Music: The Strongest Form of Magic

The Philharmonic closes its 2026-27 season with a kaleidoscopic program of 19th- and 20th-century masterpieces. A trio of orchestral excerpts from the operas of Richard Wagner opens the program, including the famous Ride of the Valkyries. Beloved Czech master Antonín Dvořák is represented by his romantic and beguiling Nocturne for string orchestra. A longtime friend of the Philharmonic, the effervescent pianist Sophie Lippert, will be featured soloist in Peggy Glanville-Hicks’ intriguing Etruscan Concerto. Composer Briar Prastiti, whose Ákri was a hit with the orchestra and our audience in October of 2025, returns to our stage with another rousing symphonic poem, Pegasus. We will conclude the concert, and the season, with the greatest of all musical primers, Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, featuring a surprise special guest narrator.
PROGRAM:
WAGNER | Selections from Opera
“Entry of the Guests” from Tannhäuser
“Procession to the Cathedral” from Lohengrin
“Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walküre
PRASTITI | Pegasus (U. S. premiere)
GLANVILLE-HICKS | Etruscan Concerto
Soloist | Sophie Lippert, Piano
DVOŘÁK | Nocturne
BRITTEN | The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra