RETURNING TO RICHARDSON: Violinist Simone Porter performs with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra during the 2026-27 season at Richardson Auditorium, which was recently announced. (photo by Elisha Knight)
At its recent concerts March 7 and 8, Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) Executive Director Marc Uys revealed the artists who will appear with the orchestra in the next season. Subscriptions are currently available, and single tickets go on sale mid-summer.
Highlights include soprano Christine Goerke singing Wagner and Mahler, and returns by violinist Simone Porter, cellist Joshua Roman, and pianist Maxim Lando. The returning soloists will perform concertos by Mozart, Shostakovich, and Brahms, respectively, demonstrating variances in the classical form through the modern era.
Russian pianist Dmitry Shishkin makes his PSO debut, and conductor John Gennaro Devlin returns to lead the PSO at Holiday POPS! performances on December 19 and at classical series concerts in March. Teaming up once again with the Westminster Symphonic Choir, the orchestra will perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 “Ode to Joy.”
Additionally, Music Director Rossen Milanov has programmed masterworks by Haydn, Schubert, and Stravinsky; contemporary pieces by Joan Tower and Michael Abels; plus a new work by Gregory Spears co-commissioned by the PSO.
“I’m particularly enthusiastic about this coming season,” said Milanov, “as it combines amazing artistry with varied angles for musical expression. The season takes patrons through an arc of emotional intensity, culminating in the triumphal joy expressed in Beethoven’s ninth symphony.”
All performances take place on select Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m., at Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University. Milanov conducts all but the March concerts.
The season opens October 17-18. Pianist Shishkin takes on Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Works by Joan Tower and Bartok complete the program. On November 14-15, Simone Porter marks her return to the PSO as soloist in Mozart’s “Turkish” Violin Concerto No. 5. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Overture in C and Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 complete the program. On January 23-24, American dramatic soprano Christine Goerke performs Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder song cycle and Richard Wagner’s “Liebestod,” from his opera Tristan und Isolde. A new work by Gregory Spears — which the PSO co-commissioned — rounds out the program.
Cellist Joshua Roman last appeared with the PSO in 2018. At concerts February 13-14, he performs Dmitri Shostakovich’s intense first cello concerto, bookended by Michael Abels’ Liquify, a tone poem depicting riverfront scenes, and Igor Stravinsky’s showpiece The Firebird: Suite (1919). March 6-7 marks the return of pianist Maxim Lando performing Brahms’ romantic first piano concerto. John Devlin conducts the program, which includes Felix Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave) and Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8. The season concludes May 8-9 with Westminster Symphonic Performing Beethoven’s “Choral” Symphony No. 9. Soloists will be announced over the summer.
Visit princetonsymphony.org or call (609) 497-0020.