Additional Information
The 2026-2027 season of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra has been unveiled. This will be the fifth season under its principal conductor, Rafael Payare, and the OSM’s 93rd season overall. Grand classical concerts, express concerts, film concerts, festive evenings, pop concerts, and youth concerts will feature works by Mahler, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Cassandra Miller, Jimmy Lopez, and Mozart, among others. International stars will perform, including soprano Renée Fleming, pianist Lang Lang, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and the legendary conductor Zubin Mehta, who led the OSM in the 1960s and is its conductor emeritus. The collaboration continues for a second season with Dina Gilbert as associate conductor and composer-in-residence.
Let’s take a look at some of the OSM’s best picks for the next season, which offers us about fifty distinct programs, by far the most important season of Quebec symphony orchestras.
On September 16 and 17, Rafael Payare and the OSM will launch the season with Mahler, continuing the cycle dedicated to the German composer which began in 2022. Das klagende Lied (The Song of Lament) and excerpts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn) will be on the program.
On September 23, for the first time in over a decade, the OSM will welcome Chinese pianist Lang Lang, undoubtedly a superstar of the ivory, who will play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, under the direction of Rafael Payare.
On October 8 and 10, the non-classical event of the season could well be Apashe x OSM, one of the best integrations of electronic music in a symphonic context, the Montreal producer (of Belgian origin) has become a master in this field.
On October 21 and 22, the renowned Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos will perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto Op. 35, conducted by Rafael Payare, in a program that also includes Elysium by Canadian composer Samy Moussa and The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky. The celebrated Russian composer will also be featured in December with a performance of Petrushka. This same program will also welcome German violinist Veronika Eberle for Mozart’s Concerto No. 5.
For the holiday season, J.S. Bach will be featured in two concerts. On December 8 and 9, the Christmas Oratorio will be performed by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Kent Nagano, in collaboration with the Montreal International Bach Festival. On December 10, organist Olivier Latry will play works by Bach transcribed by himself and by great organists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Finally, the festivities will culminate at Maison symphonique on December 17 with the group Le Vent du Nord, a leading force in Quebec traditional music, this time in a symphonic setting.
On January 12 and 13, Rafael Payare and the OSM welcome the renowned soprano Renée Fleming, who will perform Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, a multimedia project presented in collaboration with National Geographic. The program will also include the first movement of Symphony No. 4 by composer-in-residence Jimmy López.
In April, the Mozart Festival presents three programs. On April 8 and 11, Rafael Payare and the OSM welcome pianists Charles Richard-Hamelin, Meagan Milatz, and Kevin Chen for a rare event: the Concerto for Three Pianos No. 7. Mozart’s operatic works are featured in two programs the following week: the Great Mass in C minor, the Exultate, jubilate, and the Serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik are performed on the 14th. On April 15 and 17, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, with librettist Da Ponte, will be presented, featuring soloists Michèle Lozier, Gustavo Castillo, and Jenny Daviet.
In May, cellist Alisa Weilerstein will join the OSM and (her husband) Rafael Payare for three programs exploring the symphonic imagination of Richard Strauss. The season will close on May 25 and 26 with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and the world premiere of Jimmy Lopez’s Symphony No. 6, “Monarch,” a co-commission by the OSM and the San Diego Symphony.
Let’s not forget the OSM-style film concerts, presented here by Marianne Perron, Head of Artistic Direction: “How do we position ourselves in relation to other film music offerings with a symphony orchestra? It’s a question we’ve been asking ourselves from time to time since we started doing them after the inauguration of the Maison symphonique. Generally, one, two, or three productions per year, and always one with organ. Our initial motivation was to revive this tradition of organ improvisation, as it once existed to accompany silent films.”
“We had many questions about programming with the orchestra, even when there weren’t that many ensembles doing it. So, we opted for great film classics, the first being Battleship Potemkin. I had a classical approach, meaning films with great cinematic and musical value, films that have become classics. So Metropolis will be screened on January 19, 2027, with a performance of Gottfried Huppertz’s original score conducted by Franz Strobel, and Nosferatu on October 29, with organist Jason Roberts, and The Nightmare Before Christmas on November 26 and 27. There’s a lot of musical value in blockbusters, but one of the elements I felt was missing was the role of the music, meaning that many films have around thirty minutes of music.”
Finally, what is Marianne Perron most proud of in the unveiling of this 2026-2027 program?
“What I’m most proud of is the commitment and creativity of our team, including our music programming director, Ronald Vermeulen. Take, for example, our opera productions in concert versions. We aren’t opera production specialists, but we have an extremely strong and original offering, shaped differently to reflect our commitment to causes like the environment and emerging Indigenous culture. This commitment makes us proud.”
And what is the OSM’s principal conductor, Rafael Payare, most proud of in this program? “First, the Mahler opening concert, Das Klagende Lied, of course, on September 16 and 17. The Mozart Festival from April 8 to 17, 2027 – Three Pianos for Mozart, the Great Mass in C, Don Giovanni. The symphonic imagination of Richard Strauss, on May 10 and 20, 2027, not to mention the symphonic poem Ein Heldenleben on February 14. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8, which we will perform on February 10 and 11, not to mention the 10th, which I will conduct this summer at the Lanaudière Festival, on July 18.” Finally, I like the idea of presenting Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in the same program to close the season alongside Symphony No. 6, Monarch, by Peruvian composer-in-residence Jimmy López, who draws inspiration from the monarch butterfly’s long migration from Canada to Mexico. I also like the idea of the “Around Stravinsky” program, that is, The Firebird in a program that also includes Elysium by Canadian composer Samy Moussa and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto Op. 35 with Leonidas Kavakos.
