Upcoming Events

The Symphony Showcase is back for another year!

Join your TSO for highlights of the 2025–26 season: Transcend Your Senses. Maestro Gomez and the musicians of the TSO will take you through the season with excerpts and commentary. This 60-minute concert is sure to help you find your faves!

If you’ve never been to the TSO before, this is a great time to test drive a concert. You’ll be able to hear many different styles of music, all in the span of an hour.

Subscribers: this is a great time to bring a friend and introduce them to the TSO!

The 2025–26 Season opens with two powerful, romantic musical statements: Rachmaninoff’s third piano concerto, rich in sweeping melodies and virtuosity, and Sibelius’s majestic Second Symphony, exuding emotion and an immense source of pride for Finland. Piano soloist Olga Kern, the first woman in more than 30 years to win the prestigious Van Cliburn competition, makes a welcome return to Tucson. Chávez’s short opener, Toccata, bursts with the rhythms and sounds of his native Mexico.

The Masterworks season opens with a fond return. As the season’s Artist in Residence, former TSO concertmaster Steven Moeckel will perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, and also curate the first TSO Up Close chamber series program (October 18 & 19). Schubert’s youthful Symphony No. 1 and Farrenc’s delightful Overture No. 1 round out the program.

Francisco Fullana, the 2022–23 TSO Artist in Residence returns to Tucson to perform Saint-Saëns’ dazzling Third Violin Concerto under the direction of Manuel Hernández Silva alongside orchestral showpieces by Brahms and Tchaikovsky, and a charming new piece by Israeli Gili Schwarzman.

Celebrate the rich and beautiful musical traditions of Día de los Muertos in this collaboration between the TSO and the Tucson International Mariachi Conference. Internationally recognized Tlen Huicani, the most iconic representatives of the beautiful Son Jarocho, join the TSO, and special guests Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School and Grupo Folklórico Los Guerreros de Pueblo High School for a one-night-only concert filled with emotion and excitement.

American cellist Julian Schwarz performs Bruch’s Kol Nidrei and Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. Although Bruch himself was not Jewish, his haunting and evocative Kol Nidrei was inspired by two traditional Hebrew melodies and his friendships with Jewish musicians.

Inspired by Mozart, Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme could not be more of a contrast with its early 18th century dance themes.

Written during the same period as his Fifth Symphony, Beethoven loved his daily walks and the Sixth (‘Pastoral’) was inspired by his love of nature. As a contrast to the dramatic Fifth and its image of “fate knocking at the door,” the Sixth conjures up images of country life, scenes by a brook, a thunderstorm, and finally grateful feelings after the storm. It remains one of his most popular works.

Often called the dean of African-American classical composers, William Grant Still’s Mother and Child is said to be the composer’s favorite work. It was inspired by a chalk drawing by Sargent Claude Johnson, a black artist living in San Francisco. The image reminded the composer of his relationship to his own mother.

Ready to experience TSO in a new way? Music director José Luis Gomez uncovers the fascinating story behind Dmitri Shostakovich’s most popular symphony, the Fifth, in this new 75-minute format. Do the themes of personal struggle, resilience, and the power of the human spirit remain as relevant today as they did in 1937? Excerpts and commentary will be followed by a complete performance of this symphonic masterpiece.

Dance and rock and carols, oh my! Spend your holidays with the TSO and some familiar Tucson faces. UA Dance performs to Duke Ellington’s big band version of the Nutcracker, and local favorites Calexico return for another TSO collaboration to close out the concert with a combination of their classics and holiday favorites. It’s the holidays like only the Old Pueblo can do!

Hallelujah! The full Messiah returns, this year under the baton of Nicholas McGegan.

The Fox Tucson Theatre in partnership with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra are proud to present A Dog’s Life and The Kid. Enjoy a special Sunday matinee of the orchestra’s live accompaniment to Charlie Chaplin’s masterpieces, all on the Fox stage.

A new premiere by Arizona-raised Paolo Prestini is bookended by works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Villa-Lobos, and Haydn’s Overture to L’isola disabitata and Symphony No. 45, “Farewell.”

Perennial favorites Pink Martini return for a pair of joy-packed concerts. Vocalist Storm Large, pianist Thomas Lauderdale, and the rest of the crew present a multi-lingual musical celebration, including music from their new album.

Debussy’s impressionistic symphonic tone poems, La mer and Ibéria, take center stage in this all-French–Iberian-peninsula program. Mezzo-soprano Angela Brower is the soloist for Berlioz’s cantata Cléopâtre, on the first of her two weeks with the TSO, and Maestro Gomez introduces the music of Olivier Messiaen with the intensely spiritual Les Offrandes oubliées (the Forgotten Offerings).

For his depiction of La mer (“The Sea”), Debussy drew inspiration from visual art, notably Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa. The composer’s kaleidoscope sense of musical color mirrors the vibrant colors of the Japanese woodblock print. While also impressionistic, Ibéria is a more concrete musical depiction of Spanish rhythms and flair, evoking notable praise from Spanish composer Manuel de Falla.

