2026 in classical music

This article is for major events and other topics related to classical music in 2026.

Events

• 1 January
• At the 2026 Vienna New Year's Concert, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin perform the "Sirenen Lieder" of Josephine Amann-Weinlich and the "Rainbow Waltz" of Florence Price, in orchestrations by Wolfgang Dörner, the second time that the concert has featured music by female composers and the first time that the concert has featured more than one female composer. The inclusion of the Florence Price selection also marks the first appearance of music by a composer from outside Europe and by a composer of colour. The orchestra and conductor presented these works in the 30 December 2025 and 31 December 2025 performances of the same programme.
• The Orchestre symphonique de Mulhouse officially takes national status in France, with the new name of the Orchestre national de Mulhouse.
• 6 January – The Opéra national de Paris announces the appointment of Semyon Bychkov as its next music director, effective 1 August 2028, with an initial contract of four years.
• 7 January
• Aurora Orchestra announces that John Harte is to stand down as its chief executive in July 2026.
• The London Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of John Harte as its next managing director, effective in August 2026.
• 9 January – The board of directors of Washington National Opera votes to relocate from the Kennedy Center and to discontinue productions there.
• 12 January – The Orchestra of the Swan announces the appointment of Zoë Curnow as its next executive director, effective 1 April 2026.
• 13 January – The Park Avenue Armory announces the appointment of Deborah Warner as its artistic director, with immediate effect.
• 14 January – The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam announces Liam Nassereddine as the winner of its 'Concertgebouw Young Talent Award'.
• 15 January – An explosion in the city centre of Utrecht causes the evacuation of the Utrechts Conservatorium.
• 16 January – Washington National Opera announces the planned continuation of its spring 2026 season at George Washington University, following its 9 January decision to vacate the Kennedy Center.
• 20 January – The Metropolitan Opera announces cost-reduction plans to include staff redundancies and salary reductions, and the postponement of one new production originally scheduled for the 2026-2027 season.
• 21 January – The Ernst von Siemens Foundation announces its 2026 prizes:
• 2026 Composer Prizes: Bethan Morgan-Williams, Hovik Sardaryan, Kitty Xiao
• Ensemble Prizes '26: NO HAY BANDA, Ensemble for New Music Tallinn
• 2026 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize: Jordi Savall
• 22 January
• The Cliburn announces the inaugural Cliburn International Competition for Conductors, scheduled for 2028 in Houston.
• The Allentown Symphony Orchestra announces that Diane Wittry is to retire as its music director at the close of the 2027-2028 season.
• 24 January – Denyce Graves gives the final performance of her career at the Metropolitan Opera, as Maria in Porgy and Bess.
• 27 January –
• The George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra announces the appointment of Robert Treviño as its next principal conductor, effective with the 2026-2027 season, with an initial contract of four years.
• Ex Cathedra announces the appointment of James Burton as its next artistic director, effective with the 2027-2028 season.
• Philip Glass announces the withdrawal of the world premiere of his Symphony No. 15 from its scheduled June 2026 performances at the Kennedy Center.
• 30 January – The Opernhaus Wuppertal announces the appointment of Christian Reif as its next Generalmusikdirektor, effective with the 2027-2028 season.
• 1 February – The closure of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for two years is announced, to take effect on 4 July 2026, ostensibly for renovation and reconstruction.
• 8 February – In the Super Bowl LX halftime show, a bespoke string orchestra performs an arrangement of Bad Bunny's song 'Monaco', under the direction of Giancarlo Guerrero.
• 9 February
• The RAI National Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of Michele Mariotti as its next principal conductor, the first Italian conductor to be named to the post, effective in October 2026, with an initial contract of three seasons.
• Jeffrey Kahane resigns as music director of the San Antonio Philharmonic.
• 10 February
• The Canadian Opera Company announces the appointment of Ian Derrer as its next general director, effective 1 July 2026.
• News reports indicate that Ian Derrer is to conclude his tenure as general director and chief executive officer of Dallas Opera on 30 June 2026, in parallel with his appointment to the Canadian Opera Company.
• 11 February – The Nashville Symphony announces the appointment of Leonard Slatkin as its next music director, effective with the 2026-2027 season, with a set tenure through the 2028-2029 season.
• 12 February – The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra announces that Jaime Martín is to conclude his tenure as its music director at the close of the 2026-2027 season.
• 16 February – The San Antonio Philharmonic announces the cancellation of the remaining concerts of its 2025-2026 season.
• 23 February – The Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival announces the appointment of Jennifer Frautschi as its next artistic director, effective with the 2027 season.
• 1 March - The Antwerp Symphony Orchestra officially merges with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen.
• 3 March
• The London Philharmonic Orchestra simultaneously announces the scheduled conclusion of the tenure of Edward Gardner (conductor) as its principal conductor at the close of the 2027-2028 season, and the appointment of Paavo Järvi as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2028-2029 season.
• The New World Symphony announces that Howard Herring is to retire as its president and chief executive officer effective 30 June 2026.
• 6 March
• The board of directors and president of the Boston Symphony Orchestra announce that Andris Nelsons is to conclude his Boston Symphony Orchestra tenure at the end of the 2026-2027 season.
• Jean Davidson announces her scheduled departure as executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, DC, USA), effective in May 2026.
• The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announces the appointment of Jean Davidson as its next executive director and chief executive officer, effective 4 May 2026.
• 9 March – Opera Australia announces the appointment of Amy Lane as its next director of opera, effective September 2026.
• 10 March
• The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma announces the appointment of Alessandro Galoppini as its next artistic director, with an initial contract through 2030.
• The board and foundation of La Fenice, with approval from Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro, confirm the appointment of Beatrice Venezi as the next music director of La Fenice, without her ever having conducted a full production or concert with the company prior to her appointment, effective in October 2026.
• The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra announces its plans to cease operations at the close of the 2026-2027 season.
• 12 March
• The Senate of Berlin announces the appointment of Stefan Brandt as the new Generaldirektor (general director) of the Stiftung Oper in Berlin ('Berlin Opera Foundation'), effective 1 January 2027.
• The Phoenix Symphony announces the appointment of Paolo Bortolameolli as its next music director, effective with the 2027-2028 season.

