Carnegie Hall Reveals 2026–2027 Season Featuring RING CYCLE and TOSCA in Concert, Plus More

Carnegie Hall has revealed programming for its 2026–2027 season, including more than 170 concerts by many of the world’s finest artists and ensembles, plus wide-reaching education and social impact programs created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, serving audiences in New York City and beyond.

Major programming highlights include opera-in-concert performances, including Wagner’s complete Ring cycle led by Gianandrea Noseda with the Orchestra of the Zurich Opera House and Puccini’s Tosca with Gustavo Dudamel conducting in his first Carnegie Hall appearances as the new music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic, with all operas featuring an internationally renowned lineup of singers; two Perspectives series curated by celebrated artists—singer, bassist, and composer esperanza spalding and violinist Maxim Vengerov whose series underpins an expansive exploration of Beethoven’s masterworks; a Mahler symphony cycle led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; and the season-long appointment of Caroline Shaw to hold the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair.

From the world of Broadway: The New York Pops and Music Director Steven Reineke present five programs throughout the season including collaborations with Tony Award winner Lena Hall; Denée Benton and Jordan Donica, co-stars in HBO’s hit show, The Gilded Age; holiday concerts with Derek Klena and Lindsay Mendez, plus more. See the full New York Pops lineup HERE!

Tony- and Grammy-Award winner Leslie Odom, Jr. makes his Carnegie Hall debut with a holiday concert filled with seasonal classics and heartfelt originals; and A Night of Inspiration returns with an uplifting evening of music, dance, and spoken word from diverse traditions, featuring an all-star lineup of artists under the direction of Ray Chew—acclaimed composer, producer, and music director of Dancing with the Stars, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Showtime at the Apollo, and more—with co-producer Vivian Scott Chew.

2026–2027 Carnegie Hall Season Overview

Carnegie Hall’s 2026–2027 season kicks off on Thursday October 8 with a festive Opening Night Gala performance by Kirill Petrenko and the Berliner Philharmoniker featuring Italian opera favorites with tenor Jonas Kaufmann, plus Respighi’s Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome. Petrenko and the orchestra will return for three additional concerts, including a program to include Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. That concert is bookended by two performances of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with pianist Daniil Trifonov and Richard Strauss’s towering Also sprach Zarathustra.

Opera-in-concert has long been a treasured tradition at Carnegie Hall, inviting audiences to experience some of the world’s most extraordinary music in the acoustically ideal setting of one of the world’s great concert halls.

In November 2026, Gustavo Dudamel and the New York Philharmonic will partner with Carnegie Hall to launch a five-year project that will annually bring exciting presentations of operas in concert to Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. This new initiative kicks off with Dudamel conducting the orchestra in two performances of Puccini’s Tosca, joined by a stellar international cast, including soprano Marina Rebeka in the title role, tenor Jonas Kaufmann as Cavaradossi, and baritone Ludovic Tézier as Scarpia, plus the New York Philharmonic Chorus. These performances will mark Dudamel’s first appearances at Carnegie Hall leading the orchestra as its new music and artistic director as of fall 2026.

Further building on this tradition, a major highlight of the 2026–2027 season will be the presentation of Wagner’s complete Ring cycle in March 2027, performed in concert by Gianandrea Noseda and the Orchestra of the Zurich Opera House (in its Carnegie Hall debut) with a phenomenal cast of Wagnerian singers specially selected for these performances. This will mark the first time that the Ring will be presented in its entirety at Carnegie Hall. The four operas in the cycle—Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung—will be presented over six days. Some cast members will appear in multiple performances in key roles—including Michael Volle as Wotan / Der Wanderer, Klaus Florian Vogt as Siegfried, and Camilla Nylund as Brünnhilde, among others—enabling concertgoers to experience their artistry across the span of this monumental work.

Curated Perspectives series by two celebrated musicians—Maxim Vengerov and esperanza spalding—are major programmatic focuses in 2026–2027.

