New Philharmonic announces 2025-26 season at McAninch Arts Center

New Philharmonic, the professional orchestra in residence at the McAninch Arts Center, has announced the lineup for their 2025-2026 season.

“This season represents our boldest and most inspirational season yet,” New Philharmonic music director and conductor Kirk Muspratt said in a news release. “From our season-opener with the 80-voice Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ to our mid-season concert of songs from 17 of Broadway’s most popular musicals, to our final concert featuring Daugherty’s multifaceted harp concerto ‘Harp of Ages,’ and our holiday programming in between, our audiences are in for one of the most captivating, fascinating and enticing orchestral experiences of their lives.”

The season begins Oct. 4-5 with “Carmina Burana,” featuring Orff’s cantata based on 24 poems from the medieval collection of the same name. The 80-voice NISO Chorus and three acclaimed soloists, Emily Bursan (mezzo soprano), Richard Ollarsaba (baritone) and Thomas Alaan (countertenor), will join New Philharmonic and Maestro Muspratt for this larger-than-life work. Also on the program are the Polovtsian dances from Act 2 of Alexander Borodin’s opera, “Prince Igor.”

The second concert of the season Nov. 1-2 showcases two of the world’s best-loved ballet suites: Tchaikovsky’s captivating “Romeo & Juliet” ballet suites and Prokofiev’s jubilant “Cinderella” ballet suite. The latter will be accompanied by live narration.

For the holidays, New Philharmonic accompanies Salt Creek Ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker” Dec. 20-21 and closes out 2025 with three celebratory New Year’s Eve Concert performances featuring soprano Alisa Jordheim.

New Philharmonic opens 2026 with an all-Broadway program “Broadway through the Years” Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. The NISO Chorus teams up with New Philharmonic for a program featuring songs from more than 17 of Broadway’s most popular musicals. Also featured in the program are four guest soloists: Emily Bursan (soprano), Kate Tombaugh (mezzo soprano), Lorenzo Parnell (tenor) and Jonathan Wilson (baritone).

New Philharmonic closes the season with “Harp of Ages” by Michael Daugherty April 11-12. Daugherty draws from nearly 3,000 years of harp music and styles for this fascinating work. In 2023 New Philharmonic fans enjoyed Daugherty’s “Passacaglia in Primary Colors,” part of his “Fifteen: Symphonic Fantasy on the Art of Andy Warhol,” at the MAC’s Lakeside Pavilion. This program also features Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” inspired by the composer’s visit to an art exhibition of works by his friend Viktor Hartmann.

All performances will take place in the McAninch Arts Center’s Belushi Performance Hall, located at 425 Fawell Boulevard on the campus of College of DuPage.

One hour prior to most New Philharmonic concerts, free MAC Chat presentations are offered to provide audiences with a greater understanding and appreciation of the concert.

Subscriptions for New Philharmonic’s 2025-2026 Season are now on sale. Those subscribing by May 10 receive 25% off single ticket prices. Beginning May 11, subscription savings drops to 20% off single ticket prices. Subscribers can also secure tickets at a discount to Salt Creek Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” in advance of the general public on-sale.

Single concert tickets go on sale summer 2025.

For more information, visit AtTheMAC.org or call the MAC Box Office at 630-942-4000.