25/26 ESO Season Intro
A Season of New Adventures, Music, Connection and Celebration
A message from Jean-Marie Zeitouni, ESO Music Director
As I step onto the Winspear stage for my first season as Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, I do so with excitement, purpose, and a deep appreciation for the artistry of this remarkable ensemble.
This season is a journey—one that celebrates our musical heritage while embracing bold new ideas. In the Classics Series, we explore the emotional and intellectual depths of great symphonic music, from the drama of Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony and the stirring beauty of Beethoven’s “Pastoral,” to the evocative storytelling of Carmina Burana. We welcome world-class soloists, including Benjamin Grosvenor, Christian Blackshaw, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Harmony Zhu, Andrew Haji, Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, and Jacques Forestier, whose artistic finesse elevates these performances to profound heights. We continue our commitment to modern composers, with numerous ESO premieres, including pieces by Camille Pépin, Vivian Fung, Elisabetta Brusa, Julien Bilodeau and Jocelyn Morlock, ensuring that our performances are relevant to the present moment. Each program in the Classics Series is a voyage, moving between the familiar and the new, crafted to inspire and connect us in meaningful ways.
This season, we also celebrate collaboration in a profound way—joining forces with the Edmonton Opera for Bravi, a thrilling evening of opera’s greatest hits, and uniting with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra for a powerful performance of Holst’s The Planets. These partnerships highlight the strength of Alberta’s musical community and the beautiful artistry that emerges when we come together on stage.
The joy of music extends throughout our Pops Series, where we celebrate stars of modern music from Pop, Broadway, Country, and Rock. Audience favourite Tony DeSare returns to perform the Billy Joel songbook, while Capathia Jenkins and Ryan Shaw bring their powerhouse vocals to the music of pop icons like Whitney Houston, Elton John, Prince, Tina Turner, and The Beatles. Sci-fi film lovers will be transported to new worlds with a thrilling concert featuring music from Galaxy Quest, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, and Rogue One. With vibrant arrangements and the power of your Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, these performances transform familiar favorites into unforgettable live experiences, creating moments of wonder, nostalgia, and pure musical magic.
Our Symphony for Kids concerts introduce young audiences to the magic of live orchestral music through stories that inspire and ignite curiosity. This season we feature family favourite Peter and the Wolf as well as Wild Symphony from best selling author Dan Brown. In the summer months, we take the orchestra beyond the concert hall, from the sunlit stages of Symphony Under the Sky to our ESO Outdoors performances and Symphony in the Square, ensuring that our music reaches every corner of our community.
Above all, this season is about connection—between artists and audiences, past and future, the familiar and the unexpected. Whether you are a lifelong concertgoer or joining us for the first time, I invite you to experience the full spectrum of what the ESO has to offer. This is your orchestra, and I am honored to embark on this musical adventure with you.
Warmly,
—Jean-Marie