2026-27 Orchestral Season Round-Up
Central Illinois is fortunate to be home to a number of stellar professional orchestras, from Danville to Springfield, Champaign-Urbana to Bloomington-Normal. The 2026–27 season is shaping up to be an exciting one, with conductor Matthew Sheppard taking the helm at the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra as well as continuing on as music director of the Danville Symphony Orchestra. After last season’s epic Verdi Requiem, the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra offers yet more choral–orchestral fare with Mahler’s Third Symphony and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. Not to be outdone, Sinfonia da Camera mounts a full performance of Handel’s Messiah in collaboration with the University of Illinois Choirs.
Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, and Dukas's The Sorcerer's Apprentice are popular selections with our local orchestras this year. You'll also have two opportunities to hear Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez played by University of Illinois guitar professor Guido Sánchez Portuguez, first in Danville and then in Urbana. There is also some lesser-known fare on offer, including a decent amount of music by female composers such as Augusta Holmès, Joan Tower, Clara Schumann, Dana Suesse, and Jessie Montgomery.
Read on for a full list of concerts. If you're only able to attend one concert this season, Clef Notes Editor Katie Buzard’s top pick for each ensemble, marked by a star.
Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra
All concerts will take place in the Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, unless otherwise specified.
🌟 October 10: Mahler Symphony No. 3
Maestro Stephen Alltop and the CUSO open the season with Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony, a work of epic proportions and powerful emotions. CUSO is joined by the University of Illinois Women’s Glee Club and the Central Illinois Youth Chorus. Blending orchestra majesty with the joyous sounds of bells and children’s voices, Mahler’s Third Symphony is an incredible composition to experience in concert. The final movement is one of the most moving in the symphonic repertoire, which you may recognize from its prominent role in the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics.
November 14: CUSO Baroque Concert – All in the Family
Faith United Methodist Church, Champaign
Join Maestro Stephen Alltop and CUSO for this dazzling concert of Baroque masterpieces. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 resounds with the rustic sounds of horns and oboes. Flutes are featured in delightful works by Wilhelm Freidemann Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann, showing different branches of the Bach family tree. Alltop will perform Dieterich Buxtehude’s dramatic masterwork for organ, the Präludium in G Minor. The concert concludes with Franz Joseph Haydn’s exquisite Symphony No. 7, featuring exciting instrumental displays that will delight and entertain.
December 9: Holiday Magic
CUSO’s popular holiday concert features seasonal favorites to please the whole family. Dazzling soprano Katelyn Lee will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s radiant motet Exsultate, jubilate, and Adolphe Adam’s beloved carol, O, Holy Night. The magic continues as the talented singers of the Central Illinois Youth Chorus join CUSO to perform Christmas Canon, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s beautiful interpretation of Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. A visit from Santa and a sing-along of holiday carols will make the season bright.
March 6: Carmina Burana
Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is dramatic and fateful, amorous and delightful. Few works leave an audience more spellbound. The vocal forces of the University of Illinois Oratorio Society and the Apollo Chorus of Chicago will combine to provide a powerful choir of over 150 singers. Rounding out this program will be charming music by the French composer Augusta Holmès and a suite drawn from Georges Bizet’s L’Arlésienne.
April 24: Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
The CUSO’s 67th season finale presents two blockbuster works. Violinist Jinjoo Cho’s gifts will be on full display in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, while Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 reflects the dramatic history of its composition and the composer’s complete mastery of the symphonic form.
Sinfonia da Camera
All concerts will take place in the Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, unless otherwise specified.
August 22: THE ILLIAC – Star Wars Suite
Hessel Park, Champaign
September 18: Mozart in G Minor
Sinfonia da Camera opens the season with a program celebrating the virtuosic brilliance and expressive depth of the Classical era. C.P.E. Bach’s Flute Concerto in D Minor, performed by Jonathan Keeble, exemplifies the “sensitive style” with its expressive contrasts and improvisatory character. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 15, led from the keyboard by Maestro Ian Hobson, offers a masterful balance of virtuosity and structural refinement. The evening culminates in Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, a work of striking dramatic intensity and rhythmic urgency.
October 31: Spellbound
Drawing on themes of magic, ritual, and transformation, this program brings together a series of vividly imaginative works that showcase the orchestra’s expressive range. Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice opens with playful virtuosity and narrative flair, while contralto Marissa Simmons adds some sultriness with Bizet’s “Habanera.” Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, featuring guitarist Guido Sánchez Portuguez, provides a lyrical and deeply expressive centerpiece, blending intimacy with orchestral color. The ritualistic intensity of de Falla’s El amor brujo deepens the program’s sense of atmosphere and mysticism. The evening concludes with Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, a work of unbridled energy and supernatural drama.
