A bombastic classic known for literally bringing out the big guns, a new symphonic showcase for a country music icon and an orchestral answer to a comic con are in the works for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s upcoming season.
The OKC Philharmonic’s 2025-2026 season at Civic Center Music Hall will include eight Classics concerts, six Pops programs, three Discovery Family shows and a Thanksgiving weekend add-on concert that will be of particular interest to movie lovers. Tickets are available at https://www.okcphil.org.
“With feedback from our audience, we are excited to present a season that represents local connections, love, nostalgia, and international cultures. These concerts are full of energy and create lasting memories long after leaving the concert hall,” said OKC Philharmonic Executive Director Brent Hart in a statement.
Before officially embarking on the new season with its Sept. 20 opening night, the orchestra is continuing its recent tradition of playing a free pre-season concert in Scissortail Park Sept. 14 with “By Popular Demand: Symphonies & Silver Screens.”
Here are the OKC Philharmonic’s concerts for its 2025-2026 season:
The Oklahoma City Philharmonic will play two free outdoor shows on the 2025 Scissortail Park Concert Series in downtown OKC.
‘By Popular Demand: Symphonies & Silver Screens’
When and where: 8 p.m. Sept. 14, Scissortail Park.
Music Director Alexander Mickelthwate said the OKC Philharmonic let patrons make suggestions and cast votes for this year’s pre-season performance, leading to an eclectic program ranging from Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7, II. Allegretto” and Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and John Powell’s “How to Train Your Dragon” score (arranged by Sean O’Loughlin).
The free concert will get extra Oklahoma flavor with the pop epic “MacArthur Park,” from Grammy-winning Elk City native Jimmy Webb, and a medley of television themes by Dan Foliart, an Emmy-nominated OKC native who has composed music for “Roseanne,” “Home Improvement” and more.
Pianist Natasha Paremski returns to the Sooner State to perform at the Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s 2025-2026 Classics season opener.
‘Legends: Ortiz, Rachmaninoff, Janacek, Tchaikovsky’
When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20.
Featuring: Pianist Natasha Paremski.
The OKC Philharmonic opens its Civic Center season with Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’s 2021 piece “Kauyumari” (which means “blue deer” among Mexico’s Huichol people), Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s “Sinfonietta” and Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Concerto No. 4 for Piano in G Minor, op. 40.”
After making her debut with the OKC orchestra in 2019, Paremski returns to the Sooner State to play on the latter, which she describes as “a really lucious, beautiful, fun piece.”
The philharmonic will finish its first Classics season concert with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s thunderous “1812 Overture, op. 49.” Although he didn’t rule out bringing in some heavy artillery to recreate the real-life cannons the Russian composer wrote into his famous work, Mickelthwate said the performance will focus on sharing a more refined version of overture with audiences.
“The very beginning is just like four celli. … It’s very intimate. So, it can be much more subtle than just the big bangs,” he said.
‘Movie Magic: Sing Along with Phil’
When: 2 p.m. Sept. 21.
Designed to introduce children to orchestral music, the Discovery Family Series launches with a cinematic sing-along featuring symphonic favorites from “The Lion King,” “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter” and more.
Conducted by Shanti Simon, the show will include vocalist Audrey Logan, brass and choir students from Edmond Santa Fe High School and performers from Norman’s Sooner Theatre.
Pre-concert activities start at 1 p.m. in the Civic Center lobby at all Discovery Family concerts.
Oklahoma teenage pianist Yihan Zhang will perform on the Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s Oct. 25 Classics concert, titled “Oklahoma Stories: Celebrating Our Future.”
‘Oklahoma Stories: Celebrating Our Future’
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25.
Featuring: Pianist Yihan Zhang, composer and cellist Kiegan Ryan and Oklahoma Youth Orchestra.
For the latest of its “Oklahoma Stories” Classics concerts, the orchestra is focusing on “the stars of tomorrow” from the state, Mickelthwate said. The program will include OKC Cherokee composer and performer Kiegan Ryan’s new piece “Kiowa Six,” plus Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia” and Sergei Prokofiev’s “Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, op. 100.”
Yihan Zhang, a Norman teen, will be featured as soloist on Felix Mendelssohn’s “Concerto No. 1 for Piano in G Minor, op. 25.”
