The Richmond Symphony’s 2025-26 season will explore musical Americana in a genre-crossing sampler ranging from works by Copland, Gershwin and John Williams to Sousa marches, gospel music and songs from Motown and the Philly Sound.
The coming season, Valentina Peleggi’s fifth as the orchestra’s music director, will feature nine programs in the mainstage Symphony Series and an enlarged Pops season with eight events, all at the Carpenter Theatre of Dominion Energy Center in dowtown Richmond.
“In Your Neighborhood,” a reconfiguration of the former Metro Collection chamber-orchestra series, will stage four concerts at St. Christopher’s School in Richmond’s West End, two at Randolph-Macon College’s Blackwell Auditorium in Ashland and one at Perkinson Arts Center in Chester.
Symphony Series guest soloists include pianists Emanuel Ax in Chopin’s Concerto No. 2, Conrad Tao in Gershwin’s Concerto in F and Angela Cheng in Beethoven’s Concerto No. 4. Francesca Dego will play Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, and Neal Cary, the orchestra’s principal cellist, will be featured in Dvořák’s Cello Concerto.
Other major repertory on the schedule are Rachmaninoff’s Second, Dvořák’s Seventh, Brahms’ Fourth and Haydn’s 87th symphonies, Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony (No. 41), Holst’s “The Planets,” suites from Bizet’s “Carmen,” Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet,” and Ravel’s “Boléro.”
The mainstage series will present two works by Damien Geter, the symphony’s composer-in-residence: “An African American Requiem” (2019) with soloists and the Richmond Symphony Chorus, and the premiere of an orchestral suite from “Loving v. Virginia,” which Virginia Opera and the symphony premiered in the spring.
Other contemporary composers represented in the season’s classical programs are Tao, Jessie Montgomery, Jennifer Higdon, Carlos Simon, Valerie Coleman, Ke-Chia Chen, Jasmine Guo, Stacy Garrop, Eric Ewazen and Viet Cuong.
Joining Peleggi and Hae Lee, the symphony’s associate conductor, on the podium will be Chia-Hsuan Lin, Lee’s predecessor in Richmond, now music director of Minnesota’s Rochester Symphony & Chorale; Kazem Abdullah, former general music director in Aachen, Germany, now active as a guest conductor of orchestras and opera companies in the Americas and Europe; Benjamin Manis, resident conductor of the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming and a frequent guest at leading opera houses; and Henry Panion III, a composer and conductor, based at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who has performed and recorded with a number of gospel, jazz, country and popular artists.
The Richmond Symphony Chorus, led by Richard W. Robbins, will sing in the Geter Requiem, “The Planets,” the “Let It Snow!” holiday pops show, and a program of American choral pieces.
Music at Hardywood will return with four casual classical concerts at Richmond’s Hardywood Park Craft Brewery.
The Pops season will feature a Halloween “Rocky Horror Show” staged with the Richmond Triangle Players, “A Night in Vienna” with waltzes and other works by Johann Strauss II, tributes to John Philip Sousa and Arthur Fiedler, longtime maestro of the Boston Pops, “Symphony Praise Party” with Panion and Pastor Mike Jr., and the Motown-Philly show, as well as “Let It Snow!” and “Holiday Brass.”
Among 10 special concerts are a season-opening black-tie gala, free concerts at Richmond’s Chimborazo and Abner Clay parks and Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield County, “Band Geek Date Night”with James Madison University’s Marching Royal Dukes, and screenings of two films, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and the 1989 “Batman,” with live orchestral accompaniment.
Two ticketed Family Concerts are scheduled, and the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra will present free concerts by the orchestra and ensembles, along with a “Side-by-Side” collaborative performance with the symphony.
To purchase subscription packages, including “Compose Your Own” selections of three or more programs, or to obtain a season brochure, call the symphony box office at (804) 788-1212 or visit http://richmondsymphony.com/ticketing
Single tickets may be purchased from ETIX at (800) 514-3849 or at http://www.etix.com/ticket/?search=richmond+symphony
The 2025-26 symphony lineup (all venues in Richmond unless listed otherwise):
SYMPHONY SERIES
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth & Grace streets
subscriptions: $288-$774
single tickets: $20-$102.10
Sept. 20 (8 p.m.)
Sept. 21 (3 p.m.)
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
Ke-Chia Chen: “A Lasting Bond”
Schumann: Konzertstück in F major, Op. 86, for 4 horns & orchestra
American Horn Quartet
Bizet: “Carmen” suites Nos. 1 & 2
Oct. 25 (8 p.m.)