In the final installment of his three-season Perspectives, internationally acclaimed violinist Maxim Vengerov’s seven-concert series will include an expansive exploration of Beethoven’s masterworks and more. This will include performances with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Antonio Pappano of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Triple Concerto with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Kirill Gerstein; three back-to-back duo recitals with acclaimed pianist Martha Argerich featuring the complete Beethoven’s violin sonatas; and Beethoven piano trios with pianist Evgeny Kissin and cellist Gautier Capuçon. In addition, a highlight of his Perspectives will be a March gala performance celebrating the centenary of his mentor, the legendary late Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich. He joins pianist Evgeny Kissin, Semyon Bychkov, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s for this special program to include music by Britten, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich.

Vengerov’s Perspectives lays the foundation for a broader focus on Beethoven’s works throughout the 2026–2027 season including a performance of the composer’s Missa solemnis by Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra; performances of the complete string quartets over six concerts by Quatuor Ébène; an all-Beethoven chamber program with cellist Sheku-Kanneh Mason and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor with violinist Hilary Hahn; and the launch of a complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas across the 2026–2027 and 2027–2028 seasons by pianist Igor Levit.

Five-time Grammy-winning bassist, singer, and composer esperanza spalding will curate a multidisciplinary three-concert Perspectives throughout Carnegie Hall’s 2026–2027 season. Her series includes a Zankel Hall program bringing together celebrated jazz artists and contemporary dance innovators from across New York City; a Well-Being Concert at New York City’s The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine; and a unique performance in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage that will convene esperanza’s dynamic new jazz and folk ensemble for the first time, interweaving musical styles and contemporary dance into an immersive event.

Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award–winning composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Caroline Shaw has been appointed as holder of the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall for the 2026–2027 season. Works by Shaw will be featured on 12 programs next season—including on all four concerts in the Quartets Plus series in Weill Recital Hall. Her chamber music will be performed by leading ensembles, including the Ariel Quartet, Junction Trio, Marmen Quartet, Miró Quartet, The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble Connect, musicians from The Juilliard School, and Attacca Quartet with orchestral works presented by The Knights and The Philadelphia Orchestra. As half of the “electronic cinematic pop duo” Ringdown, Shaw will present the world premiere of Reverberations, a multidisciplinary, semi-staged work, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, composed and performed in collaboration with Decoda.

The 2026–2027 season will also feature many of the top orchestras from around the world. A landmark undertaking throughout the year will be performances of Mahler’s nine completed symphonies led by world-renowned conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. With concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera House, the cycle will feature three distinguished orchestras with which Nézet-Séguin has longstanding relationships—The Met Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic.

Additional orchestral highlights in 2026–2027 will also include Franz Welser-Möst leading his final Carnegie Hall concerts as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra; the first Carnegie Hall appearances by the Munich Philharmonic with Lahav Shani as Chief Conductor; the return of Sir Simon Rattle for two performances, one each with The Philadelphia Orchestra and The Met Orchestra; performances by Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with young Japanese violinist Himari and cellist Yo-Yo Ma; and an all-Brahms program by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the second installment of a four-year focus on Brahms’ symphonies and concertos.

Orchestra of St. Luke’s performs four times in 2026–2027, including concerts with Louis Langrée, Andrew Manze, Christophe Rousset, and Daniele Rustioni. The New York String Orchestra will return for its annual December concerts led, for the first time, by new Artistic Director Michael Stern.

Joining the high-powered chamber music presentations within the Vengerov Perspectives / Beethoven focus, another all-star evening of chamber music will feature violinists Leonidas Kavakos and Gil Shaham, violists Lawrence Power and Antoine Tamestit, and cellists Kian Soltani and Alisa Weilerstein who come together to perform Brahms’s two string sextets.

The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble returns for its six-concert series, including collaborations with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conducting and at the keyboard. Three boundary-pushing concerts by The Knights—led by artistic directors Eric and Colin Jacobsen—range from a creative program centered on Mozart and his contemporary, Saint-Georges, to the New York premiere of a new work by Nico Muhly, performed in collaboration with Brooklyn Rider. Also included among the 2026–2027 highlights is a performance by the always adventurous Danish String Quartet, plus concerts by Decoda, Ensemble Connect, Sphinx Virtuosi, and alumni and recent competition winners of Young Concert Artists.

