2026-2027 Season Tickets

2026-2027 Concert Season 

70th Anniversary Season

Season Arc: From Heritage to Horizon

The Homecoming

Legacy and Local Pride

70 Years of Richmond. One Powerful Beginning.

Saturday, September 19 @ 7:30 PM

Soloist: Matthew Vaughn, trombone

This opening concert reconnects the orchestra with its origins. Richmond’s own Matthew Vaughn stands at the center of the celebration, reflecting the role the orchestra plays in developing world-class artists. Opening the season once again with the National Anthem reinforces a sense of tradition and shared identity, while Joan Tower’s Made in America places a leading American female composer at the forefront of the 70th season, connecting the orchestra’s legacy to a broader and more inclusive future.

The program culminates with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, performed at the first RSO concert. As the first symphony to prominently feature trombones, it creates a natural connection to Matt’s presence on stage. From darkness to light, Beethoven builds toward a final movement that expands the orchestra’s sound with the addition of piccolo and contrabassoon. It is both a celebration and a sense of anticipation for the growth that lies ahead this season.

The Family Adventure

Music and Mystery

Discover the Orchestra. Solve the Mystery.

Sunday, October 11, 2026 @ 3:00pm
Narrator: David DeWitt
Featuring Orchestra Within an Orchestra

An interactive “whodunit” that introduces every section of the orchestra to the next generation of Richmond listeners.

Repertoire:

Gioachino Rossini – William Tell Overture

Nathaniel Stookey – The Composer is Dead
                                     David DeWitt

Georges Bizet – “Les Toreadors” from Carmen Suite No. 1

Arr. Michael Brown – “Pixar Movie Favorites”
                                     Orchestra Within an Orchestra

Ary Barroso – “Brazil”

Light, Voice & Strength 

Virtuosity and Struggle

Music That Endures. Music That Fights Back.

Saturday, November 21, 2026 @ 7:30 pm
Soloist: Kevin Lin, violin

This program brings together works of scale, intensity, and expressive depth. Nielsen’s Helios Overture, a depiction of a sunrise, opens the program with clarity and momentum, setting the stage for what follows. Bruch’s concerto, featuring Kevin Lin, Concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, provides a lyrical and deeply human voice at the center of the program.

The concert culminates in Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, a work shaped by turmoil, restraint, and survival. In this context, the program reflects how, even in the most difficult moments, art can offer a sense of catharsis and connection. It becomes not only a powerful orchestral experience, but a reminder of the role music plays in sustaining the human spirit.

Repertoire:

Carl Nielsen – Helios Overture, Op. 17

Max Bruch – Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
                        Kevin Lin

Shostakovich – Symphony No. 5

A Festive Holiday Celebration

This program traces the human drive to understand the world and push beyond it. Mozart’s Magic Flute Overture reflects the ideals of the Enlightenment, where knowledge, reason, and discovery begin to shape how we see ourselves and our place in the universe.

That spirit finds its full expression in Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, a work of extraordinary clarity and balance, where structure and imagination come together at the highest level.

The program culminates in Mason Bates’ The B-Sides, bringing the journey into the present through electronics and recordings from NASA missions. The result is a connection between past and present, where curiosity and innovation continue to define how we explore, create, and understand the world around us.