Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Announces 2025/26 Season And Colburn School Partnership

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Music Director Jamie Martín and Executive Director Ben Cadwallader has announced the Orchestra’s 2025/26 season, bringing together renowned guest artists with LACO’s exceptional musicians for performances of unparalleled artistry, from revered masterpieces to today’s most visionary contemporary works.

The 2025/26 season also ushers in a new partnership between LACO and the Colburn School, building on their decades-long relationship and shared history. Colburn School’s Zipper Hall will become the new Downtown LA home for LACO’s Orchestral and Chamber programs—a collaboration that will extend to the Frank Gehry-designed Colburn Center when it opens in 2027, with LACO performing regularly at Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall.

“This partnership was inevitable - a natural evolution of a shared history and shared commitment to excellence, community and preserving the timeless tradition of classical music,” said Cadwallader. “Both Colburn and LACO have long been dedicated to fostering the future of music through education and performance. This is perhaps best embodied by LACO concertmaster Margaret Batjer, who is Director of Colburn School’s Music Academy. We are thrilled to perform in our new home at the exceptional Zipper Hall, and be a part of the thriving cultural corridor along Grand Avenue.”

“Nearly 30 years ago, Colburn School was one of the first arts institutions to stake its claim on Grand Avenue, helping to usher in the arts renaissance in downtown Los Angeles,” said Sel Kardan, Colburn School President and CEO. “Similarly, LACO has been a cornerstone of the city's cultural landscape for over 50 years. Now, two legacy arts organizations are uniting at an exciting time of growth. We are thrilled to welcome LACO to Zipper Hall, and soon to the Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall, which will be an extraordinary concert hall. With their intimate size, both Zipper and Kohl Halls are the perfect venues to experience the caliber of LACO’s performances.”

Richard D. Colburn, a generous and visionary patron of the arts, was a major financier of both Colburn School and LACO. He was instrumental in bringing the Colburn School’s campus to fruition, transforming it from a small preparatory school at USC, founded in 1950, into the world-class institution it is today. Likewise, his philanthropy was essential to LACO’s success, supporting its growth since its founding in 1968 by cellist James Arkatov. As the Colburn Center’s expansion ushers in an exciting period of growth on Grand Avenue, it is fitting that Colburn and LACO’s paths converge once again. The two institutions already collaborate on joint programs, including masterclasses, mock auditions, and mentorship.

“There has never been a more important time for togetherness and music-making,” said Jaime Martín. “Our partnership with the Colburn School and the launch of our new season are rooted in connection—between our musicians, our audiences, our partners, and the greater community. Together, we will create inspiring performances while fostering the next generation of musicians, both in Zipper Hall and in the future Colburn Center, with its stunning new Kohl Hall as a cultural cornerstone. We welcome everyone to join us for an incredible season!”

The Colburn School broke ground on the transformational 100,000-square-foot campus expansion designed by Frank Gehry in April 2024, and since then workers have spent over 30,000 hours on the project, pouring over 10,000 cubic yards of concrete and installing over 3 million pounds of rebar. The new building will be located adjacent to Colburn’s Grand Avenue campus in Downtown Los Angeles, and will dramatically increase the school’s world-class training and performance facilities for music and dance. It will also provide much-needed performance space in a mid-sized hall for the region’s established and emerging performing arts organizations. When complete, the expansion will create the largest concentration of Gehry-designed buildings in the world.

The 1,000-seat concert hall named for Terri and Jerry Kohl  features an in-the-round design to create intimacy between the performers and the audience. The hall includes an orchestra pit and a stage large enough to accommodate the grandest works, making it suitable for orchestra, opera, and dance. With this addition, Downtown LA will now have a mid-sized concert hall for the first time.

Colburn is in the midst of the Building Our Future fundraising campaign to realize the School’s vision for this magnificent new facility which will inspire and serve the region’s young performing artists and performing arts organizations and ensembles. Conceived as a major contribution to the cultural and civic life of Downtown LA, the Colburn Center will make the Colburn campus an even livelier hub of artistic activity and enable the School to expand its mission of presenting programs for the public, which include performance and educational collaborations with acclaimed local and touring artists and ensembles. The Colburn School is grateful for the early generosity of remarkable philanthropists from Los Angeles and around the world who have demonstrated their belief in this vision.

In a continuation of LACO’s multi-year exploration of Brahms and Schumann, LACO’s 2025/26 season kicks off at Zipper Hall on September 13 & 14, 2025 with Jamie Martín leading the orchestra and cellist Nicolas Altstaedt in his Los Angeles debut in Schumann’s Cello Concerto, alongside Haydn’s Symphony No. 83 , “Hen” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Martín will also lead the orchestra in three LACO-commissioned world premieres: a new work by Michael Abels’ the first piece conceived through the Joan and Jeff Beal Fund for Living Composers; a new work by 2025/26 Sound Investment Composer Juhi Bansal—Sound Investment being LACO’s composing club where members can experience the journey of a composition start to finish; and Christopher Cerrone’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello.

The orchestral series also features two Los Angeles premieres. The Tipping Point, a climate-crisis symphony by LACO Composer-in-Residence Huang Ruo, is inspired by the devastating wildfires that have swept through Hawaii and California in recent years and was co-commissioned by LACO. Eric Whitacre’s THE PACIFIC HAS NO MEMORY is a poignant reflection on the 2025  fires that ravaged the Los Angeles area. Both works offer a powerful, timely meditation on the impact of climate change through music.

LACO Creative Partner Lara Downes leads the 2025/26 CURRENT concerts, a series that explores the intersection of classical and contemporary music, with two jazz-centric programs. Countertenor John Holiday joins Downes for an evening of musical storytelling, featuring the melodies of the Great American Songbook alongside the works of Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Arnold Schoenberg—artists who pushed the boundaries of their genres. A special guest to be announced will also join Downes for Bach’s Sinfonias and Inventions, performed with a string trio.

Essential works by Brahms, Schumann, Mozart, and Beethoven comprise the Chamber series, with the first concert dedicated to Brahms' String Sextets No. 1 and No. 2, and the second featuring Schumann's Violin Sonata No. 1, along with Mozart's Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, with pianist Richard Goode, renowned for his interpretations of the piano repertoire. The program concludes with Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat Major, one of his most famous chamber works.

The Baroque series opens with renowned French harpsichordist and conductor Pierre Hantaï leading C.P.E. Bach’s dramatic Symphony in B-Minor, J.S. Bach’s virtuosic Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, selections from Rameau’s enchanting operas and Leclair’s bristling Concerto in D major, bringing the sophistication and intellect of French Baroque vividly to life.

LACO’s 2025/26 season concludes with a program of Baroque brilliance led by concertmaster Margaret Batjer and the return of soprano Amanda Forsythe. Among the featured mix of sacred and dramatic works, Bach’s Wedding Cantata brings an air of celebration, while Vivaldi’s La Notte and Concerto Grosso in G Minor showcase his mastery of texture and contrast. Two of Handel’s opera arias, “Se Pietà de me non senti” and “Da Tempeste,” add drama and emotional depth, while Heinrich Biber’s unconventional Battalia brings a lively, war-inspired narrative to life, and Telemann’s Don Quixote offers a playful portrayal of the famous knight's adventures.

Returning to LACO’s stages:

Marc-André Hamelin

John Holiday

Lara Downes

Richard Goode

Anne Akiko-Meyers

Coleman Itzkoff

Amanda Forsythe

Artists making their LACO debuts:

Nicolas Altstaedt

Pierre Hantaï

Fazil Say

Dinis Souza

Isabelle Faust

Anthony Marwood

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