EarRelevant Staff | 12 AUG 2025
HOUSTON, Texas— With summer giving way to a new concert year, the Houston Symphony is preparing for a 2025–26 season that will carry music director Juraj Valčuha into his fourth year at the orchestra’s helm. The lineup blends multi-week thematic programs, world premieres by contemporary composers, high-profile guest artists, and a deepened commitment to American repertoire in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Valčuha will lead eight of the orchestra’s 18 classical subscription programs, opening the season with his debut at Miller Outdoor Theatre on September 12. His signature mini-festival approach returns with three themed clusters: “Composer as Hero,” “Doomed Lovers,” and “Transfiguration.” Featured repertoire includes Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben and Tod und Verklärung, Act II of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 9.
Among the season’s highlights is the Southwest premiere of The Elements, a multi-movement violin concerto developed and performed by Joshua Bell, with contributions by American composers Kevin Puts, Edgar Meyer, Jake Heggie, Jennifer Higdon, and Jessie Montgomery. Other notable premieres include Andy Akiho’s Timpani Concerto, commissioned by the Symphony for principal timpanist Leonardo Soto, and works by Julia Wolfe and Ľubica Čekovská.
In celebration of America’s sesquicentennial in 2026, every classical and Bank of America POPS concert during the calendar year will feature at least one American element. That includes works by Copland, Still, Adams, and Higdon, among others.
Guest artists appearing in the season include violinists Joshua Bell, Augustin Hadelich, and Baiba Skride; pianists Hélène Grimaud, Lang Lang, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Vikingur Ólafsson; sopranos Angel Blue and Tamara Wilson; mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton; and conductors Marin Alsop, John Adams, and Vasily Petrenko.
Associate Conductor Gonzalo Farias will make his classical subscription debut, while Houston Symphony musicians, including Yoonshin Song (concertmaster), Allegra Lilly (harp), and Leonardo Soto (timpani), will be featured as soloists. The Houston Symphony Chorus, under new director Anthony J. Maglione, will perform throughout the season, including appearances in Schmitt’s Psalm 47, Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Sibelius’s The Captive Queen, and Holst’s The Planets.
The 2025–26 season also continues the Symphony’s film-with-orchestra offerings, featuring live screenings of Jaws, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Up, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Elf, and Fantasia.
Pops programming under Principal POPS Conductor Steven Reineke includes tributes to Elvis Presley, Billy Joel, and classic film scores, alongside “Fantasia in Concert” and Broadway-themed nights.
The Symphony will continue to livestream its classical concerts to audiences in over 45 countries and all 50 U.S. states. The initiative, begun during the 2020–21 season, is supported by Barbara J. Burger.
Executive Director and CEO Gary Ginstling called the upcoming season a “carefully and thoughtfully curated” effort that highlights both Valčuha’s and Reineke’s vision for the Symphony. “I encourage patrons to spend an evening with the Houston Symphony at Jones Hall to experience the unique sonic luster of this virtuosic orchestra.” ■
The Houston Symphony 2025-26 Classical Series is listed below. Additional details are available through the Houston Symphony’s website at houstonsymphony.org.
Houston Symphony 2025-26 Classical Subscription Season
- September 19, 20, and 21, 2025
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Opening Weekend: Valčuha Conducts Stravinsky’s Firebird
Juraj Valčuha, conductor; Angel Blue, soprano; Houston Symphony Chorus; Anthony J. Maglione, director; Houston Chamber Choir; Betsy Cook Weber, artistic director
WOLFE: Liberty Bell (Houston Symphony Commission and World Premiere)
SCHMITT: Psalm 47
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird Suite - September 27 and 28, 2025
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Eschenbach Conducts Mozart and Bruckner
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor; Stathis Karapanos, flute; Allegra Lilly, harp
MOZART: Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 7 - October 10, 11, and 12, 2025
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Jean-Yves Thibaudet + The Three-Cornered Hat
Juanjo Mena, conductor; Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano; Sara Couden, mezzo-soprano
FALLA: La vida breve – Interlude & Dance
FALLA: La vida breve – “Aria de Salud”
SAINT-SAËNS: Piano Concerto No. 5, Egyptian
FALLA: El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) - October 17, 18, and 19, 2025
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Gershwin & Grimaud: Jazz Meets Symphony
Christian Reif, conductor; Hélène Grimaud, piano
PERRY: Short Piece for Orchestra
WEILL: Symphony No. 2
GERSHWIN: Piano Concerto in F - November 8 and 9, 2025
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Shall We Dance?
