[VT | September 10, 2026 | Philadelphia PA]
The Philadelphia Orchestra will open its 2026–27 season on Thursday, September 24, at Marian Anderson Hall in the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, pairing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the U.S. premiere of Composer-in-Residence Joe Hisaishi’s Orbis.
Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead the Orchestra in the 7 p.m. Opening Night concert, marking the beginning of his 15th season in Philadelphia. The performance comes as the Orchestra enters its next chapter following its 125th-anniversary season.
Hisaishi’s Orbis was composed as a companion work to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and draws inspiration from Beethoven and the symphony’s celebrated “Ode to Joy.” The September 24 performance will mark the work’s first presentation in the United States.
The program will bring together the Philadelphia Orchestra and Philadelphia Symphonic Choir with soprano Leah Hawkins, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Issachah Savage, and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green. Joe Miller will direct the choir.
Several of the featured artists have close ties to Philadelphia. Hawkins and Savage are Philadelphia natives, while Bridges is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and currently serves as a visiting faculty member there. All four vocalists have previously performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Philadelphia Symphonic Choir will also celebrate its 10th anniversary during the 2026–27 season.
“Opening our season with Beethoven’s iconic Ninth Symphony is a special way to begin this next chapter for The Philadelphia Orchestra,” Nézet-Séguin said in announcing the program. He described the pairing with Hisaishi’s Orbis as bringing together a work central to the Orchestra’s musical legacy with one pointing toward its future.
Opening Night will also serve as a benefit for the Musicians’ Retirement Fund. Philadelphia Orchestra musicians and Nézet-Séguin are donating their services for the concert.
The 2026 celebration marks the 40th season in which the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Volunteer Committees have presented Opening Night festivities. The committees date to 1904 and have supported the Orchestra and its work in the Philadelphia region for more than a century.
Opening Night
When: Thursday, September 24, 2026, 7 p.m.
Where: Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Program: Joe Hisaishi, Orbis — U.S. Premiere; Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (“Choral”)
Performers: The Philadelphia Orchestra; Philadelphia Symphonic Choir; Leah Hawkins, soprano; J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano; Issachah Savage, tenor; Ryan Speedo Green, bass-baritone.
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2026–27 season is sponsored by TD Bank.