Berlioz’s Cléopâtre, studded with lush orchestral sections and dramatic vocal writing, is a showpiece for the vocalist as she depicts the heroine’s final moments.

Mozart died at the age of 35 before he was able to complete his masterful Requiem. Maestro Gomez has conceived a “completion” by commissioning Tucson composer Dan Coleman to compose a work connecting the Requiem to Mozart’s choral gem Ave verum corpus. The quartet of soloists joining the TSO Chorus includes the return of Angela Brower for the second of two weeks.

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memorium Benjamin Britten, is one of his most popular pieces and widely used in film. Equally well-known is Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a dead princess). The composer’s title might lead the listener to think of this as a lament. Far from it, it’s an evocation of the 16th century stately Spanish court dance, as it could have been danced by a little princess, as painted by Velázquez.

Bassoon faculty and Tucson Symphony Orchestra's Principal Bassoon, Marissa Olegario presents a bold and expressive recital spotlighting music by living composers. Featuring works by Amanda Harberg, Wynton Marsalis, and more, the program showcases the versatility and lyrical power of the bassoon in both solo and chamber settings.

Olegario is joined by pianist Fanya Lin, violinists Elena Chernova-Davis and Grace Nakano, violist Esteban Hernandez Parra, and cellist Juan Mejia—a dynamic ensemble of distinguished artists from the School of Music and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.

Celebrate the voices of today’s composers in a program that bridges classical traditions with contemporary creativity.

Free and open to the public.

Celebrate the many shades of America as we look forward to our nation’s 250th birthday. From Bernstein’s West Side Story and Copland’s Lincoln Portrait to Ellington’s MLK, Juan Pablo Contreras’s MeChicano, and America the Beautiful, this program showcases the very best music made in America. The full orchestra and chorus close the program with Tchaikovsky’s rousing 1812 Overture.

Mahler’s sixth symphony is one of great contrast. Although written at an incredibly happy period of his life, the work itself is mostly dark. Mahler firmly believed in an artist’s ability to predict or even influence future events, and the Sixth, his most personal work, is also a prophetic one. The three blows of the epic hammer are said to represent the three great blows that came to Mahler after the premiere: the death of his child, the diagnosis of his heart condition, and his forced resignation from the Vienna Opera. “No other work flowed so directly from his heart as this one,” wrote his wife Alma. “We both cried at the time; we felt so deeply what this music meant, what it forebodingly told us.”

The Sixth is a tour-de-force, an intense eighty minutes of music performed by a large scale orchestra where every detail, from the smallest, gentlest moment to the largest crash of the hammer is intensely thought through.

TSO principal flute Alexander Lipay solos on Ibert’s flute concerto on a concert of impressionistic journeys from France to Latin America.

Violinist Tessa Lark and conductor Shiyeon Sung make welcome returns for a program of Lili Boulanger, Barber’s Violin Concerto, and music from Bizet’s classic opera Carmen.

A traditionalist in the era of atonality, Barber’s concerto contrasts lyricism with folk-like melodies and an incredibly breakneck finale. An American classic, it remains one of the most performed 20th century violin concertos.

Lili Boulanger, the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, at the age of 19 in 1913, composed the two pieces as companions. They represent a study in contrasts: D’un matin de printemps is playful, while D’un soir triste is moody and dark (some have speculated that Boulanger knew at this time that her young death was imminent).

Bizet’s beloved opera Carmen is here depicted in two orchestral suites, including the iconic Toréadors.

International piano phenomenon Lang Lang returns to your TSO! Since he burst onto the stage in 1999, Lang Lang has been astonishing audiences around the world with his dazzling performances. He has performed with all of the major orchestras and is one of the greatest pianists of his generation. His performance of Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto is not to be missed.

The 2025–26 Classic Series comes to a stirring finale with music of America. Maestro Gomez’s discovery of music by Robert Mucyznski, the late head of composition at the University of Arizona, continues with his Symphony (1953) receiving its first-ever performance. It is paired with Copland’s vibrant, muscular Symphony No. 3 and Joan Tower’s Sixth Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman.

Copland’s Symphony is firmly rooted in America, with nods to the composer’s Fanfare for the Common Man. The jubilant work, a celebration of the end of World War II, is a true example of The Great American Symphony.

Inspired by Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman is the final in a series of six tributes to adventurous women. This one honors the Cuban-American composer Tania León.

Luke Skywalker begins a journey that will change the galaxy. Nineteen years after the formation of the Empire, Luke is thrust into the struggle of the Rebel Alliance when he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has lived for years in seclusion on the desert planet of Tatooine. Obi-Wan begins Luke’s Jedi training as Luke joins him on a daring mission to rescue Rebel leader Princess Leia from the clutches of Darth Vader and the evil Empire. Don’t miss this iconic film with John Williams’ score performed live on stage by your TSO!