Conductor James Gaffigan Announces 2026-2027 Season Highlights

Fourth Season as General Music Director of Komische Oper Berlin
Brings Opera Productions with Kosky, Titov, and Manzel
Plus Multiple Symphonic Concerts

Long-Awaited Berlin Premiere of Karol Szymanowski’s Król Roger

Launching Role as Music Director Designate of Houston Grand Opera
With Production of Floyd’s Susannah

Leading the World Premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s Symphony No. 5 “Liberty”
with the National Symphony Orchestra

Return Engagements with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, 

Orchestre de Paris, Munich Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic,
and Luzerner Sinfonieorchester

“a feisty intensity” – The New York Times 

“effortlessly chic” – The Washington Post

“Gaffigan is one of the most promising conductors of his generation.” – Musical America

www.jamesgaffigan.com 

New York, NY (September 2, 2026) – Praised for his “impassioned leadership” (The Wall Street Journal) and “meticulous presentation” (OperaWire), conductor James Gaffigan is known worldwide for his equal prowess as a conductor of symphony orchestras and opera. He holds unique prominence among American conductors in Europe, beginning his fourth season as General Music Director of Komische Oper Berlin, where he conducts Barrie Kosky’s production of Porgy and Bess – the company’s first staging of the Gershwin opera in five decades – along with Kosky’s production of The Golden Cockerel, Evgeny Titov’s production of Król Roger, and Dagmar Manzel’s production of Hänsel und Gretel, along with multiple symphonic concerts. In the launch of his tenure as Music Director Designate of Houston Grand Opera, he leads the company’s production of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah and its annual Concert of Arias, before taking on the role of Music Director in the 2027-2028 season.

In a highlight of his guest-conducting schedule, Gaffigan leads the World Premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s Symphony No. 5 “Liberty” with the National Symphony Orchestra and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Among his other U.S. engagements, he leads the San Francisco Symphony in a collaborative performance with LINES Ballet, and returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for a program featuring Alisa Weilerstein. His European schedule brings him to the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, where he conducts the Dutch premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra, and to engagements with the Orchestre de Paris, Munich Philharmonic, and Luzerner Sinfonieorchester.

During the summer of 2026, Gaffigan appeared at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland as Music Director of the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra, a role he has held since 2021. He went on to conduct Wynton Marsalis’s Symphony No. 1, “All Rise” in the opening concert of the Edinburgh International Festival, leading an assemblage of more than 200 musicians including Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, and the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers in a performance of “swagger and style,” The Herald reported, adding: “Gaffigan must take huge credit for the coherence of the whole work.” Conducting at the BBC Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall, he led the UK Premiere of Marsalis’s Concerto for Orchestra, a BBC co-commission, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra – which “played superbly … locked into the conductor’s sleek groove” (The Guardian).

In his first engagement of the season, Gaffigan conducts the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center in the World Premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s Symphony No. 5 “Liberty.” The orchestra will be joined in this performance by Marsalis himself on trumpet, along with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), where he serves as Artistic Director. Co-commissioned in honor of America250 by the NSO, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, and others, the new work blends jazz, blues, and orchestral sounds in a rousing celebration of the American story. The World Premiere marks one of the early highlights of Marsalis’s final season as Artistic Director of the JLCO.

From October 23 to November 8, 2026, Gaffigan leads Houston Grand Opera in his first appearance as Music Director Designate, conducting HGO’s season-opening production of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. Soprano Angel Blue sings the title role opposite baritone Rod Gilfry. The production, directed by Patricia Racette, is part of HGO’s centenary celebration of Carlisle Floyd, the pioneering American composer, librettist, and educator who enjoyed a decades-long collaborative relationship with the company.

Gaffigan goes on to a return engagement with the San Francisco Symphony on November 19, 20, and 21, 2026, as the symphony stages its latest collaboration with choreographer Alonzo King and LINES Ballet. For this program, performances of Debussy’s evocative Prélude à L’Après-midi d’un faune and Copland’s Suite from Appalachian Spring will be complemented by an enchanting live dance performance choreographed to the music. The program also showcases SF Symphony Principal Cello Rainer Eudeikis as featured performer on Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante – the composer’s dynamic “cello concerto in all but name.”

