Conductor Eric Jacobsen in 2026–27: Boston Symphony debut with Golijov premiere; dates with Atlanta, Nashville, & New Jersey Symphonies; and full seasons as MD of Virginia Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, & The Knights
Eric Jacobsen (photo: Ben Van Hook)
(October 2026) — “An interpretive dynamo” (The New York Times), whose conducting is “alive to every twist and turn” (Gramophone), two-time Grammy-nominee Eric Jacobsen delivers inspiring readings “across a range of repertoire, from the 19th to 20th centuries and up to the present day” (Chicago Classical Review). In the 2026–27 season, he returns to the New Jersey and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras; he also makes debuts with both the Nashville and Boston Symphony Orchestras, leading the latter ensemble in the world premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Creation, featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant, Davóne Tines, Cyro Baptista, Kayhan Kalhor, and multiple choirs. Jacobsen also holds three orchestral directorships. Highlights of his sixth season as Music Director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra include grand-scale performances of Verdi’s Requiem, a multimedia treatment of Caroline Shaw’s The Mountain that Loved a Bird, and the Virginia premiere of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 15, “Lincoln,” to be recorded for release on the composer’s own label, marking its world premiere recording. As Music Director of Florida’s Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Jacobsen leads a gala collaboration with Itzhak Perlman, interprets Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, and curates and helms the orchestra’s Resonate Festival, pairing Beethoven symphonies with such contemporary works as John Williams’s Clarinet Concerto, in its Florida premiere. Finally, as Artistic Director and co-founder of The Knights, Jacobsen conducts the innovative New York-based ensemble in three programs at Carnegie Hall, including a collaboration with Emanuel Ax and the New York premiere of Nico Muhly’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra, featuring Brooklyn Rider.
Boston & Nashville Symphony debuts
An in-demand guest conductor, Jacobsen enjoys ongoing relationships with the Chicago Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and Dresden Musikfestspiele, as well as making appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Grant Park Music Festival Orchestra, with which he “drew committed advocacy from the orchestra, … demonstrating assured professionalism and artistic acumen across genres” (Chicago Classical Review).
This fall he makes his eagerly anticipated Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) debut with the world premiere performances of Creation, a new BSO commission from preeminent Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov. Written in response to The Creation by Haydn, in collaboration with Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang and lyricist Leah Hager Cohen, this major new oratorio represents the “BSO’s largest premiere this season” (Boston Classical Review). Under Jacobsen’s leadership, the work’s first performances will feature the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, BSO x NEC Honors Children’s Choir, and four distinguished and pathbreaking guest artists: three-time Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, bass-baritone Davóne Tines, percussionist Cyro Baptista, and Grammy-winning kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor (Nov 12–14). The conductor’s past collaborations with the four soloists include a Carnegie Hall concert with McLorin Salvant last year, when he and the vocalist “worked together with an ideal sense of balance” (The New York Times). He has previously helped bring to life important new works by composers including Anna Clyne, Du Yun, Gabriel Kahane, James Lee III, and Golijov himself. Indeed, over the course of his long association with the Argentinian composer, Jacobsen has led Johnny Gandelsman in the world premiere performances of Golijov’s Violin Concerto, The Given Note, and dedicatee Yo-Yo Ma in the world premiere recording of Golijov’s cello concerto, Azul, on which Jacobsen and The Knights prove themselves among “the most intriguing and dynamic advocates for music of our time” (Gramophone).
A second debut follows early next year, when Jacobsen makes his first appearances with the Nashville Symphony. Their program features teenage cellist Joshua Kováč, winner of the orchestra’s Curb Concerto Competition, in the Second Cello Concerto by Victor Herbert, a composer better-known for Broadway hits like Babes in Toyland, yet also a virtuoso cellist who wrote for his instrument with masterly intimacy. Jacobsen bookends the concerto with Rossini’s Overture to The Barber of Seville and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, which he considers “one of my most favorite pieces,” because “it’s so direct and singular, and connects an audience in such a special way” (Jan 29 & 30). This all-19th-century program showcases the conductor’s flair for Romanticism; after a performance of Brahms’s Violin Concerto with Gil Shaham, the Boston Musical Intelligencer marveled: “Jacobsen captured the frequent and flexible changes of tempo and dynamics that such ultra-romantic music demands and rarely gets.”
