Christine Goerke, soprano. Photo by Arielle Doneson
(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) has announced the programming in their 2026-27 Season. Highlights include Grammy Award®-winning soprano Christine Goerke singing Wagner and Mahler, and returns by violinist Simone Porter, cellist Joshua Roman, and 2025 audience favorite, 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 Ludwig van Beethoven’s exultant anthem to solidarity, his Symphony No. 9 “Ode to Joy.”
Additionally, Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov has programmed masterworks by Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, and Igor 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 Maestro 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 7:30pm and Sundays at 4:00pm, at Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University. Rossen Milanov conducts all but the March concerts.
The season opens with a high-energy program October 17-18. Pianist Dmitry Shishkin, a formidable technician, takes on Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The orchestra's virtuosity is on display in Joan Tower’s propulsive Suite from Concerto for Orchestra, which premiered at Carnegie Hall in January 2025, and Béla Bartók’s celebrated Concerto for Orchestra.
Simone Porter, violin. Photo by Elisha Knight
On November 14-15, Simone Porter marks her return to the PSO, and first performance with the orchestra in Richardson Auditorium, as soloist in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Turkish” Violin Concerto No. 5. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Overture in C and Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 88, with its lyrical second movement theme played by solo oboe and cello, complete the program.
On January 23-24, American dramatic soprano Christine Goerke performs Gustav Mahler’s poignant 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 sees the return of popular pianist Maxim Lando performing Johannes 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 on an emotional high with Westminster Symphonic Performing Beethoven’s “Choral” Symphony No. 9. Soloists will be announced over the summer.
Initially, these concerts are available only by subscription, with single tickets going on sale mid-summer. Concerts will take place Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 4pm. Full Season subscriptions start at $198 with the option of adding Holiday POPS! tickets at a discount. Youths 5-17 receive a 50% discount with an adult purchase. To subscribe, visit the Princeton Symphony Orchestra website at princetonsymphony.org or call 609-497-0020.
Accessibility: The Princeton Symphony Orchestra is committed to ensuring all programming is accessible for everyone, working with venues such as Richardson Auditorium to provide needed services. Contact Mika Godbole for questions about available services at [email protected] or (609) 905-0931. Note: some services require at least two weeks’ notice to arrange.
Programs, artists, dates, and times are subject to change.
The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is a cultural centerpiece of the Princeton community and one of New Jersey’s finest music organizations, a position established through performances of beloved masterworks, innovative music by living composers, and an extensive network of educational programs offered to area students free of charge. Led by Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov, the PSO presents orchestral, pops, and chamber music programs of the highest artistic quality, supported by lectures and related events that supplement the concert experience.
Its flagship summer program the Princeton Festival brings an array of performing arts and artists to Princeton during multiple weeks in June. Through PSO BRAVO!, the orchestra produces wide-reaching and impactful education programs in partnership with local schools and arts organizations that culminate in students attending a live orchestral performance. The only independent, professional orchestra to make its home in Princeton, the PSO performs at historic Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University.
The PSO receives considerable support from the Princeton community and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, regularly garnering NJSCA’s highest honor. Recognition of engaging residencies and concerts has come from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the PSO’s commitment to new music has been acknowledged with an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and a Copland Fund Award.