Dolly Parton performs at the Grand Ole Opry on Oct. 12, 2019, to celebrate her 50th anniversary of becoming a Opry member.
‘Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony’
When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7-8.
The entertainment icon’s new multimedia symphonic concert experience will bring Parton to OKC onscreen to share her songs, her life and her stories.
“From outside of America, as those total icons, there is Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra. … And for me, it’s really Dolly Parton, also,” said Mickelthwate, who was born and raised in Germany.
Maestro Joel Levine acknowledges his musicians while the crowd applauds as he conducts the Oklahoma City Philharmonic on Feb. 3, 2018 in Oklahoma City.
‘Joel Levine Conducts Tchaikovsky’
When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15.
Featuring: Conductor Joel Levine and cellist Carter Brey.
Former Maestro Levine, who retired in 2018 as the OKC Philharmonic’s music director, returns as guest conductor. He will be joined by Brey, the New York Philharmonic’s principal cellist, on Antonín Dvořák’s “Cello Concerto” and Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 5.” The program will open with Hector Berlioz’s colorful “Roman Carnival Overture.”
“I’ve told him, ‘Whenever you want to come, just tell me, we’ll make it happen. Whatever you want to conduct, it’s carte blanche for Joel Levine.’ So, it’s his program,” Mickelthwate said.
‘Jurassic Park in Concert’
When: 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 29.
For the third straight Thanksgiving weekend, the philharmonic is performing a beloved John Williams score as a season add-on. After visiting a “galaxy far, far away” the past two years, the orchestra is welcoming audiences to “Jurassic Park” this year, with the Academy Award-winning 1993 movie playing on a giant screen above the musicians.
Cody Fry plays the triangle with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on July 27, 2024, during the Symphony on the Prairie concert series at Conner Prairie in Fishers, Ind.
‘A Very Merry Pops’
When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5-6 and 2 p.m. Dec. 6.
Featuring: Cody Fry.
After performing two May shows with the OKC Philharmonic, Grammy-nominated composer, arranger and TikTok phenomenon Cody Fry returns to add flair to the orchestra’s holiday tradition.
The orchestra’s yuletide plans include a Saturday matinee titled “A Very Merry Pops: A Fun-Filled Family Concert.”
‘Mozart’s Rivals: Race to the Top’
When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 10, 2026.
Featuring: Violinist Hannah White and Canterbury Voices.
The program includes Antonio Salieri’s “26 Variations on La Folia di Spagna,” Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges’ “Concerto for Violin in D Major, op. 3 no. 1” and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s moving masterpiece “Requiem, K. 626,” with the latter featuring OKC’s acclaimed symphonic chorus, Canterbury Voices.
It’s been 40 years since the 1984 movie “Amadeus,” which centered on the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri, won eight Oscars, including best picture. Although scholars believe the bitter feud between the two composers is mostly based on more recent dramatizations and historical reinterpretations of their relationship, it is a story that has captured the cultural imagination.
“This is one of the ones I’m most excited about, to be honest,” Mickelthwate said. “After he died, there were letters where Salieri was defending himself that he did not poison Mozart.”
The son of a white plantation owner and an enslaved African teen, Saint-Georges was an accomplished violinist, conductor and composer nicknamed the “Black Mozart.”
“At the time, this guy was the star in Paris, not Mozart,” Mickelthwate said.
‘Tango Caliente!’
When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30-31, 2026.
The philharmonic will be accompanied by a smoldering soprano, a skilled bandoneón player and acclaimed Argentinian dancers in a celebration of the seductive art of the tango.
The Oklahoma City Philharmonic performs.
‘The Fire of Love: Romeo and Juliet’
When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14, 2026.
Featuring: Violinist Nurit Bar-Josef.
The OKC philharmonic will celebrate Valentine’s Day with a musical homage to passionate, sometimes ill-fated love. The program includes Maurice Ravel’s “Alborada del gracioso” (or “Morning Song of the Jester”), Ernest Chausson’s “Poème, op. 25,” Florence Price’s “Concerto No. 2 for Violin in D Minor,”Richard Wagner’s “Prelude and Liebestod” (the latter means “Love-Death”) from his opera “Tristan und Isolde” and Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet,” his “fantasy-overture” based on William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.
