2025-2026 Season
2025-26 Season
Our 2025-2026 is one of dualities. Each program presents two works that speak to each other by way of contrast, and similarity. I am fond of this structure as it allows for the simplest curatory relationships, and both listeners and performers a chance to consider great works in dialogue with each other most directly. The works, then each can speak with a clean frame around themselves even as they form a greater whole in a cohesive program.
—Jed Gaylin, Music Director Tickets go on sale August 1, 2025BRAHMS 4 | SAT, Oct 11, 2025 | 7:30PM | Shriver Hall
*Tickets Go On Sale August 1, 2025
HSO opens their 25-26 season with powerhouse works that show two composers at the top of their craft. From Barber’s Piano Concerto featuring Steinway Young Artist Christopher Goodpasture, to Brahm’s beloved 4th Symphony, this evening will offer a deep dive for heart and mind in its astonishing range of expression.
BARBER: Piano Concerto—Christopher Goodpasture, piano
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 4
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Christopher Goodpasture, piano[/caption]
BRUFEST | SAT, DEC 6, 2025 | 7:30PM | Shriver Hall
*Tickets Go On Sale August 1, 2025
This winter, experience the warmth of Bruch’s first violin concerto, whose gorgeous melodies and Romani-inspired finale will be brought to life by rising star, Ava Pakiam. Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, nicknamed “The Romantic,” will conclude the evening with its passionate themes, by turns both grandiose and folksy.
BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1—Ava Pakiam, violin
BRUCHNER: Symphony No. 4
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Ava Pakiam, violin[/caption]
CLOWNING AROUND | SAT, MAR 7, 2026 | 7:30PM | Shriver Hall
*Tickets Go On Sale August 1, 2025
While a program with clowns as its theme would seem to offer a lot of laughs, this program explores the tragedy behind the painted face. Selections from Rigoletto, featuring a vocal quartet, followed by a performance of Stravinsky’s Petrushka will offer a look at the sorrows of human experience, even as we put forth a façade of smiles.
VERDI: Rigoletto (selections)—Rira Kim, soprano | Taylor Hillary Boykins, mezzo | Min Jin, tenor | Gustavo Ahualli, baritone
STRAVINSKY: Petrushka
AMERICAN PORTRAITS | SAT, APR 18, 2026 | 7:30PM | Shriver Hall
*Tickets Go On Sale August 1, 2025
In our final program of the season, HSO will take on two great musical portraits. Copland’s Lincoln Portrait sets some of Abrham Lincoln’s most stirring words to music in this powerful piece, commissioned during World War II to express the “magnificent spirit of our country.” We pair this work with a newly commissioned piece by American Veteran and composer, J. Kimo Williams. This new work, Douglass Portrait, is based upon the text of another great American hero—Maryland’s own Frederick Douglass. Both works will be narrated by JHU alum and Shakespearean actor Gerrad Alex Taylor. We open the program with the winners of HSO’s biannual concerto competition. As we conclude our season, we celebrate Johns Hopkins, Maryland, and America in this program that speaks so compellingly to freedom and courage in the face of adversity.
Performances by HSO Concerto Competition Winners, TBD
J. KIMO WILLIAMS: Douglass Portrait (HSO commission, world premiere)—Gerrad Alex Taylor, narration
COPLAND: Lincoln Portrait—Gerrad Alex Taylor, narration
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Gerrad Alex Taylor, narration[/caption]