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The Pacific Chamber Orchestra plans a robust performance season for the year ahead, with six concerts in the Tri-Valley connected by its theme for 2026-27: “Intimate. Stirring. Satisfying.”
The lineup includes historic composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johannes Brahms, an evening of Disney movie music including “The Little Mermaid” and “The Lion King” and a gala dinner concert with five emerging writers’ pieces.
“What excites me about this season is that every program has its own reason you simply have to hear it,” PCO music director Lawrence Kohl told the Pleasanton Weekly.
The centerpiece of the 2026-27 season is the three-part “Classics” series, each installment featuring a weekend of shows at the Del Valle Theater in Walnut Creek on the Saturday and the Bankhead Theater in Livermore on the Sunday.
“Classics I – Songs of the Heart” arrives next month and includes Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”, 2026 Pulitzer Prize composer Gabriela Frank’s “An Andean Walkabout” and works by Edward Elgar and Benjamin Britten. The concerts are Sept. 19 and 20.
“Classics II – Mozart Unleashed” follows in the new year, April 3 and 4, with famed composer’s “Symphony No. 40 in G minor” and bass arias from “The Magic Flute”, “Don Giovanni” and “Per questa bella mano”.
“Classics III – Melodies from Deep Within” on May 22 and 23 will center on Brahms’ “Symphony No. 4”, along with IVX Tchaikovsky International Competition Prize winner Eric Silberger premiering Craig Madden Morris’ “Violin Concerto No. 2” and a new original work.
Silberger is joining the orchestra as a creative partner. Eileen Moon, former associate principal cello of the New York Philharmonic, is another addition to the group as principal cello.
Three other special showcases are sprinkled in between the “Classics” concert slate.
PCO is presenting its “Winning Scores”, a gala patron dinner with a live performance and audience Q&A with five competitively emerging composers. The event is set for Oct. 25 in the Garré Vineyard and Winery Ballroom in Livermore.
The orchestra’s annual concerts of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” for the winter holiday season is set for Nov. 28 and 29 featuring soprano Oriana Geis-Falla, alto Sara Couden and tenor Arnold Livingston Geis – along with the audience sing-along of the “Hallelujah Chorus” at the end.
Closing out the calendar year for PCO will be the new program “Disney Dreams and Magic” with selections from “The Lion King”, “The Little Mermaid” and other Disney productions on Dec. 27 at the Bankhead.
To learn more about PCO’s 2026-27 concert season, visit PacificChamberOrchestra.org.
