New York Philharmonic Reveals 2025–26 Season Featuring World Premieres and More

The New York Philharmonic has revealed plans for the 2025–26 season, with Gustavo Dudamel as the Orchestra’s Music and Artistic Director Designate before he becomes the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Music and Artistic Director in September 2026.

Gustavo Dudamel, MUSIC AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR DESIGNATE

In the 2025–26 season Gustavo Dudamel conducts six weeks of subscription concerts comprising repertoire ranging from classical cornerstones to World Premieres. Activities include concerts reflecting on the United States during the nation’s 250th anniversary year; a partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for two major large-scale commissioning projects in his valedictory season with that ensemble; and his second New York Philharmonic Spring Gala.

Dudamel — who has conducted the NY Phil in more than 30 concerts since his November 2007 debut — leads the following subscription programs:

• The season-opening concerts, September 11–13 and 16, 2025, featuring a World Premiere–New York Philharmonic commission by Kanaka Maoli composer Leilehua Lanzilotti; Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3, written during the composer’s final years, when he was residing in the US, with Yunchan Lim as soloist; and American iconoclast Ives’s Symphony No. 2 — presenting works by composers who inhabit American identity in different ways

• Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, which the NY Phil performed on its inaugural concert in December 1842, and John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 — two powerful symphonic statements separated by almost two centuries; September 18–21, 2025

• World Premieres of New York Philharmonic commissions on two consecutive programs reflecting on the United States during the nation’s 250th anniversary:
o A new orchestral version of Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated, the late American composer’s 1976 set of 36 piano variations on a Chilean protest song, an anthem for democracy. The variations are being orchestrated by composers who represent a wide range of musical voices in the United States today: Kati Agócs, Marcos Balter, Anthony Cheung, Brittany J. Green, Tania León, Andrew Norman, Maria Schneider, Nina Shekhar, Roberto Sierra, Conrad Tao, Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, Joel Thompson, Wang Lu, and Nina C. Young. The program opens with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Eroica, in which the composer repudiated authoritarianism; March 12–14 and 17, 2026.

the wealth of nations by David Lang (a 2024 recipient of The Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music), March 19–22, 2026, featuring mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron (NY Phil debut), bass-baritone Davóne Tines, and the New York Philharmonic Chorus, directed by Malcolm J. Merriweather. Lang is composing and crafting a libretto for this dramatic oratorio that approaches Enlightenment economist Adam Smith’s 1776 book as a foundational work about commerce and value, inspired by Handel’s treatment of Biblical texts in Messiah.

• Ellen Reid’s work for chorus and orchestra — co-commissioned in partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic — in its New York Premiere, featuring the New York Philharmonic Chorus, directed by Malcolm J. Merriweather; Bloch’s Schelomo, featuring cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the 2025–26 Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence; and the 1919 version of Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite; April 30–May 2, 2026

• A collaboration with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra (Oscar Hernández, band leader); program to be announced; May 6–8, 2026

Dudamel also conducts the Spring Gala, which features pianist Evgeny Kissin’s first New York Philharmonic performance since October 2015. Kissin is the soloist in rarely performed piano concertos by Rimsky-Korsakov and Scriabin; the program also includes the 1919 version of Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite; April 28, 2026.

A collaboration with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra (Oscar Hernández, band leader); program to be announced; May 6–8, 2026 Dudamel also conducts the Spring Gala, which features pianist Evgeny Kissin’s first New York Philharmonic performance since October 2015. Kissin is the soloist in rarely performed piano concertos by Rimsky-Korsakov and Scriabin; the program also includes the 1919 version of Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite; April 28, 2026.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Sheku Kanneh-Mason has been named The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence for the 2025–26 season. The cellist appears on two orchestral programs:

Bloch’s Schelomo, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, April 30–May 2, 2026

Elgar’s Cello Concerto, conducted by Elim Chan, May 27–30, 2026
Sheku Kanneh-Mason also gives a recital on the Artist Spotlight series, March 24, 2026, appearing alongside pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, his sister, in a performance of works by Felix Mendelssohn, Nadia Boulanger, Robert Schumann, and Rebecca Clarke. The cellist made his NY Phil debut in November 2021, performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, conducted by Simone Young. In 2023–24 he performed Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 on a subscription program led by Esa-Pekka Salonen and on a Young People’s Concert conducted by Kwamé Ryan.

