LEARN ABOUT OUR 2026/27 CLASSICAL SEASON LINEUP BELOW.
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THE RITE OF SPRING
AUGUSTIN HADELICH PLAYS MENDELSSOHN
BRAVO 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, October 2-3, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, October 4, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Matthias Pintscher, music director and conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin
BEDŘICH SMETANA “The Moldau” from Ma vlast
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto
IGOR STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring (complete ballet music)
Music Director Matthias Pintscher invites you to a must-see opening weekend as we start off our 2026/27 classical season with a bang! Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring caused a riot when it premiered in 1913, but now it’s recognized as one of the most important pieces of the 20th century. Immerse yourself in its driving rhythms, innovative orchestration and groundbreaking harmonies. Plus, Kansas City fan favorite Augustin Hadelich returns to perform Mendelssohn’s gorgeous Violin Concerto, described by violinist Joseph Joachim as “the heart’s jewel.”
THE PLANETS
OVATION 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, October 9-10, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, October 11, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Vimbayi Kaziboni, guest conductor
MingYu Hsu, viola
Women of the Kansas City Symphony Chorus
GIACINTO SCELSI Selections from Quattro pezzi su una nota sola
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Overture to Egmont
BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
GUSTAV HOLST The Planets
Take a musical trip that’s out of this world as the Kansas City Symphony plays Gustav Holst’s The Planets! This astrological and astronomical trek includes a militant march for Mars (which inspired music for the movie “Gladiator”), a sweeping, majestic theme for Jupiter and the women of the Symphony Chorus joining the orchestra for the mysterious, otherworldly Neptune movement. Plus, our own principal viola, MingYu Hsu, takes a solo turn in Bohuslav Martinů’s Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra.
PROKOFIEV’S SIXTH & BARBER’S VIOLIN CONCERTO
BRAVO 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, October 30-31, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, November 1, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Ludovic Morlot, guest conductor
Stella Chen, violin
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA Fairytale Poem
SAMUEL BARBER Violin Concerto
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 6
Come and be swept up in romantic lyricism as violinist Stella Chen joins your Kansas City Symphony to perform Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto. Hear one sublime melody after another and feel the excitement of the nonstop perpetual-motion finale. Sergei Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony is a profound work dedicated to the victims of World War II, by turns lyrical, austere, bright and unsettling. The final movement, according to the composer, reflects on “questions cast into eternity” and “wounds that cannot be healed,” and ends in a major key but with doubts unresolved.
BRAHMS’ GERMAN REQUIEM
OVATION 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, November 20-21, 2026 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, November, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Matthias Pintscher, music director and conductor
Kansas City Symphony Chorus
OLGA NEUWIRTH Tombeau II: Hommage à Pierre Boulez (Tomb II: Homage to Pierre Boulez)
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG A Survivor from Warsaw
JOHANNES BRAHMS A German Requiem
Experience Johannes Brahms’ magnum opus with Music Director Matthias Pintscher and the Kansas City Symphony Chorus. The great German composer was deeply moved by the death of his mother and composed what he almost called “A Human Requiem.” Taking German texts from the Luther Bible instead of the Latin text of the Requiem Mass, he created a humanist work focused not on the soul of the departed but on the living. The program also includes Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, a memorial to victims of the Holocaust that defies evil with a powerful expression of faith.
TCHAIKOVSKY’S FIFTH SYMPHONY
BRAVO 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, January 8-9, 2027 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, January 10, 2027 at 2 p.m.
Matthias Pintscher, music director and conductor
LILI BOULANGER D’un matin de printemps (Of a Spring Morning)
LILI BOULANGER D’un soir triste (Of a Sad Evening)
J.S. BACH Orchestral Suite No. 2
PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony traces an expressive emotional arc using a single theme that unifies the whole piece. Appearing quietly at the beginning as a haunting omen of fate, it undergoes variations over the whole course of the symphony until it blazes forth triumphantly in the final moments. Enter into the drama of this symphonic journey, filled with Tchaikovsky’s exquisite melodies and vivid orchestration. Also on the program are two captivating pieces by French composer Lili Boulanger and Bach’s Second Orchestral Suite, featuring a showpiece for flute.