“On one hand, it’s a very traditional program. On the other hand, it’s also not, because all the protagonists die,” Mickelthwate said with a chuckle. “But the concert actually just fell on the 14th, so it’s like, ‘Just go with it.’ So, please, make it an evening, make it an event, and we will serenade you with some beautiful — painfully beautiful — music.”
‘Musical Moods: Feelings You Can Hear!’
When: 2 p.m. Feb. 15, 2026.
The Discovery series continues with the orchestra exploring the power of music to make people feel happy, sad or excited, showing how melodies, rhythms, and harmonies can tell a story without words.
Classical Mystery Tour will be joined in concert by the Oklahoma City Philharmonic during the OKC orchestra’s 2025-2026 Pops season.
Classical Mystery Tour
When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27-28, 2026.
The four lookalike and sound-alike musicians in the long-running Beatles tribute project perform alongside the OKC orchestra, presenting about two dozen Fab Four favorites performed live just as they were written, from showcasing a live trumpet section to “Penny Lane” to blending a string quartet and acoustic guitar on “Yesterday.”
The Oklahoma City Philharmonic performs the Opening Night concert for its 2023-2024 season at Civic Center Music Hall.
‘Masters of Music: Italy’
When: 7:30 p.m. March 14, 2026.
The program will open with the overture to Giuseppe Verdi’s allegedly cursed opera “La Forza del Destino” (or “The Force of Destiny”) and close with Ottorino Respighi’s festive masterwork “Feste Romane” (or “Roman Festivals”), which flashes back to decadence of ancient Roman.
In between, the orchestra will perform Alfredo Casella’s “Scarlattiana, op. 44” and Tomaso Albinoni’s “Adagio in G Minor;” the latter was a favorite of the iconic rock band The Doors.
‘Symphonicon: Music from Comics, Sci-Fi & Video Games’
When: 7:30 p.m. March 27-28, 2026.
The OKC Philharmonic is conjuring up a Pops program intended to captivate audiences with sweeping soundscapes to far-off galaxies and fantastical quests. Showcasing music inspired by and featured in sci-fi films, video games and comics, the all-ages concert is intended to combine epic storytelling, the full force of a live orchestra and the energy of a pop-culture convention.
“The whole video game segment is really interesting to me, because all the film music, all the TV stuff, as a conductor, I can go and rent that. But the video game stuff, nothing is available, or at least, most of it (isn’t). ‘Halo’ and all those things, I cannot buy them, so we’re having an arranger come in this time,” Mickelthwate said. “We’re creating this little storyline … with a choir, and it’s very dramatic. And some of those video games are ‘Animal Crossing’ or ‘Mario Kart,’ that just everybody knows.”
The Oklahoma City Philharmonic performs in concert.
‘Brahms & Bronfman’
When: 7:30 p.m. April 4, 2026.
Featuring: Legendary pianist Yefim Bronfman.
The Grammy Award-winning pianist returns to the Sooner State as the philharmonic spotlights German Romantic-era great Johannes Brahms. The program includes the composer’s “Concerto No. 2 for Piano in B-flat Major, op. 83” and “Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, op. 98.”
Music from the 2021 animated movie “Encanto” will be included in the Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s 2026 Pops concert “Disney in Concert: Once Upon A Time.”
‘Disney in Concert: Once Upon A Time’
When: 7:30 p.m. April 17-18, 2026.
Featuring four Broadway-caliber singers, the OKC Philharmonic and animated film sequences, the Pops season finale spotlights beloved Mouse House movies like “Encanto,” “Frozen,” “Beauty and the Beast” and more.
Performers practice during an Oct. 21, 2024, Canterbury Voices rehearsal of the opera “Loksi’ Shaali’ (Shell Shaker) at the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University in Oklahoma City.
‘Season Finale: Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony’
When: 7:30 p.m. May 2, 2026.
Featuring: Soprano Valerie Bernhardt, contralto Megan Esther Grey and Canterbury Voices.
The orchestra closes its Classics season by showcasing a single musical masterwork: Gustav Mahler’s monumental “Symphony No. 2,” known as the “Resurrection” Symphony.
‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame!’
When: 2 p.m. May 3, 2026.
The final 2025-2026 Discovery Family concert celebrates America’s pastime with lively tunes, sports-themed classics and a rousing sing-along to the famous ballpark anthem.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma City Philharmonic announces upcoming season
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