Every fall, the artistic directors behind Utah’s most treasured cultural institutions step forward and make their case — not with tidy mission statements but with the season itself: This is what’s worth your time. This is what they believe will move you. We asked five directors to share the production they’re most excited about this year, the show they’d recommend to a first-time audience member, and whether a common theme or artistic vision emerged as they carefully shaped the season ahead.
Utah Symphony
Season Summary: A broad, audience-minded season that pairs blockbuster repertoire and star soloists with film and crossover programming to widen the tent.
MARKUS POSCHNER, MUSIC DIRECTOR DESIGNATE
For Markus Poschner, the future of classical music depends on a careful balancing act: reverence without rigidity. “I believe orchestras must honor the great legacy of the past,” says the Utah Symphony music director. “But we must also remain curious, fearless, and open to new musical voices and perspectives.”
That tension — between tradition and experimentation, grandeur, and discovery — shapes the symphony’s meticulously constructed 2026-27 season. Canonical works sit beside contemporary compositions in programs that Poschner believes reflect not only the orchestra’s identity but Utah’s itself.
Originally from Munich, Germany, Poschner speaks about Utah as if he’s still slightly astonished by it. The scale of the landscape, he says, has worked its way into how he hears music. He points specifically to Richard Strauss’s “An Alpine Symphony,” which he defines as the orchestra’s ultimate showcase. “It is a monumental work that lets the musicians demonstrate their virtuosity, stamina, imagination, and storytelling at the very highest level,” he says.
For newcomers, Poschner recommends a more familiar entry point: June’s program featuring dances from West Side Story, including “Maria,” “Tonight,” and the explosive “Mambo.” Before that comes another kind of spectacle entirely: Piano virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin tackles Brahms’s first piano concerto with such technical precision that even seasoned concertgoers will lean forward in disbelief.
Ultimately, Poschner hopes audiences leave with more than admiration for the music. In Utah, he says, live performance can create something rarer — a feeling of shared scale, of human connection set against a landscape vast enough to make both the orchestra and its listeners feel small in the best possible way.
UTAH SYMPHONY 2026-2027 SEASON
2026 SEASON
Cirque de la Symphonie || Sep 11-12
Elgar’s Cello Concerto & Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 || Sep 18-19
Celebración Sinfónica || Sep 21
A Night in Ancient Greece: Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé || Sep 25-26
Rick Steves: A Symphonic Journey || Oct 17
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 || Oct 23-24
Disney’s Hocus Pocus in Concert || Oct 29-30
Halloween Hijinks || Oct 31
Mozart with Conrad Tao || Nov 6-7
Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite || Nov 13-14
Rodgers and Hammerstein Celebration || Nov 20-21
Messiah Sing-In || Nov 28-29
Mendelssohn’s “Reformation” Symphony || Dec 4-5
The Holiday in Concert || Dec 12
A Cody Fry Christmas || Dec 16
Holiday Pops Extravaganza || Dec 18-19
Here Comes Santa Claus! || Dec 19
Disney’s The Muppet Christmas Carol in Concert || Dec 22-23
2027 SEASON
Video Games Live || Jan 2
Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 || Jan 8-9
David Robertson Conducts Gil Shaham, Adele Anthony, & Orli Shaham || Jan 29-30
The Princess Bride in Concert || Feb 12-13
Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony || Feb 19-20
English Masterpieces: Britten & Elgar || Feb 26-27
Joshua Bell Plays Beethoven || Mar 17
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in Concert || May 20-22
Markus Poschner Conducts Strauss’s Alpine Symphony || May 28-29
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story || June 4
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