Preview: Pasadena Symphony Emphasizes American Music for 2025–26 Season
Music Director Brett Mitchell stands in front of the Pasadena Symphony’s home of the Ambassador Auditorium. (Photo by Tim Sullens)
PASADENA — San Francisco Classical Voice has published a preview of the Pasadena Symphony’s 2025-26 classical season, Brett Mitchell’s second as Music Director.
In a country as fractured and divided as ours, can a celebration of national pride still sell tickets? The Pasadena Symphony is betting on it.
In anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the orchestra’s 2025–26 season is loaded with American music. Brett Mitchell’s second season as music director will feature two co-commissions and two West Coast premieres by American composers, plus classics by Copland and Dvorak’s America-inspired “New World Symphony.”
“As we close in on America’s 250th birthday next summer, I’m excited to celebrate the best of American orchestral music, past and present, all season long, pairing new American repertoire with great masterworks of the past,” Mitchell said when announcing the repertoire.
The celebration kicks off on Nov. 8 with “Tour de Force,” a piece by Jim Self, the orchestra’s principal tuba. The performance marks his 50th anniversary with the ensemble. The opening concert will also feature two French masterpieces, Berlioz’s “Symphonie Fantastique” and the Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major with soloist Orion Weiss.
Edgar Meyer’s 1999 violin concerto, which incorporates bluegrass elements, will follow on Jan. 24 with Tessa Lark as soloist. It will be surrounded by two favorites by Felix Mendelssohn: his concert overture “The Hebrides” and his Symphony No. 3, also known as the “Scottish.”
Another American work, “Beacon” by Colorado-based composer Jeffrey Nytch, will be presented on Feb. 21. The concert is also set to feature Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, with soloist Michelle Cann.
The Mar. 21 concerts will feature a Pasadena Symphony co-commission: the First Symphony of Mexican American composer Juan Pablo Conteras. According to the orchestra, the work is inspired by “his journey to becoming a composer and a U.S. citizen.”
The West Coast premiere of American composer Jennifer Higdon’s Cello Concerto highlights the Apr. 25 concerts with Julian Schwarz as soloist. The program also features Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony and the “Heroic Overture” of Dallas-based composer Quinn Mason.
The season concludes with another co-commission and West Coast premiere: the “Rhapsody on ‘America’” by Baltimore-based composer Jonathan Leshnoff, featuring pianist Joyce Yang. The all-American program also features works by John Williams and Aaron Copland.
All concerts will take place at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, with 2 p.m. matinees and evening repeats at 8 p.m. Subscriptions and single tickets are now on sale.
To read the complete preview, please click here.