Watch and enjoy live concert videos by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, educational concerts, plus the full on-demand archive.
Enjoy this encore presentation of the April 27, 2019 program conducted by Nicholas McGegan featuring Vivaldi's choral masterpiece Gloria plus the composer's Concerto Grosso, RV 565. Please Note: This week’s new DSO Digital Concerts with Dmitry Sinkovsky have been postponed due to a positive COVID...
Hailed as the foremost jazz violinist of her generation, Detroit native and MacArthur “genius” fellow Regina Carter returns to Orchestra Hall for an intimate duo set with accomplished jazz pianist and MSU professor Xavier Davis. Enjoy this live performance safely from the comfort of your home.
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Renowned for interpretations of clarity, elegance, and intelligence, conductor Kent Nagano leads the DSO in a performance of Schubert’s fifth symphony, written during a time when the composer was captivated by the works of Mozart. Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa’s opera Stilles Meer was his res...
When one of the Romantic era’s most popular composers takes a tour of Scotland, chances are it will inspire the creation of a new symphony. Just is the case with Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3, with an opening theme that was first sketched as he visited ruins of the chapel where Mary was crowned Qu...
The DSO welcomes Midori, a visionary artist, activist, and educator, to Orchestra Hall. She joins DSO Music Director Jader Bignamini to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. The concerto’s memorable opening melody would not let Mendelssohn rest until he had committed it to paper.
DSO Music Director Jader Bignami leads the DSO in a program featuring two works of Austrian composers that found their inspiration far from home. Schubert composed two overtures “In the Italian Style” as he looked to evoke the music of Rossini, while Haydn’s final symphony was the culmination of ...
Pianist Shai Wosner joins musicians of the DSO in an intimate chamber setting for music of Antonin Dvořák. Legends, originally composed for piano duet, is a series of ten smaller works that set a reflective mood, arranged here for piano, clarinet, and viola. His second piano quintet was originall...
Originally composed as a string quartet, Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony was born out if personal crisis, as he reluctantly joined the Communist Party. While officially dedicated in memory of victims of “fascism and war,” he privately confessed he composed it in memory of himself, fearing otherwi...
DSO Music Director Laureate Leonard Slatkin returns to lead the DSO in a program of folk-infused works. William Grant Still, often referred to as the “dean of African American composers” drew from throughout the western hemisphere to compose his folk suites, while Ginastera’s Concerto for Strings...
Wynton Marsalis and members from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra reunite with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for a jazz-inspired program led by conductor Williams Eddins and featuring Principal Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, Anthony McGill. This Classical Roots Celebration concert wi...
Performing as a septet with former DSO Erb Jazz Chair Wynton Marsalis, musicians from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra make their long-awaited return to Orchestra Hall to perform music by jazz giants Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck, and more!
Pianist Louis Lortie returns to Detroit to perform Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto, first performed by his wife Clara and featuring a tender melody that spells out the letters of her name. Before that, hear Rossini’s bombastic Overture to La scala di seta.
Picture the clouds rolling high above Woodward Avenue as you listen to Lachlan Skipworth’s Avem asperitas, a soundscape that tells of a storm that will never quite arrive. Alberto Ginastera shines a spotlight on each section of the orchestra in the Variaciones concertantes, all while evoking the ...
For over a century, Broadway has been the place to be for the latest showstoppers and hit musicals. Hear the best of Broadway’s “then” and “now” in this two-part musical journey from the Golden age through today!
For over a century, Broadway has been the place to be for the latest showstoppers and hit musicals. Hear the best of Broadway’s “then” and “now” in this two-part musical journey from the Golden age through today!
Composer Tania Leon draws upon her ancestry mixed in French, Spanish, Chinese, African, and Cuban musical heritages, bringing that variety of parts together in her work Indigena, while Baiba Skride performs the first of a two-part set of Mozart violin concertos during this week.
Nicknamed “Jupiter” for opening chords that reminded listeners of thunderbolts, Mozart’s final symphony is among the greatest in classical music. Armenian-Venezuelan conductor Domingo Hindoyan leads a performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 along with music of Puerto Rican-born composer Robert Si...
The Blues is at the heart and soul of nearly every form of music in the past 100 years. Featuring the stunning vocals of Shayna Steele, join the DSO in a tribute to musical legends including Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Ma Rainey, Louis Armstrong and more.
The Blues is at the heart and soul of nearly every form of music in the past 100 years. Featuring the stunning vocals of Shayna Steele, join the DSO in a tribute to musical legends including Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Ma Rainey, Louis Armstrong and more.
The viola section takes center stage for Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 as DSO Principal and Assistant Principal Violas Eric Nowlin and James VanValkenburg lead their colleagues in this instrumental masterwork of the baroque era. Then, we hear English composer Anna Clyne’s Stride, named for th...