Pianist Yunchan Lim—gold medal winner at the Cliburn Competition who made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2024—will perform Mozart’s complete piano sonatas and fantasies on four concerts throughout the season.

Alongside Lim and Igor Levit who each present multiple performances this year, the distinguished lineup of pianists appearing in recital includes Piotr Anderszewski, Yulianna Avdeena, Emanuel Ax, Seong-Jin Cho, Anna Geniushene, Hélène Grimaud, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, Víkingur Ólafsson, Minsoo Sohn, Lukas Sternath, Daniil Trifonov, Mitsuko Uchida, and Yuja Wang.

Among a wide range of contemporary music offerings: Carnegie Hall celebrates the 90th birthdays of iconic composers Philip Glass and Steve Reich, each with a dedicated concert to include premieres of new works; the Bang On a Can All-Stars will mark their 40th anniversary with the New York premiere of music by David Lang, plus thought-provoking concerts by Kronos Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and electronic artist Jlin with Third Coast Percussion.

Early music highlights include the return of Il Pomo d’Oro, joined for the first time by celebrated baritenor Michael Spyres, performing vocal showpieces and bravura arias; The English Concert with Artistic Director Harry Bicket performing Alessandro as part of their multi-year Handel project at Carnegie Hall with French countertenor Christophe Dumaux singing the title role of Alexander the Great; Apollo’s Fire with harpsichordist Jeannette Sorrell and soprano Jeanine De Bique exploring the historical connections between Europe and the Caribbean colonies of the 18th century; and Les Violons du Roy collaborating with charismatic mandolinist Avi Avital, presenting music by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi, and more.

In addition to concerts curated by esperanza spalding, jazz programs next season include saxophone virtuoso, vocalist, composer, and bandleader Lakecia Benjamin in her Zankel Hall debut, and pianist, bandleader, and composer Billy Childs leading a world-class quintet in celebration of his 70th birthday and his Carnegie Hall headlining debut, both part of the Hall’s Shape of Jazz series. In Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, NEA Jazz Masters and multiple Grammy Award winners Branford Marsalis and Dianne Reeves celebrate the John Coltrane centennial, appearing with the versatile Branford Marsalis Quintet.

Adding elements of Americana to the season, Carnegie Hall will present the Punch Brothers—a Grammy Award-winning, virtuosic quintet formed by renowned mandolinist Chris Thile and comprising bluegrass, folk, and contemporary country-meets-classical musicians; and soprano Renée Fleming and banjo great Béla Fleck will be joined by Fleck’s all-star My Bluegrass Heart band for a celebration of Appalachian folk music.

Reflecting its growing commitment to celebrating music and culture from abroad, Carnegie Hall welcomes back the groundbreaking Silkroad Ensemble with its founder, Yo-Yo Ma; its current artistic director, the Pulitzer Prize–winning folk musician and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens; and a lineup of Silkroad virtuosos to celebrate the ensemble’s 25 years of connecting the world through music.

Legendary fiddler Martin Hayes leads a family-friendly concert celebration for St. Patrick’s Day, featuring an exciting variety of special guests, including pianist Thomas Bartlett, one of Hayes’s bandmates in Irish American supergroup, The Gloaming. The evening—co-presented by Askonas Holt in collaboration with New York’s Irish Arts Center and Dublin’s National Concert Hall—will include traditional sean-nós singing and dancing, poetry, and modern takes on Irish traditions.

A new annual Indian Music Festival, created by Carnegie Hall, will make its debut in May 2027. Featuring renowned artists, the new three-day festival will offer New York audiences an immersive exploration of India’s classical music traditions and vibrant contemporary voices. The artist lineup for the inaugural festival will be announced later in 2026.

Reaching beyond the walls of Carnegie Hall and into the city’s neighborhoods, the Carnegie Hall Citywide concert series continues with free performances offered in venues throughout New York City, including annual summer concerts in Bryant Park and Madison Square Park. The 2026–2027 Carnegie Hall Citywide season—to include dozens of performances in all five boroughs with the best in classical, jazz, folk, Latin music, and more—will be announced in the coming months.