The New Haven Symphony Orchestra announces the concert programs for its 2024 – 2025 Concert Season, featuring dynamic programs and a world-class lineup of guest artists. In his debut as the orchestra’s Music Director, Conductor Perry So has assembled a year of programs to inspire, delight, challenge, and connect audiences.
Season Highlights include:
- A star-studded guest line-up including Latin Grammy-Winner Trumpeter Pacho Flores, Grammy-Nominated Pipa virtuoso Wu Man, and Ukrainian pianist Inna Faliks
- The reimagining of Beethoven’s only ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus, in collaboration with the Tia Russell Dance Studioand New Haven’s Poet Laureate Sharmont Little
- Principal Pops Conductor Chelsea Tipton, II leading programs at the Lyman Center at SCSU and Shelton High School featuring video game funk-fusion band DiscoCactus, and American Songbook diva Joan Ellison
- The NHSO’s first performance of historically marginalized American composer Nathaniel Dett’s epic oratorio, The Ordering of Moses
- Intimate Candlelight Concerts featuring Concertmaster David Southorn at the historic St. Mary’s Church
- Chorale collaborations with CT Gay Men’s Chorus, Elm City Girls Choir, Middletown Chorale, New Haven Heritage Chorale, New Haven Chorale, and Yale Glee Club
- Free Young People’s Concerts, Free Family Concerts, and Free tickets for Youth under 18
“In the last few years, we’ve lived through the silencing of voices, separation, loneliness; the music I have chosen this season and the artists we have invited represent a coming together, a path forward, and an idea of making and sharing music that shaped my very being from childhood: music as a portal into new and different worlds.” – Perry So
Perry So is Music Director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. He also currently serves as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra (Navarre Symphony Orchestra). He served as Associate Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Conducting Fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Artistic Collaborator of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Spain, and on the conducting faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. As a student at Yale University, he founded an orchestra and led the undergraduate opera company. He received his training as a conductor initially under James Sinclair and subsequently with Gustav Meier at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore and received First and Special Prizes at the International Prokofiev Conducting Competition in St Petersburg, Russia. His first season as music director of the NHSO will begin in September 2024, with a preview performance on June 15, 2024 at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.
Tickets and Subscriptions
To purchase tickets, visit NewHavenSymphony.org or call (203) 693-1486.
Patrons who purchase tickets or subscribe to 3 or more concerts get a 20% discount that can be applied to any subsequent ticket purchases on concerts through June 2025. Subscription packages start as low as $36. Subscriptions are on sale now; tickets to individual performances will be available for purchase for members (donors) beginning July 15 and for the general public beginning July 22. Ticket prices for individual concerts vary by performance and start as low as $15. Young People’s Concerts are free admission although ticket registration is required. Special ticket offers include:
- Kid Tix: Tickets for kids 17 and under are free with the purchase of an adult ticket.
- Blue Star Tickets: Active military receive free admission to all performances.
- Blind Audience Members: The NHSO is a recipient of special funding that provides a limited number of complimentary tickets for blind audiences. (Must be reserved in advance.)
- Groups: Groups of 10 or more get 20% off regular ticket prices.
2024-2025 SEASON CONCERT SCHEDULE:
BEETHOVEN’S NINTH Ode to Joy
Sunday, September 22 – 3pm – Woolsey Hall
Perry So, music director | Annie Rosen, mezzo-soprano | Chad Kranak, tenor | Additional Soloists TBA
CT Gay Men’s Chorus | New Haven Chorale | New Haven Heritage Chorale | Yale Glee Club
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Op. 125, D minor “Choral”
CLARA & JOHANNES
Thursday, October 17 – 7:30pm – Woolsey Hall
Perry So, music director | Inna Faliks, piano
Charles Ives Three Places in New England
Clara Wieck (Schumann) Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 7
Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 4
IT’S MAGIC! Joan Ellison Swings in High Fidelity
Saturday, November 2 – 3pm – Lyman Center for the Performing Arts
Sunday, November 3 – 3pm – Shelton High School
Chelsea Tipton, II, Principal Pops Conductor | Joan Ellison, Guest Vocalist
Sparks will fly when Joan Ellison brings the Golden Age of studio recording back to life with a swinging celebration of the most dazzling singers, songwriters, and arrangers of the mid-twentieth century. The timeless hits include Rosemary Clooney’s “April in Paris,” Peggy Lee’s “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” Lena Horne’s “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man of Mine,” Judy Garland’s “San Francisco” and “When The Sun Comes Out,” Ella Fitzgerald’s “’S Wonderful,” Doris Day’s “It’s Magic,” and many more.