DVOŘÁK’S EIGHTH WITH MOZART
OVATION 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, January 15-16, 2027 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, January 17, 2027 at 2 p.m.
Matthias Pintscher, music director and conductor
Blake Pouliot, violin
OLGA NEUWIRTH Masaot/Clocks Without Hands
W.A. MOZART Violin Concerto No. 5, “Turkish”
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 8
Lift your spirits out of the post-holiday winter blues with Antonín Dvořák’s sunny and cheerful Eighth Symphony. This colorful and optimistic piece contains bird calls, a summer’s day interrupted by a thunderstorm, a waltz and a rustic folk dance, with melodies based on the Bohemian folk tunes Dvořák loved and frequently used to splendid effect. This concert also includes Mozart’s final violin concerto, nicknamed “Turkish” for the last movement’s zesty dance inspired by Turkish military bands.
CLASSICAL CELEBRATION: MOZART & HAYDN
BRAVO 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, January 22-23, 2027 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, January 24, 2027 at 2 p.m.
Jeannette Sorrell, guest conductor
James Baik, cello
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN Overture to L’isola disabitata (The Uninhabited Island)
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN Cello Concerto No. 1
W.A. MOZART Ballet Music from Idomeneo
W.A. MOZART Symphony No. 35, “Haffner”
Celebrate the grace, elegance and refinement of the Classical period with music by its two greatest masters, Haydn and Mozart. Haydn’s overture to his opera The Uninhabited Island is like a miniature symphony in its contrasts and expressiveness, while his first cello concerto shines with stylish brilliance. Mozart’s ballet music from his opera Idomeneo is paired with his fiery, dazzling “Haffner” symphony. Internationally recognized Classical expert Jeannette Sorrell leads this program that also features the winner of the 2023 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, cellist James Baik.
BEETHOVEN & BEYOND: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 4
BRAVO 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, February 5-6, 2027 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, February 7, 2027 at 2 p.m.
Matthias Pintscher, music director and conductor
Inon Barnatan, piano
CHRIS ROGERSON Piano Concerto (KC Symphony commission, world premiere)
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 8
Witness history in the making once again as Music Director Matthias Pintscher continues his “Beethoven & Beyond” concerts! Every season he pairs one of Beethoven’s five piano concertos with a brand-new commission for piano and orchestra from one of today’s composers. This year the commissioned composer is Chris Rogerson, who has written numerous pieces for the Kansas City Symphony. The Beethoven concerto is No. 4, perhaps the most surprising and unique of the five, and one of the least frequently performed. The symphony on the program is Beethoven’s Eighth, a light-hearted work filled with good humor — and plenty of musical jokes.
EMANUEL AX PLAYS MOZART
STRAUSS’ A HERO’S LIFE
OVATION 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, March 5-6, 2027 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 7, 2027 at 2 p.m.
Matthias Pintscher, music director and conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano
JOHANN STRAUSS II Overture to Die Fledermaus
W.A. MOZART Piano Concerto No. 25
RICHARD STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life)
Join the Kansas City Symphony and Music Director Matthias Pintscher for the return of brilliant pianist Emanuel Ax. He performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25, one of the composer’s grandest, most expansive and most symphonic concertos; a critic of Mozart’s time called it “the most magnificent of all the concertos which have ever been written.” Then embark on a heroic journey with Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, an extended tone poem about the composer’s ideal of a great hero and his feats.
BRAHMS’ SECOND SYMPHONY
CONRAD TAO PLAYS MATTHIAS PINTSCHER
OVATION 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, April 2-3, 2027 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, April 4, 2027 at 2 p.m.