Oct. 26 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Mascagni: “Cavalleria Rusticana” – Intermezzo
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor
Emanuel Ax, piano
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E minor
Nov. 8 (8 p.m.)
Nov. 9 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Ives: “The Unanswered Question”
Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major
Francesca Dego, violin
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D minor
Jan. 17 (8 p.m.)
Jan. 18 (3 p.m.)
Kazem Abdullah conducting
Damien Geter: “An African American Requiem”
Brandie Sutton, soprano
Melody Wilson, mezzo-soprano
Bernard Holcomb, tenor
Kenneth Overton, baritone
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Jan. 31 (8 p.m.)
Feb. 1 (3 p.m.)
Benjamin Manis conducting
Conrad Tao: “Flung Out”
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F
Conrad Tao, piano
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 (“Jupiter”)
Feb. 28 (8 p.m.)
March 1 (8 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Damien Geter: “Loving v. Virginia” Suite (premiere)
Tchaikovsky: “Romeo and Juliet” Fantasy-Overture
Respighi: “Feste Romane” (“Roman Festivals”)
Ravel: “Boléro”
March 7 (7:30 p.m.)
March 8 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Jasmine Guo: new work TBA
Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor
Neal Cary, cello
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor
April 11 (8 p.m.)
April 12 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Jessie Montgomery: “Hymn for Everyone”
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major
Angela Cheng, piano
Copland: Symphony No. 3
May 16 (8 p.m.)
May 17 (3 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Holst: “The Planets”
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Stacy Garrop: new work TBA (premiere)
John Williams: “Star Wars” Suite
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POPS
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth & Grace streets
subscriptions: $12-$69
“Let It Snow!” & “Holiday Brass” subscriptions: $12-$69
single tickets: $15-$86
Oct. 11 (5 p.m.)
Valentina Peleggi conducting
“A Night in Vienna”
Johann Strauss II: “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”
Strauss: “Radetzky March”
other works TBA
Oct. 31 (7 p.m.)
Hae Lee conducting
Richmond Triangle Players
“The Rocky Horror Show”
Nov. 29 (2 & 7 p.m.)
Hae Lee conducting
Richmond Symphony Chorus
“Let It Snow!”
Nov. 30 (3 p.m.)
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
“Holiday Brass”
Jan. 24 (7 p.m.)
Henry Panion III conducting
Pastor Mike Jr., guest star
“Symphony Praise Party”
Feb. 20 (7 p.m.)
Hae Lee conducting
Chester Gregory, Cherise Coaches & Brik Liam, guest stars
“Let’s Groove Tonight: Motown Meets the Philly Sound”
Feb. 21 (3 p.m.)
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
“A Tribute to Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops”
Tchaikovsky: “1812 Overture”
Rodgers & Hammerstein: “The Sound of Music” (selections)
other works TBA
May 30 (3 p.m.)
Hae Lee conducting
“Stars & Stripes Forever: a Tribute to John Philip Sousa”
Sousa: works TBA
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IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
subscriptions: $164 (St. Christopher’s); $51 (Randolph-Macon)
single tickets: $59.10 (St. Christopher’s); $36.10 (Randolph-Macon, Perkinson Center)
Oct. 19 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Hae Lee conducting
Beethoven: “Coriolan” Overture
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Sarabande & Riguadon
Wagner: “Siegfried Idyll”
Haydn: Symphony No. 87 in A major
Feb. 6 (7:30 p.m.)
Perkinson Arts Center, 11810 Centre St., Chester
Feb. 7 (7:30 p.m.)
Ryan Recital Hall, St. Christopher’s School, 6010 Fergusson Road
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Philip Glass: “Company for Strings”
Elliott Carter: Elegy for strings
Copland: “Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson”
Barber: “Knoxville, Summer of 1915”
soprano TBA
March 28 (7:30 p.m.)
Ryan Recital Hall, St. Christopher’s School, 6010 Fergusson Road
March 29 (3 p.m.)
Blackwell Auditorium, Randolph-Macon College, 205 Henry St., Ashland
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Richard W. Robbins directing
trad.: “Shenandoah”
William Billings: “I Am the Rose of Sharon”
trad.: “Deep River”
trad.: “Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal”
Amy Beach: “Peace I Leave with You”
Randall Thomson: “Alleluia”
Thompson: “Frostiana”
April 25 (7:30 p.m.)
