The 2025-2026 Season of Celebrity Series of Boston

In the 2025-2026 concert season, Celebrity Series of Boston will present three major orchestras, several all-Bach programs by different performers, and a wide spectrum of chamber ensembles, among many other performances.

The Budapest Festival Orchestra is presented in collaboration with Boston Lyric Opera, who will provide the chorus for Mahler's Symphony No. 3, led by Iván Fischer, on Feb. 10. Then, on Mar. 1, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performs Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, led by Klaus Mäkelä. Two days later, on Mar. 3, Andris Nelsons leads the Vienna Philharmonic in Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3, with soloist Lang Lang, and Mahler's Symphony No. 1.

Pianist Yunchan Lim performs Bach's Goldberg Variations on Oct. 22. And cellist Yo-Yo Ma performs all six of the same composer's Suites for Solo Cello on Nov. 21. Then, on Apr. 17, pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard makes his Celebrity Series debut with Book II of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

Chamber ensembles include the Finnish string quartet Meta4 on Nov. 2, in a program called "For Those Departed," with works by Saariaho, Shostakovich, and Beethoven. Early music band Ruckus joins forces with bass-baritone Davóne Tines in "What is Your Hand in This?" on Jan. 31, exploring American music from Colonial times through the present. And among many other chamber ensemble concerts, the Danish String Quartet returns to Boston on Feb. 27 in a program highlighted by Jonny Greenwood's suite from There Will Be Blood.

Mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges is the soloist in the opening of the Celebrity Series subscription series on Oct. 9, one of several vocalists presented during the season, including Matthias Goerne, with pianist Daniil Trifonov, on Oct. 24, Kelli O'Hara on Nov. 4, and soprano Axelle Fanyo in her Celebrity Series debut on Feb. 3.

The historical foundation of Celebrity Series of Boston has always been pianists, and along with those mentioned above, the coming season also includes Beatrice Rana (Nov. 8), Leif Ove Andsnes (Jan. 30), Mao Fujita (Feb. 19), Conrad Tao (Mar. 15), Víkingur Ólafsson (Mar. 20), and Joyce Yang (Apr. 18).

To hear an extensive preview of the season with Celebrity Series Artistic Director Nicole Taney, use the player above, and read the transcript below.

For the entire 2025-2026 schedule, visit Celebrity Series of Boston.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity)

Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath from WCRB with Nicole Taney, who is the Artistic Director of the Celebrity Series of Boston. And Nicole, thank you for stopping by to talk about the 2025-2026 season of Celebrity Series.

Nicole Taney Thank you for having me and happy to be here.

Brian McCreath There are so many things to talk about in any Celebrity Series season that we're not gonna get to all of them. Your schedules are so rich, so busy, so fun, really, that we're going to just try to get through a lot of the highlights. But there's some other things that I'm curious about with how the arts are happening in Boston right now that you might be able to speak to. So we'll get to that, too.

Brian McCreath Let's just start with, I'll just put it out there shamelessly, my favorite thing the Celebrity Series of Boston does is bring in guest orchestras. When I saw this schedule, to have three major orchestras coming to Boston, that feels exceptional to me.

Nicole Taney It feels exceptional to me, too. I'm really excited. This year, we had the Berlin Philharmonic in the 24-25 season. So it was just an embarrassment of riches when I got to planning for 25-26. And there were so many orchestras to work with and to think about. And the opportunity to bring Budapest Festival Orchestra back was an exciting one. And then Chicago Symphony Orchestra and then the Vienna Philharmonic, which we were co-presenting with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, that opportunity came along, we were like, yes, we'll do that too. So it's really a lot of orchestral goodness happening. I'm really excited.

Brian McCreath The thing about the orchestra touring scene that you're sort of subject to, I mean, you can't just throw a dart at a map and say, I want that orchestra.

Nicole Taney It would be great if I could.

