“LA’s other Top Orchestra” San Francisco Classical Voice
The Colburn Orchestra, the Colburn Conservatory of Music’s renowned flagship ensemble led by Music Director Yehuda Gilad, presents exhilarating performances by some of the world’s best young classical musicians, under the batons of internationally celebrated conductors.
The 2025–26 season will see the Orchestra perform for audiences across Los Angeles County with visiting conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Kevin John Edusei, Nicholas McGegan, and Earl Lee.
Highlights include Nicholas McGegan leading a program of quintessential works by Bach, Mozart, and Haydn, while Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Bruckner’s sweeping “Romantic” Symphony. Carlos Miguel Prieto brings the spirit of Europe to life with Ravel and Dvořák, and Kevin John Edusei conducts Smetana’s Má vlast. Earl Lee presents Bruch’s lush Violin Concerto, and Yehuda Gilad conducts masterworks by Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. Salonen Fellows Mert Yalniz and Aleksandra Melaniuk spotlight rising soloists in a vibrant concerto program with the Colburn Orchestra.
The Colburn Orchestra is generously underwritten by Eva and Marc Stern.
Sunday, October 26 at 3 pm The Soraya, Northridge Carlos Miguel Prieto, Conductor Mert Yalniz, Conductor, Salonen Conducting Fellow Zi Yang Low, Violin
Bursting with musical color and raw emotion, the first half of this program takes audiences on an immersive European adventure. The charming orchestration of Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso is infused with the sounds of Spain while the spirted Bohemian melodies of Dvořák’s Violin Concerto paint a vibrant picture of the Czech countryside. The concert culminates in a moody tone poem by Schoenberg that depicts a tragic tale of forbidden love.
Program Information RAVEL Alborada del gracioso DVOŘÁK Violin Concerto in A Major SCHOENBERG Pelleas und Melisande
This performance is generously supported by Molly and Brian Kirk.
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Saturday, December 6 at 7:30 pm The Wallis, Beverly Hills Kevin John Edusei, Conductor Sieun Park, Cello
Led by renowned German conductor Kevin John Edusei, the Colburn Orchestra returns to The Wallis with a lavish program spotlighting the rich cultural heritages of its composers. The concert opens with Ernest Bloch’s Jewish-inspired masterpiece Schelomo, an intense and poignant rhapsody that casts the cello as King Solomon and the orchestra as a world full of temptation. Bedřich Smetana’s Má vlast (“My Country”) then invites the audience on a journey through Bohemia’s countryside and lore in a rousing, atmospheric love letter to his Czech homeland.
Program Information BLOCH Schelomo: Rhapsodie Hébraïque SMETANA Má vlast (My Country)
Saturday, January 24 at 7 pm Royce Hall, UCLA
Esa-Pekka Salonen, Conductor Aleksandra Melaniuk, Conductor, Salonen Conducting Mert Yalniz, Conductor, Salonen Conducting
Under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen, Colburn’s Maestro Ernst H. Katz Chair of Conducting Studies, the Colburn Orchestra brings to life Bruckner’s sweeping “Romantic” Symphony: a vivid narrative of medieval knights, the enchantment of nature, and the thrilling drama of forest hunts. Joining Esa-Pekka on the program are Salonen Conducting Fellows Aleksandra Melaniuk and Mert Yalniz, with Yalniz conducting the world premiere of his own orchestral composition. Liszt’s bold and playful symphonic poem Les Préludes opens the concert.
Program Information LISZT Les Préludes MERT YALNIZ Limit (World Premiere) BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major
Friday, February 27 at 7 pm Zipper Hall
Under the batons of Salonen Fellows Mert Yalniz and Aleksandra Melaniuk, the Colburn Orchestra spotlights the next generation of virtuoso soloists in a program of vibrant and varied concerto works. The talent demonstrated by the conservatory-trained musicians in this ensemble—soloists and conductors included—indicates that the future of classical music is bright. Be among the first to experience their artistry!
This concert is included in these packages: Maestros and Masterpieces, and Season Sampler.
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Sunday, March 29 at 7:30 pm Walt Disney Concert Hall Earl Lee, Conductor Eunice Lee, Violin
Following last season’s powerful performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, the Colburn Orchestra and conductor Earl Lee return to Walt Disney Concert Hall with another larger-than-life program. Two atmospheric works—Samy Moussa’s 2021 work Elysium and Richard Strauss’s famous symphonic poem Also sprach Zarathustra, best known for its use in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey—bookend the concert with soaring melodies and theatrical tone shifts. In between, the lush orchestration and sparkling virtuosity of Max Bruch’s violin concerto provide a break from the musical theatrics.
Program Information SAMY MOUSSA ElysiumBRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra
Sunday, April 19 at 3 pm Kavli Theatre, Thousand Oaks Yehuda Gilad, Conductor Aleksandra Melaniuk, Conductor, Salonen Conducting Fellow HyeJin Park, Piano
After a fiery overture by Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, this concert centers on two of classical music’s greatest voices. While at its core an elegant and charming Classical-era composition, Beethoven’s second piano concerto includes delightful and innovative surprises that harken to his later Romantic roots. Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2, on the other hand, is Romantic through and through. This orchestral masterwork is teeming with achingly beautiful melodies, luscious orchestral colors, and vivid emotions.
Program Information BACEWICZ Overture BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 2 in E Minor
June 11–14 Esa-Pekka Salonen, Conductor
The Colburn Orchestra makes its Ojai Music Festival debut in multiple concerts led by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Festival’s 2026 Music Director, in a program that celebrates his longstanding ties to Los Angeles.
Concert details to be announced.
The Colburn Orchestra, the flagship ensemble of the Conservatory of Music, brings together today’s most accomplished young musicians from around the world for performances of remarkable power and precision. This “United Nations of music” converges in Zipper Hall for performances featuring masterpieces by three of classical music’s founding fathers—Bach, Haydn, and Mozart—and spotlighting the next generation of virtuoso soloists. This package also features an orchestral program by the RVC Ensemble (Recovered Voices at Colburn Ensemble), a group dedicated to reviving the works of composers whose music was suppressed under the Nazi regime. Led by renowned conductor James Conlon, the RVC Ensemble brings to life works that were nearly silenced by history.
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