Anthony Parnther: LSO debut with Atlantic Requiem world premiere; returns to orchestras of New York, Philadelphia, & San Francisco; & new Central Park Five recording in 2026–27

Anthony Parnther (photo: Dario Acosta)

(September 2026) — “A conductor for the future” with “a flourishing career,” who has long “used his platforms and rising profile to champion Black composers” (The New York Times), Anthony Parnther makes his London Symphony Orchestra debut with this fall’s world premiere performances of David Önaç’s Atlantic Requiem, a major new choral-orchestral commission commemorating the lives of Africans trafficked into slavery (Oct 11m & 11). The conductor’s other 2026–27 highlights include the “Glorious Sounds of Christmas” with The Philadelphia Orchestra (Dec 17–20); an all-Brahms Colorado Symphony debut (May 14–16); collaborations with Chineke! in London and Heidelberg (March 13 & 19); and returns to the New York Philharmonic (Oct 28–31), San Francisco Symphony (Sep 8–12), and Hollywood Bowl, where he supports star vocalist Cynthia Erivo (Oct 15). These engagements follow the August release by Platoon of The Central Park Five, the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera by American composer Anthony Davis. Marking the work’s first studio recording, the new album features the Long Beach Opera under Parnther’s leadership.

LSO debut with Atlantic Requiem world premiere (Oct 11m & 11)

Parnther makes his London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) debut with the world premiere of Atlantic Requiem this fall. A 40-minute, five-movement piece for choir and orchestra, this was commissioned from Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize-winning British composer David Önaç by Culture&, a UK arts and heritage charity, with support from Lloyd’s of London. Drawing on Lloyd’s recent research into its former role in insuring both the ships and their human “cargo” in the transatlantic slave trade, Önaç’s new work is set to a libretto combining the Catholic mass for the dead with excerpts from a 1791 Connecticut Grand Jury testimony and legal documents from the Lloyd’s archive that testify to the objectification, commodification, and dehumanization of the enslaved. The composer, who sought to capture not only this horrific past but also a “perhaps hopeful future,” explains:

“My hope is that this combination of text and music will provide a vehicle for others to express sorrow at the terrible loss of life and the shocking blindness to true value and to yearn for a future where all human beings appreciate the high dignity of all others – and to believe that such a future would be filled with joy.”

Under Parnther’s baton, the work’s first performances will feature the LSO, together with the BBC Singers and three American vocal soloists: Grammy-winning soprano Brittany Renee, Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, and Hurst Artist of the Year-winning tenor Orson Van Gay II (Oct 11m & 11). Their account of the Atlantic Requiem will be recorded for future physical and digital international release on the orchestra’s dedicated LSO Live label.

Christmas with The Philadelphia Orchestra (Dec 17–20) & San Bernadino Symphony (Dec 12)

Last winter, Parnther joined The Philadelphia Orchestra for a festive New Year’s Eve concert showcasing “his soaring readings of hit movie scores” (The Philadelphia Tribune). This holiday season, he returns to lead the orchestra and the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia in four performances of “Glorious Sounds of Christmas” (Dec 17–20), continuing a beloved annual tradition that dates from the orchestra’s 1962 recording with Eugene Ormandy.

As Music Director of the San Bernardino Symphony, Parnther also celebrates “A Christmas Festival” of holiday classics with the California orchestra (Dec 12). Having signed a new three-year contract with the orchestra at the close of the 2024–25 season, he recently helped ensure the organization’s sustainability with a generous personal gift of $100,000.

Colorado Symphony debut (May 14–16), Chineke! (March 13 & 19), & other spring highlights

Known for his “charismatic, captivating conducting” (Los Angeles Times), Parnther makes his Colorado Symphony debut with an all-Brahms evening next spring, pairing the Variations on a Theme by Haydn with Ein deutsches Requiem, for which he and the orchestra will be joined by the Colorado Symphony Chorus (May 14–16). His other spring symphonic highlights include Mendelssohn and Bruch with Arizona’s Phoenix Symphony (Jan 15–17); Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Lili Boulanger, and Glière with Canada’s Calgary Philharmonic (Feb 12 & 13); and concerts with Chineke!, Europe’s first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra, at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall (March 13) and German’s Heidelberg Fruhling Festival (March 19). Parnther’s previous collaborations with the orchestra include dates at London’s BBC Proms and for the re-opening of the newly renovated Queen Elizabeth Hall, in a historic concert that was broadcast live worldwide by the BBC and hailed as “edge-of-your-seat stuff … A most exhilarating evening” (The Guardian).

Vocal collaborations with San Francisco Symphony, Philly Pops, & more

A master of multiple styles, Parnther is the first choice for high-profile orchestral collaborations with stars of other genres. This fall, he reunites with Emmy, Tony, and two-time Grammy winning British-Nigerian vocalist Cynthia Erivo for evenings of favorite showtunes with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic (Sep 26) and at the Hollywood Bowl (Oct 15). His previous collaborations with the singer include dates with the Boston Pops at Tanglewood, the Vancouver Symphony, and the San Diego Symphony, where their sold-out appearance was heralded as “a night of pure transcendence” (SanDiegoVille). Parnther also returns to the San Francisco Symphony for a program of jazz standards with Grammy-winning vocalist Samara Joy (Sep 8) and joins the Philly Pops for a collaboration with multiplatinum R&B sensation Boyz II Men (Sep 18).

