New Philharmonic announces 2025-2026 season

Audience favorite “Carmina Burana” featuring the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Modest Mussorgsky’s piano suite “Pictures at an Exhibition” and an all-Broadway program showcasing 17 musicals are among the works The New Philharmonic will perform during 2025 and 2026 at the McAninch Arts Center under the baton of music director and conductor Kirk Muspratt.

The season commences Oct. 4 and 5 with Carl Orff’s famed cantata “Carmina Burana” featuring 80 NISO choristers and soloists Emily Bursan, Richard Ollarsaba and Thomas Alaan.

Nov. 1 and 2 performances showcase orchestra versions of two well-loved ballet suites: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo & Juliet” and Sergei Prokofiev’s “Cinderella,” which will be accompanied by live narration.

Holiday performances include “The Nutcracker” (Dec. 20-21) performed by the Salt Creek Ballet with the New Philharmonic followed the orchestra’s annual New Year’s Eve concert with soprano Alisa Jordheim, who played Adina in the New Philharmonic’s concert version of “The Elixir of Love.”

The orchestra opens 2026 with “Broadway Through the Years” (Jan. 31 and Feb. 1) accompanied by the 80-voice NISO Chorus and guest soloists: Emily Bursan (soprano), Kate Tombaugh (mezzo soprano), Lorenzo Parnell (tenor) and Jonathan Wilson (baritone).

The season concludes April 11-12, 2026, with Michael Daugherty’s 2023 composition “Harp of Ages” on a program that also features Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

Performances take place at the College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. Through May 10, season subscriptions reflecting a 25% discount start at $244.50. Starting May 11, the discount will be 20%. Single tickets go on sale this summer. (630) 942-4000 or atthemac.org.