On November 27, 2026, Gaffigan makes his first appearance of the season as General Music Director of Komische Oper Berlin, where he conducts a symphonic concert, “Love Fantasies,” bringing together great Classical repertoire on romantic themes. Strauss’s tone poem Don Juan, along with his Six Songs to poems by Clemens Brentano, are paired on this program with Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 in D minor, composed in a spirit of devotion to his new wife Clara.

On December 4, 5, and 6, 2026, Gaffigan returns to the Munich Philharmonic, where he leads a program pairing Korngold’s The Sea Hawk – a landmark composition in early Hollywood “movie music” – with John Williams’ Horn Concerto, featuring soloist Matías Piñeira, and selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

He returns to Komische Oper Berlin to conduct Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, staged as a vibrant dreamscape in this fantastical production by Dagmar Manzel. Performances will be held December 6, 15, 19, 21, and 29, 2026, before continuing the new year on January 8 and 23, 2027.

He also conducts the company’s New Year’s Day Concert on January 1, 2027. The program – a “closely guarded secret” crafted in part by actor Max Hopp, who will also appear in the live performance – will be announced later in the season.

Gaffigan continues his schedule with Komische Oper Berlin for its production of Król Roger, Karol Szymanowski’s tale of enlightenment based on the historical King Roger II, a 12th-century ruler of Sicily. This production of the opera by Evgeny Titov will be the first ever staged by a Berlin opera house. Performances will be held January 30; February 5; and March 4, 8, 13, 21, and 29, 2027.

On February 10 and 11, 2027, he makes his return to the Orchestre de Paris, joined by organist Alma Bettencourt for a performance of Poulenc’s Concerto for Organ. The program also includes Fauré’s Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande, Debussy’s Prélude à L’Après-midi d’un faune, and Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy.

Returning to the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic on February 20, 2027, he conducts the orchestra in the Netherlands Premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra, commissioned by the NTR Saturday Matinee series for the Dutch piano duo of brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen, who perform the work for this concert. Revueltas’ Sensemayá and Stravinsky’s The Firebird – a rare performance of the entire work – complete the program.

On February 26, 2027, Gaffigan returns to Houston Grand Opera to conduct the Concert of Arias, the live final round of the company’s 39th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers. The competition is held each year to identify the most promising emerging talents in the field and recruit them to HGO’s prestigious training program for young artists, the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio.

Gaffigan then returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for three performances featuring cellist Alisa Weilerstein on Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante, paired with Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4. Performances will be held March 18 and 20, 2027 at Chicago’s Symphony Center, and March 19, 2027 at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. This marks the sixth consecutive season in which Gaffigan has appeared as a guest-conductor with the CSO.

He returns to Komische Oper Berlin for The Golden Cockerel, presented in Barrie Kosky’s striking and mystical production of Pushkin’s dark fairy tale. Performances will take place on March 27; April 2, 10, 18, and 24; and May 1, 2027.

On April 9, 2027, he conducts Komische Oper Berlin in a symphonic concert featuring Britten’s Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra, a late “rediscovery” among his works that was first performed more than 20 years after the composer’s death. Violinist Ga­bri­el Ad­or­ján and violist Friedemann Slenczka will perform as soloists. The program also includes Mozart’s Ballet Music from Idomeneo and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 in A major.

Gaffigan returns to the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, where he once served as Chief Conductor, for a pair of concerts in Italy: April 27, 2027 in Reggio Emilia and April 28, 2027 in Fermo. The program for both nights will be a pairing of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in B minor.

From May 9 to June 5, 2027, the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess will be staged at Komische Oper Berlin for the first time since the 1970s, as Gaffigan conducts Barrie Kosky’s new production of the opera.