Brian McCreath It just depends on who's touring and who's available. In this case, what I really love is that these are three orchestras with really distinct personalities. And when we hear the Boston Symphony week after week and season after season here, it's wonderful. They have their own distinct personality. But when we have an orchestra like Budapest Festival Orchestra come in, they have such a distinctive way, and to hear them doing Mahler [Symphony No.] Three with Iván Fischer is especially amazing.

Nicole Taney That is why I jumped on it. I mean, we have been in conversation with them since I started in summer of 2022. So the opportunity to finally have this fully realized is an exciting one. And we are collaborating with the Boston Lyric Opera in terms of the chorus, so we are providing the local singers for the fifth movement. And then there's a children's chorus, which we're using the Boys Choir from St. Paul's School. So I'm really excited about this opportunity to collaborate with local arts organizations as well to make this all happen, and I'm thrilled.

Brian McCreath That orchestra is so well known for their Mahler recordings. And so, like I said, it's a real special gift, but then also to have the Chicago Symphony coming with Klaus Mäkelä. He's not even going to be Music Director by that point.

Nicole Taney No, he's the Music Director Designate. I think he starts officially in that capacity in 26-27, so this is a tour that they put together, and we're just very lucky to have the opportunity to bring them back to Boston. I think it's been maybe 20 years since they've been to Boston, they're doing Beethoven's 7th Symphony and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, so I think that it will be a really rich program.

Brian McCreath Yeah, totally show off pieces for orchestras, which is great. But then Andris Nelsons is going to be conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.

Nicole Taney Yes, which will be exciting as well, in Mahler 1, and Lang Lang will be performing the Bartók Piano Concerto No. 3, and I'm thrilled to have so many in this coming season.

Brian McCreath One of the things about Celebrity Series that I've always appreciated is that its core, its history, its foundations are in piano music. And you have an amazing lineup of pianists for the 25-26 season, starting with the first pianist on the schedule, Yunchan Lim. I've been able to hear him in concert with the BSO, and the audience response to this guy is out of this world.

Nicole Taney Absolutely. He performed with the BSO last season, and then he performed with the Orchestre de Paris on our season a month later with Maestro Mäkelä. So, it's exciting to have him for his recital debut in Boston. He's doing Bach's Goldberg Variations, which he recently performed at Carnegie Hall and got a rave review. And so I'm really excited to hear him in recital as I haven't. I've really only seen him with his orchestral appearances. So I think it's going to be a magical evening.

Brian McCreath Absolutely. And then other pianists that are coming in, one of my favorite pianists, honestly, is Beatrice Rana. She is such a poet. In fact, I'll definitely want to hear Yunchan Lim play the Goldberg Variations, but Beatrice's recording of the Goldberg Variations is one of favorite ones. It's a really, really beautiful poetic recording, but she's playing a recital that includes Prokofiev and these wonderful ballet suites, one by Tchaikovsky that Mikhail Pletnev arranged. So tell me about hearing Beatrice Rana and your experience of her.

Nicole Taney I first heard Beatrice perform when she was on the series, in my first season in 22-23, and she performed, I can't remember the entire program, but Beethoven's "Hammerclavier" Sonata was on it. And I was really taken with her style of playing and the way she draws you in. And so when the opportunity to bring her back with a different type of program really, I was like, yes, sign me up. This feels like a no brainer option. And so it'll be a fun one.

Brian McCreath Well, she has a real warmth about her. Her personality, her playing is so warm and inviting, so...

Nicole Taney Which is what I'm drawn to. So I'm really pleased to have her back.

Brian McCreath One of our friends here at the station, we've done a lot of things with Conrad Tao in the past, right?

Nicole Taney Yes! [laughs]

Brian McCreath Tell me about Conrad.

