A not-so-quiet revolution at the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra
Charlotte Symphony Orchestra transforms its programming with its new season, featuring diverse composers and bold works
This article by longtime Charlotte arts critic Lawrence Toppman was published by The Charlotte Ledger on March 11, 2025. You can find out more about The Charlotte Ledger’s commitment to smart local news and information and sign up for our newsletter for free here. And check out this link for Toppman’s archive of reviews in the Ledger.
New Charlotte Symphony season skips the composer go-tos of Bach, Brahms, Mozart and more as it shatters preconceptions of what classical music can do
The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra will explore the concept of “home” throughout its 2025-2026 season, with a season-closing performance that will include a choir of community members affected by homelessness, eviction or housing insecurity singing about their lives, along with composer/singer/pianist Gabriel Kahane. (Photo by Genesis Photography/courtesy of Charlotte Symphony)
by Lawrence Toppman
Until now, patrons with timid ears could pretend the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra hadn’t changed all that much.
It has played more contemporary works in its Classical Series — usually short ones — by women and people of color and had guest conductors of various skin tones and genders. But the CSO has almost always programmed one big familiar piece that let traditionalists run back to an aural briar patch.
The 2025-2026 series, announced today, ends that approach. Sure, the all-Tchaikovsky gala Sept. 18 brings one of the world’s favorite violin concertos, courtesy of soloist Gil Shaham. (Even there, though, new music director Kwamé Ryan will conduct Tchaikovsky’s most underrated symphony, his first.)
But the official opening to the season Oct. 10-11 pairs two works by Dmitri Shostakovich, his heartfelt Cello Concerto No. 1 and bitingly satirical Symphony No. 5, with a piece by California-based Mason Bates, whom Wikipedia calls a “Grammy award-winning composer of symphonic music and DJ of electronic dance music.”
Its title, “Attack Decay Sustain Release,” embodies the new CSO programming: This season is meant to attack preconceptions, break down resistance, hold interest and let you go with a wider view of what classical music can do.
Before I get into what makes the season special, it’s worth noting how much the symphony has changed in the two years I’ve written for the Ledger.
It has created CSO Roadshow, a mobile stage that will hold 10 concerts in underserved neighborhoods during the next season. Musicians have appeared everywhere from neighborhood breweries in “On Tap” gigs to Blackbox Theatre at the edge of NoDa, where I heard the trippy “MERGE: Symphonic x Electronic” show.
The orchestra held its first event at Blume Studios two weekends ago, an immersive concert built around John Luther Adams’ Pulitzer-winning “Become Ocean.” It will join soprano Renee Fleming in a splashy March 28 return to the renovated Carolina Theatre, where the CSO played its first concert 93 years ago. And it’s now fully under the directorship of Ryan, who’ll lead at least half the concerts in the first Classical Series he helped to design.
Guest conductors have been trained to remind audiences they’re listening to “your Charlotte Symphony,” with emphasis on the first word. That used to strike me as a cheesy kind of self-promotion. Now it doesn’t, because the definition of “your” grows wider every month.
Tradition hasn’t entirely been kicked to the curb, of course. The Pops Series offers a tribute to Dolly Parton curated by the Smoky Mountain Songbird herself; the Movie Series, where the CSO performs soundtracks to beloved films, will include the Oscar-winning “Black Panther;” kids will still get easily digestible exposure to works such as “Peter and the Wolf” in the morning Family Series. Summer Pops concerts remain at the bandshell near SouthPark Mall.
Even the Classical Series has some cornerstones of the repertoire, from Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto (played by masterful Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan on April 10-11) to Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony on March 27-29. But look who’s not around this year: Bach, Brahms, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Mahler, Sibelius, Wagner and Rachmaninov.
A new Spotlight Series will be devoted to composer/singer/pianist Gabriel Kahane, a guy with an unclassifiable body of work. The biggest piece, “Emergency Shelter Intake Form,” closes the season May 15-16. It’s an oratorio-style outing with Kahane on vocals and guitar and a choir of community members affected by homelessness, eviction or housing insecurity singing about their lives.
His short “Judith” will precede a piano concerto by pioneering Boston composer Amy Beach (played by Sara Davis Buechner) on Oct. 24-26. Kahane will then sing and play piano in “Pattern of the Rail: Six Orchestral Songs from Book of Travelers” on Feb. 13-14; he wrote that while crossing the country on trains after the 2016 election.
Though I’m leery of branding used to connect marginally related events — remember Charlotte’s silly Ulysses Festival of the ’10s, consisting mostly of things that had already been scheduled? — the CSO’s season-long exploration of the concept of “Home” actually works.
That umbrella term refers to Charlotte a couple of times. Queens University and UNC Charlotte grad Malek Jandali will hear his mysterious Clarinet Concerto played by Taylor Marino on March 6-7, and resident conductor Christopher James Lees will conduct a “Bolero” those nights accompanied by a film showing iconic images of Charlotte. (Since Ravel’s music consists of a repeated theme spiraling into chaos … well, we’ll see.)
Sometimes “Home” means other parts of the South, as in Jennifer Higdon’s “Skyline” (a tribute to Atlanta) or Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” (both on May 15-16). Sometimes it refers to our nation, as in the Dvorak symphony, sometimes to another homeland (as in Smetana’s “The Moldau,” a reflection on his native Bohemia, on March 6-7). Brazilian-American composer Clarice Assad crosses borders with multinational sounds in “Sin Fronteras” (also on March 6-7).
The Charlotte Symphony has gambled more than ever this season that younger, more diverse audiences will be drawn to this more extensive vision. At the same time, they hope veteran concertgoers like me — a guy in his 70s, who’s heard the CSO for 45 years and recalls a time they couldn’t always play in tune — will welcome more challenges. I’m all in.
Lawrence Toppman covered the arts for 40 years at The Charlotte Observer before retiring in 2020. Now, he’s in the critic’s chair for the Charlotte Ledger — look for his reviews and insights several times each month in the Charlotte Ledger.
➡️Want to see the full Charlotte Symphony lineup? Here’s a list of performances.
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