2026-2027 Season

The Monterey Symphony presents Love Letter to New York September 15 and 16 at 6:30 PM at the outdoor Forest Theater in Carmel with Brad Hogarth, Associate Conductor, vocalists Malinda DeRouen and Bernard Holcomb, and pianist Tammy L. Hall. The concerts this year will not disappoint! Featuring music from Bernstein's On the Town, as well as music from popular films such as The Avengers and Spiderman; soaring hits from Duke Ellington and Shirley Horn, AND SO MUCH MORE!

European iconoclasts meet American masters. Composer Franz Berwald-an erstwhile orthopedic surgeon-stood apart from the early Romantic mainstream, cultivating a distinctly eccentric voice with his overture to Estrella de Soria. Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1, an early work from the so-called "bad boy of Russian music," conjures a dreamlike sound world, interweaving introspective lyricism with flashes of steely virtuosity. Completing the program are two pillars of 1940s Americana: the orchestral suite from Aaron Copland's iconic ballet...

Romantic classics share the program with a dynamic world premiere. Pianists Ran Dank and Soyeon Kate Lee return to the Monterey Symphony for the debut of Chen Yi's Toward the Future, a concerto for two pianos the couple co-commissioned with the Monterey Symphony to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Dr. Chen, a daughter of China's Cultural Revolution who emigrated to America, forged a singular voice with a brilliant synthesis of Chinese and Western traditions. In 1816, the teenage Franz Schubert dazzled Vienna with his Symphony No. 5, a work of...

Elegance gives way to exuberance in this compelling musical journey. Maurice Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin commemorates friends whom the composer lost in World War I, with each movement taking form of a French Baroque dance. Aaron Copland expresses the loneliness of modern urban life in his contemplative classic Quiet City, in which Monterey Symphony principals Dylan Girard (trumpet) and Ruth Stuart (English horn) step forward as soloists. Composed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Valerie Coleman's Seven O'Clock Shout dramatizes the nightly phenomenon of...

For 150 years the symphonies of Johannes Brahms have remained essential cornerstones of the orchestral repertoire. The works chart a remarkable artistic journey: the long-gestated struggle of the First gives way to the confident serenity of the Second; the introspective complexity of the Third leads to the austere grandeur of the Fourth. This complete Brahms symphony cycle offers a rare opportunity to journey deep into the heart of the Romantic era. Maestro Jayce Ogren leads Symphonies No. 1 and No. 3 on Saturday evening followed by No. 2 and No. 4 on...

Vivid narratives animate a program that is at once intimate, playful, and intense. In the Piano Concerto No. 4, Ludwig van Beethoven diverges from his hallmark heroism with a piece that transforms solitary introspection into ebullient joy. The Monterey Symphony is joined by pianist Jonathan Biss, an artist the Chicago Tribune calls "one of today's foremost Beethoven exponents." A mischievous trickster gets himself in hot water in Richard Strauss's dazzling tone poem Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. The concert concludes with a disturbing tale of...

Monterey Symphony's season finale features Gustav Mahler's monumental Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection"-an epic meditation on the deepest questions of life, death, and transcendence. The work calls for massive forces: a heavily-expanded orchestra, choir, vocal soloists, and organ. VOLTI joins the orchestra along with celebrated soloists Andriana Chuchman (soprano) and Michelle DeYoung (mezzo-soprano). The program includes two additional Late Romantic treasures. In Antonin Dvorák's "Song to the Moon" (from his opera Rusalka) the water nymph Rusalka appeals...