Nicole Taney Oh, I mean, Conrad, if I could have Conrad on the, I mean, he's been on the series every season in different iterations since I've been here. He performs with a trio called Junction Trio, and he performed this season with Caleb Teicher on this beautiful duet, really, of a pianist and tap dancer performing together. To have him back on a solo recital made perfect sense. And I love the way he thinks about programming his concert repertoire and sort of weaving through this sort of storytelling that he does with the works that he chooses. I was unfamiliar with some of these composers. And so I went on a listening - I often do that, I like going this listening journey when I'm programming - and I love the way he thinks about music when he builds his programs.

Brian McCreath And this one specifically, he has these pieces by Brahms that he then alternates with some of these other modern composers that you're describing. Now, it's your job to know these composers and go on those listening journeys, which I can totally appreciate. But as an audience member, I think there's no one I'd trust more than Conrad to be able to pull something like that off.

Nicole Taney Agreed. Totally agree. There's a thoughtfulness of the way he creates his programs and I think it's called "Poetry and Fairy Tales" is what he's named this program, which of course I was like that sounds intriguing, and it is and so I think he's a really special musician.

Brian McCreath He is.

Nicole Taney And I'm thrilled that we have this ongoing relationship with him.

Brian McCreath Now one of the things I was very surprised at with our pianists coming through Boston on the Celebrity Series next season is that it's the debut of Pierre-Laurent Aimard. Like, wow, this guy's been all around the world.

Nicole Taney I know. I mean, I think that he might have been on the series during a pandemic season. And then that was canceled, obviously, for reasons out of our control. And so this will be his debut, which is exciting, that it can be under my watch, I guess. But I saw him, I was in Edinburgh at the International Festival in August and saw him perform a very mixed repertoire program, which had much more contemporary music on it. And I always think of him as in this contemporary realm, but then he's doing Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, and, I mean, I feel like he can basically do whatever he wants, and it'll be a wonderful evening. But I was drawn to that idea of him doing that work, having just recently seen him doing a program with much more current composers.

Brian McCreath And one of the things you write in your introduction to the season is that you're not someone who programs by theme. You like to program and see what kind of threads and themes emerge. And this is such a cool one that you have Yunchan Lim doing the Goldberg Variations. And then later in the season, a chance to hear Pierre-Laurent Aimard in an all Bach program, WTC 2. And it's not that anybody is putting this up as a competition. It's just fascinating perspectives and ways of channeling Bach's music on a modern piano that are, inevitably they're gonna sound different from each other. That's what's so great about it.

Nicole Taney Yeah, and not to mention they're even in different venues. There's a different quality in each one. And so, yeah, I don't program to themes. So I love that you caught that. I just feel like sometimes that can be limiting, but also, not that there's anything wrong with that, I think there are plenty of people who do it beautifully. I just like the opportunity to think very broadly and then themes do emerge. And it's probably my festival programming background that informs some of that. And then you wind up finding themes because you're programming work that's happening in real time.

Brian McCreath Yeah, yeah. Speaking of your background, Spoleto in Charleston, you were there for a little while, and that's kind of where your programming chops really probably got together, right? And now you've been in Boston for a few years. Tell me what you have learned about Boston. What has struck you now that you've gotten to know Celebrity Series audiences and kind of their tastes? What strikes you as making Boston an interesting place to do your job?

Nicole Taney I mean, I think our audiences are pretty awesome.

Brian McCreath No doubt.

Nicole Taney Yeah, and open. I think that they're really open to trying new things. I mean that's, I think, the fun and the beauty of the Celebrity Series is that we program such a variety of work. I mean I know we're talking about classical today, but then there's jazz and dance and new music that sits in this space. And so I think there's something there for everyone. If you just are a straight ahead classical chamber music lover, you can find that work. But if you're open and interested in trying new things, we can serve that. And I think our audiences seem to respond to that and are open to that experience and what they can do. And so, I mean, there are jazz audiences and there are dance audiences, but I see overlapping audiences because I go to almost every performance. And so I'm seeing people at different spaces where, you know, trying out new things or maybe seeing things that are outside of what they typically see. And it's really fun to have that experience.

