National Philharmonic Reveals 2024-2025 Season Lineup

National Philharmonic has announced its 2024-2025 Season, which opens in September with an all-Rachmaninoff program to celebrate NatPhil's 40th Anniversary. The full season includes two orchestral concerts; two choral concerts presented in partnership with Cantate and The Washington Chorus (TWC); three performances of Handel's Messiah; and the return of pianist Brian Ganz in recital. All season concerts will be held at The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland—the orchestra's longstanding home in Montgomery County—with one performance of Handel's Messiah also presented at Capital One Hall in Tysons, Virginia.

 

“NatPhil's 2024-2025 Season is a celebration of the first 40 years of the orchestra, as well as an exciting look at the future of the organization and of classical music in the DMV,” said NatPhil President & CEO Jim Kelly. “We're proud to present new and returning guest artists, stirring collaborations—including a new partnership with Cantate and the return of The Washington Chorus—and an exceptional assortment of orchestral and choral works.”

 

Concerts throughout 2024-2025 will be led exclusively by guest conductors, several of whom are new to the NatPhil stage. The Orchestra is also focusing the length of the season, with mainstage programming running from September 2024 through April 2025.

 

Kelly added, “We are thankful for four decades of leadership under Maestro Piotr Gajewski, the founder of our organization. His musical and civic contributions have been invaluable to our audiences and to Montgomery County as a whole. As we embark into this new era at NatPhil, we're delighted to partner with six outstanding guest conductors, each presenting a program that highlights their unique talents and styles.”

 

Notable repertoire and guest artists in the newly announced season include:

• a 40th Anniversary celebration concert conducted by Joseph Young and featuring piano soloists Daniil Trifonov, Sergei Babayan, and Oleg Volkov in some of Sergei Rachmaninoff's most notable works: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Piano Concerto No. 1, and Piano Concerto No. 3 (September 14, 2024)
   
• a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Requiem, presented as part of a new partnership with Cantate, the Tacoma Park-based choral organization, and conducted by Cantate Music Director and former NatPhil Associate Conductor Victoria Gau (November 23, 2024)
   
• a reunion with The Washington Chorus for Stand the Storm, conducted by TWC Artistic Director Eugene Rogers and featuring works by Leonard Bernstein (Chichester Psalms) and Nkeiru Okoye (Invitation to a Die-In), an arrangement of “Glory” (from the movie Selma) by Rogers, and the world premiere orchestration of Rollo Dilworth's Weather: Stand the Storm (March 15, 2025)
   
• guest artists in their first appearance with NatPhil, including conductors Joseph Young, Anthony Blake Clark (Music Director of Baltimore Choral Arts Society), and Naima Burrs (who recently conducted NatPhil's orchestra in concerts for Montgomery County second graders, presented in partnership with Strathmore and Montgomery County Public Schools); pianist Sergei Babayan; soprano Amber Monroe; tenor Rafael Moras; bass Zaikuan Song; mezzo soprano Monique Holmes-Spells; and baritone Damian Norfleet
   
• returning artists, including conductor Victoria Gau (Music Director of Cantate); pianists Daniil Trifonov, Oleg Volkov, and Brian Ganz; mezzo soprano Magdalena Wor; and the complete cast of Handel's Messiah: soprano Aundi Marie Moore, mezzo soprano Lucia Bradford, tenor Norman Shankle, and baritone Jorell Williams.

 

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