Translated as “Ceremony,” “Resonance,” and “Prayer,” the three movements of Sebastian Fagerlund’s Partita for Percussion and Strings each signify a different aspect of one’s inner, spiritual struggle; the need for everyone to find his or her own ‘prayer’.
French composer Étienne Méhul stands in the history books as the first composer to be labeled a “Romantic”. His first symphony was written in the same year as Beethoven’s fifth, and shares a similar dramatic style. It would be revived thirty years later by Felix Mendelssohn, another figure of the...
Mozart composed his Piano Concerto No. 20 at the height of his popularity. It was heralded at its premiere and would become a favorite of audiences and composers, including Beethoven, who featured the work within his personal repertoire.
Join us online for a marathon festival experience that celebrates Detroit's landmark jazz legacy hosted by Mark Stryker, award-winning arts reporter and author of Jazz from Detroit. The event will feature salon-style interviews & performances by Marcus Elliot & Michael Malis duo, Robert Hurst Gro...
Join us for an encore presentation of a global music collaboration! Cuban-born jazz pianist and composer Fabian Almazan and his ensemble join forces with a DSO String Quartet to perform Almazan’s composition Alcanza, a vibrant multi-movement suite that fuses jazz and contemporary classical chambe...
The holidays don’t officially arrive until you hear Vince Guaraldi’s classic score from A Charlie Brown Christmas. Virtuosic and playful, pianist Cyrus Chestnut infuses these classic charts with his soulful sound. Hear all your favorites: "Linus and Lucy," "Christmas Time is Here," "O Tannenbaum,...
Spoken word artist La Shaun Phoenix Moore hosts a virtual evening featuring a showcase of Detroit’s finest poets, followed by a special musical performance by New York-based singer, award-winning songwriter & actor Lulu Fall accompanied by Detroit guitarist Sasha Kashperko.
Famed Scottish conductor Donald Runnicles leads the DSO in a program including Britten’s tribute to his teacher that brought him international attention, and Carlos Simon’s An Elegy: Cry from the Grave, a haunting dedication to those murdered by oppressive powers.
CARLOS SIMON
An Elegy: A Cry fr...
Join the DSO and the amazing acrobats of Troupe Vertigo for symphonic tricks, treats, and spooky surprises as we kick off another exciting season of Family programming. Our annual costume contest will continue online and is sure to get you in the Halloween spirit—it’s fun for the whole family!
Violist-composer Nokuthula Ngwenyama writes "music of bold, mesmerizing character," including her captivating viola quintet Primal Message, heard here in the world premiere of its orchestral version. Dvořák's lively and enchanting Serenade for Strings remains one of his most popular orchestral wo...
Jennifer Koh's world premiere of Chris Cerrone's Violin Concerto was a highlight of the DSO's 17-18 season. She returns for a new work by Tyshawn Sorey, praised for creating immersive sound worlds that defy categorization. Florence Price’s arrangement of Spirituals for string quartet are equal pa...
Enjoy a collection of archived performances including works by Mozart, Bernstein, and Bach with featured DSO soloists Ralph Skiano (Principal Clarinet), Scott Strong (Horn), and Hannah Hammel (Principal Flute).
Please note: The originally scheduled live chamber music program has been postponed d...
Pianist Marc-André Hamelin makes his return to Orchestra Hall for Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet. This unusual instrumentation of piano, violin, viola, cello, and bass leaves room for the piano to shine with stunning melodies, some taken directly from Schubert’s deep catalogue of vocal music.
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Dance through the decades and waltz around the world as the DSO treats you to a night on the town! With a special appearance by a dazzling duo of champion dancers from the renowned Dance New York studio, you'll enjoy a musical tour with stops at the ballet, the hottest night clubs, bustling ballr...
Transport yourself to turn-of-the-century France for these two works of Ravel and Stravinsky conducted by Enrique Mazzola. The serene Pavane for a Dead Princess transitions perfectly into the biting and militaristic Soldier’s Tale, the story of a soldier who trades his violin to a shadowy figure ...
Pianist Inon Barnatan steps onto the Orchestra Hall stage for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, a non-stop whirlwind of sweet melodies. Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll was written as a birthday present for his wife Cosima, performed through her window as she awoke in their villa overlooking Lake Lucerne. ...
DSO Music Director Jader Bignamini returns for the “Eroica,” Beethoven’s monumental Third Symphony. From the very first notes, Beethoven turns the idea of the symphony on its head, presenting the wide range of emotions and characters that would come to define orchestral music for the next century...
Celebrate the season with Detroit’s favorite holiday musical tradition. DSO audience favorite Thomas Wilkins leads a heartwarming program of carols and classics – and yes, Virginia, there will be a Santa Claus!