Gonzalo Farias, conductor
DEBUSSY: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
GINASTERA: Variaciones Concertantes
ENESCU: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1
ORTIZ: Antropolis
HINDEMITH: Symphonic Metamorphosis - November 21, 22, and 23, 2025
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Composer as Hero Festival: Journey to Light
Juraj Valčuha, conductor; Baiba Skride, violin
BRITTEN: Violin Concerto
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 10 - November 28, 29, and 30, 2025
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Thanksgiving Weekend: Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1
Juraj Valčuha, conductor; Behzod Abduraimov, piano
ČEKOVSKÁ: [Title TBA] (Houston Symphony Commission and World Premiere)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben - January 23, 24, and 25, 2026
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Marin Alsop Conducts Brahms 2
Marin Alsop, conductor; Yoonshin Song, violin
BARBER: Essay for Orchestra No. 2
BERNSTEIN: Serenade (After Plato’s Symposium)
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2 - February 13, 14, and 15, 2026
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Doomed Lovers Festival: Symphonie Espagnole + Symphonie Fantastique
Ryan Bancroft, conductor; Clara-Jumi Kang, violin
Program:
SMITH: Tumblebird Contrails
LALO: Symphonie espagnole
BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique - February 20, 21, and 22, 2026
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Doomed Lovers Festival: Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet
Juraj Valčuha, conductor; Alexi Kenney, violin
HOLMES: “La Nuit et l’Amour” from Ludus pro Patria
GUBAIDULINA: In Tempus Praesens
TCHAIKOVSKY: Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy
SCRIABIN: Le Poème de l’extase - February 28 and March 1, 2026
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Doomed Lovers Festival: Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde
Juraj Valčuha, conductor; Tamara Wilson, soprano; Stuart Skelton, tenor; Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano; Derek Welton, bass; Nicholas Brownlee, bass-baritone
WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde, Act II - March 13, 14, and 15, 2026
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Mozart + Elgar’s Enigma Variations
Vasily Petrenko, conductor; Jan Lisiecki, piano
NEWMAN: Wuthering Heights Suite
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 9, Jenamy
ELGAR: Enigma Variations - March 20, 21, and 22, 2026
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony + Timpani World Premiere
Juraj Valčuha, conductor; Leonardo Soto, timpani
FARRENC: Overture No. 2
AKIHO: Timpani Concerto (Houston Symphony Commission and World Premiere)
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 - March 27, 28, and 29, 2026
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Grieg’s Peer Gynt
Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor; Houston Symphony Chorus; Anthony J. Maglione, director
SIBELIUS: Pohjola’s Daughter
STILL: Threnody: In Memory of Jean Sibelius
SIBELIUS: The Captive Queen
GRIEG: Selections from Peer Gynt - April 18 and 19, 2026
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Adams Conducts Adams & Appalachian Spring
John Adams, conductor; Vikingur Ólafsson, piano
IVES: The Unanswered Question
ADAMS: Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?
ADAMS: The Rock You Stand On
COPLAND: Appalachian Spring - May 7, 9, and 10, 2026
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Transfiguration Festival: Joshua Bell Returns – The Elements in Concert
Juraj Valčuha, conductor; Joshua Bell, violin; Wendall K. Harrington, projection design; Paul Vershbow, projection programming
PUTS/MEYER/HEGGIE/HIGDON/MONTGOMERY: The Elements
WAGNER: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
R. STRAUSS: Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration) - May 15, 16, and 17, 2026
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Transfiguration Festival: The Planets + Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto
Andrew Manze, conductor; Augustin Hadelich, violin; Sopranos and Altos of the Houston Symphony Chorus; Anthony J. Maglione, director
HIGDON: blue cathedral
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto
HOLST: The Planets - May 22, 23, and 24, 2026
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
Transfiguration Festival: Valčuha Conducts Mahler 9
Juraj Valčuha, conductor
MAHLER: Symphony No. 9
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Houston Symphony: houstonsymphony.org
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