The era of Gustavo Dudamel begins this weekend as the New York Phil launches its 2026-2027 season. I have followed Dudamel’s concerts since he first arrived in Los Angeles. His loss will be felt for quite some time in LA.
Get ready, Manhattan. You’re in for quite a ride.
Here are the top New York Phil concerts to see this season:
DUDAMEL CONDUCTS MAHLER & TANIA LEÓN – September 24th – September 29th
Having seen Dudamel conduct most, if not all, of Mahler’s symphonies, I already know this will be a good concert as he leads a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.
The main attraction for me is the world premiere of Imágenes Mestizas from composer Tania León.
The LA Phil performed several of her works and I always enjoyed them. It’s no surprise Dudamel and the NY Phil got a commission for her to create a new work for them.
DUDAMEL CONDUCTS TOSCA AT CARNEGIE HALL – November 13th and November 15th
While in Los Angeles, Dudamel collaborated with the late architect Frank Gehry on performances of the first two of Wagner’s operas from The Ring Cycle. They were events. Dudamel told me at a press event that yes, the other two operas will take place in his former home.
All that to say, he knows his way around concert performances of opera.
Puccini’s Tosca is one of the most popular operas given its tragic nature (none of the three main characters survives the opera). The powerful music and great singing make it catnip for singers and opera aficionados.
Soprano Marina Rebeka, tenor Jonas Kaufmann and baritone Ludovic Tézier lead the ensemble. Rounding out the company are Ben Brady (bass-baritone); Christopher Humber Jr. (bass-baritone); Andrew Moore (bass-baritone), Ben Reisinger (tenor) and Benjamin Taylor (baritone).
The New York Philharmonic Chorus and Brooklyn Youth Chorus also join these two concert performances.
ROUVALI CONDUCTS SCHUBERT’S GREAT SYMPHONY – November 25th – December 1st
The title tells you the best-known work in this concert: Schubert’s Symphony No. 9. But it buries the lede as, in my humble opinion, the main event is the world premiere of a bassoon concerto from composer Kevin Puts. He’s the composer who wrote the music for the very popular opera version of The Hours.
Judith LeClair is the soloist. Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts.
Opening the concert is Florence Price’s Dances in the Canebrakes.
EVA OLLIKAINEN CONDUCTS SIBELIUS – January 8th – January 10th
This concert opens with Tchaikovsky’s popular Capriccio italien and closes with Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5.
No surprise, another world premiere is what intrigues me most about this concert.
Unsuk Chin’s Trumpet Concerto will be performed.
Håkan Hardenberger is the soloist.
JOHN ADAMS & VÍKINGUR ÓLAFSSON – February 4th – February 6th
Pianist Ólafsson recently has been performing Adams’ Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes – a piano concerto originally performed by Yuja Wang.
They clearly got along as Adams composed After the Fall, another piano concerto, for Ólafsson. The work had its world premiere with the San Francisco Symphony in January of 2025.
Being a big fan of both Adams and Ólafsson, I’d make a beeline for this concert without a moment’s hesitation.
The concert opens with two other works by Adams (who conducts): The Chairman Dances and Harmonielehre.
LEIF OVE ANDSNES PLAYS MISSY MAZZOLI / RAVEL’S DAPHNIS et CHLOÉ – February 11th – February 13th
Composer Missy Mazzoli’s Piano Concerto has its world premiere with pianist Andsnes in Hamburg just five days before it gets performed by the NY Philharmonic. Former NY Phil Music Director Alan Gilbert conducts the premiere.
Mazzoli wrote it specifically for Andsnes. Daniel Harding, who will be the next Music Director for the LA Philharmonic beginning in the 2027-2028 season, conducts these three performances.
Two pieces from Wagner’s Parsifal sandwich the piano concerto. As billed, the concert closes with Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, Suites Nos. 1 and 2.
If I’m going to be in New York for the Adams/Ólafsson concert, perhaps I should just stick around and see this one, too!
GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA: EL PAYADOR PERSEGUIDO – March 3rd – March 6th
Here’s another world premiere. This one by the composer Gustavo Santaolalla, an Academy Award winner for his scores for Brokeback Mountain and Babel, combines original music with the music and words of Atahualpa Yupanqui.
Yupanqui is revered as one of the finest musicians and poets to come from Argentina.
This multi-media concert (get ready, New York, Dudamel loves doing these) features the photography of Alberto Arvelo from Patagonia.
The title, El Payador Perseguido, translates as The Haunted Minstrel.
MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ: ALMA Y FUEGO – March 10th – March 14th
Remember what I just said about Dudamel liking multi-media productions? One week later there is this concert featuring work by performance artist Abramović.
She collaborated with film director Nabil Elderkin to create imagery to accompany Dudamel and the NY Phil.
The orchestra performs Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale and Falla’s El Amor brujo (1915 version).
Joining them is a truly wonderful vocalist, Pasión Vega.
Two sets of back-to-back weeks of compelling concerts. Will I have to move to New York?
HILARY HAHN PREMIERES DAVID LANG’S CONCERTO – April 1st – April 6th
The title says it all here, folks. Violinist Hahn gives the first performances of David Lang’s Violin Concerto. That’s all I need to know. But you might want to know more.
Elim Chan leads the New York Phil and they open the concert with Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. After Lang’s concerto they close the concert with Stravinsky’s complete The Firebird.
If you haven’t seen Elim Chan, I have. She’s quite good. This gives you another reason to see this concert!
MITSUKO UCHIDA PLAYS BEETHOVEN – May 19th – May 22nd
There was a time when I knew how to play the first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2. But since they wanted someone who could play the whole thing, I didn’t get the call.
Pianist Uchida was the right call to make.
The concert opens with Beethoven’s String Quartet in F minor, Op. 95, Serioso.
This was arranged for string orchestra by Mahler.
That is followed by the world premiere of a new song cycle by composer Gonzalo Grau. He uses the texts of Venezuelan poet Rafael Cadenas.
Gustavo Dudamel conducts.
DUDAMEL & BERNSTEIN’S MASS – June 9th – June 12th
Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic performed Leonard Bernstein’s Mass in 2018. The production, and it was a production, was directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer.
This is not that production but will likely bear some similarities. Kaneza Schaal directs this world premiere of her production.
Mass is one of Bernstein’s more thorny works in terms of how audiences have responded to it. There are those who absolutely hate it and those who absolutely love it.
Count me in the latter category for sure.
No cast information is available yet.
These eleven shows are my Top NY Phil Concerts to see in the 2026-2027 season.
Which ones will you go to?
Main Photo: Gustavo Dudamel (Photo ©Jason Bell/Courtesy Unison Media)