Matthias Pintscher, music director and conductor
Conrad Tao, piano
CLAUDE DEBUSSY Rondes de printemps
MATTHIAS PINTSCHER Nur
JOHANNES BRAHMS Symphony No. 2
Music Director Matthias Pintscher is not only a conductor, but also one of the world’s foremost composers of orchestral music. Hear one of Matthias’ orchestral works for the first time in Kansas City at this concert! Conrad Tao, who joined the Symphony on our first European tour in 2024, plays Matthias’ piece Nur, the Hebrew and Arabic word for “fire.” Brahms’ Second Symphony is a work of dramatic contrasts — from tranquil to rambunctious, mysterious to melancholy, idyllic to triumphant.
WAGNER’S VALKYRIE
BRAVO 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, April 9-10, 2027 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, April 11, 2027 at 2 p.m.
Matthias Pintscher, music director and conductor
RICHARD WAGNER Siegfried Idyll (chamber version)
RICHARD WAGNER Act I from Die Walküre (The Valkyrie)
Immerse yourself in the richly colored world of Richard Wagner through two contrasting works. The Siegfried Idyll was written as a birthday present for Wagner’s wife Cosima after the birth of their son Siegfried; it is among Wagner’s most intimate and personal compositions and was described by the composer as a “quiet joy that now takes the form of music.” After intermission, we shift to the epic world of Norse mythology with the first act of Wagner’s opera Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), which tells the story of the doomed love of Siegmund and Sieglinde.
SONGS OF THE SEA
BRITTEN & VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
OVATION 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, May 7-8, 2027 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 9, 2027 at 2 p.m.
Robert Spano, guest conductor
Kansas City Symphony Chorus
BENJAMIN BRITTEN Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS A Sea Symphony
Experience the power of the sea in music inspired by the majesty and mystery of the ocean. Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes is one of the 20th century’s true operatic masterpieces, and the sea is a character all its own in the tragedy. The interludes and passacaglia from the opera vividly depict the sea at dawn, in moonlight and whipped up into a storm. Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony was one of the first symphonies to use a chorus throughout, setting poems by Walt Whitman that explore the basic questions of existence and the sea as a symbol of the innermost self.
SCHUBERT’S NINTH SYMPHONY
BRAVO 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, May 14-15, 2027 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 16, 2027 at 2 p.m.
Matthias Pintscher, music director and conductor
LEONARD BERNSTEIN Songfest
FRANZ SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9, “The Great”
Franz Schubert’s Ninth Symphony is his greatest symphonic statement on his grandest scale. Composed in the last few years of his short life, it’s filled with beautiful, singing melodies that recall his beloved compositions for voice. The scope, spirit and heroic grandeur of the symphony will inspire and energize you. The concert opens with Leonard Bernstein’s eclectic Songfest. This cycle of American poems sets texts by Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, Gertrude Stein, Edgar Allan Poe and more to musical styles including jazz, swing, patriotic song, opera and even belly-dance.
MATTHIAS CONDUCTS MAHLER: SYMPHONY NO. 1
JOYCE DIDONATO RETURNS
OVATION 7 | MASTERWORKS 14
Friday and Saturday, June 4-5, 2027 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, June 6, 2027 at 2 p.m.
Matthias Pintscher, music director and conductor
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano
OLGA NEUWIRTH Dreydl
GUSTAV MAHLER Rückert-Lieder
GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 1
Our Classical Series finale celebrates Gustav Mahler, one of the greatest symphonic composers of all time, and the return of fan-favorite mezzo–soprano Joyce DiDonato! Music Director Matthias Pintscher and the Symphony team up with Joyce in Rückert-Lieder, an intimate, introspective collection of songs suffused with dark lyricism. Mahler’s First Symphony is one of his most popular and memorable, traversing the wide ground of a hymn to nature, an earthy dance, a funeral march (with the tune “Frère Jacques” played in a minor key), a Czech folk band and a gloriously triumphant final movement originally titled “From inferno to paradise.”
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