Conductor Rafael Payare’s 2026–27 season includes California tour and Ravel/Stravinsky album with OSM, European tour and Shostakovich album with San Diego Symphony, returns to New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and San Francisco Symphony

Rafael Payare conducts SDSO (photo: courtesy of SDSO)

(September 2026) — Conductor Rafael Payare – always “electrifying in front of an orchestra” (Los Angeles Times) – leads full seasons of performances in 2026–27 as Music and Artistic Director of both California’s San Diego Symphony (SDSO) and Canada’s Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Montreal Symphony Orchestra/OSM), while also returning to the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and San Francisco Symphony. Highlights of Payare’s season with the SDSO includes their debut on Delos / Outhere with Shostakovich’s “Leningrad” Symphony No. 7, available digitally and released worldwide on CD last week; a European tour in the spring (April 28–May 6); the SDSO debuts of pianist Daniil Trifonov, violinist Joshua Brown, and clarinetist Ricardo Morales; and performances of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony and Shostakovich’s Tenth. The season finale pairs Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the U.S. premiere of the SDSO and OSM co-commissioned Symphony No. 6, “Monarch,” by the orchestras’ recent mutual Composer-in-Residence, Jimmy López (June 4–6), and Payare offers the same season finale program with the OSM a few days earlier, in what will be the “Monarch” Symphony’s world premiere (May 25–27). Other OSM highlights include a season-opening all-Mahler performance (Sep 16 & 17); the orchestra’s 61st international tour in California, joined by soloist Leonidas Kavakos for violin concertos of Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn (Oct 25–29); and a nature-themed concert featuring Jimmy López’s Fourth Symphony, inspired by the 2024 total eclipse, and Renée Fleming’s Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, a multimedia concert project – derived from a Grammy-winning album – pairing Romantic-era and contemporary art songs with National Geographic Society film projections (Jan 12 & 13). Payare and the OSM also release their fifth recording on the Pentatone label in the fall, comprising Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (Oct 30); and present a spring Mozart Festival featuring the Mass in C minor, Symphonies Nos. 25 and 40, the Piano Concerto No. 7 for three pianos, and a concert performance of Don Giovanni (April 8–17).

As a guest conductor, Payare returns to the New York Philharmonic for a program comprising Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony and Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Nov 4, 5, 7); the Orchestre de Paris, where he conducts Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony along with Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds (Jan 19 & 20); and the San Francisco Symphony, where Thibaudet plays Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto on a program with Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra (June 11–13).

San Diego Symphony (SDSO)

Payare and the SDSO’s recent release of Shostakovich’s Seventh “Leningrad” Symphony on Delos / Outhere is named an “Editor’s Choice” in the upcoming October issue of Gramophone, besides being praised as “a marvel in many respects” by Montreal’s Le Devoir. The review continued: “The ending, presented as a premonition of victory over fascism, is also … a tribute to the victims crushed by totalitarian regimes of all kinds. This is why its weight must be unbearable, something Rafael Payare conveys so well in this version, distinguished by its clarity and power.” Continuing and expanding the Shostakovich theme, the orchestra’s eighth season under Payare’s baton emphasizes performances of the late-Romantic and early 20th-century masterpieces. A starry roster of concerto soloists joins them in the SDSO’s recently renovated home, the Jacobs Music Center. Their opening program this season pairs Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, performed by soloist Yefim Bronfman (Oct 3 & 4). Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony shares the bill with violinist Sergey Khachatryan’s performance of Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto (Oct 10 & 11), and Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony is programmed with Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto performed by Daniil Trifonov, making his long-awaited SDSO debut (Nov 14 & 15). Payare’s expertise as a Mahler interpreter is on display this season when he conducts Mahler’s “Tragic” Symphony No. 6 along with Liszt’s First Piano Concerto – quoted in Mahler’s symphony – featuring Inon Barnatan (Nov 20 & 22); and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique is paired with Alisa Weilerstein’s performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto (Jan 29 & 30). Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto is also featured in multiple settings this season, first marking the SDSO debut of violinist Joshua Brown, a 2025 recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant (March 20 & 21) and then performed by Leonidas Kavakos at most of the stops on the orchestra’s first European tour next spring. The remainder of the tour repertoire, in various combinations, comprises Schumann’s Piano Concerto performed by Spanish pianist Javier Perianes, Grammy Award-winning Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari, Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances” from West Side Story, Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin, and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (April 28–May 6).

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Montreal Symphony Orchestra/OSM)

Payare and the OSM launched a cycle of Mahler symphonies in 2022, which continued last season with the Ninth and Fourth. They open their 2026–27 season with an all-Mahler concert featuring selections from the song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn (“The Boy’s Magic Horn”) and the rarely performed cantata Das klagende Lied in its full three-part version. Soloists are soprano Miah Persson, contralto Rose Naggar-Tremblay, tenor Clay Hilley, and baritone Matthias Goerne (Sep 16 & 17). Their California tour in October includes Leonidas Kavakos performing, at different destinations, both Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. Tour repertoire also includes Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, which Payare led on OSM’s European tour in 2022; Montreal composer Samy Moussa’s Elysium; and Stravinsky’s complete Firebird ballet (Oct 25–29). In the spring, Payare and OSM are joined by Alisa Weilerstein for performances of Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote, a tone poem with cello and viola soloists respectively portraying the title character and his squire. The program also features two other Strauss tone poems: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks and Don Juan. After a recent performance on tour in Edinburgh, The Times found their rendition of the same composer’s Ein Heldenleben “terrifically exciting and beautifully upholstered” (May 19 & 20).