Brian McCreath Yeah, wonderful. Speaking of chamber music, again, way too many chamber music performances to go through one by one. But again, I'll just share with you something that jumped out at me, which is the Danish String Quartet. And I can't find a person who doesn't absolutely love the Danish String Quartet. And what they're doing is also right up the alley of what you're talking about here, the ways that things cross-populate. Alfred Schnittke and the Ravel Quartet, but also a suite from There Will Be Blood by Johnny Greenwood? I mean, what?

Nicole Taney I know, I know. Well, when I saw that was... You know, sometimes with string quartets, I'll get maybe an option to pick a program if it's like one or two, sometimes three programs where I can sit and do a listening journey. And I saw that and I was like, we have to do this one. I was like, I'm too intrigued by what this will be. And if anyone's going to deliver on this, it will be them. And so I know, it's gonna be excellent.

Brian McCreath Well, exactly. They're known for amazing so-called standard repertoire. Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, huge Schubert project recently, I think. But also, their folk music arrangements and performances are not just transcriptions. They're not just sort of playing out of folk music. It's like these really, really intricate, imaginative arrangements. So yeah, I can see why this was something you wanted to hear them do as well.

Nicole Taney This will be fun.

Brian McCreath Another one that will be fun, no doubt, almost just by the name of the ensemble, is Ruckus. Ruckus, which is an early music band, and I think they would even embrace the title band, right?

Nicole Taney I think so too, yep, yep.

Brian McCreath But doing something with Davóne Tines, who is not just one of the most remarkable singers, but almost in that same category, as you were describing Conrad Tao , in this category of thinkers, of programmers, who do interesting things with the art form.

Nicole Taney Very much.

Brian McCreath And what can you say about what they're doing together?

Nicole Taney Well, they're doing a program, it's called "What Is Your Hand In This?" And it is a program that they are creating around a commentary, basically it observes and comments on America at 250. So looking at 1776-2026 project of looking back at music, sort of reworking it. So it's a sort of critical lens of America at 250, but looking at it through musical sort of journey.

Brian McCreath And encompassing that entire 250 years.

Nicole Taney Yes, yes. It's got the federal overture from 1793 that Ruckus has rearranged, then it goes up to works like "Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke. So it really covers this sort of span of time, and again, it was one of those no-brainers when I was approached about this project. And I wanted to do something around the 250, and this felt like a really intriguing piece to include and think about.

Brian McCreath Right, and Davóne has a way of putting recital programs together that almost don't feel like programs. They feel like rituals almost, right?

Nicole Taney Oh, that's beautifully put.

Brian McCreath And so, for his sort of creativity to combine with the people of Ruckus and what they want to bring, I can imagine the conversations that happened before they even presented the idea to you, and it just sounds incredibly potent and ...

Nicole Taney And collaborative.

Brian McCreath Collaborative and timely, too.

Nicole Taney Yes, exactly. So that'll be at Sanders Theater.

Brian McCreath Nice. That's a great venue for that, isn't it?

Nicole Taney Yes, I think it's the best. It's a perfect venue for that.

Brian McCreath What's it like trying to navigate the selection of venues in Boston, Nicole?

Nicole Taney So many venues. I was describing, I was actually talking to a colleague today about this and I sort of look at the venues - this might sound a little nerdy but - as having their own personalities in a way and thinking about the work that I'm programming in them and what makes sense in the space in which we're encountering it, if that makes sense, and like how the audience experience will be and sort of what work really resonates in these different spaces. And some of it's pretty clear. Like an amplified jazz concert will work really well at Berklee, but then there's some other programming that can sit, like, we have Third Coast Percussion coming with Movement Art Is, it's a dance collaboration choreographed by Lil Buck, who comes from this Memphis Jookin vocabulary, which - he won't be performing - but I was like, where can I put this? And I've been wanting to do it and we're going to be presenting at Arrow Street Arts, and that's like the perfect space for it. So it's like, I have the luxury, while I don't have my own venue to program, the luxury of working in all these venues gives me sort of the opportunity to expand and think about programming in a different way than only having one space to work in.