Returns to New Jersey & Atlanta Symphonies
Jacobsen also returns to the podiums of two major U.S. orchestras over the months ahead. After revealing “grace and insight” (NJ.com) in his New Jersey Symphony debut, he rejoins the Newark orchestra for a program pairing two popular classics – Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances and Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun – with two jazzy concertante works, each with its dedicatee as soloist. New Jersey Symphony Principal Horn Chris Komer joins Jacobsen and the orchestra for Fried Bacon by eleven-time Grammy-winning jazz bassist Christian McBride, who is himself the soloist in Dark Wood, a concerto by the late George Duke (Nov 19, 21, & 22).
The conductor completes his guest lineup with a return to the Atlanta Symphony for an especially rich and varied program. Selections from Debussy’s Nocturnes will be heard alongside the Bacchanale of American Impressionist Charles Griffes. The Unanswered Question, a philosophical work that Ives revised and orchestrated in the early 1930s, will be juxtaposed with the contemporaneous Mathis der Maler, Hindemith’s symphony inspired by a Renaissance altarpiece. Rounding out the program are two compositions by Tchaikovsky: his Andante cantabile and beloved Variations on a Rococo Theme, with Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient Sterling Elliott as the cello soloist (Feb 4 & 6).
Virginia Symphony: world premiere recording of Glass’s “Lincoln” Symphony & more
Jacobsen is now in his sixth season as Music Director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra (VSO), where he is known for his cogent interpretations, adventurous programming, and partnerships with such stellar artists as Branford Marsalis, Belà Fleck, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gil Shaham. This fall, in anticipation of the composer’s upcoming 90th birthday, he led the orchestra in the Virginia premiere of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 15, “Lincoln,” an eight-movement portrait of the 16th U.S. president that received a “raucous standing ovation” (Bachtrack) this past summer at its Tanglewood world premiere. Featuring bass-baritone soloist Davóne Tines, Jacobsen’s performance of the symphony was captured live for future release on Orange Mountain Music, Glass’s own label, marking its world premiere recording.
The conductor’s upcoming Virginia highlights include a festive holiday program interspersing excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet with violin favorites featuring the conductor’s brother and close musical associate, Colin Jacobsen (Dec 3 & 6); a New Year’s salute to Vienna that includes Johann Strauss II waltzes and Mozart’s First Flute Concerto (Jan 15 & 16); performances of Verdi’s monumental and operatic Requiem, for which Jacobsen conducts combined forces of more than 200 musicians, including guest soloists and the VSO Chorus (Feb 19–21); a program showcasing VSO Concertmaster Grace Park and cellist Sterling Elliott in Brahms’s autumnal Double Concerto (April 3 & 4); and a season-closing, multimedia performance of The Mountain that Loved a Bird by Pulitzer Prize laureate Caroline Shaw, featuring the VSO Chorus and a stop-motion animated film by visual artist Alex Sopp (April 16 & 17).
Orlando Philharmonic: Beethoven festival & more
Since becoming Music Director of Florida’s Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in 2015, Jacobsen has distinguished the ensemble through a range of ambitious artistic initiatives and deepened community engagement, creating, according to Classical Music America, “an Orlando Philharmonic as compelling as I’ve heard it in more than 15 years.” This season, after an opening-night pairing of piano concertos by Ravel, Gershwin, and Ellington with a theatrical and humorous take on Stravinsky’s Petrushka, they present the Resonate Festival, a three-day celebration of Beethoven and his legacy. Under Jacobsen’s curation and leadership, the festival juxtaposes the composer’s Fourth, Fifth, and Pastoral Symphonies with contemporary works by Mike Block, Caroline Shaw, and John Williams, whose Clarinet Concerto receives its Florida premiere from its dedicatee, Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal clarinetist John Bruce Yeh. Of the conductor’s interpretation of Beethoven’s Fifth, the Chicago Classical Review writes: “Jacobsen offered a gripping account that rose above the routine one expects with standard works at summer festival settings. … The Finale was at once noble and propulsive, with a genuine sense of triumph that came across in the obvious rapport between Jacobsen and the orchestra” (Nov 5–8).
