Curtis Symphony Orchestra Launches 2026–27 Series with “Teddy Leads Adams & Beethoven” on Sunday, October 11
Philadelphia, PA—September 29, 2026—The Curtis Symphony Orchestra presents the first concert of its 2026–27 series on Sunday, October 11 at 3:00 p.m. in Marian Anderson Hall, Kimmel Center, featuring Beethoven’s playful Symphony No. 8, led by Grammy Award-winning conductor-composer Teddy Abrams (’08). This dynamic program also features John Adams’ Harmonielehre, a modern symphonic classic that melds minimalism with the expressiveness of romanticism—as well as Tania León’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Stride, conducted by Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellow Mariana Corichi Gómez.
The program opens with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, conducted by Mr. Abrams. Described by Beethoven as reflective of his “unbuttoned spirit,” the F major symphony is underscored by playful outbursts, surprise notes, and unprepared gestures. Its second movement is especially curious: Beethoven composed it as a nod to his friend Johann Maelzel, the inventor of the metronome, which he honors with ticking chords throughout. The symphony premiered in Vienna in 1814 on a program that also featured Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Wellington’s Victory, placing its intimate humor alongside two of the composer’s most immediately celebrated works.
Tania León’s Stride, written in honor of suffragist Susan B. Anthony, follows, channeling León’s Cuban American heritage into a work of dark, restless energy, with bluesy trumpet fanfares, timpani rumbles, and growling brass. Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic as part of Project 19, an initiative commemorating the centennial of the 19th Amendment and its guarantee of women’s right to vote, Stride has emerged as one of the project’s standout works. In 2021, León won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for the piece.
The concert culminates with John Adams’ Harmonielehre, a modern symphonic classic whose title roughly translates to “book of harmony.” The 40-minute work fuses the developmental techniques of minimalism with the rhetorical freedom of late-Romantic composers including Wagner, Mahler, and Sibelius. Adams composed the piece after a vivid dream and described it as “a statement of belief in the power of tonality at a time when I was uncertain about its future.” It also marked a personal breakthrough for the composer, ending an 18-month period of writer’s block and paving the way for Nixon in China, his first opera.
This season, Curtis also launches Curtis Symphony Orchestra: Project CSO, a rehearsal broadcast series offering viewers a front-row seat to students’ learning process and development. In these livestream/broadcast events, students will perform a culminating, final reading following weeks of study, collaboration, and discovery. Performances provide insight into Curtis’ learn-by-doing philosophy, highlighting milestone moments in students’ artistic growth.
The next session is Friday, December 5 at 5:00 p.m. ET, featuring Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Additional dates and repertoire will be announced later in the season. The livestream broadcasts will be accessible on Curtis’ YouTube channel, and on-demand recordings will be available up to 90 days after performance.
Single tickets for “Teddy Leads Adams & Beethoven” at Marian Anderson Hall start at $24 and are available through curtis.edu. Curtis’ flexible Choose Your Own subscription option offers 25% off single ticket prices when purchasing tickets to two or more performances. To order a subscription, visit curtis.edu/subscribe, call (215) 893-7902, or email tickets@curtis.edu.