Payare and the OSM release their fifth recording on the Pentatone label on October 30, comprising Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. After a live performance of Daphnis et Chloé by the same forces in 2025, Bachtrack praised the “magnificent account,” continuing: “Payare’s interpretation of Ravel’s ballet revealed a profound understanding of the music’s complexity. … [His] freedom fostered an elevated degree of expressiveness. Payare’s blending of the cornucopia of colours in the score made for a spellbinding reading.”

SDSO and OSM collaboration

Payare’s two orchestras close out their respective seasons with the same program, featuring a work they co-commissioned: the Symphony No. 6, “Monarch” by Jimmy López, who recently completed a two-year residency with both ensembles. The symphony draws inspiration from the migration of monarch butterflies and reflects on the fragile harmony between life and environment; the Montreal performance marks the world premiere of the work (May 25–27), followed by the U.S. premiere in San Diego (June 4–6). Also on both programs will be Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, with separate soloists and chorus at each location: Montreal soloists are soprano Lauren Margison, mezzo-soprano Fleuranne Brockway, tenor Robert Watson, and bass Alexander Vinogradov; while the San Diego performance will feature the SDSO debuts of mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz and baritone Hansung Yoo, along with the returns of tenor Viktor Antipenko and soprano Tasha Hokuao Koontz.

Guest conducting engagements

Payare’s final engagement of the summer takes him to Georgia’s Tsinandali Festival, where he leads the Pan-Caucasian Youth Orchestra, Israeli soprano Chen Reiss, and German mezzo-soprano Okka von der Damerau in a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. The following month, the “noted authority on the late-Romantic repertoire” (BBC Music Magazine) returns to the podium of the New York Philharmonic for a pairing of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2, performed by soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Bruckner’s profound Symphony No. 9, which after nearly a decade of work was unfortunately left unfinished at the composer’s death (Nov 4, 5, 7).

In the New Year, Payare returns to the Orchestre de Paris for a program combining Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 – also prominent in the schedules of both the SDSO and OSM in 2026–27 – with Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds, featuring soloists on clarinet, oboe, horn, and bassoon (Jan 19 & 20).

Payare’s last guest conducting engagement of the season is a return to the San Francisco Symphony, where he reunites with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, this time for performances of Aram Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto, sharing the bill with Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra (June 11–13).

Rafael Payare: 2026–27 season engagements

Sep 16 & 17
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Miah Persson, soprano
Rose Naggar-Tremblay, contralto
Clay Hilley, tenor
Matthias Goerne, baritone
OSM Chorus
Andrew Megill, chorusmaster
MAHLER: Selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (“The Boy’s Magic Horn”)
MAHLER: Das klagende Lied (mixed version in 3 parts)

Sep 23
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Lang Lang, piano
MAYER: Overture No. 2
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2, Op. 43

Sep 24
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Jean-Willy Kunz, organ
MAYER: Overture No. 2
POULENC: Organ Concerto, FP 93
SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2, Op. 43

Oct 3 & 4
San Diego, CA
San Diego Symphony
Yefim Bronfman, piano
GUBAIDULINA: Poema-Skazka (“Fairytale Poem”)
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben (“A Hero’s Life”), Op. 40

Oct 10 & 11
San Diego, CA
San Diego Symphony
Sergey Khachatryan, violin
KHACHATURIAN: Violin Concerto
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 9 in D minor

Oct 21 & 22
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto, Op. 35
Samy MOUSSA: Elysium
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird (complete ballet)

Oct 25–29: OSM California tour
   Oct 25: San Francisco (Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall)
   Oct 27: Los Angeles (Walt Disney Concert Hall)
   Oct 29: San Diego (Jacobs Music Center)
Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Repertoire selected from:
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93
Samy MOUSSA: Elysium
MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird (complete ballet)

Nov 4, 5, 7
New York, NY
New York Philharmonic
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
LISZT: Piano Concerto No. 2
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 9

Nov 14 & 15
San Diego, CA
San Diego Symphony
Daniil Trifonov, piano
TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93

Nov 20 & 22
San Diego, CA
San Diego Symphony
Inon Barnatan, piano
LISZT: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat
MAHLER: Symphony No. 6 in A minor, “Tragic”