Jacobsen and the Orlando Philharmonic complete their fall lineup with holiday performances of Handel’s Messiah, featuring the University of Central Florida University Choir (Dec 16 & 17), before reconvening next year for Tchaikovsky’s mighty Fourth Symphony (Jan 9 & 10) and Rachmaninoff’s Second, heard alongside Nico Muhly’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra with Brooklyn Rider, the ensemble originally co-founded by Jacobsen himself (March 13 & 14). After reuniting with violin legend Itzhak Perlman for the orchestra’s annual Rhapsody Gala (March 23), they conclude their season with the conductor’s first Orlando performances of Mahler’s monumental Sixth Symphony, the “Tragic” (May 22 & 23).
The Knights at Carnegie Hall
Jacobsen is the Artistic Director and co-founder of The Knights, the adventurous New York-based chamber orchestra synonymous with fearless programming and genre-crossing performances. Bachtrack observes, “The Knights consistently put on some of the most interesting classical concerts in New York,” and The New York Times affirms: “The Knights are clearly ascendant at Carnegie Hall.”
This season, Jacobsen conducts the ensemble in three programs at the storied Manhattan venue. They present an all-Classical fall program of Mozart piano concertos, featuring audience favorite Emanuel Ax, together with the Carnegie Hall premiere of the overture from L’amant anonyme by the composer’s close contemporary Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges (Oct 20). Early next year, they pair Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with the New York premiere of Muhly’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra, featuring Brooklyn Rider, as in Orlando (Feb 24), before drawing the season to a close with a program spanning almost three centuries, from Geminiani’s Concerto Grosso in D minor to Caroline Shaw’s The Mountain that Loved a Bird, by way of works by Bach and Stravinsky (April 28). Jacobsen’s many previous collaborations with Muhly include conducting The Knights on Nicholas Phan’s Grammy-nominated album Stranger: Works for Tenor by Nico Muhly.
Recordings: Edgar Meyer, Jessie Montgomery, & Jeremy Kittel
Beyond the concert hall, Jacobsen is a prolific recording artist with an extensive and wide-ranging discography. Of his numerous current recording projects, three are due for release over the coming months: seven-time Grammy-winning composer-bassist Edgar Meyer’s three concertos for double bass and orchestra, recorded with The Knights and produced by Chris Thile; Grammy-winning composer Jessie Montgomery’s viola concerto, L.E.S. Characters, featuring its dedicatee, Grammy-winning violist Masumi Per Rostad; and a collaboration with celebrated American fiddle player Jeremy Kittel and the Orlando Philharmonic.