Brian McCreath That's amazing. Wow, that makes my perception of your job even more interesting, right? I mean, you have this way of, in your job, selecting from all these different amazing touring musicians and ensembles and artists, but then also to match them to a venue here in the Boston area. It's not just the logistics of what's available at any given time. It's really the thoughtfulness. And like I said, I think Ruckus and Davóne Tines at Sanders is like a perfect match, especially for that program.

Nicole Taney Exactly. Yes, thank you. Yes. I love that part, the part of making the mixtape as I describe it to people who know what mixtapes are. It's lost on some people, but...

Brian McCreath As the father of 22-year-olds, I can assure you, there are still people who like making mixtapes. They might actually come out as Spotify playlists, but they still say mixtape sometimes.

Brian McCreath Anyway, Davóne Tines gives us a nice little segueway. We love segueways in our business, and it gives us nice segueway to the vocalists that you have coming. Always an important part of any Celebrity Series season. The recitalists who are coming through, and, oh my gosh, the opening subscription concert, J'Nai Bridges?

Nicole Taney I know, I'm so excited.

Brian McCreath What a phenomenon she is.

Nicole Taney Oh, she's amazing. And I have been wanting and working to find a date. And so I'm so pleased that this worked out and she'll be at Meadow Hall at Groton Hill Music Center. And I'm really excited because we've been programming in that concert hall. And I've really wanted to do a vocalist up there and I haven't done that yet. And so I just want to take that space for a run and have a vocalist in there. And I'm thrilled that we're going to have her. I don't know what her program will be.

Brian McCreath It almost doesn't matter.

Nicole Taney It kind of doesn't. She could sing the alphabet and we'd be all thrilled, but I think it'll be all French.

Brian McCreath I don't mean to be flippant about, "it doesn't matter," but seriously, it could be 20 different programs and I'd still want to hear it because that's the kind of artist she is.

Nicole Taney Completely. I know, I've seen her in [Philip Glass's opera] Akhnaten and then I've seen her in a recital with Catalyst String Quartet so it's like I've see her in this sort of range and I'm just so excited that she'll be on the series.

Brian McCreath And there's another vocalist coming to the schedule this fall that, you see her name, and you're just not sure what it's going to be. And again, it doesn't matter, you still want to hear her. But Kelli O'Hara, this could be any number of different things.

Nicole Taney Yeah, I actually don't know where her program will be either.

Brian McCreath Cool, OK.

Nicole Taney So I wish I could give you more insight. I think it'll be probably a combination of tunes and arias. She was on the series, I think, in 2016 last. And so it's high time to have her back, and coming off of The Hours [at the Metropolitan Opera] and The Gilded Age [on television], which I realize isn't singing, but still, I'm really looking forward to that.

Brian McCreath Yeah, she is that rare singer who just completely pulls you in as a Broadway voice, and yet will turn right around with Mozart, and just, you sink into that. There's so few singers that can pull that off convincingly.

Nicole Taney She can do no wrong.

Brian McCreath That's great. A very different kind of thing comes up in March when Tenebrae comes to Boston. Tell me about Tenebrae and what your experience is of them and, to the degree that you can, again, what this program is because it's not just sort of a standard straight-ahead choral program.

Nicole Taney No. So, Tenebrae is an English choral group that I have been very interested in. This goes back to my Spoleto days, where Spoleto has a resident choir. So I was very steeped in a lot of choral music, which I really enjoy. And they have a recording of Path of Miracles by Joby Talbot that I listened to a lot because we did a production of Path of Miracles there. So, I've been a fan from afar for a while. And so when the opportunity to bring them for their Boston debut came up, I jumped at it. And so this program that they're doing is called "A Prayer for Deliverance." And it's centered around a piece by Joelle Thompson called "A Prayer for Deliverance." But then it's woven together, it features music from Holst and Vaughan Williams and Caroline Shaw and Robert Pearsall. So it's a really beautiful, I think, introduction to what Tenebrae can do artistically, and their sound, and then the sort of range of work that they perform.

