Many orchestras are planning to program concerts around the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. In its 2026-2027 season, the Pacific Symphony goes step further, dedicating the entire year to “articulat[ing] the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence and celebrat[ing] the artists who shape America’s classical [music] legacy.”
In its 48th season — its first planned by Music Director Alexander Shelley — the orchestra is going for its whiskers, with high-profile events and soloists that should excite audiences at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
To begin, the opening gala will bring violinist Joshua Bell as soloist and five pieces new to the orchestra. The night will lead off, appropriately, with Jessie Montgomery’s multicultural rhapsodic tribute to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
But Shelley aims to make a statement of another kind with his first pitch of the subscription series — Gustav Mahler’s all-encompassing Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection.” True, Mahler had a New York sojourn, but this concert will be an event because Mahler’s Second is an overwhelming experience and the orchestra employs the services of a first-rank chorus, thanks to its long-term association with the Pacific Chorale. For this performance, the orchestra is also bringing in soloists to match: soprano Miah Persson and mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly.
Pacific Symphony is also celebrating European emigrants with longer American residencies like Antonin Dvořák, Béla Bartók, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Inevitably, Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring and George Gershwin’s An American in Paris make appearances, as does the film music of John Williams. Film composer James Newton Howard’s Violin Concerto No. 2 is also announced, with James Ehnes as soloist.
But the biggest event of the season is undoubtedly a full performance of John Adams and Alice Goodman’s Nixon in China staged by Elkhanah Pulitzer, soloists yet to be announced. With a strong cast, this will be an artistic highlight.
Because 2027 is a Beethoven year (the 200th anniversary of his death), the winter/spring half of the season will include a two-week march through his complete symphonies. Even if it’s ever-so-slightly redundant, this festival will be a big event, ending with three performances of the heaven-storming Ninth from Feb. 6-9. There’s also a one-person play about the composer slated during the festival.
Throughout the season, Pacific Symphony subscribers will hear high-profile soloists including pianist Emmanuel Ax, 2025 Van Cliburn Competition-winner Aristo Sham, superstar saxophonist Jess Gillam, and soprano Karen Slack in the West Coast premiere of her African Queens project, among others.
In the special events category, Shelley will lead a concert celebrating Nowruz, Persian New Year, on Mar. 27, 2027. This is in addition to the organization’s annual December performances of Handel’s Messiah and its Lunar New Year concert.
Subscription packages are on sale, with discounts available. Call Patron Services at (714) 755-5799 or visit the Pacific Symphony website for details.
Pacific Symphony's 2026-2027 schedule
Sept. 24, Gala
Alexander Shelley, conductor, Joshua Bell, violin
Jessie Montgomery, Banner; Édouard Lalo, Symphonie espagnole, more
Oct. 1-3, A New Era Begins
Alexander Shelley, conductor, Miah Persson, soprano, Dame Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano, Pacific Chorale
Mahler, Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”
Oct. 22-24, Symphony to the Screen
Alexander Shelley, conductor, James Ehnes, violin
Paul Dukas, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice; James Newton Howard, Violin Concerto No. 2;
Richard Strauss, Also sprach Zarathustra
Nov. 19-21, Fire and Brilliance
Alexander Shelley, conductor, Nobuyuki Tsujii, piano
Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra; Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3
Dec. 3-5, Leading Women
Ruth Reinhardt, conductor, Joyce Yang, piano
Detlev Glanert, Three American Preludes – Prelude 1; Edvard Grieg, Piano Concerto; Dvořák, Symphony No. 6
Jan. 16, 2027, Special Event
Alexander Shelley, conductor, Emanuel Ax, piano
Samy Moussa, Elysium, Mozart, Symphony No. 31, “Paris”; Unsuk Chin, Subito con forza; Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4
Beethoven Revolution Festival
Alexander Shelley, conductor
Jan. 28, 2027, The Young Revolutionary
Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan, Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2
Jan. 29, 2027, Hero & Innovator
Beethoven, Symphonies No. 3 and 4
Jan. 30, 2027, Special Theatrical Event
Play written and performed by actor Tama Matheson: Beethoven: I Shall Hear in Heaven
Feb. 4, 2027, Mighty Fifth & Pastoral
Beethoven: Symphonies No. 5 and 6
Feb. 5, 2027, Dance and Delight
Beethoven: Symphonies No. 7 and 8
Feb. 6-9, 2027, Ode to Joy
Jake Runestad, A Silence Haunts Me; Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, “Choral”
26-27 Schedule Continues
Feb. 25-27, 2027, Memory and Longing
Long Yu, conductor, Serena Wang, piano
Qigang Chen, Er Huang, for Piano and Orchestra; Rachmaninoff, Symphonic Dances
Mar. 18- 20, 2027, Yang Plays Sibelius
Markus Stenz, conductor, Inmo Yang, violin
Hector Berlioz, Roman Carnival Overture; Jean Sibelius, Violin Concerto; Stravinsky, Petrushka
Apr. 8-13, 2027, The Week That Changed the World
Alexander Shelley, conductor, Elkhanah Pulitzer, stage director, Pacific Chorale,
Cast to be announced
John Adams: Nixon in China
Apr. 29-May 1, 2027, From Appalachia to Russia
Joana Carneiro, conductor, Aristo Sham, piano
Copland, Suite from Appalachian Spring; Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
May 20-22, 2027, Celestial Cinema
Alexander Shelley, conductor, Jess Gillam, saxophone, Women of the Pacific Chorale
John Williams, Star Wars – Suite for Orchestra, “Escapades” from Catch Me If You Can; Gustav Holst, The Planets
Jun. 10-12, 2027, Love and Dance
Alexander Shelley, conductor, Karen Slack, soprano
Jennifer Higdon, blue cathedral; African Queens; Maurice Ravel, La valse; Gershwin, An American in Paris
