(Credit: Andrew Eccles)

The National Symphony Orchestra is set to open its 2024–2025 season with a variety of concerts featuring classics, new works, and collaborations.

In a statement, Music Director Gianandrea Noseda, The Roger Sant and Congresswoman Doris Matsui Chair said, “It is a joy for me to be returning to Washington, D.C., to open my eighth season as Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra. The artists of the NSO and I are excited to welcome some of the world’s greatest artists to the Concert Hall stage to bring to life a wide range of programming in these opening weeks. These concerts include my friends Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon, soprano Renée Fleming, and pianist Leif Ove Andnses, as well as artists with whom I am looking forward to working for the first time, including pianist Yunchan Lim on opening night. We will take our devoted audience on an incredible musical journey and look forward to sharing the beauty of live music with our community,”

The season will open with two vocal programs featuring the music by Richard Strauss.

The first one will feature Noseda conducting Strauss’ “Four Last Songs” featuring soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen in her NSO debut. The concerts which also include Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The concerts will be performed from Oct. 3 to 5, 2024.

The second vocal program will mark the return to the Kennedy Center of soprano Renée Fleming. She will join Noseda and the NSO in a program featuring music from Strauss’ opera “Capriccio.” The concerts which will be performed from Oct. 17 through 19, 2024 will also showcase Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.