Music Director Jader Bignamini leads captivating concerts, including Opening Night Gala on September 27 featuring superstar tenor Juan Diego Flórez
Season includes Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair Terence Blanchard’s Malcolm X Jazz Suite, plus five appearances from Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez and the Northern Lights Festival led by Principal Guest Conductor Tabita Berglund
Ingrid Martin begins her tenure as Assistant Conductor and Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador
Brilliant and dynamic programs fill out the season, including Troupe Vertigo, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Wynton Marsalis’s Swing Symphony, and film concert experiences including Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban™
Single tickets to all performances on sale now at dso.org/onstage
Detroit, (August 4, 2025) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) invites audiences to step into a world where music amplifies every emotion, every connection, and every moment in the 2025–2026 season at Orchestra Hall. Single tickets for all concerts are available starting today at dso.org/onstage or at the DSO Box Office.
On Saturday, September 27, superstar tenor Juan Diego Flórez will bring his unmatched virtuosity, elegance, and irresistible charm to Orchestra Hall for the DSO’s Opening Night Gala led by Music Director Jader Bignamini. A party with purpose, Opening Night Gala supports the DSO's mission to ensure young people have access to music education and a path to all that is possible, and will this year honor retired professional dancer and philanthropist Joanne Danto for her enduring support of the DSO. Click here for more information on sponsorship opportunities and to purchase gala tickets.
Along with appearances from DSO artistic leaders Jader Bignamini, Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair Terence Blanchard, Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez, and Principal Guest Conductor Tabita Berglund, the DSO is pleased to welcome Ingrid Martin as Assistant Conductor and Phillip and Lauren Fisher Community Ambassador. Martin will also serve as the Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Youth Orchestra. Additionally, the DSO is excited to welcome Michael Abels, Composer-in-Residence for the 2025–26 season. The DSO will perform the world premiere of a new orchestral suite from the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Omar by Abels and Rhiannon Giddens, in addition to other works by Abels on the PVS Classical and Young People’s Family Concert series.
The wide variety of programs this season amplifies the audience’s connection to Detroit’s vibrant musical landscape. Highlights of the PVS Classical Series include Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Hector Berlioz’s Symphony fantastique, the Northern Lights Festival (in celebration of Nordic music), Antonín Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony, works by Wynton Marsalis, and Mahler’s Ninth Symphony conducted by Herbert Blomstedt. Energetic PNC Pops highlights include Troupe Vertigo, the Three Mexican Tenors, Epic Film Scores, and beyond. The Paradise Jazz Series welcomes an all-star lineup to the Orchestra Hall stage throughout the season including performances by Joshua Redman, Dianne Reeves, Arturo Sandoval, Christian McBride, and more.
The DSO is also pleased to present specials including 1964 The Tribute, Steve Hackman’s Skulls & Bones, Trisha Yearwood, Holiday Brass, and Beethoven x Beyoncé. Live-to-film concert highlights include Love Actually, Home Alone, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban™.
Single tickets for all performances can be purchased at dso.org/onstage or by calling the Box Office at 313.576.5111, open Monday through Friday,11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tickets are also available for the orchestra’s family offerings, including the Young People’s Family Concert Series and Tiny Tots performances.
The title sponsor of the DSO’s PVS Classical Series is PVS Chemicals, Inc. The title sponsor of the DSO’s PNC Pops Series is PNC Bank. The Paradise Jazz Series is supported by the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, and MGM Grand Detroit. DSO Live is presented by Ford Philanthropy. Technology support comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Digital programming is produced from the Al Glancy Control Room.
----
About the DSO
The acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and a deep connection to its city. Led by Music Director Jader Bignamini since 2020, the DSO makes its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, offering a robust performance schedule that features classical, pops, jazz, and family concerts, plus community performances. Enrico Lopez-Yañez was named Principal Pops Conductor in 2023, trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard serves as the orchestra’s Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair, and Tabita Berglund began her tenure as Principal Guest Conductor in the 2024–25 season. A dedication to broadcast innovation and technology began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a live radio broadcast of a concert and continues today with the groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series of free webcasts.
The DSO’s distinguished history of recordings—many led by its renowned music directors—spans nearly a century, beginning with the orchestra’s first 78 rpm singles with Ossip Gabrilowitsch released on the Victrola label in 1928. A steady recording output has continued since then, with highlights including more than 20 releases with Paul Paray for Mercury’s Living Presence series, and 27 under the baton of Neeme Järvi, mostly on the Chandos label. In the 1970s, the DSO took part in the historic Black Composers Series for Columbia Records led by its then-Associate Conductor Paul Freeman and later made several acclaimed recordings with Antal Doráti for the Decca label. More recently, under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, the DSO recorded music by Rachmaninoff, Copland, and John Williams for the Naxos label, earning its first GRAMMY® nomination in 2017 for Copland’s Third Symphony / Three Latin American Sketches. The first recording with Jader Bignamini, of Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony, was released in March 2025 on the Pentatone label.
Since its first school concerts a century ago, and particularly since the founding of the Civic Youth Ensembles in 1970, the DSO has been a national leader in bringing the benefits of music education to students, teachers, and families in Detroit and surrounding communities. The DSO remains committed to expanding its participation in the growth and well-being of Detroit through programs like its Detroit Neighborhood Initiative—cultural events co-created with community partners and residents—and Detroit Harmony, a promise to provide an instrument and instruction to any student in the city who wants to learn. With unwavering support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to impact lives through the power of unforgettable musical experiences.