Orchestra of St. Luke’s presents sixth annual Bach Festival in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall (June 2–23); gives two summer performances at Caramoor (June 20, Aug 2); presents DeGaetano Composition Institute world premieres (July 28)

Row 1: Paul McCreesh, Jean Rondeau, Renaud Capuçon, Kelli O’Hara; Row 2: Reginald Mobley, Gil Shaham, Pieter Wispelwey (photos: courtesy of OSL)

(May 2026) — Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL) – lauded as “an organization willing to seize the moment” (The New York Times) – returns to Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall this spring for its sixth annual Bach Festival in the venue (June 2–23), the fifth since a pandemic-induced online interlude. The Bach Festival crowns a season of 14 performances in Carnegie Hall, five of them in the Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. The Bach Festival’s five performances focus on Bach’s influence on the early Classical period, with an all-star lineup of guest artists including four conductors and instrumentalists making OSL debuts: Paul McCreesh, Pieter Wispelwey, Renaud Capuçon, and Jean Rondeau. Paul McCreesh, Artistic Director of the Gabrieli Consort & Players, conducts Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 along with works by Bach, joined by countertenor Reginald Mobley, who returns to the festival for the second season in a row (June 2); Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey performs the complete Bach Cello Suites (June 7) and Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C (June 10); French violinist Renaud Capuçon, Artistic Director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, play-directs a program of Bach and Mozart (June 16); and French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau leads works by Bach and his sons from the keyboard (June 23). OSL also performs the opening and closing concerts of the Caramoor summer season, the first led by Rob Fisher and featuring Tony Award-winning vocalist Kelli O’Hara (June 20), and the second highlighting soloist Gil Shaham in Barber’s Violin Concerto, along with music of Mozart and Rossini, conducted by Xian Zhang (Aug 2). OSL’s DeGaetano Composition Institute is also featured this summer, with a program of world premieres for chamber orchestra by Institute composers under the mentorship of Augusta Read Thomas and conductor Brad Lubman (July 28).

OSL Bach Festival presented in association with Carnegie Hall (June 2–23)

The 2026 edition of the OSL Bach Festival – on the heels of the completely sold-out 2025 festival – examines the ways in which Bach was a predecessor of the early Classical period, not only exemplified by the music of his own sons but by early Mozart and Haydn. For the first performance, countertenor Reginald Mobley returns for the second year in a row, this time under the baton of conductor Paul McCreesh, Artistic Director of the Gabrieli Consort & Players, an organization he founded in 1982. Repertoire for the concert includes Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 in G minor, Bach’s countertenor cantata Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, and the sinfonia from Cantata No. 42 (June 2).

In a special, added performance, Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey will perform the complete Bach Cello Suites in Zankel Hall. The cellist has released three recordings of the suites over the course of his career, most recently on the Dutch Evil Penguin label in 2017, about which Strings magazine declared: “His Bach is studded with touching moments of vulnerability that differentiate each suite, each movement, each bar, in the composer’s vast kaleidoscope universe” (June 7). Wispelwey is featured again in the next Bach Festival performance, playing Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C. Reviewing his Channel Classics box set released earlier this year, Gramophone called him “a daring interpreter with thought-provoking ideas,” adding: “The ease with which Wispelwey moves between period and modern practice is a marvel and an excellent reason to root around in this box” (June 10).

French superstar violinist Renaud Capuçon plays and directs the next Bach Festival program, which centers on Bach’s A minor Concerto for Violin and Mozart’s Symphony No. 29. Also on the program is a pairing of Mozart’s Adagio in E major and Rondo in C, which were both composed at the request of Italian violinist Antonio Brunetti, and Bach’s Overture from the Orchestral Suite No. 2. The Artistic Director of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Capuçon recently released a recording of Mozart violin concertos with the orchestra that included the Adagio in E and Rondo in C. The Classic Review commented that “Capuçon plays beautifully, as one would expect; his tone is warm and inviting. Articulation is spotless, with plenty of rhythmic energy” (June 16).

The Bach Festival’s final performance features French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau conducting from the keyboard. The program includes two Concertos in D minor, by both J.S. Bach and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel; Johann Christian Bach’s Concerto in F minor; and Rondeau’s own transcription of C.P.E. Bach’s Andante con tenerezza from Sonata in A major. The Washington Post calls Rondeau “one of the most natural performers one is likely to hear on a classical music stage these days. Affectation and ostentation are not part of his makeup and, once seated at the instrument, he and the harpsichord become one” (June 23).

OSL at Caramoor and DeGaetano Composition Institute world premieres

For the opening program of Caramoor’s 81st summer season, OSL performs under the baton of Rob Fisher with beloved Tony-winning and Emmy- and Grammy-nominated Broadway vocalist Kelli O’Hara as soloist. O’Hara sings a program combining American Songbook classics, Broadway favorites, and pop standards (June 20).