PROMETHEUS
Sunday, November 24 – 3pm – Lyman Center for the Performing Arts
Perry So, music director | Sharmont Influence-Little, New Haven Poet Laureate | Tia Russell Dance Studio, Dance & Original Choreography
Ludwig van Beethoven The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43
HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA Joy to the World!
Saturday, December 14 – 3pm – Lyman Center for the Performing Arts
Sunday, December 15 – 3pm – Shelton High School
Chelsea Tipton, II, principal pops conductor
Experience the joy of holiday music from around the world in Connecticut’s favorite festive tradition, the NHSO’s Holiday Extravaganza!
CAROLING, CAROLING
Sunday, December 22 – 3pm – Woolsey Hall
Perry So, music director | Elm City Girls Choir
Led by music director Perry So, your NHSO and the enchanting voices of the Elm City Girls Choir invite you to gather family and friends for an afternoon of history’s most beautiful Christmas Carols. Sing-along with a professional orchestra and remember why music helps to make the season bright. #falalalala
THE ORDERING OF MOSES
Sunday, February 9 – 3pm – Woolsey Hall
Perry So, music director | New Haven Heritage Chorale
Robert Nathaniel Dett The Ordering of Moses
In 1937, NBC began a live radio broadcast of Black American composer Robert Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses. However… mid-performance NBC cut the broadcast feed giving in to complaints from outraged listeners. On February 9, Experience Dett’s full-length oratorio – performed without interruption – and find out why it might be the greatest American choral work of all time.
CANDLELIGHT CONCERT
Friday, February 28 – 7:30pm – St. Mary’s Church
Saturday, March 1 – 7:30pm – St. Mary’s Church
David Southorn, concertmaster (principal violin)
Experience a candlelit performance led by concertmaster David Southorn and featuring NHSO strings while immersed in the beautiful surroundings of New Haven’s historic St. Mary’s Church.
SCHEHERAZADE
Sunday, March 23 – 3pm – Woolsey Hall
Perry So, music director | Wu Man, pipa
Unsuk Chin subito con forza
Du Yun Ears of the Book — Pipa Concerto
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade, op. 35
YOUNG PEOPLE’S CONCERTS
Sunday, March 30 – 1pm – Lyman Center for the Performing Arts
Tuesday, April 1 – 10am & 12pm – Lyman Center for the Performing Arts (field trips)
Perry So, music director
Led by music director Perry So, the 91st Annual Young People’s Concerts will introduce the newest generation of music lovers to the amazing sounds of a live symphony orchestra!
DANZAS SINFÓNICAS featuring Trumpeter Pacho Flores
Sunday, May 4 – 3pm – Woolsey Hall
Perry So, music director | Pacho Flores, trumpet
2023 Latin GRAMMY triple-nominee Pacho Flores makes his NHSO debut with Daniel Freiberg’s new Trumpet Concerto, and Perry So leads the NHSO in music by Arturo Márquez, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Silvestre Revueltas.
LET’S PLAY! Video Game Music Reimagined Featuring DiscoCactus
Saturday, May 31- 3pm – Lyman Center for the Performing Arts
Sunday, June 1 – 3pm – Shelton High School
Chelsea Tipton, II, principal pops conductor | DiscoCactus: Pete Bobinski, guitar | Sam Bobinski, bass | Laura Intravia, voice, flute, ewi | Doug Perry, drums, vibraphone, voice | Chris Pierorazio, drums | Matheus Garcia Souza, violin | Ben Wallace, keyboard
Grab a controller ticket for the ultimate multiplayer mode: your New Haven Symphony Orchestra live in concert with video game music band DiscoCactus! These versatile, classically-trained, funk-fusion musicians tour the world playing video game soundtracks for live audiences, and now travel to New Haven for the debut of their first-ever show with orchestra. Featuring tunes from such gaming classics as The Legend of Zelda and Minecraft, to beloved indie titles like Hollow Knight and CrossCode, there’s something for everyone at this family-friendly concert.
About the New Haven Symphony Orchestra
The fourth-oldest orchestra in America, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s exceptional and accessible performances and education programs reach more than 40,000 audience members and 20,000 students each year. Innovative programming and a dedication to the commission of new works inspires deeper audience engagement and meaningful artistic and educational collaborations. Through the nationally-acclaimed Harmony Fellowship program, as well as numerous award-winning education and community engagement programs, the Symphony strives to be a leader for racial equity in the arts. To learn more about the NHSO, visit NewHavenSymphony.org.
The New Haven Symphony Orchestra is sponsored by Avangrid Lighting Up the Arts, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development: Office of the Arts, Frontier, NewAlliance Foundation, New Haven Register, Southern Connecticut State University, Valley Community Foundation, and generous members of its community.