He goes on to conduct Komische Oper Berlin’s final symphonic concert of the season on June 24, 2027, leading a fitting program of Haydn’s Symphony No. 45 – or, “Farewell Symphony” – along with Mahler’s “song-symphony” Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) featuring mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and tenor Stuart Skelton.

James Gaffigan 2026–2027 Season Calendar

Saturday, September 12, 2026
National Symphony Orchestra / JLCO
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts | Vienna, VA, USA
Link: www.wolftrap.org/show/26filene/091226/

Program:
Wynton Marsalis – Symphony No. 5 [World Premiere]

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

Friday, October 23–Sunday, November 8, 2026
Houston Grand Opera – Susannah
Wortham Theater Center | Houston, TX, USA
Link: www.houstongrandopera.org/on-stage/susannah

Thursday, November 19–Saturday, November 21, 2026
San Francisco Symphony
Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco, CA, USA
Link: www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2026-27/Alonzo-King-LINES-Ballet

Program:
Sergei Prokofiev – Sinfonia Concertante, Op. 125
Claude Debussy – Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Aaron Copland – Appalachian Spring

Rainer Eudeikis, cello
Alonzo King LINES Ballet 

Friday, November 27, 2026
Komische Oper Berlin – Love Fantasies
Schillertheater | Berlin, Germany
Link: www.komische-oper-berlin.de/en/what/a-z/liebesfantasien/ 

Program:
Richard Strauss – Don Juan, Op. 20
Richard Strauss – Six Songs after Poems by Clemens Brentano, Op. 68
Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120

Friday, December 4–Sunday, December 6, 2026
Munich Philharmonic
Isarphilharmonie | Munich, Germany
Link: www.mphil.de/konzerte-und-karten/kalender/konzerte/prokofjew-korngold-williams-2026-12-05-19-00-00

Program:
Erich Wolfgang Korngold – The Sea Hawk Overture
John Williams – Horn Concerto
Sergei Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet (Selections)

Matías Piñeira, horn

Tuesday, December 15 – January 23, 2027
Komische Oper Berlin – Hänsel und Gretel
Schillertheater | Berlin, Germany
Link: www.komische-oper-berlin.de/en/what/a-z/hansel-und-gretel /

Friday, January 1, 2027
Komische Oper Berlin – New Year’s Concert
Schillertheater | Berlin, Germany
Link: www.komische-oper-berlin.de/en/what/a-z/neujahrskonzert/ 

Saturday, January 30–Friday, February 5, 2027
Komische Oper Berlin – Król Roger
Schillertheater | Berlin, Germany
Link: www.komische-oper-berlin.de/en/what/a-z/king-roger/ 

Wednesday, February 10 & Thursday, February 11, 2027
Orchestre de Paris
Grande Salle Pierre Boulez – Philharmonie | Paris, France
Link: philharmoniedeparis.fr/en/activite/29689?itemId=147805

Program:
Gabriel Fauré – Pelléas et Mélisande (Suite)
Francis Poulenc – Concerto for Organ
Claude Debussy – Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Alexandre Scriabin – Poem of Ecstasy

Alma Bettencourt, organ

Saturday, February 20, 2027
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic
Royal Concertgebouw | Amsterdam, Netherlands
Link: www.radiofilharmonischorkest.nl/en/concerten/de-jussens-stravinskys-vuurvogel/

Program:
Silvestre Revueltas – Sensemayá
Magnus Lindberg – Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra
Igor Stravinsky – The Firebird Suite (1910)

Lucas Jussen, piano
Arthur Jussen, piano

Friday, February 26, 2027
Houston Grand Opera – Concert of Arias
Concert of Arias | Houston, TX, USA
Link: www.houstongrandopera.org/on-stage/concert-of-arias 

Thursday, March 4 – March 29, 2027
Komische Oper Berlin – Król Roger
Schillertheater | Berlin, Germany
Link: www.komische-oper-berlin.de/en/what/a-z/king-roger/ 

Thursday, March 18 & Saturday, March 20, 2027
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Center | Chicago, IL, USA
Link: cso.org/performances/26-27/cso/a-little-night-music/

