New York, NY (May 28, 2025) – The Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center celebrates its second season under Renée and Robert Belfer Music & Artistic Director Jonathon Heyward, featuring exciting premieres and commissions paired with timeless classics, July 19 to August 9, 2025.
The 2025 season spans past and present, featuring a living composer on every program paired with timeless classics. This summer also sees Heyward’s continued exploration of Robert Schumann’s four symphonies through the lens of mental health, presented in collaboration with Jameel Arts & Health Lab, established with the World Health Organization (WHO). All Festival Orchestra performances are Choose-What-You-Pay, starting at $5.
Highlights include:
- A world premiere commission by James Lee III, Connected Perceptions;
- The New York premiere of Anna Clyne’s Glasslands, featuring saxophonist Jess Gillam in her Lincoln Center debut;
- Guest conductors Dame Jane Glover, Karen Kamensek, and Joana Carneiro;
- Violinist James Ehnes performing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2; soprano Gabriella Reyes performing Britten’s Les illuminations and Golijov’s Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra; and Yeol Eum Son in her NYC solo debut performing Clara Schumann’s Konzertsatz in F minor—the first major public performance of this piece in NYC;
- Act I of Mozart’s Zaide, featuring alumni from the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program: Erika Baikoff (soprano), Eric Ferring (tenor); Ben Strong (bass-baritone); and Denyce Graves as narrator;
- Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto,” featuring soloists from the orchestra, concertmaster Ruggero Allifranchini and principal cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn, alongside pianist Leonora Armellini;
- Cellist Sterling Elliott, recipient of a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant, is the featured soloist for The Avery Fisher Legacy Concert, performing Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme;
- The return of the “Symphony of Choice” concert—giving audiences the opportunity to vote on the evening’s program;
- Continued collaborations with the New York Philharmonic through their Very Young Composers Program (VYC) and the New York City Public Schools’ Summer Arts Institute (SAI)
https://lincolncenter.org/series/summer-for-the-city/s/Festival%20Orchestra%20of%20Lincoln%20Center
***
Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center Season
July 19 – August 9, 2025
Renée and Robert Belfer Music & Artistic Director Jonathon Heyward
Part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City
Symphony of Choice: A Crowd-Composed Concert
July 19 at 7:30 pm
Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall
Jonathon Heyward, conductor
In the mood for a little Brahms or Beethoven, sprinkled in with some new discoveries? The choice is yours! Our popular “crowd-composed concert” is back, and you get to decide what you will hear. Use text-to-vote during the concert to choose from a menu of repertoire that previews the Festival Orchestra’s summer season. The evening’s program is in your hands!
Folklore and Legends: Jonathon Heyward Conducts Brahms’s First Symphony
July 22 and 23 at 7:30 pm
Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall
Jonathon Heyward, conductor
Jess Gillam, saxophone
Emilie Mayer – Faust Overture
Anna Clyne – Glasslands (New York premiere)
Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 1 in C minor
Revel in classic tales as Music Director Jonathon Heyward guides you through an evening full of drama. Discover the music of Emilie Mayer—a contemporary of Brahms—with a rare performance of her impassioned Faust Overture inspired by the tragic figure from the classic German legend. Experience the New York premiere of Anna Clyne’s Glasslands, featuring the brilliant saxophonist Jess Gillam portraying the mournful keens and wails of the banshee from Irish folklore. For the second half, bask in Brahms’s lyrical First Symphony, bringing together his signature stormy passion and melodies inspired by an Alpine shepherd’s song.
FREE
Festival Orchestra Pre-Show Discussion: Arts for Social and Structural Wellbeing
July 25 at 6:00 pm
Kenneth C. Griffin Sidewalk Studio, David Geffen Hall
Dr. Nisha Sajnani, moderator
Panelists:
Yazmany Arboleda
Sulu LeoNimm
Joe Salvatore
Meena Bhasin (Violist, Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center)
How can the arts be leveraged to influence policy, health systems, and social movements? Join leading artists, researchers, and lived experience experts in a 3-part series of conversations exploring the intersection of arts and healing, presented as part of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab’s global Healing Arts initiative in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). This conversation will be curated and moderated by Dr. Nisha Sajnani, Assoc. Professor and Director of the NYU Steinhardt Graduate Program in Drama Therapy, Chair of the NYU Creative Arts Therapies Consortium, Co-Director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, and co-founder of Healing Arts NYC, a city-wide arts and health network. Dr. Sajnani is an advocate for the arts as a global health resource and leads an international network of researchers dedicated to measurably improving lives through the arts and arts therapies.
