Day: October 1, 2026

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra launches Brahms Revealed on Thursday, October 1, 2026, with Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann leading Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Symphony No. 1 at Atlanta Symphony Hall. The season-long project, part of the orchestra’s 82nd season, covers all four Brahms symphonies, his concertos and Ein deutsches Requiem.

Key Takeaways

• Opening weekend concerts take place Thursday, October 1, and Saturday, October 3, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, October 4, at 3 p.m. at Atlanta Symphony Hall.
• Swedish violinist Johan Dalene is the soloist in Brahms’ Violin Concerto, on a program that also includes Symphony No. 1 and Handel’s Overture to Music for the Royal Fireworks.
• The 2026-27 season marks Nathalie Stutzmann’s fifth season as the orchestra’s music director.
• Pianist Anna Geniushene serves as artist-in-residence and appears in three programs across the season.
• Composer Jasmine Arielle Barnes will premiere a new ASO commission honoring Coretta Scott King’s centennial on April 29 and May 1, 2027.

Nathalie Stutzmann Builds The 82nd Season Around One Composer

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra technically opened its 82nd season on September 16 with a special concert featuring violinist Joshua Bell under conductor Michael Stern. The Delta Classical series, and its central idea, begins this week. Brahms Revealed is a season-long survey in which the orchestra performs all four Brahms symphonies, his concertos, the Academic Festival Overture and Ein deutsches Requiem, the seven-movement choral work often called the German Requiem.

The approach follows the orchestra’s Beethoven Project, which wrapped in November 2025. Rather than scattering Brahms across unrelated programs, Nathalie Stutzmann has spread the cycle through the season and paired the composer with Handel, Wagner, Bach, Gluck and Shostakovich. For Atlanta audiences, the design gives subscribers a reason to follow the season as one continuous story rather than a series of separate nights.

Opening Weekend Pairs Johan Dalene With Brahms’ Symphony No. 1

The opening program starts with Handel’s Overture to Music for the Royal Fireworks, a festive curtain-raiser, before moving to Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Johan Dalene as soloist. After intermission, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra performs Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, the work the composer labored over for years before its 1876 premiere.

Placing the First Symphony at the start of the cycle is a practical choice. It is the piece most listeners associate with Brahms, and it sets up the season’s later, less familiar programs.

Brahms Revealed Continues With Wagner, Bach And Shostakovich Pairings

The cycle moves quickly after opening weekend. On October 8 and 10, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra places Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 alongside music by Wagner, his Romantic-era rival, including the Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin, the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde and the Overture to Rienzi. On November 5 through 7, artist-in-residence Anna Geniushene joins for Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 on a program with Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 and the Academic Festival Overture.

The 2027 portion of the season includes the Fourth Symphony on January 14 through 16, and the Double Concerto with violinist Veronika Eberle and cellist Johannes Moser on April 1 and 2, paired with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 and Missy Mazzoli’s Orpheus Undone. Ein deutsches Requiem follows on April 8 through 11 with soprano Emily Pogorelc, baritone Samuel Hasselhorn and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Former music director Robert Spano returns April 15 through 17 with a program that includes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 4 in an arrangement by Lazić.

A Coretta Scott King Centennial Tribute Gives The Season An Atlanta Anchor

The season’s most direct connection to the city comes in the spring. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will honor Coretta Scott King, who is being recognized for her centenary in 2027, with a tribute concert on April 29 and May 1, 2027. Conductor Kedrick Armstrong makes his ASO debut on the program, which features two newly commissioned works, one by Jasmine Arielle Barnes and one by Carlos Simon.

Jasmine Arielle Barnes won a 2023 Capital Emmy Award for the PBS documentary Dreamer, which centers on her song cycle Portraits: Douglass and Tubman. The tribute program also includes Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1 and William Grant Still’s Festive Overture. Together these works place the King commission within a lineage of Black American composers, a choice that extends the tribute beyond a single new piece. The orchestra will also host an UpTempo Teen Night before the April 29 performance.

A second world premiere, Adam Schoenberg’s Concerto for Body, arrives April 22 and 24, 2027, under Robert Spano, on a program with Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto featuring concertmaster David Coucheron and pianist Julie Coucheron.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Balances The Canon With New Work

The 2026-27 season pairs a core-repertoire cycle with new commissions, a structure that serves longtime subscribers and newer audiences at once. Brahms Revealed offers the continuity of a single composer across ten months. The Barnes and Schoenberg premieres, along with works by living composers such as Missy Mazzoli, keep the season connected to music being written now. For Midtown’s arts district, opening weekend also marks the start of a steady run of Thursday, Saturday and Sunday concerts through the fall.

 

FAQs

When Is The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Brahms Revealed Opening Weekend?

Opening weekend takes place Thursday, October 1, and Saturday, October 3, 2026, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, October 4, at 3 p.m. at Atlanta Symphony Hall.

What Is On The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Opening Weekend Program?

The program includes Handel’s Overture to Music for the Royal Fireworks, Brahms’ Violin Concerto with violinist Johan Dalene and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann.

What Is Brahms Revealed?

Brahms Revealed is the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s season-long project covering all four Brahms symphonies, his concertos, the Academic Festival Overture and Ein deutsches Requiem during the 2026-27 season.

When Is The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Coretta Scott King Tribute Concert?

The tribute concert takes place April 29 and May 1, 2027, at Atlanta Symphony Hall. It features new works by Jasmine Arielle Barnes and Carlos Simon, with Kedrick Armstrong conducting.

Where Is Atlanta Symphony Hall?

Atlanta Symphony Hall is located at the Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street NE, in Midtown Atlanta.