Brian McCreath Yeah, yeah, I'm so glad they're coming.

Nicole Taney And they're at Sanders as well.

Brian McCreath Excellent, excellent. And again, a group that I'm not that familiar with. So this is one of the things that, again, Celebrity Series offers Boston, is discovery. You know, groups that, of course, we love when artists come back again and again and again. But sometimes when it's someone new, we're finding these new groups, new ensembles, new artists to also fall in love with.

Nicole Taney Yeah, I like the mixing it up, to have the familiar along with the new. That's the fun part.

Brian McCreath And one familiar person that we're already in love with and have been for years, another all Bach program is Yo-Yo Ma.

Nicole Taney Yes, yes. Oh my goodness, I'm so excited.

Brian McCreath The six cello suites.

Nicole Taney Yes, yes, the six cellos suites in November. And, you don't say no, you say absolutely, and when? Let me find a date. And we made a date happen, and I am just so thrilled. I mean, I think he did the six cello suites a long time ago at Jordan Hall. So it's been some time since he's done them in Boston. So it'll just be an event.

Brian McCreath I've had the chance to hear him doing the six cello suites, and it is something that even though he has recorded these suites three times, and he has played them in various places as complete performances, but even if, I feel like if someone has heard them in any of those other ways, it's still an amazing experience to be in the moment with him on stage alone, just going through all six of these remarkable pieces of music.

Nicole Taney Yes, I agree. I'm very excited for this moment.

Brian McCreath Well, one of the things that I remember talking to Gary about when this first started at Celebrity Series several years ago, and I think there's been some evolution to this project within Celebrity Series through the years. And that's kind of what's fascinating to me about it. And I'm talking about the Stave Sessions, which are meant to be a little outside the usual concert experience and almost in that nether region of uncategorizable kinds of concerts. So tell me about the Stave Sessions and where that evolution has taken you this season.

Nicole Taney I love programming the Stave Sessions. We used to host it at a space that we would build out in Berklee. And now it's hosted and has been the past couple of years at the Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theater, which has got just a great vibe of a space. I don't know how else to describe it. It's a place where you can drink and watch a show. And this year we have, let's see if I can remember off the top of my head, yMusic, and then Dublin Guitar Quartet. And then Ringdown, which is the collaboration between Caroline Shaw and Danni Parpan, and then Elisapie, who is this Indigenous Canadian vocalist who I saw in concert in Montreal in November and immediately fell in love. Her work sits more in the pop music space a little but. She takes songs that are familiar to us from the 80s that she grew up listening to in the Arctic Circle in Nunavik. And sings them in her indigenous, in her language. And so it's like "Time After Time" and "Heart of Glass" by Blondie. And you listen to it and you're like, well, I know this song but I don't know these words. And then it dawns on you, it's such a different experience engaging with this music that you know from decades of listening to, if you're like me. And it really sort of presents them in a different way. And she also has her own original music. So I'm hoping that people will fall in love with her as much as I did.

Brian McCreath I mean, that entire lineup for the Stave Sessions, just to begin with, but gosh, now that you've talked about her so much, that is really something to look forward to. I mean gosh, talking about this entire season with you, starting with Budapest Festival Orchestra in our conversation and now talking about this, it's an incredible range. It's just such an amazing thing that Celebrity Series is able to do for the audience here.

Nicole Taney It's really fun. I have a fun time.

Brian McCreath That's great, that's great. Well, Nicole Taney, thank you so much for talking through all of this with me. I really appreciate it.

Nicole Taney My pleasure. Thank you.