New works

• Ondrej Adámek - Thin Ice (Violin Concerto No. 2)
• Luke Bedford – Where the Lines Cross
• Birke J. Bertelsmeier – JUX TAP O SIT IO
• Dániel Péter Biró – Hagirot
• JaRon Brown - and this too, shall pass
• Eun-Hwa Cho – Preludes: II. 'Shared Destinies'
• Amelia Clarkson – Three Girls in an August Garden
• Tristan Coelho – Harp Concerto
• Jakob Diehl – Bruchstück
• Robert Dillon – Scoundrel
• Philip Dutton – There, where I call home
• George E. Lewis – Broke
• Farzia Fallah – of asphyxia
• Edmund Finnis – The Landscape Wakes
• Bianca Gannon – And Then There Was One
• Sophia Jani – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
• Gabriel Jenks – On the Run (mandolin concerto)
• Hermann Keller – Verwandlungen
• Golfam Khayam – Seven Valleys of Love
• Texu Kim – Dis/Connection
• Hanna Kulenty – Negende verdieping
• György Kurtág (music) and Christoph Hein (libretto, after letters of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg) – Die Stechardin
• Lei Liang – Rain Under the Sea
• Ricardo Lorenz – Humboldt's Nature
• Colin Matthews – Oboe Concerto
• Belenish Moreno-Gil and Oscar Escudero – NO HERE
• Bethan Morgan-Williams – Digon!
• Olga Neuwirth – Zones of Blue (clarinet concerto)
• Wayne Oquin – On the Words of Walt Whitman (texts by Walt Whitman)
• Jane O'Leary – Silence
• Joseph Phibbs – Cello Concerto
• Deborah Pritchard – Light Circle
• Shirley J. Thompson – Seventh Sense: Incidents in the Life of Queen Amanirenas
• Cooper Wood – CEASE[less]
• Annija Anna Zarina – Bloom
• Sauli Zinovjev – Taste of Metal (Symphony No. 1)

New operas

• Amen Feizabadi and Dilek Mayatürk – Deep Siesta
• Dai Fujikura and Harry Ross – The Great Wave
• Olga Neuwirth and Elfriede Jelinek – Monster's Paradise
• Matthias Pintscher and Daniel Arkadij Gerzenberg – Das kalte Hertz
• Michel van der Aa – Theory of Flames
• Param Vir and David Rudkin – Awakening

Recordings

• Charles-Valentin Alkan – 'The Complete Alkan Organ Works, Vol 1'
• Johann Ludwig Bach – The Leipzig Cantatas (first recordings)
• Nadia Boulanger and Raoul Pugno – La ville morte (first recording)
• Havergal Brian – Symphony No. 1 ('The Gothic') (first commercial release of the fourth live performance of the complete work, 25 May 1980 at the Royal Albert Hall)
• Unsuk Chin – Goulagon / Double Concerto for Piano, Percussion and Ensemble / Graffiti
• HK Gruber – Short Stories from the Vienna Woods / Luftschlösser
• David Lang – 'the sense of senses' (first recording)
• Gabriela Ortiz – Yanga, Dzonot (first recordings), Seis Piezas a Violeta
• Huw Watkins – Concerto for Orchestra / Fanfare for the Hallé / Symphony No. 2 (first recordings)