Program:
Sergei Prokofiev – Sinfonia Concertante, Op. 125
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120

Alisa Weilerstein, cello

Friday, March 19, 2027
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Wheaton College | Wheaton, IL, USA
Link: cso.org/performances/26-27/cso/cso-at-wheaton-a-little-night-music/

Program:
Sergei Prokofiev – Sinfonia Concertante, Op. 125
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120

Saturday, March 27 – Saturday, May 1, 2027
Komische Oper Berlin – The Golden Cockerel
Schillertheater | Berlin, Germany
Link: www.komische-oper-berlin.de/en/what/a-z/the-golden-cockerel/ 

Program:
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – The Golden Cockerel

Friday, April 9, 2027
Komische Oper Berlin – Double Play
Schillertheater | Berlin, Germany
Link: www.komische-oper-berlin.de/en/what/a-z/doppelspiel/ 

Program:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Ballet Music from Idomeneo, K. 367 (excerpts)
Benjamin Britten – Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra
Dmitri Shostakovich – Symphony No. 15 in A major, Op. 141

Tuesday, April 27, 2027
Luzerner Sinfonieorchester
Teatro Municipale Romolo Valli | Reggio Emilia, Italy

Program:
Sergei Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 2
Pyotr Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74

Wednesday, April 28, 2027
Luzerner Sinfonieorchester
Teatro dell’Aquila | Fermo, Italy

Program:
Sergei Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 2
Pyotr Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74

Sunday, May 9–Sunday, June 5, 2027
Komische Oper Berlin – Porgy and Bess
Schillertheater | Berlin, Germany
Link: www.komische-oper-berlin.de/en/what/a-z/porgy-and-bess/ 

Thursday, June 24, 2027
Komische Oper Berlin – Farewell
Konzerthaus Berlin | Berlin, Germany
Link: www.komische-oper-berlin.de/en/what/a-z/lebewohl/ 

Program:
Joseph Haydn – Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp minor, “Farewell”
Gustav Mahler – Das Lied von der Erde

About James Gaffigan
Recognized worldwide for his natural ease and extraordinary collaborative spirit, American conductor James Gaffigan has attracted international attention for his prowess as a conductor of both symphony orchestras and opera.

Recently named the next Music Director of Houston Grand Opera, Gaffigan will assume his new role in the 2027/28 season. Commencing as Music Director Designate in the 2026/27 season, his initial term will last for five seasons, through 2031/32.

A rarity among American conductors for his rise to prominence in the esteemed houses and concert halls of Europe, Gaffigan is in demand at opera companies and symphony orchestras across the world. Gaffigan serves as the General Music Director of Komische Oper Berlin, where he leads his fourth season in 2026/27. He also serves as Music Director of the Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra.

Former posts include Music Director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, Chief Conductor of the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, and Principal Guest Conductor of both the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera.

Gaffigan has conducted for the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris, Zürich Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dutch National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Santa Fe Opera, among many others.

He also prioritizes maintaining an equal balance as a symphonic conductor. He regularly leads the world’s greatest orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

In Europe, he has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and Czech Philharmonic, and he maintains ongoing relationships with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

A champion of new music, Gaffigan has led more than 30 premieres by composers including Thomas Adès, Kaija Saariaho, Anders Hillborg, Andrew Norman, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Wynton Marsalis. His robust discography features recordings with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Choir, and Frankfurt Radio Symphony.

Gaffigan’s early training in New York City’s public schools inspired his belief in music education and access to the arts. He regularly works with young musicians at The Juilliard School, Aspen Music Festival and School, Music Academy of the West, and Verbier Festival.

His first titled positions included Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, a position created for him by Michael Tilson Thomas, and Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, where he worked with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst. Gaffigan was first prize winner of the 2004 Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition.

Gaffigan earned his undergraduate degree at the New England Conservatory of Music, followed by conducting studies at the Shepherd School of Music at Houston’s Rice University, Aspen Music Festival’s Aspen Conducting Academy, and the Tanglewood Music Center.

*Photo Credit: Miguel Lorenzo