Independent Arts News Reporting Princeton Symphony Orchestra Single Tickets on Sale July 20 for the 2026-27 Season
Reported on Friday, 25, 2026.
Pictured Above: Dmitry Shishkin piano. Photo Credit: Alexandra Aksentieva.
NEWRSOOM POST: PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Grammy Award®-winning soprano Christine Goerke crowns the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s 2026-27 Season, performing Wagner and Mahler with the orchestra in January
Princeton, NJ — Award-winning pianist Dmitry Shishkin opens the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s (PSO’s) 2026-27 Season at concerts the weekend of October 17-18. He will perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 on a program showcasing members of the orchestra with Joan Tower’s Suite from Concerto for Orchestra and Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116, BB 123.
The Saturday performance begins at 7:30pm, and Sunday’s 4pm performance includes a 3pm pre-concert talk. Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov conducts both performances and hosts Sunday’s talk at Richardson Auditorium, on the campus of Princeton University.
Maestro Milanov says, “I look forward to welcoming Dmitry to Princeton. His is an artist with unique elegance, virtuosity, and musical conviction.”
Silver Medalist at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition and winner of the 73rd Geneva International Music Competition, Dmitry Shishkin has earned international acclaim for his creative and individual approach to music. Critics have described him as an “electrifying and flamboyant pianist, of great musical honesty and rigor.” In the 2025-26 season, he performed internationally at Festivals such as Verbier, in recitals on the West Coast, East Asia, and Europe, and with orchestras including the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Santa Barbara Symphony, Bilkent Symphony, and the Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla. A native of Russia, the 34-year-old pianist began his studies at the Gnessin Moscow School of Music with Mikhail Khokhlov, continued at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Eliso Virsaladze, and later studied at the “Vincenzo Bellini” State Conservatory in Catania with Epifanio Comis, and at the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover with Arie Vardi. He is now based in Switzerland.
Pictured Above: Dmitry Shishkin piano. Photo Credit: Alexandra Aksentieva.
Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini was inspired by violin virtuoso Niccólo Paganini’s devilishly demanding 24th Caprice in A Minor, the theme of which Rachmaninoff repeats, inverts, and famously combines with the medieval liturgical Dies irae theme. Tower’s Suite from Concerto for Orchestra is a 12-minute distillation of her Concerto for Orchestra (1991), the structure of which, like Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra (1943), allows for sections of the orchestra to be highlighted in a virtuosic manner. Commissioned by Boston Symphony conductor Serge Koussevitzky in memory of his deceased wife, Natalie, and written while the composer was in the early stages of leukemia, Bartók’s five-movement Concerto is considered the quintessential concerto for orchestra and is the composer’s most frequently performed work.
Also in 2026-27, Grammy Award®-winning soprano Christine Goerke sings Wagner and Mahler with the PSO, and violinist Simone Porter, cellist Joshua Roman, and pianist Maxim Lando perform concertos by Mozart, Shostakovich, and Brahms, respectively. Westminster Symphonic Choir joins the PSO in performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Review the PSO’s performance calendar online at princetonsymphony.org/calendar with links to individual event pages.
Single tickets start at $42; there are also cost-saving full subscriptions (save up to 25%) and Pick 3+ ticket packages available. Concerts take place on Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 4pm. Full Season subscriptions start at $198. Youths 5-17 receive a 50% discount with an adult purchase. For tickets and information visit the Princeton Symphony Orchestra website at princetonsymphony.org or call 609-497-0020.
ABOUT THE PRINCETON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is a cultural centerpiece of the Princeton community and one of New Jersey’s finest music organizations, a position established through performances of beloved masterworks, innovative music by living composers, and an extensive network of educational programs offered to area students free of charge. Led by Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov, the PSO presents orchestral, pops, and chamber music programs of the highest artistic quality, supported by lectures and related events that supplement the concert experience. Its flagship summer program the Princeton Festival brings an array of performing arts and artists to Princeton during multiple weeks in June. Through PSO BRAVO!, the orchestra produces wide-reaching and impactful education programs in partnership with local schools and arts organizations that culminate in students attending a live orchestral performance. The PSO receives considerable support from the Princeton community and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, regularly garnering NJSCA’s highest honor. Recognition of engaging residencies and concerts has come from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the PSO’s commitment to new music has been acknowledged with an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and a Copland Fund Award. The only independent, professional orchestra to make its home in Princeton, the PSO performs at historic Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University.
Find the PSO online at www.princetonsymphony.org; on facebook at www.facebook.com/princetonsymphony; on “X” at x.com/PSOmusic; on Instagram at instagram.com/princetonsymphony; and on flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/princetonsymphony.