Deaths

• 1 January – Wolfgang Herzfeld, German orchestral violinist, 88
• 2 January
• Ritva Auvinen, Finnish opera singer, 93
• Lajos Rovátkay, Hungary-born harpsichordist and musicologist resident in Germany, 92
• 3 January – Mesut Ä°ktu, Turkish baritone and pedagogue, 78
• 5 January – Andrew Carter, British choral composer and pedagogue, 86
• 6 January – Rhoda Levine, American opera director, 93
• 7 January – Ihor Blazhkov, Ukrainian conductor, 89
• 11 January
• Andrew Clements, British music critic, 75
• John Wallace, British trumpeter, composer and arts educator, 75
• 22 January – Peter Hanser-Strecker, German music publisher, 83
• 24 January – Kazuhito Yamashita, Japanese guitarist, 64
• 25 January – Jeroen Bal, Dutch orchestral pianist, 52
• 2 February – Niek Wijns, Dutch clarinetist, 69
• 5 February – Tamás Vásáry, Hungarian pianist and conductor, 92
• 10 February – Uwe Dierksen, German trombonist, 66
• 11 February – Helmuth Rilling, German conductor, 92
• 16 February – Robin Stevens, British composer and cellist, 67
• 17 February – José van Dam, Belgian bass-baritone, 85
• 24 February – Éliane Radigue, French composer, 94
• 25 February – Roman Kofman, Ukrainian conductor, 89
• 3 March
• Gustav Gunsenheimer, German composer, choral conductor and pedagogue, 91
• Zsolt Kerestely, Romanian-Hungarian composer and conductor, 91
• 4 March – Bernard Rands, British composer resident in the United States, 92
• 5 March – Mihail Vasilievich Secichin, Moldovan pianist and conductor, 82

Major awards

2026 Musical America Award Winners

• Artist of the Year: Emanuel Ax
• Composer of the Year: Gabriela Lena Frank
• Conductor of the Year: Jakub Hrůša
• Vocalist of the Year: Gerald Finley
• Impresario of the Year: Martha Gilmer

2026 Grammy Awards

• Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance: Donnacha Dennehy – Land of Winter; Alarm Will Sound (Nonesuch)
• Best Choral Performance: Gabriela Ortiz – Yanga; Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, Los Angeles Master Chorale; Grant Gershon, chorus master; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor (Platoon)
• Best Classical Compendium: Gabriela Ortiz – Yanga, Los Angeles Philharmonic,Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, Los Angeles Master Chorale; Grant Gershon, chorus master; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor (Platoon)
• Best Classical Instrumental Solo: Shostakovich – The Cello Concertos; Yo-Yo Ma; Boston Symphony Orchestra; Andris Nelsons, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
• Best Classical Solo Vocal Album: Telemann: Ino - Opera Arias For Soprano; Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra; Amanda Forsythe, soprano; Robert Mealy, Paul O'Dette, and Stephen Stubbs, conductors (CPO)
• Best Contemporary Classical Composition: Gabriela Ortiz – Dzonot
• Best Opera Recording: Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer – Intelligence; Janai Brugger, J'Nai Bridges, Jamie Barton, Caitlin Lynch, Michael Mayes, Nicholas Newton, Joshua Blue; Houston Grand Opera Orchestra; Kwamé Ryan, conductor; Blanton Alspaugh, producer (Houston Grand Opera)
• Best Engineered Album, Classical: Bruckner – Symphony No. 7 / Mason Bates – Resurrexit; Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; Manfred Honeck, conductor; Mark Donahue and John Newton, engineers; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Reference Recordings)
• Best Orchestral Performance: Olivier Messiaen – Turangalîla-Symphonie; Yuja Wang, piano; Cécile Lartigau, ondes martenot; Boston Symphony Orchestra; Andris Nelsons, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)

2026 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards

• Chamber-Scale Composition: Claudia Molitor – Fever
• Conductor: John Wilson
• Ensemble: Royal Scottish National Orchestra
• Gamechanger: Jacob Collier
• Impact: Orchestras for All
• Inspiration: Kirkcaldy Orchestral Society
• Instrumentalist: Peter Moore (trombone)
• Large-Scale Composition: Mark-Anthony Turnage – Festen (libretto by Lee Hall)
• Opera and Music Theatre: Uprising – Glyndebourne
• Series and Events: 'Multitudes' – Southbank Centre
• Singer: Louise Alder (soprano)
• Storytelling: 'Everything We Do Is Music' – Elizabeth Alker
• Young Artist: Matilda Lloyd (trumpet)

References