Pierre Boulez CENTENNIAL

Honoring His Transformative Influence on Musical Life Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen In 2025–26 the New York Philharmonic continues its two-season commemoration of the centennial of the late Pierre Boulez (March 26, 1925–January 5, 2016) — the Orchestra’s Music Director, 1971–77 — with performances honoring Boulez’s multifaceted legacy as a transformative composer, conductor, programmer, and educator.

On October 3–5, 2025, pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard — who studied and collaborated with Boulez — performs selections from the composer’s Notations for solo piano, interspersed with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Philharmonic in the orchestral versions of the same selections. The concerts also feature several works by Boulez’s countryman Debussy: selections from Images, Fantasie for Piano and Orchestra (with Aimard as soloist), and La Mer.

On October 9–11, 2025, Salonen conducts the New York Premiere of a staged performance of Boulez’s Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna, a production co-commissioned in partnership with l’Orchestre de Paris and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (which the LA Phil will perform in May 2025); Benjamin Millepied (NY Phil debut) is creating choreography to be performed by L.A. Dance Project (NY Phil debut). These concerts also feature Stravinsky’s Octet and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.

THOMAS ADÈS Returns as Composer and Conductor

Thomas Adès reunites with the New York Philharmonic as both composer and conductor, January 22–24, 2026. The concerts include his America (A Prophecy), featuring the University of Michigan Chamber Choir (NY Phil debut) and the chorus EXIGENCE (NY Phil debut) — part of the Sphinx Organization — both directed by Eugene Rogers. The work (one of six Messages of the Millennium, commissioned and premiered by the NY Phil in 1999) examines the history of colonialism through the lens of the Spanish conquest of the Maya in the Yucatán peninsula. The program also includes Saariaho’s Oltra mar (another of the Messages of the Millennium), Rautavaara’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Yuja Wang as soloist, and Ives’s Orchestral Set No. 2.

WORLD PREMIERE–NY PHIL COMMISSION BY George Lewis On April 8–10, 2026

Kwamé Ryan (NY Phil subscription debut) conducts the World Premiere of a concerto for two pianos and percussion by George Lewis, featuring the ensemble Yarn/Wire (NY Phil debut). The composer said of the work: “The work uses the classic American trope of depiction, as in the 19th-century compositions of Thomas ‘Blind Tom’ Wiggins, to confront the struggles and instabilities of contemporary life in a radically mobile world.” The program also includes five other works composed in America: Ives’s The Unanswered Question, three arias sung by soprano Golda Schultz — Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and arias from Floyd’s Susanna and the Stravinsky opera The Rake’s Progress — and Barber’s Second Essay for Orchestra.

ADDITIONAL CONCERT HIGHLIGHTS

• Three Gala events: the Opening Gala, September 25, 2025; the Lunar New Year Gala, February 25, 2026, conducted by Long Yu; and the Spring Gala, April 28, 2026, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and featuring pianist Evgeny Kissin as soloist
• The Art of the Score live-to-film concert series: Psycho, with music by Herrmann (October 30–November 1, 2025); Home Alone, with music by John Williams (December 17–20, 2025); Encanto, with music by Germaine Franco and songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda (June 17–20, 2026); and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, with music by John Williams (June 24–27, 2026)
• Young People’s Concerts (October 18 and November 22, 2025; February 14 and April 18, 2026)
• Holiday traditions: Handel’s Messiah, Presented by Gary W. Parr, conducted by Jane Glover and featuring soprano Amanda Forsythe, countertenor John Holiday, tenor Nicholas Phan, bass Kevin Deas, and Music of the Baroque (NY Phil debut), December 10–13, 2025; and Sounds of the Season, conducted by Naomi Woo (NY Phil debut), December 13 and 14, 2025
• Artist Spotlight series: a solo recital featuring violinist Augustin Hadelich, January 5, 2026, and a duo recital featuring Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Isata Kanneh-Mason, March 24, 2026
• The NY Phil’s 22nd residency at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, July 2026