Anthony Parnther in 2025-26: opening night gala with New York Philharmonic; New Year’s Eve with Philadelphia Orchestra; & returns to Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, & Carnegie Hall

(September 2025) — Known for his “charismatic, captivating conducting” (Los Angeles Times), Anthony Parnther is “a conductor for the future” with “a flourishing career” (The New York Times). After launching the New York Philharmonic season with an Opening Night Gala, he leads the world premieres of new commissions with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, and Houston’s ROCO; celebrates New Year’s Eve with The Philadelphia Orchestra; returns to ensembles including the Baltimore and St. Louis Symphonies and the Calgary and Buffalo Philharmonics; and helms concerts at both Lyric Opera of Chicago and New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Festive collaborations with New York Philharmonic & Philadelphia Orchestra

Parnther bookends his fall lineup with returns to two of the nation’s preeminent ensembles. With the New York Philharmonic, he kicks off the cultural season with an Opening Night Gala concert featuring three-time Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant (Sep 25). Then, in his final appearance of 2025, he leads The Philadelphia Orchestra in a festive program of film favorites. Billed as “the most elegant New Year’s Eve celebration around,” this comprises selections from such hit Hollywood scores as Oscar and Grammy winner Oppenheimer, Grammy winner Encanto, and Emmy winner Star Wars: The Mandalorian, which are among the many scores first recorded under Parnther’s leadership (Dec 31).

World premieres with RSNO, ROCO, & Indianapolis Symphony

Dedicated to expanding and diversifying the orchestral literature, Parnther brings three new works to life this season. With Glasgow’s Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), he conducts the world premiere performances of Tamboo-Bamboo Concerto, a new RSNO commission from Matthew Rooke, an English composer of Scottish and Gabonese descent. The concerto’s dedicatee, RSNO principal timpanist Paul Philbert, is the soloist on a program bookended by Parnther’s interpretations of two third symphonies: Panufnik’s Sinfonia Sacra and Beethoven’s mighty “Eroica” (Oct 24 & 25). Already celebrated in Beethoven, his account of the composer’s Fourth impressed The Guardianas “a high voltage interpretation that maintained a fine balance between detail and elan,” of which “the finale was edge-of-your-seat stuff.”

With the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO) next spring, Parnther leads the world premiere of Phenomenal Queen: Coretta Scott King, a new ISO co-commission celebrating the eponymous American author, activist, and civil rights leader, by American composer James Lee III, who recently completed a season-long tenure as composer-in-residence of the Baltimore Symphony. Featuring the “imaginative phrasing and warm, expressive voice” (Opera News) of soprano Angela Brown, Lee’s new composition will be heard alongside works by Brahms, Weber, and Chinese-American composer Chen Yi, represented by her viola concerto Xian shi, with Primrose Competition winner Yu Jin as soloist. Parnther’s program concludes, again, with a Beethoven symphony, this time the Eighth (March 12–14).

Completing this trio of new works is America 250 by Virginia B. Toulmin Prize winner Patricia Leonard. Written to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Parnther’s world premiere performance of the work crowns the patriotic program of Dvořák, Ellington, and Gala Flagello with which he makes his ROCO (River Oaks Chamber Orchestra) debut in Houston (Feb 7).

Classical programs in Baltimore, Buffalo, Calgary, & New York

Parnther’s creative programs typically juxtapose bedrocks of the orchestral literature with new and less familiar music by women and composers of color. With the Baltimore Symphony, he explores the influence of jazz and blues on the American sound. After works by Bernstein, Copland, and Pulitzer Prize laureate Wynton Marsalis, their program concludes with the Third Symphony by Florence Price (Jan 8–11), of which, at the conductor’s Atlanta Symphony debut, his “interpretation was a revelation” that “should be the benchmark for how this wonderful music goes” (ArtsATL).

With New York’s Buffalo Philharmonic, Parnther couples Mozart’s “Haffner” Symphony and Fifth Violin Concerto, featuring young American violinist Aubree Oliverson, with music by two of the composer’s contemporaries. French polymath Joseph Bologne is represented by his Second Symphony and Austria’s Maria Theresia von Paradis by her sole surviving orchestral work, the Overture to The School Candidate (Jan 24 & 25).

In a brief residency with Canada’s Calgary Philharmonic, Parnther leads a program pairing space-themed works by MCAA Award winner Missy Mazzoli and Grammy winner Jessie Montgomery with the music of Barber: his First Symphony, Adagio for Strings, and Violin Concerto, featuring Sphinx Competition laureate Amaryn Olmeda (Nov 21). To complete the residency, Parnther and the Albert orchestra give an educational concert for grade-school students and their teachers (Nov 19 & 20).

Holiday celebrations with New Jersey Symphony & San Bernadino Orchestra

As Music Director of the San Bernardino Symphony, Parnther celebrates “A Christmas Festival” of holiday classics with the California orchestra (Dec 13), before returning to the New Jersey Symphony for seasonal accounts of Handel’s beloved Messiah. He and the orchestra will be joined by the Montclair State University Singers and a quartet of vocal soloists: soprano Caitlin Gotimer, mezzo-soprano Maria Dominique Lopez, tenor Orson Van Gay II, and bass-baritone Shyheim Selvan Hinnant (Dec 19–21).

Educational collaborations at Stony Brook and Cleveland Institute of Music

Deeply committed to education, the conductor appears with two student orchestras this season. After serving as a member of the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM)’s guest faculty in 2022–23 and opening the CIM Orchestra’s 2024–25 season, he returns early next year to conduct two new programs with the ensemble. With New York’s Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, which comprises young graduate students from the music department of Stony Brook University, he conducts a demanding program of Schumann’s “Rhenish” Symphony, Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto, featuring teenage prodigy Chaewon Kim, and Al Pie de la Montaña by Fernando Arroyo (Nov 8). The latter work received its world premiere from Parnther and the San Bernadino Symphony, where the Mexican composer is in residence.