🌟 December 4: Handel’s Messiah
Handel’s Messiah remains one of the most enduring and beloved works in the choral repertoire, offering a profound synthesis of musical beauty and spiritual reflection. In collaboration with the University of Illinois Choirs under the direction of Andrea Solya, Sinfonia da Camera presents this monumental work with a distinguished roster of soloists: soprano Ollie Watts Davis, mezzo-soprano Thereza Lituma, tenor John Swedberg, and bass Ricardo Herrera.
February 13: From Brahms with Love
Celebrating Valentine’s weekend, this program centers on the music of Johannes Brahms, whose works embody warmth, lyricism, and profound emotional depth. Alongside his music, Clara Schumann’s Konzertsatz in F Minor reflects her distinctive voice as both a composer and pianist, as well as her intimate artistic friendship with Brahms. Brahms’s Hungarian Dances (Nos. 1, 3, and 10) bring vibrant energy and rhythmic vitality, drawing on folk traditions with characteristic refinement. The Double Concerto in A Minor, performed by violinist Lucia Lin and cellist Owen Young, forms the heart of the program, which concludes with Brahms’s radiant and expansive Symphony No. 2.
April 17: Firebird Finale
Sinfonia da Camera's season finale explores transformation and renewal through music of extraordinary scope and intensity. David DeBoor Canfield’s Overture: Threnody for the Victims of Military Aggression opens the concert with a work of solemn reflection and contemporary resonance. Stravinsky’s Firebird follows, illuminating the orchestra with its vivid orchestration and mythic narrative of rebirth. Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, conducted from the piano by Ian Hobson, showcases a bold integration of virtuosity and symphonic structure. The season concludes with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, a powerful journey from darkness to affirmation.
Danville Symphony Orchestra
All concerts will take place in the Dick van Dyke Auditorium at Danville High School unless otherwise specified.
October 3: All the World’s a Stage
Featuring Giuseppe Verdi’s Overture to Nabucco, Steven Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd Suite, Manuel de Falla’s El Sombrero de Tres Picos, Suites No. 1 & 2, and Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, featuring guest guitarist Guido Sanchez-Portuguez from the University of Illinois.
December 13: Holiday Pops
The DSO’s annual holiday concert will feature instrumental and vocal performers from Danville High School performing your favorite holiday classics!
🌟 March 12: Destiny
Featuring Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Overture to Don Giovanni, George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, Vincent Persichetti’s The Hollow Men, Emilie Clark’s Faust Overture, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
May 8: Star Cross’d
Featuring Leonard Bernstein’s Selections from West Side Story, Efraín Amaya’s Angelica, Bedřich Smetana’s Šárka (from Má vlast), Giacomo Puccini’s Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, and François Borne’s Fantasie Brilliante on Themes from Bizet’s Carmen, showcasing the talents of DSO Principal Flutist Amanda Pond.
Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra
All concerts will take place at the Kirkland Fine Arts Center unless otherwise specified.
September 7: Labor Day Pops – Night at the Movies
Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater
October 17: Masterworks I – Pictures and Poetry
Featuring Franz von Suppé’s Overture to Poet and Peasant, Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Griffes’s The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. Ravel).
November 7: Masterworks II – Beethoven and the Blues
Featuring Gershwin’s An American in Paris, Corky Siegel’s Symphonic Blues No. 6, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8.
🌟 February 27: Masterworks III – Heroes and Heroines
Featuring Joan Tower’s Fanfares for the Uncommon Woman, Still’s Symphony No. 4 “Autochthonous,” Smetana’s Blaník(from Má vlast), and Respighi’s Pines of Rome. Winners of Millikin University’s Concerto/Aria Competition will also perform.
April 10: Masterworks IV – Music and Magic
Featuring Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute, Genevieve Knoebel’s Arcadia, Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, Silvestre Revueltas’s Sensemayá, and Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird.
Illinois Symphony Orchestra
The first performance of each concert will take place at the UIS Performing Arts Center, Springfield; the second performance will take place at the Center for the Performing Arts, Normal.
October 30/31: Tricks & Treats
Featuring Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with violin soloist Claire Wells.
November 20/21: Pictures in Motion
Pianist Jeremy Denk joins the ISO for Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 2, alongside Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Con Moto and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. Ravel).
🌟 February 12/13: Crazy for Gershwin
Pianist Jeffrey Biegel joins the ISO for a program of Gershwin and Gershwin-inspired music, including the composer's Girl Crazy Overture, Rhapsody in Blue, and An American in Paris, alongside Peter Boyer’s Rhapsody in Red, White, and Blue and Dana Suesse’s Jazz Nocturne. (You can read our interview with Biegel and Boyer from 2024 here.)
April 23/24: Fate Now Conquers
The Illinois State University Concert Choir joins the ISO for Bach’s Magnificat, performed alongside Carlos Simon’s Fate Now Conquers and Brahms’s Symphony No. 2.