Jan 12 & 13
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Renée Fleming, soprano
Jimmy LÓPEZ: Symphony No. 4, Eclipse — First Contact
DEBUSSY: Ibéria
Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene
Hazel Dickens, arr. Jeremy Kittel, Pretty Bird
HANDEL: “Care selve” from Atalanta
Nico MUHLY: Endless Space
CANTELOUBE: “Bailero” from Chants d’Auvergne
Maria SCHNEIDER: “Our Finch Feeder” from Winter Morning Walks
BJÖRK (arr. Hans Ek): All is Full of Love
VILLA-LOBOS: “Epilogo” from Floresta do Amazonas
Howard SHORE: “Twilight and Shadow” from The Lord of the Rings
Kevin PUTS: Evening
Curtis GREEN (text Pearce Green): Red Mountains Sometimes Cry
BACHARACH (text Hal David): What the World Needs Now

Jan 16
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Kerson Leong, violin
Jimmy LÓPEZ: Symphony No. 4, Eclipse — First Contact
LALO: Symphonie espagnole, Op. 21
SOHY: Danse mystique, Op. 19
DEBUSSY: Ibéria

Jan 19 & 20
Paris, France
Cité de la Musique – Philharmonie de Paris
Orchestre de Paris
MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds in E-flat, K.297b
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op.93

Jan 29 & 30
San Diego, CA
San Diego Symphony
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
ELGAR: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14

Feb 10 & 11
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 8, Op. 65

Feb 14
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, piano
Denis GOUGEON: La Traversée
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 58
R. STRAUSS: Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40

March 20 & 21
San Diego, CA
San Diego Symphony
Joshua Brown, violin
Gabriela ORTIZ: Kauyumari
SHOSTAKOVICH: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 99
BARTÓK: Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird Suite (1919 version)

March 26 & 27
San Diego, CA
San Diego Symphony
Ricardo Morales, clarinet
ESTÉVEZ: Mediodía en el llano (“Midday on the Plains”)
Esa-Pekka SALONEN: kínēma
BERNSTEIN: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
RACHMANINOFF: Symphonic Dances, Op. 45

April 8 & 11
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Mozart Festival
Charles Richard-Hamelin, Meagan Milatz and Kevin Chen, pianos
MOZART: Symphony No. 25, K. 183
MOZART: Piano Concerto for three pianos No.7, K. 242
MOZART: Symphony No. 40, K. 550

April 14
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Mozart Festival
Anna-Sophie Neher, soprano
Martina Myskohlid, mezzo-soprano
Andrew Haji, tenor
Geoffroy Salvas, bass
OSM Chorus (Andrew Megill, chorusmaster)
MOZART: Serenade, K.525, “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”
MOZART: Exsultate, jubilate, K.165
MOZART: Mass in C minor, K. 427/427a (U. Leisinger edition) (55 min)

April 15 & 17
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Mozart Festival
Gustavo Castillo, bass-baritone (Don Giovanni)
Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, bass (Leporello)
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, soprano (Donna Anna)
Michèle Losier, mezzo-soprano (Donna Elvira)
Matthew Swensen, tenor (Don Ottavio)
Adam Palka, bass (Commendatore)
Jenny Daviet, soprano (Zerlina)
Jamal Al Titi, baritone (Masetto)
OSM Chorus (Andrew Megill, chorusmaster)
Oriol Thomas, staging and narration author
MOZART: Don Giovanni

April 28–May 6: San Diego Symphony Europe Tour
   April 28: Barcelona, Spain (Palau de la Música Catalana)
   April 30: Toulouse, France (Halle aux Grains)
   May 3: Hamburg, Germany (Elbphilharmonie)
   May 4: Paris, France (La Seine Musicale, Patrick Devedjian Auditorium)
   May 6: Dublin, Ireland (National Concert Hall)
Javier Perianes, piano (April 28 only)
Leonidas Kavakos, violin (April 30–May 6)
Repertoire selected from:
Gabriela ORTIZ: Kauyumari
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto
SHOSTAKOVICH: Violin Concerto No. 1
BERNSTEIN: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
BARTÓK: Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird Suite

May 19 & 20
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
R. STRAUSS: Don Juan, Op. 29
R. STRAUSS: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28
R. STRAUSS: Don Quixote, TrV 184, Op. 35

May 25–27
Montreal, QC
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Lauren Margison, soprano
Fleuranne Brockway, mezzo-soprano
Robert Watson, tenor
Alexander Vinogradov, bass
OSM Chorus (Andrew Megill, chorusmaster)
Jimmy LÓPEZ: Symphony No. 6, “Monarch” (world premiere; co-commission OSM & SDSO)
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9

June 4–6
San Diego, CA
San Diego Symphony
Tasha Hokuao Koontz, soprano
Nikola Printz, mezzo-soprano
Viktor Antipenko, tenor
Hansung Yoo, baritone
San Diego Symphony Chorus
Jimmy LÓPEZ: Symphony No. 6, “Monarch” (U.S. premiere; co-commission OSM & SDSO)
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9

June 11–13
San Francisco, CA
Davies Symphony Hall
San Francisco Symphony
Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
Gabriela ORTIZ: Kauyumari
KHACHATURIAN: Piano Concerto
BARTÓK: Concerto for Orchestra