The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra has introduced its 25- 26 Season below the inventive management of Music Director James Kahane. The season embody 9 full orchestra mainstage live shows at FirstOntario Live performance Corridor, along with different occasions that might be offered throughout the area.
“We’re thrilled to share our 25-26 season program, constructing on the momentum from our HPO140 celebrations and persevering with to evolve how we serve our neighborhood by way of music,” says Kim Varian, HPO Govt Director in a press release.
“Music Director James Kahane has programmed an invigorating 25-26 Season that takes viewers on an expansive journey with one thing for everybody to find. We share iconic orchestral works, rejoice Canadian expertise, spotlight new music by dwelling composers, and welcome acclaimed visitor artists to our stage. We sit up for seeing you within the live performance corridor and round our neighborhood in 25-26!”
HPO: Season at a Look
The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing for viewers for 140 years, with season 141 on the horizon. Right here’s a take a look at the 2025/26 season in short.
Mainstage Live shows
The Journey Begins (September 20, 2025)
James S. Kahane, Conductor
Roman Rabinovich, Piano
This season opening live performance presents the primary main hits by composers Sibelius, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and the HPO’s Composer-in-Residence Abigail Richardson-Schulte. Music Director James Kahane leads the Orchestra in En Saga, described by Sibelius as “an journey in an inside panorama”, a primary symphony written by a teenage Shostakovich, and extra.
This system contains;
- Jean Sibelius, En Saga
- Sergei Prokofiev, Piano Concerto No. 1
- Abigail Richardson-Schulte: Eris
- Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 1
Jurassic Park: Movie with Orchestra (October 18, 2025)
Steven Spielberg’s monster hist involves vivid life with a reside accompaniment of John Williams’ iconic rating.
Gentle Emerges (November 8, 2025)
Nil Venditti, Conductor
Leana Rutt, Cello
Locations and deep feelings are the themes for this live performance with visitor conductor Nil Vendetti, and the HPO’s personal Principal Cello Leana Rutt because the soloist in Elgar’s Cello Concerto.
This system contains:
- Giuseppe Verdi, La forza del destino
- Edward Elgar, Cello Concerto
- Wojciech Kilar, Orawa for Strings
- Felix Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4 ‘Italian’
’Tis the Season (December 13, 2025)
James S. Kahane, Conductor
Hamilton Youngsters’s Choir, Visitor Artists
Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Visitor Artists
The orchestra celebrates the festive season with traditional carols and vacation songs, together with different upbeat music of the vacations. Native dancers add to the expertise on stage with the HPO, HPYO and Hamilton Youngsters’s Choir.
Monomyth: The Hero’s Journey (January 17, 2026)
Alondra de la Parra, Conductor
Thomas Enhco, Piano
Symphonic blockbusters open the brand new yr for the HPO, performing with soloist Thomas Enhco in a program of Mozart and Beethoven, opening with Grazyna Bacewicz’s fiery Overture.
This system contains:
- Grazyna Bacewicz, Overture
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 21
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”
From Hamilton, With Love: HPO & Dwayne Gretzky (February 14, 2026)
Lucas Waldin, Conductor
Dwayne Gretzky, Visitor Artists
Dwayne Gretzky and conductor Lucas Waldin lead the HPO in hits from the 60s, 70s and 80s in a musical celebration of affection.
Dancing By Life (March 21, 2026)
James S. Kahane, Conductor
Susanne Hou, Violin
Dance-inspired music makes up this system of this live performance, with Canadian violinist Susanne Hou performing because the soloist in Saint-Saëns’ Spanish-inflected Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso. A Spanish theme can also be evoked in Philippe Hersant’s Rondes de Nuit, added to this system together with works by Ravel and Dvořák.
This system contains:
- Maurice Ravel (Arr. Zoltán Kocsis), Le Tombeau de Couperin
- Camille Saint-Saëns, Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso
- Philippe Hersant, Rondes de Nuit
- Antonín Dvořák, Symphony No. 8
Delusion & Reminiscence (April 18, 2026)
James S. Kahane, Conductor
Stephen Sitarski, Violin
HPO concertmaster Stephen Sitarski performs Beethoven’s solely violin concerto in a program that additionally contains monumental Brahms, and an evocative work by Paul Hindemith.
This system contains:
- Paul Hindemith, Amor and Psyche (Farnesina)
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Violin Concerto
- Johannes Brahms, Symphony No. 3
Tchaikovsky’s Destiny (Might 2, 2026)
James S. Kahane, Conductor
Anna Fedorova, Piano
Arvo Pärt’s musical memorial for English composer Benjamin Britten opens this system for the season finale live performance. Pianist Anna Fedorova performs Rachmaninoff, with Tchaikovsky’s fifth, and a brand new work by the following HPO Composer Fellow, rounding out the invoice.
This system contains:
- Arvo Pärt, Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
- Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
- Composer Fellow: New Work
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5
Off-The-Mainstage Live performance Sequence
Collaborations and improvements characterize the Off-The-Mainstage collection.
Contemplating Matthew Shepard (November 26, 2025)
The Elora Singers, Visitor Artists
Composer Craig Hella Johnson’s highly effective fusion oratorio pays tribute to the life and tragic demise of Matthew Shepard. The younger homosexual man’s 1998 homicide grew to become a spark that led to vary. Johnson’s piece for soloists, choir, and chamber orchestra interweaves private reflections, poems, and historic texts.
Handel’s Messiah (December 5 & 7, 2025)
Co-production with Bach Elgar Choir
The HPO and the Bach Elgar Choir be a part of forces for Handel’s vacation traditional in a efficiency that’s positive so as to add to the spirit of the festive season.
Mozart’s Don Giovanni (February 7, 2026)
James Kahane, Conductor
COSA, Visitor Artists
Mozart’s Don Giovanni has each comedian and tragic moments in its telling of the Don Juan story. The HPO collaborates with the Centre for Opera Research & Appreciation Canada to share the magic of the artwork kind with orchestral accompaniment.
Intimate & Immersive: Earth Songs (April 8, 2026)
James Kahane, Conductor
The HPO Intimate & Immersive collection returns for an atmospheric live performance expertise on the historic Cotton Manufacturing unit loft. The area might be remodeled with multimedia installations and projections designed to enhance the music.
Subscriptions & Tickets
Discover the tickets you need:
- Subscription packages are on sale now [HERE].
- Single tickets to off-the-mainstage live shows are additionally out there now.
- Single tickets for all mainstage live performance at FirstOntario Live performance Corridor go on sale August 14.
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Anya Wassenberg is the Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. Beforehand, she was a contract author with a specialty in tradition and journey for 3 a long time, and a inventive writing teacher for Ontariolearn.