Timeless Transformations: Dame Jane Glover and Sterling Elliott in the Avery Fisher Legacy Concert
July 25 and 26 at 7:30 pm
Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall
Dame Jane Glover, conductor
Sterling Elliott, cello
Erika Baikoff, soprano
Eric Ferring, tenor
Ben Strong, bass-baritone
Denyce Graves, narrator
Michael Abels – More Seasons
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Variations on a Rococo Theme
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Act I from Zaide
Mozart inspires and delights in this scintillating program led by Dame Jane Glover. Indulge in Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Michael Abels’s “More Seasons”, which seamlessly weaves Baroque influences into a uniquely modern creation. Be dazzled by Tchaikovsky’s virtuosic Rococo Variations—based on the style of Mozart—in a performance by cellist Sterling Elliott, recipient of a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant and featured soloist for The Avery Fisher Legacy Concert. The evening culminates in Act I of Mozart’s inventive Zaide, one of his Singspiels (or “singing plays”), featuring almuni from the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.
FREE
Relaxed Open Rehearsal: The Beethoven Effect
July 29 at 10:30 am
Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall
Jonathon Heyward, conductor
This is a relaxed open rehearsal, open to all ages and designed for people with autism, sensory or communication disorders or learning disabilities. To learn more about relaxed performances, visit this page.
The Beethoven Effect: Jonathon Heyward Conducts Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony
July 29 and 30 at 7:30 pm
Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall
Jonathon Heyward, conductor
Ruggero Allifranchini, violin
Ilya Finkelshteyn, cello
Leonora Armellini, piano
Iman Habibi – Jeder Baum spricht
Ludwig van Beethoven – Concerto in C major for Violin, Cello, and Piano “Triple Concerto”
Louise Farrenc – Overture No. 1 in E minor
Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 7 in A major
Past meets present in this captivating program led by Jonathon Heyward. Explore Beethoven in a new light with Iman Habibi’s Jeder Baum spricht, a meditation on nature and the environment written in dialogue with Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth symphonies and commissioned for the 250th anniversary of his birth. Discover the relatively unknown music of Louise Farrenc, with her powerful Overture No. 1, written in 1834 and inspired by the Viennese classicism of Beethoven. Hear the titan himself with Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and his famed “Triple Concerto,” featuring soloists from the orchestra, concertmaster Ruggero Allifranchini and principal cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn, alongside pianist Leonora Armellini.
FREE
Festival Orchestra Pre-Show Discussion: Arts for Collective and Community Health
August 1 at 6:00 pm
Kenneth C. Griffin Sidewalk Studio, David Geffen Hall
Dr. Nisha Sajnani, moderator
Panelists:
Mae Lê Hô
David Levanthal
Constantina Theofanopolou
Dr. AZA Allsop
In what ways do the arts foster belonging, resilience, and healing within communities? Join leading artists, researchers, and lived experience experts in a 3-part series of conversations exploring the intersection of arts and healing, presented as part of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab’s global Healing Arts initiative in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). This conversation will be curated and moderated by Dr. Nisha Sajnani, Assoc. Professor and Director of the NYU Steinhardt Graduate Program in Drama Therapy, Chair of the NYU Creative Arts Therapies Consortium, Co-Director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, and co-founder of Healing Arts NYC, a city-wide arts and health network. Dr. Sajnani is an advocate for the arts as a global health resource and leads an international network of researchers dedicated to measurably improving lives through the arts and arts therapies.
Paris to Patagonia: Karen Kamensek Conducts Bizet’s Symphony in C
August 1 and 2 at 7:30 pm
Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall
Karen Kamensek, conductor
Gabriella Reyes, soprano
Jacques Ibert – Divertissement
Benjamin Britten – Les illuminations
Osvaldo Golijov – Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra
Georges Bizet – Symphony No. 1 in C major
Conductor Karen Kamensek leads an enchanting journey across the world starting with Jacques Ibert’s entertaining Divertissement. The dazzling soprano Gabriella Reyes guides you through the full spectrum of human emotion with Britten’s Les illuminations set to text by French poet Arthur Rimbaud, and Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov’s poignant Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra. Bizet’s elegant Symphony No. 1 rounds out the evening.