Eric Jacobsen: 2026–27 engagements
Oct 20
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall)
The Knights
BOLOGNE: Overture from L’amant anonyme (Carnegie Hall premiere)
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G, K. 453 (with Emmanuel Ax, piano)
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 25 in C, K. 503 (with Emmanuel Ax, piano)
Nov 5–8
Orlando, FL
Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
“Resonate Festival” (celebrating Beethoven)
Nov 5 (matinee)
Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5
Mike BLOCK: Hope on the Hill (with Mike Block, cello; University of Central Florida University Choir)
Nov 5 (evening)
BEETHOVEN: chamber works (on cello; with Mike Block, cello; John Bruce Yeh, clarinet)
Nov 7
Caroline SHAW: The Mountain that Loved a Bird
VIVALDI: selections from Gloria in D (with University of Central Florida University Choir)
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4
Nov 8
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6
John WILLIAMS: Clarinet Concerto (Florida premiere; with John Bruce Yeh, clarinet)
Nov 12–14
Boston, MA
Boston Symphony Orchestra (debut)
Osvaldo GOLIJOV: Creation (world premiere of BSO commission)
(With Cécile McLorin Salvant, vocalist; Davóne Tines, bass-baritone; Cyro Baptista, percussion; Kayhan Kalhor, kamancheh; Tanglewood Festival Chorus; BSO x NEC Honors Children’s Choir; Michele Adams, director)
Nov 19, 21, & 22
Newark, NJ
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
DEBUSSY: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
George DUKE: Dark Wood: Bass Concerto for Christian McBride (with Christian McBride, double bass)
Christian McBRIDE: Fried Bacon (with Chris Komer, horn)
RACHMANINOFF: Symphonic Dances
Dec 3, 6 (matinee), & 6 (evening)
Hampton Roads, VA
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
RAVEL: Tzigane (with Colin Jacobsen, violin)
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending (with Colin Jacobsen, violin)
VIVALDI: “Winter” from The Four Seasons (with Colin Jacobsen, violin)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Excerpts from The Nutcracker
Christina COURTIN: Sing-Along
Dec 16 & 17
Orlando, FL
Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
HANDEL: Messiah
(with Ariadne Greif, soprano; Tivoli Treloar, alto; Michael Anthony Rodriguez, tenor; Gabriel Preisser, baritone; University of Central Florida University Choir)
Jan 9 & 10
Orlando, FL
Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
ROSSINI: Overture to The Barber of Seville
BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto (with Rimma Bergeron-Langlois, violin)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4
Jan 15 & 16
Hampton Roads, VA
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
J. STRAUSS II: Perpetuum Mobile; Musikalischer Sherz (Musical Joke)
J. STRAUSS II: Overture to Die Fledermaus
MOZART: Flute Concerto No. 1 (with Minha Kim, flute)
HINDEMITH: Mathis der Maler
J. STRAUSS II: An der schönen blauen Donau
Jan 29 & 30
Nashville, TN
Nashville Symphony (debut)
ROSSINI: Overture to The Barber of Seville
HERBERT: Cello Concerto No. 2 (with Joshua Kováč, cello)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4
Feb 4 & 6
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Symphony
DEBUSSY: “Nuages” and “Fêtes” from Nocturnes
GRIFFES: Bacchanale
TCHAIKOVSKY: Variations on a Rococo Theme (with Sterling Elliott, cello)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Andante cantabile
IVES: The Unanswered Question
HINDEMITH: Mathis der Maler
Feb 19–21
Hampton Roads, VA
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
VERDI: Messa da Requiem (with Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus)
Feb 24
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall)
The Knights with Brooklyn Rider
PURCELL: selected works
Nico MUHLY: Concerto for string quartet and orchestra (NY premiere)
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5
March 13 & 14
Orlando, FL
Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra with Brooklyn Rider
MOZART: Overture to The Magic Flute
Nico MUHLY: Concerto for string quartet and orchestra
RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 2
March 23
Orlando, FL
Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
“Rhapsody Gala”
(with Itzhak Perlman, violin)
April 3 & 4
Hampton Roads, VA
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
DEBUSSY: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
BRAHMS: Concerto for Violin and Cello (with Grace Park, violin; Sterling Elliott, cello)
STILL, arr. Randall GOOSBY: Suite for Cello & Orchestra (with Sterling Elliott, cello)
RESPIGHI: Fountains of Rome
April 16 & 17
Hampton Roads, VA
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
RAVEL: Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2
Caroline SHAW: The Mountain that Loved a Bird (with film by Alex Sopp, visual artist; Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus)
JANÁČEK: Sinfonietta
April 28
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall)
The Knights
GEMINIANI: Concerto Grosso in D minor (after Corelli’s Violin Sonata Op. 5, No. 12, “Folia”)
Caroline SHAW: The Mountain that Loved a Bird
STRAVINSKY: Concerto in D
BACH: Orchestral Suite No. 2
May 22 & 23
Orlando, FL
Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra
MAHLER: Symphony No. 6