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, featuring young piano sensation Daniil Trifonov in his NSO debut, along with young mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor in Falla's El amor brujo.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Celebrating R. Strauss at 150 featuring Iréne Theorin, soprano, and John Relyea, bass-baritone

  Mar. 20 - 22, 2014
  The NSO salutes Richard Strauss with his Don Juan and selections from Elektra and Salome. The program also marks the NSO debut of soprano Iréne Theorin, praised for her "emotional vigor" (San Francisco Chronicle).
  

• National Symphony Orchestra: James Conlon, conductor / Gil Shaham, violin, plays Korngold

  Apr. 10 - 12, 2014
  A "brilliant violinist [with] flawless precision and gleeful command" (The New York Times), Gil Shaham plays Korngold's Violin Concerto on a program led by renowned conductor James Conlon that also includes masterpieces by Brahms and Zemlinsky.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Cornelius Meister, conductor / Nikolai Lugansky, piano, plays Prokofiev

  Apr. 17 - 19, 2014
  Making his NSO debut, young conductor Cornelius Meister leads Mozart's Symphony No. 40, a Mendelssohn masterpiece, and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 featuring "colorful and exciting" (The New York Times) Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Osmo Vänskä, conductor / Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony, plus Sibelius and Aho

  Apr. 24 - 26, 2014
  Renowned conductor Osmo Vänskä leads Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4, Sibelius's Symphony No. 3, and Aho's Clarinet Concerto featuring the NSO debut of Martin Fröst, "a kinetic player with a vivid, interpretative imagination" (The New York Times).

• National Symphony Orchestra: Osmo Vänskä, conductor / Beyond the Score: Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4--Why Italy?

  Fri., Apr. 25, 2014, 8:00 PM
  For aficionados and newcomers alike, this series uses actors, narration, excerpts, and multimedia to share captivating stories behind a score, followed by a full performance of the work. This event explores Mendelssohn's delightful "Italian" Symphony.

• National Symphony Orchestra: NEW MOVES: Symphony + Dance: Thomas Wilkins, conductor / From Schuman to Bernstein

  May 7 - 8, 2014
  This celebration's first program incorporates live dance with Bernstein's On the Town and On the Waterfront. The NSO also performs Schuman's New England Triptych and a new concerto featuring Sue Heineman, NSO principal bassoon.
  

• National Symphony Orchestra: NEW MOVES: Symphony + Dance: Thomas Wilkins, conductor / From Gershwin to Ellington

  May 10 - 13, 2014
  This celebration's second program adds live dance to music by Duke Ellington. The NSO also performs music from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Barber's Souvenirs, and a concerto featuring Jauvon Gilliam, NSO principal timpani.
  

• National Symphony Orchestra: NEW MOVES: Symphony + Dance: Thomas Wilkins, conductor / From Adams to Copland, with Leila Josefowicz, violin

  May 16 - 17, 2014
  This celebration's final program incorporates live dance into Adams's Violin Concerto, to be played by Leila Josefowicz, a violinist of "exceptional technical aplomb" (Baltimore Sun). Also on the program: Copland's Appalachian Spring.
  

• National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Nicola Benedetti, violin, & Leonard Elschenbroich, cello, play Brahms's Double Concerto

  Jun. 5 - 7, 2014
  Maestro Eschenbach leads Brahms's famed Double Concerto featuring two rising young stars--violinist Nicola Benedetti and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, both in their NSO debuts. The program also includes Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique" Symphony.
  

• National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Bruckner's Symphony No. 8

  Jun. 12 - 14, 2014
  Music Director Christoph Eschenbach--"who puts his whole heart out on stage, every time" (The Washington Post)--concludes the NSO's classical season with Bruckner's titanic and awe-inspiring Symphony No. 8. 
  

All programs are subject to change.