Films in concert with NY Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, & others

“One of today’s foremost film conductors” (The Philadelphia Tribune), Parnther is “Hollywood’s go-to conductor for epic projects” (Billboard). Having helmed a host of blockbuster film scores, he is regularly invited to lead prominent live-to-film events. This season, he conducts the New York Philharmonic in three Halloween performances of Michael Abels’s haunting music for Jordan Peele’s Academy Award-winning movie Get Out (Oct 28–31); leads the San Francisco Symphony in John Williams’s iconic score to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (Sep 10 & 12); rejoins the same orchestra for Gottfried Huppertz’s original music for the German-Expressionist sci-fi masterpiece Metropolis, which celebrates its centennial next year (April 8); performs RESPECT, featuring music made famous by Aretha Franklin, with the Nashville Symphony (Sep 22); and revisits Fantasia, Disney’s ode to classical music, with Miami’s New World Symphony (Jan 9).

The Central Park Five: new Platoon recording out now

Four years ago, Parnther led Long Beach Opera’s revival of Anthony Davis’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, The Central Park Five. Their subsequent first studio recording of the work was released this past August 28 on Platoon.

Set to a libretto by Drama Desk Award-winner Richard Wesley, The Central Park Five dramatizes the true story of the “Exonerated Five”: five Black and Latino teenagers wrongly convicted for the violent 1989 rape and assault of a woman jogging in Central Park. Only after years in prison were the young men exonerated through DNA evidence and a confession from the crime’s actual perpetrator. Drawing on musical styles that range from classical to jazz, hip-hop, and R&B, Davis’s opera has been celebrated as “forthright and impassioned” (The New York Times), “exhilarating and crushingly tragic” (The Los Angeles Times), and “dark, propulsive, and, at times, wrenchingly lyrical” (The New Yorker).

The new recording features tenors Ashley Faatoalia, Bernard Holcomb, and Orson Van Gay II, and bass-baritones Cedric Berry and William Powell III as the five falsely convicted teens, with soprano Lacey Jo Benter as the District Attorney and tenor Todd Strange as Donald Trump, under Parnther’s baton. Two excerpts may be streamed here and here, and the complete opera is available here.

Anthony Parnther: 2026–27 engagements

Sep 8
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Symphony
With Samara Joy, vocalist
Rep: TBA

Sep 10 & 12
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Symphony
John WILLIAMS: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert (live to film)

Sep 18
Philadelphia, PA
Philly Pops
With Boyz II Men

Sep 22
Nashville, TN
Nashville Symphony
RESPECT in Concert (live to film; featuring music made famous by Aretha Franklin)

Sep 26
Stillwater, OK
Oklahoma City Philharmonic
Gala concert with Cynthia Erivo, vocalist
Rep: TBA

Oct 11m & 11
London, UK
London Symphony Orchestra
David ÖNAÇ: Atlantic Requiem (world premiere)
With J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano; Orson Van Gay II, tenor; BBC Singers

Oct 15
Los Angeles, CA
Hollywood Bowl
With Cynthia Erivo, vocalist
Rep: TBA

Oct 28–31
New York, NY
New York Philharmonic
Michael ABELS: Get Out in Concert (live to film)

Dec 12
San Bernardino, CA
San Bernardino Symphony
“A Christmas Festival”
Rep: TBA

Dec 17–20
Philadelphia, PA
The Philadelphia Orchestra
“Glorious Sounds of Christmas”
With Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia

Jan 9
Miami, FL
New World Symphony
J.S. BACH, TCHAIKOVSKY, STRAVINSKY, BEETHOVEN, PONCHIELLI, MUSSORGSKY, & SCHUBERT: Fantasia in Concert (live to film)

Jan 15–17
Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix Symphony
MENDELSSOHN: The Hebrides Overture, (“Fingal’s Cave”)
BRUCH: Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46 (with Rolf Haas, violin)
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3, “Scottish”

Feb 12 & 13
Calgary, Canada
Calgary Philharmonic
L. BOULANGER: D’un soir triste
GLIÈRE: Harp Concerto (with Emily Melendes, harp)
MAHLER: Adagietto from Symphony No. 5
TCHAIKOVSKY: Romeo and Juliet Overture

March 13 & 19
   March 13: London, UK (Queen Elizabeth Hall)
   March 19: Heidelberg, Germany (Heidelberg Fruhling Festival)
Chineke! Orchestra
Rep: TBA

March 17 & 18
San Bernardino, CA
San Bernardino Symphony
MAHLER: Symphony No. 1

April 8
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Symphony
HUPPERTZ: Metropolis in Concert (live to film)

May 14–16
Denver, CO
Colorado Symphony Orchestra
BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme by Haydn
BRAHMS: Ein deutsches Requiem
With Colorado Symphony Chorus