We Speak Arts
Georgia Symphony Orchestra Opens 2026-27 Season with ‘American Tapestry’
The Georgia Symphony Orchestra opened its 2026–27 season with American Tapestry on Saturday, October 10, at Kennesaw State University’s Bailey Performance Center. Led by Music Director and Conductor Timothy Verville, the concert brought together works by six American composers whose music reflects the energy, complexity and diversity of the American experience.
Joining the GSO as narrator for Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait was longtime Atlanta broadcaster Condace Pressley, named the 2026 Broadcaster of the Year by the Georgia Association of Broadcasters. Pressley, who serves as Director of Community and Public Affairs for WSB-TV, has spent nearly four decades in Georgia broadcasting.
“We could not imagine a more fitting voice for Lincoln Portrait,” said GSO Executive Director Suzanne Tucker. “Condace has spent her career using her voice to inform, connect and serve this community.”
The program opened with James Stephenson’s Fanfare for Democracy and included Joan Tower’s Made in America, Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, William Grant Still’s Festive Overture and Valerie Coleman’s Seven O’Clock Shout before concluding with Copland. Founded in 1951 and based in Marietta, the Georgia Symphony is now in its 76th season.
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WQXR and Carnegie Hall have announced the lineup for the 2026–27 season of Carnegie Hall Live, the broadcast series that brings performances from the legendary New York venue to audiences nationwide and around the world. Now in its 16th season, the series airs live on WQXR-FM and streams at WQXR.org and CarnegieHall.org, with broadcasts also distributed to public radio stations across the country.
The season opened on October 9 with the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Kirill Petrenko, joined by pianist Víkingur Ólafsson in a program of Brahms and Strauss — part of the orchestra’s four-concert Carnegie Hall residency that launched the Hall’s 2026–27 season.
Among the season’s highlights, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s performs an all-Berlioz program on November 5, 2026, led by Louis Langrée and starring tenor Benjamin Bernheim in a rare New York appearance, pairing Les nuits d’été with the Symphonie fantastique. On January 19, 2027, Franz Welser-Möst conducts The Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, with soloists Golda Schultz, Taylor Raven, Julian Prégardien, and Anthony Robin Schneider.
The series also carries performances by the Vienna Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra as part of Carnegie Hall’s season-long Mahler symphony cycle led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, alongside chamber music programs spotlighting Beethoven and Brahms.
Carnegie Hall Live is hosted by WNYC and WQXR’s John Schaefer, with guest hosts Elliott Forrest and Paul Cavalconte. The series is produced by WQXR in partnership with Carnegie Hall and American Public Media. For the full broadcast schedule, visit carnegiehall.org.
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