Grammy- and Emmy-winning New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Music Director Xian Zhang joins OSL for Caramoor’s season finale concert, with violinist Gil Shaham as soloist. A favorite at Caramoor since his first appearance in 1994, Shaham performs Barber’s Violin Concerto on a program with Rossini’s Overture to L’italiana in Algeri and Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony. The violinist will also be on hand for a pre-concert conversation (Aug 2).

In July, OSL’s DeGaetano Composition Institute presents four world premieres for chamber orchestra performed by OSL in The DiMenna Center for Classical Music’s Cary Hall. The Institute provides a six-month program for emerging composers to develop a new work for chamber orchestra under the guidance of Composer Mentor Augusta Read Thomas, and the concert marks the culmination of its final phase: a week-long New York City residency packed with opportunities to network and learn from industry professionals while working closely with conductor Brad Lubman and Orchestra of St. Luke’s (July 28).

About Orchestra of St. Luke’s

Founded in 1974, when a group of virtuoso chamber musicians began performing together at Greenwich Village’s Church of St. Luke in the Fields, Orchestra of St. Luke’s (OSL) has since evolved into a full orchestra, becoming a vibrant force in New York’s classical music scene. Today OSL makes its artistic home at New York’s Carnegie Hall, where, since debuting at the venue in 1983, it has performed more concerts than any other orchestra. In addition to a concert series in each of Carnegie Hall’s three venues, OSL’s annual season features two programs spotlighting contemporary composers: Visionary Sounds and the DeGaetano Composition Institute. Both programs take place at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, the midtown Manhattan rehearsal, recording, and performance facility that was designed and built by OSL in 2011. Similarly central to OSL’s mission is the Education and Community Engagement initiative, which presents free concerts to thousands of New York City public school students each year, offers a mentorship program for pre-professional musicians, brings accessible concerts to all five boroughs, and oversees the Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s (YOSL), the city’s only youth orchestra affiliated with a professional ensemble. OSL also proudly collaborates with Paul Taylor Dance Company each year at Lincoln Center, as well as performing with a variety of other artistic partners at venues throughout the city and beyond.

Orchestra of St. Luke’s: spring/summer 2026

June 2
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall)
OSL Presents: OSL Bach Festival
“Paul McCreesh Conducts Bach and Mozart”
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Paul McCreesh, conductor
Reginald Mobley, countertenor
BACH: Sinfonia from Cantata No. 42
BACH: Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170
MOZART: Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183
MOZART Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546

June 7
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall)
OSL Presents: OSL Bach Festival (Special Event)
“The Complete Bach Cello Suites”
Pieter Wispelwey, cello

June 10
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall)
OSL Presents: OSL Bach Festival
“Pieter Wispelwey Performs Haydn”
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Pieter Wispelwey, cello
J. S. BACH: “O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross,” BWV 622 (arr. Reger)
J. S. BACH: Orchestral Suite No. 1
HAYDN: Cello Concerto in C, Hob. VIIb:1
HAYDN: Symphony No. 49, “La Passione”

June 16
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall)
OSL Presents: OSL Bach Festival
“Renaud Capuçon, Bach, and Mozart”
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Renaud Capuçon, conductor and violin
MOZART: Adagio K. 261 and Rondo K. 373
BACH: Overture from Suite No. 2 for Violin and Strings, BWV 1067
BACH: Concerto for Violin in A minor, BWV 1041
MOZART: Symphony No. 29, K. 201

June 20
Katonah, NY
Caramoor
Venetian Theater
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Rob Fisher, conductor
Dan Lipton, music director
Kelli O’Hara, vocalist

June 23
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall)
OSL Presents: OSL Bach Festival
“Jean Rondeau and The Bach Dynasty”
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Jean Rondeau, conductor and harpsichord
Program to include:
W.F./J.C. BACH: Concerto in F minor, W C73
C.P.E. BACH (trans. RONDEAU): Andante con tenerezza from Sonata in A, Wq. 65/32, H. 135
C.P.E. BACH: Concerto in D minor, Wq. 23, H. 427
J.S. BACH: Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052

July 28
New York, NY
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music (Cary Hall)
DeGaetano Composition Institute
World premieres for chamber orchestra
Program to be announced Spring 2026

Aug 2
Katonah, NY
Caramoor
Venetian Theater
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Xian Zhang, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin
ROSSINI: Overture to L’italiana in Algeri
BARBER: Violin Concerto, Op. 14
MOZART: Symphony No. 41 in C, K. 551, “Jupiter”