Hollywood & rock ‘n’ roll: Carnegie Hall, Lyric Opera, RSNO, & St. Louis Symphony

“The quintessential L.A. musician of our day” (Los Angeles Times), Parnther is “Hollywood’s go-to conductor for epic projects” (Billboard). As one of today’s foremost film conductors, he has helmed a host of blockbuster film scores and is regularly invited to lead high-profile live-to-film events. This season, he returns to New York’s Carnegie Hall for key moments from Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and 20 more of Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga movies, performed with the Hollywood Film Music Orchestra (Oct 5), and joins both Glasgow’s Royal Scottish National Orchestra for Ghostbusters in concert, as scored by Elmer Bernstein (Oct 30–Nov 1), and Lyric Opera of Chicago for Mary Poppins in concert, featuring the Sherman Brothers’ Academy Award-winning score (April 10 & 11).

A master of multiple genres, Parnther conducts the St. Louis Symphony, together with members of The Rolling Stones, Living Colour, and The Pretenders, in a special centennial tribute to late rock ‘n’ roll trailblazer Chuck Berry (Oct 17 & 18).

Album and film releases

Beyond the concert hall, listeners can look forward to New World Records’ release next June 27 of “Compassion and Mustard Seeds in Perilous Times” Music of James Newton. Featuring an eight-piece chamber ensemble under Parnther’s leadership, the centerpiece of this new recording is Jesus’ Prayer at Gethsemane by American composer and bandleader James Newton, who has been recognized with both Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellowships.

Parnther also remains busy on the Hollywood sound stage. Recent projects include Disney/Pixar’s Elio, scored by Rob Simonsen, which was released this past June; I Know What You Did Last Summer, scored by Chanda Dancy and released in July; the biographical drama Swiped, also scored by Dancy, and due for release this month; and Avatar 3: Fire and Ash, scored by Grammy winner Simon Franglen, and due for release in December.

Anthony Parnther: 2025–26 engagements

Sep 25
New York, NY
New York Philharmonic
Opening Night Gala
(With Cécile McLorin Salvant, jazz vocals)

Oct 5
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall
Hollywood Film Music Orchestra
VARIOUS: Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga Concert Experience

Oct 17 & 18
St. Louis, MO
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
“Chuck Berry’s Birthday Bash”
(With band members from The Rolling Stones, Living Colour, and The Pretenders)

Oct 24 & 25
Glasgow, Scotland
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
PANUFNIK: Sinfonia Sacra (Symphony No. 3)
Matthew ROOKE: Tamboo-Bamboo Concerto (world premiere of RSNO commission; with Paul Philbert, timpani)
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)

Oct 30–Nov 1
Glasgow, Scotland
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Elmer BERNSTEIN: Ghostbusters in concert, live to film

Nov 8
Stony Brook, NY
Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra
Fernando ARROYO: Al Pie de la Montaña (world premiere)
BARTÓK: Violin Concerto No. 2 (with Chaewon Kim, violin)
SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish”

Nov 19 & 20
Calgary, AB
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
Education Concert: “Orchestra in Orbit”

Nov 21
Calgary, AB
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
Jessie MONTGOMERY: Starburst
BARBER: Adagio for Strings
Missy MAZZOLI: Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres)
BARBER: Symphony in One Movement
BARBER: Violin Concerto (with Amaryn Olmeda, violin)

Dec 13
San Bernardino, CA
San Bernardino Symphony
“A Christmas Festival”
VARIOUS: holiday classics

Dec 19–21
Princeton, NJ
New Jersey Symphony
HANDEL: Messiah (with Caitlin Gotimer, soprano; Maria Dominique Lopez, mezzo-soprano; Orson Van Gay II, tenor; Shyheim Selvan Hinnant, bass-baritone; Montclair State University Singers)

Dec 31
Philadelphia, PA
The Philadelphia Orchestra
New Years Eve Celebration
VARIOUS: music from blockbuster films

Jan 8–11
Baltimore, MD
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
BERNSTEIN (arr. PERESS): Overture to West Side Story
COPLAND: Piano Concerto (with David Kaplan, piano)
Wynton MARSALIS: “Born in Hope” from Blues Symphony
PRICE: Symphony No. 3

Jan 24 & 25
Buffalo, NY
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
BOLOGNE: Symphony No. 2
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 5 (with Aubree Oliverson, violin)
PARADIS: Overture to The School Candidate
MOZART: Symphony No. 35, “Haffner”

Feb 7
Houston, TX
ROCO (River Oaks Chamber Orchestra) (debut)
DVOŘÁK (arr. Jason STEPHENS): Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” (rescored; U.S. premiere of ROCO commission)
ELLINGTON: New World A-Comin’
Gala FLAGELLO: Droughts and Downpours for strings
Patricia LEONARD: America 250 (world premiere of ROCO commission)

Feb 11 & 12
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Institute of Music
CIM Orchestra
Program TBA

Feb 25
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Institute of Music
CIM Orchestra
Program TBA

March 12–14
Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
James LEE III: Phenomenal Queen: Coretta Scott King (world premiere of Indianapolis Symphony co-commission; with Angela Brown, soprano) [except March 12] WEBER: Euryanthe Overture
CHEN YI: Xian shi (with Yu Jin, viola)
BRAHMS (arr. NORMAN): Geistliches Wiegenlied (with Angela Brown, soprano) [except March 12] BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 8

April 10 & 11
Chicago, IL
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera Orchestra
SHERMAN BROTHERS: Mary Poppins in concert, live to film