The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has always played in a variety of venues. But for its 2026–2027 season, the virtuoso ensemble will be heard in an unusually wide range of places, from the expanses of the Hollywood Bowl to the intimate beauty of The Huntington’s Chinese Garden.
For Jaime Martín’s final season as music director, the group has put together an ambitious program including four world premieres and a new recital series. Executive director Ben Cadwallader said the upcoming season “marks an exciting expansion for LACO,” one in which “we’re creating more opportunities to experience music-making at the highest level.”
The season informally kicks off Aug. 11, when the ensemble returns to the Hollywood Bowl. Nicolas Ellis will conduct an all-Mozart program, including the “Jupiter” Symphony and the Piano Concerto No. 22 with soloist Angela Hewitt.
Hewitt will also inaugurate the ensemble’s new recital series on Oct. 13 at Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles. The program will again consist entirely of Mozart, including two piano sonatas and a violin sonata teaming Hewitt with Margaret Batjer, the orchestra’s concertmaster and director of chamber music.
The recital series continues with harpsichordist Francesco Corti on Dec. 3 at The Huntington and pianist Fazıl Say in a program of his own compositions on May 12 at Zipper Hall.
The orchestral series kicks off Sept. 26–27 with a program dominated by dance rhythms. Led by Lina González-Granados, LA Opera’s resident conductor, and performed at both Zipper Hall and The Wallis in Beverly Hills, it will feature music of Zoltán Kodály, Manuel de Falla, and Gabriela Lena Frank, plus the world premiere of “The After Party!” by Carlos Simon, a salute to the Harlem Renaissance and the century of African American music that followed.
Martín conducts Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony on Oct. 17–18 — Conrad Tao will be the soloist in Ravel’s Piano Concerto. Ludovic Morlot makes his conducting debut with the orchestra on Nov. 19 at Zipper Hall and Nov. 22 at The Wallis in a program featuring two world premieres: Mason Bates’s Pipa Concerto, with soloist Wu Man, and Eimear Noone’s Flute Concerto, with soloist Benjamin Smolen.
Richard Goode joins Martín for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 on Feb. 12–13, 2027, in a program that also features music of Stravinsky and Philip Glass. Matthias Pintscher conducts music of Mozart, Haydn, and Kayhan Kalhor April 23 and 25, 2027.
Martín will give his final performance as music director on May 15 at Zipper Hall, with a new work by Kian Ravaei, Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, and Brahms’s Violin Concerto with soloist James Ehnes.
The season also includes a two-concert chamber music series: There will be a program of Latin American music Jan. 9–10, and Marc-André Hamelin will join the group March 6–7 to perform two piano quintets — his own and the masterful one by Dmitri Shostakovich.
The Baroque Series will also feature two concerts: “Vivaldi’s Venice” Dec. 5–6, and the first half of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, with Martín conducting Dec. 19–20.
Finally, that special program in The Huntington’s Chinese Garden will take place April 3, 2027. Titled “Shangri-La” and curated by composer-in-residence Huang Ruo, it begins with a guided “sound exploration” through the garden at dusk — LACO musicians will perform at various spots in the pavilions and on footbridges. An indoor concert follows at 7:30 p.m., with works by Giacomo Puccini, Kaija Saariaho, and Toru Takemitsu, among others.
Subscriptions are now on sale. For more information, call (213) 221-3920 or go to https://www.laco.org/2627season/subscribe/. Note: Tickets to the Hollywood Bowl concert are sold through the Bowl’s ticketing service: https://www.hollywoodbowl.com/concerts-and-events/packages-and-ticket-info.