Music of Exile and Remembrance: Joana Carneiro Conducts Ravel and Prokofiev
August 5 and 6 at 7:30 pm
Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall
Joana Carneiro, conductor
James Ehnes, violin
Gabriela Lena Frank – Elegía Andina
Dmitri Shostakovich (arr. Rudolf Barshai) – Chamber Symphony, Op. 83a
Maurice Ravel – Pavane pour une infante défunte
Sergei Prokofiev – Concerto No. 2 in G minor for Violin
Meditate on remembrance in this thought-provoking program led by Portuguese conductor Joana Carneiro, opening with Gabriela Lena Frank’s pensive Elegía Andina. Be moved by the wistful melodies of Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony op. 83a before descending into Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte, composed as a dance for a princess of the past. The concert culminates with Prokofiev’s darkly lyrical Second Violin Concerto, performed by virtuoso violinist James Ehnes.
FREE
Festival Orchestra Pre-Show Discussion: Arts for Personal Wellbeing
August 8 at 6:00 pm
Kenneth C. Griffin Sidewalk Studio, David Geffen Hall
Dr. Nisha Sajnani, moderator
Panelists:
Camille Zamora
Dan Cohen
Jonathon Heyward, (Music & Artistic Director, Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center)
How do artistic practices support emotional regulation, self-expression, and mental health? Join leading artists, researchers, and lived experience experts in a 3-part series of conversations exploring the intersection of arts and healing, presented as part of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab’s global Healing Arts initiative in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). This conversation will be curated and moderated by Dr. Nisha Sajnani, Assoc. Professor and Director of the NYU Steinhardt Graduate Program in Drama Therapy, Chair of the NYU Creative Arts Therapies Consortium, Co-Director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, and co-founder of Healing Arts NYC, a city-wide arts and health network. Dr. Sajnani is an advocate for the arts as a global health resource and leads an international network of researchers dedicated to measurably improving lives through the arts and arts therapies.
In Sickness and In Health: Jonathon Heyward Conducts the Schumanns
August 8 and 9 at 7:30 pm
Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall
Jonathon Heyward, conductor
Yeol Eum Son, piano
Robert Schumann – Overture, Scherzo & Finale
Clara Schumann – Konzertsatz in F minor for Piano and Orchestra
James Lee III – Connected Perceptions (World Premiere)
Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 4 in D minor
Experience the Orchestra’s closing concerts which shine a light on the transformative power of compassion through an exploration of Robert and Clara Schumann. R. Schumann’s celebratory Overture, Scherzo & Finale, written just after they were married, opens the program. Draw inspiration from Clara Schumann’s Konzertsatz in F minor—in this first major public performance of this piece in NYC in its nearly two-hundred-year history—performed by pianist Yeol Eum Son in her NYC solo debut. Learn about Clara as a muse and pillar of support during her husband’s struggles with mental health in a world premiere commission, Connected Perceptions, by James Lee III, which fuses his atmospheric compositional style with the Schumanns’ musical influences. The concert comes to a powerful finale with R. Schumann’s passionate Fourth Symphony, featuring the “Clara theme,” which builds upon a musical motif derived from the notes of her name.
Summer Arts Institute performances:
FREE
July 23 at 5:30 pm
Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall
You are invited to a free concert showcasing New York City Public Schools Summer Arts Institute (SAI) student artists onstage in the Wu Tsai Theater at David Geffen Hall. Part of the second year of collaboration between the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center and SAI, this concert features the SAI string orchestra and concert band who have participated in a summer of conservatory-style daily training led by SAI artist educators, New York Philharmonic teaching artists, and coaching by professional musicians of the Festival Orchestra. Following this performance, stay to hear Jonathon Heyward conduct Folklore and Legends, with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center (separate ticket required).
FREE
Summer Arts Institute Chamber Music Showcase
July 26 at 12:00 pm
Karen and Richard LeFrak Lobby, David Geffen Hall
Presented in collaboration with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center
You are invited to a free concert showcasing New York City Public Schools Summer Arts Institute (SAI) student artists playing chamber music selections in the David Geffen Hall Lobby. The second collaboration between the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center and SAI, this performance represents the culmination of a summer of conservatory-style daily training led by SAI artist educators, New York Philharmonic teaching artists, and coaching by professional musicians of the Festival Orchestra.
***
FOLLOW LINCOLN CENTER ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook: facebook.com/LincolnCenter
X (Twitter): @LincolnCenter
Instagram: @LincolnCenter
TikTok: @LincolnCenter
Threads: @LincolnCenter
#LincolnCenter