Ryan Recital Hall, St. Christopher’s School, 6010 Fergusson Road
Hae Lee conducting
Jessie Montgomery: “Strum”
Jennifer Higdon: “Dance Card”
Mozart: Serenade in B flat major, K. 361 (“Gran Partita”)
May 9 (7:30 p.m.)
Ryan Recital Hall, St. Christopher’s School, 6010 Fergusson Road
Hae Lee conducting
Mozart: “The Impresario” Overture
Viet Cuong: “Constellations”
John Williams: “On Willows and Birches” (Harp Concerto)
harpist TBA
Stravinsky: “Pulcinella” Suite
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MUSIC AT HARDYWOOD
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Overbrook Road at Ownby Lane
single tickets: $36.10-$46.10
Sept. 25 (6:30 p.m.)
Hae Lee conducting
Eric Ewazen: “A Western Fanfare”
Valerie Coleman: “Portraits of Josephine”
Ludwig Spohr: Nonet in F major
Carlos Simon: “Elegy: a Cry from the Grave”
Jessie Montgomery: “Strum”
March 19 (6:30 p.m.)
Hae Lee conducting
Nancy Dalberg: Scherzo for string orchestra
Barbara York: “Aspects”
Dai Wei: “The Dancing Moonlight”
Ruth Gipps: Sinfonietta for 10 wind instruments
April 16 (6:30 p.m.)
Hae Lee conducting
Grieg: “Holberg” Suite
Eric Ewazen: “Colchester Fantasy”
Gounod: “Petite symphonie” for winds
May 21 (6:30 p.m.)
conductor TBA
Mozart: Serenade in C minor, K. 388, for winds
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: “Noveletten” for strings
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SPECIAL CONCERTS
Sept. 12 (6 p.m.)
Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Arthur Ashe Boulevard at Kensington Avenue
Valentina Peleggi conducting
Daisuke Yamamoto, violin
“Americana: Telling Virginia Stories & Lifting Virginia Voices”
Copland: “Appalachian Spring”
Mark O’Connor: “Surrender the Sword”
black-tie gala, with dinner & after-party
$1,000
Sept. 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Altria Theater, Main & Laurel streets
conductor TBA
Cody Fry, guest star
$13.60-$124.10
Sept. 27 (6 p.m.)
Chimborazo Park, 3215 E. Broad St.
conductor TBA
East End Music Festival
free
Sept. 27 (7 p.m.)
Pocahontas State Park, 10301 State Park Road, Chesterfield County
conductor TBA
free; $10 parking fee
Oct. 17 (7 p.m.)
Abner Clay Park, Clay Street at Brook Road
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
InLight Festival
free
Nov. 15 (7 p.m.)
Altria Theater, Main & Laurel streets
conductor TBA
“One Piece Music Symphony”
$13.60-$106.10
Dec. 11 (6 p.m.)
Virago Spirits Scott’s Addition, 1727 Rhoadmiller St.
conductor TBA
“Santa’s Symphony Soirée”
$150
Feb. 7 (2 & 7:30 p.m.)
Altria Theater, Main & Laurel streets
conductor TBA
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” film with live orchestral accompaniment
$76.90-$147.90
April 18 (7 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth & Grace streets
Hae Lee conductor
JMU Marching Royal Dukes
“Band Geek Date Night”
$30
May 2 (7 p.m.)
Altria Theater, Main & Laurel streets
Chia-Hsuan Lin conducting
“Batman,” 1989 film with live orchestral accompaniment
$13.60-$106.10
June 6 (7 p.m.)
Pocahontas State Park, 10301 State Park Road, Chesterfield County
conductor TBA
free; $10 parking fee
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FAMILY CONCERTS
single tickets: $20-$30
Nov. 2 (3 p.m.)
Perkinson Arts Center, 11810 Centre St., Chester
Hae Lee conducting
“The Science of Sound”
Jessie Montgomery: “Starburst”
Gregory Smith: “Vibe”
Feb. 22 (3 p.m.)
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth & Grace streets
Hae Lee conducting
Saint-Saëns: “Carnival of the Animals”
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YOUTH CONCERTS
Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Sixth & Grace streets
free
times, conductors & programs TBA
Nov. 9
Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra ensembles
Feb. 3
Richmond Symphony
Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra
“Side by Side”
May 17
String Sinfonietta
Camerata Strings
May 18
Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra
Youth Concert Orchestra
Percussion Ensemble
Letter V 