Boston Classical Review

Klaus Mäkelä and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will come to Boston next March in the Celebrity Series’s 2025-26 season. Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Long-awaited returns by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic, as well as notable debuts and visits from Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Dianne Reeves, and others are among the highlights of the Celebrity Series’ 87^th season, announced on Tuesday.

Orchestra lovers should clear their calendars for early March when two of the world’s finest ensembles visit Symphony Hall within days of each other. The Chicago Symphony’s date with music director-designate Klaus Mäkelä marks the first time the ensemble has appeared in Boston since 2001. They bring a lineup of orchestral showpieces by Berlioz and Beethoven (March 1).

Two nights later, the Vienna Philharmonic, back for the first time since 2003, delivers a program of Bartók and Mahler. Lang Lang plays the former’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Andris Nelsons is on the podium for this concert, which is a co-production with the BSO (March 3).

The season’s other orchestral visitor is the Budapest Festival Orchestra, which teams up with members of the Boston Lyric Opera Chorus and Boys of the St. Paul’s Choir School for a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 under the baton of Ívan Fischer (February 10).

Mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges opens the Series’ fall season with her recital debut at Groton Hill Music Center on October 9 and, on October 24, baritone Matthias Goerne and pianist Daniil Trifonov join forces for Schubert’s Schwanengesang at Jordan Hall.

The season’s first keyboard offering is 2022 Van Cliburn Competition gold medalist Yunchan Lim’s solo debut (October 22). Returning visitors include Beatrice Rana (November 8), Leif Ove Andsnes (January 30), Conrad Tao (March 15), and Víkingur Ólafsson (March 20). In April, Pierre Laurent-Aimard makes his belated Celebrity Series debut playing Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (April 17). Later that month, Joyce Yang offers music by Schumann and Gershwin (April 18) and Tony Siqui Yun assays works by Bach, Beethoven, Berio, Liszt and Brahms (April 23).

Other instrumental recitals include Yo-Yo Ma performing Bach’s six Cello Suites (November 21) at Symphony Hall and siblings Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cellist) and Isata Kanneh-Mason (pianist) giving a pair of concerts, in Groton and Jordan Hall (March 12 & 13). Joshua Bell comes to Symphony Hall for a centuries-spanning recital on April 26 and, on May 1, violinist Lisa Batiashvili and pianist Giorgi Gigashvili offer a survey of new works and old favorites across the street at Jordan.

The season’s chamber ensemble offerings kick off with the Boston debut of the Finnish string quartet Meta4 (November 2) and are followed with appearances by the Danish String Quartet (February 27) and the Takács Quartet with violist Jordan Bok (April 11).

On January 31, the period ensemble Ruckus and bass-baritone Davóne Tines come to Sanders Theatre with an engrossing lineup of American music that reflects on the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The following month, Itzhak Perlman brings his Klezmer Conservatory Band to Symphony Hall for a 30^th-anniversary celebration of his Emmy Award-winning program, “In the Fiddler’s House”(February 15).

This year’s Debut Series at Longy’s Pickman Hall features violinist Amaryn Olmeda (November 19), accordionist Théo Oulde (December 2), soprano Axelle Fanyo with pianist Julius Drake (February 3), and pianist Mao Fujita (February 19).

Additionally, singer-composer Gabriel Kahane presents his song cycle The Travelers at Sanders Theatre (February 1) and the excellent, London-based choir Tenebrae makes their Boston debut in the same space (March 14).

Rob Kapilow’s “What Makes it Great?” returns with a pair of programs at Jordan Hall. The first, with the Balourdet Quartet, examines the genius of Franz Josef Haydn (October 18). The second takes an in-depth look at the partnership between Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe (January 17).

Next year’s Stave Sessions run February 18-21 at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom. The festival’s headliners are yMusic, the Dublin Guitar Quartet, Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee Parpan, and Canadian Inuk singer-songwriter Elisapie.

Jazz offerings for the coming year include vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant at the Berklee Performance Center (November 1) and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis at Symphony Hall (January 23). Vocalist Reeves appears at Berklee (February 6), as do Chucho Valdés and His Royal Quartet. They wrap the subscription series there on May 2. The Series’ Jazz Festival will be held March 5-8 at Arrow Street Arts in Harvard Square.

Broadway, world music, and dance offerings include appearances by Kelli O’Hara (November 4), the Soweto Gospel Choir (December 7), and Irish fiddler Martin Hayes with the Common Ground Ensemble (March 18). Camille A. Brown & Dancers and the Trisha Brown Dance Company make their Series debuts, while Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns for their annual showcase at the Boch Center Wang Theatre (April 30-May 3).

Also, the Series’ Neighborhood Arts program presents nearly two dozen concerts, all of them free and showcasing a variety of genres and disciplines, in and around Boston between September and June.

Pre-sale tickets will begin May 14. Subscriptions are available to the general public beginning May 22 and single tickets are available starting August 7. celebrityseries.org

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