Carnegie Hall has announced its 2026-2027 season, which will include performances by Broadway stars Leslie Odom, Jr., Denée Benton, Lindsay Mendez, and more, as well as a Perspectives series curated by violinist Maxim Vengerov, and singer, bassist, and composer esperanza spalding; plus countless concerts featuring some of the world's most acclaimed orchestras, ensembles, and soloists.
Tony winner Odom, Jr. will make his Carnegie Hall debut with a holiday concert December 7, performing holiday classics alongside original songs. The New York Pops, led by conductor Steven Reineke, will also present their usual series of concerts featuring Broadway stars including Benton, Jordan Donica, Derek Klena, Mendez, Marisha Wallace, and more.
The season will officially open October 8 with tenor Jonas Kaufmann joining the Berliner Philharmoniker for an evening of Italian opera excerpts, plus Ottorino Respighi's Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome. Kaufmann, singing at Carnegie Hall for the first time since 2021, will perform arias by Cilea, Giordano, and Leoncavallo. Kaufmann will return to the hall the following month for two concert performances of Tosca, November 13 and 15, with the New York Philharmonic. As previously announced, the Tosca concerts will also star soprano Marina Rebeka and baritone Ludovic Tézier, and are intended to inaugurate a five-year opera-in-concert series presented in collaboration between Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic.
Opera at Carnegie Hall won't end there. In March 2027, Gianandrea Noseda will conduct the Orchestra of the Zurich Opera House in a full four-night performance of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle. This will mark the first time the entirety of the Ring will be presented at Carnegie Hall. Presented March 18–23, the operas in concert will star baritone Michael Volle as Wotan, tenor Klaus Florian Vogt as Siegmund and Siegfried, soprano Camilla Nylund as Brünnhilde, and bass-baritone Christopher Purves as Alberich.
Maxim Vengerov's three-year Perspectives series reaches its conclusion this season with a celebration of Beethoven. In seven concerts over the course of the season, the virtuoso violinist will perform Beethoven's Violin Concerto, as well as the his Triple Concerto with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Kirill Gerstein. In three recitals, Vengerov will also perform the complete Beethoven violin sonatas. Other Beethoven highlights in the season will include the Missa solemnis with the Cleveland Orchestra and soloists Golda Schultz, Taylor Raven, Julian Prégardien, and Anthony Robin Schneider; and an all-star all-Beethoven program given by violinist Hilary Hahn, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor.
Five-time Grammy winner esperanza spalding will also curate a three-concert Perspectives series throughout the season, including a jazz and contemporary dance program at Zankel Hall, a Well-Being Concert at St. John the Divine, and a jazz and folk ensemble performance at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.
Pulitzer-winning composer Caroline Shaw has been appointed holder of the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair for the 2026-2027 season. Shaw's works will be featured on 12 programs, performed by ensembles including the Ariel Quartet, the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble Connect, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Shaw will also present the world premiere of Reverberations, a multidisciplinary, semi-staged work composed and performed in collaboration with Decoda.
Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead a complete cycle of Mahler's nine completed symphonies over the course of the season, performed by three orchestras: The Met Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic. For certain symphonies which include vocal parts, the orchestras will be joined by an all-star lineup of vocalists including Angela Meade, Elza van den Heever, Erin Morley, Elīna Garanča, Russell Thomas, and Ryan Speedo Green.
Additional season highlights include a concert performance of Handel's Alessandro with the English Concert; cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing with the Silkroad Ensemble and the Boston Symphony Orchestra; a concert of Baroque opera arias with tenor Michael Spyres and early music ensemble Il Pomo d'Oro; and a 90th birthday concert for Philip Glass, featuring the New York premiere of the composer's Symphony No. 15, "Lincoln."
To see the full season lineup, visit CarnegieHall.org.
