The 2026 Summer Season comes at a historic moment for the Minería Symphony Orchestra. Following its debut at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall as part of a ten-concert tour of the United States, the orchestra returns to Mexico with the strength of a legacy that began in 1978: 48 years of dedication, artistic passion, and a commitment to musical excellence.
This year, due to the renovation of the Nezahualcóyotl Hall, the season will be presented at two venues that are central to the city’s cultural life: the Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the Ollin Yoliztli Cultural Center and the Palace of Fine Arts.
The venue may change temporarily, but the purpose remains the same: to bring audiences together around great works, premieres, international soloists, Mexican music, female composers, and a closing gala featuring the Missa solemnis .
Carlos Miguel Prieto: A Season Shaped by the Artistic Director
Leading the 2026 Summer Season is Carlos Miguel Prieto, artistic director of the Minería Symphony Orchestra. His vision shapes a program that brings together great works from the repertoire with contemporary music, premieres, female composers, international soloists, and symphonic-choral repertoire.
This season features Strauss, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Beethoven, and Mahler alongside Gabriela Ortiz, Alejandra Odgers, Ludsen Martinus, Pēteris Vasks, and Grażyna Bacewicz. Under Prieto’s direction, the Minería Symphony Orchestra once again demonstrates a broad, demanding identity that is open to the present.
Program 1: Strauss, Vasks, and Prokofiev to Kick Off the Season
Saturday, July 4, 8:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY. Sunday, July 5, 12:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY.
The season kicks off with Don Juanby Richard Strauss, a symphonic poem that transforms the famous seducer into pure theatrical movement: desire, pursuit, conquest, exhaustion, and downfall. The orchestra does not merely “accompany” a story; it brings it to life with brilliant brass, shifts in character, and an energy that seems to push the character to his very limits.
The second work on the program will be *Distant Light*by Pēteris Vasks, a concerto for violin and strings. It is a contemplative and spiritual work, structured like an arc that emerges from silence, passes through tension, cadenzas, and dance-like moments, and returns to an intimate light. The soloist will be Vadim Gluzman, an Israeli violinist born in Ukraine, renowned for his work with major orchestras and contemporary composers.
The finale will be the Symphony No. 5 , written in 1944 and described by the composer as a work about “the greatness of the human spirit”: an intense, rhythmic, and powerful score to open the season with the entire orchestra taking center stage.
Program 2: Brahms on a Monumental Scale
Saturday, July 11, 8:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY. Sunday, July 12, 5:00 p.m., Palacio de Bellas Artes.
The second program is devoted entirely to Johannes Brahms. The Piano Concerto No. 1 began as a symphonic idea and retains that monumental scale. The piano does not dominate the orchestra from the outside; rather, it engages with it, enters into a dialogue, and builds a far-reaching tension.
The soloist will be Lilya Zilberstein, an internationally renowned Russian pianist known for her performances with some of the world’s leading orchestras. She is the ideal choice for a work that demands strength, depth, and a broad musical perspective.
The second part will be dedicated to the Symphony No. 1, a work that took Brahms more than two decades to complete. Marked by Beethoven’s shadow, the symphony responds to that legacy with a voice of its own: sober, intense, and deeply focused.
Program 3: Tchaikovsky, Gabriela Ortiz, and Elgar: Journey, Wind, and Enigma
Saturday, July 18, 8:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY. Sunday, July 19, 12:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY.
This program, conducted by guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero, brings together three forms of orchestral imagination.
The Italian Caprice by Tchaikovsky was inspired by his stay in Rome and the sounds he heard in its streets: fanfares, dances, folk melodies, and an almost festive brightness. It is an orchestral postcard, yes, but with a theatrical pulse.
In the center will be Altar of Wind, by Gabriela Ortiz, featuring Alejandro Escuer as soloist. The work transforms the flute into breath, movement, and invisible force; it does not merely describe the air, but turns it into music. Written for Escuer, the piece combines contemplation, rhythmic energy, and instrumental exploration.
The event will close with the Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar, a series of musical portraits dedicated to people close to the composer. Each variation has a face, a gesture, or an anecdote; but the true enigma—the supposed hidden theme that runs through the work—remains unsolved. This blend of affection, mystery, and elegance makes the score one of the most beloved in the British repertoire.
Program 4: Bacewicz, Martinus, and Tchaikovsky: Strength, Premiere, and Destiny
Saturday, July 25, 8:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY. Sunday, July 26, 12:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY.
Raúl Aquiles Delgado, associate conductor of the Minería Symphony Orchestra, will lead a program that combines historical reflection, a world premiere, and a rich Romantic repertoire.
The Overture by Grażyna Bacewicz, composed in 1943 during the Nazi occupation of Poland, is brief, intense, and rigorous. Its strength lies in its resilience: music with a firm pulse, brilliant orchestration, and an austere character.
The highlight will be the world premiere of the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Ludsen Martinus, a Colombian composer who blends classical music, Latin American rhythms, and the urban soundscape. The work incorporates references to the Hatajo de Negritos, cumbia, Afro-descendant rhythms, and street sounds, such as the horns of motorcycle taxis. The piece was commissioned by Jesús Castro-Balbi, an internationally renowned cellist and advocate for the contemporary repertoire, who will lead the world premiere.
The concert will conclude with the Symphony No. 4 , which the composer himself associated with the idea of fate: a work of conflict, lyricism, and boundless energy.
Program 5: Beethoven and Mahler: From the Luminous Violin to the Sky as Seen by a Child
Saturday, August 1, 8:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY. Sunday, August 2, 5:00 p.m., Palacio de Bellas Artes.
This program brings together two very different ways of looking toward the transcendent.
The Beethoven’s Violin Concerto , featuring Augustin Hadelich as soloist, is one of the highlights of the repertoire: expansive, noble, and luminous. Its greatness lies not in speed, but in the violin’s ability to sustain an almost vocal line against the orchestra.
Hadelich, one of today's most renowned violinists, brings technical clarity and expressive depth to a work in which everything is laid bare: phrasing, tone, balance, and sensitivity.
The second part will be dedicated to the Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 , featuring Mexican soprano Anabel de la Mora in the final movement. Its mystery lies in the contrast: it seems like an innocent, almost transparent symphony, but beneath its jingles, dances, and luminous melodies lies a more unsettling question about death, childhood, and paradise. The appearance of the human voice in the final movement unfolds a delicate and deeply mystical celestial vision.
Program 6: Schubert, Mozart, and Haydn: The Classical Heart of the Season
Saturday, August 8, 8:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY. Sunday, August 9, 12:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY.
Jeannette Sorrell, renowned for her work in the Baroque and Classical repertoires, will conduct a program characterized by clarity, style, and vitality.
The Unfinished Symphony opens the evening with two movements of immense lyrical and dramatic intensity. Although formally incomplete, the work feels complete in its expressive perfection.
Next will be the Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 , featuring Shari Mason, concertmaster of the Minería Symphony Orchestra, as soloist. It is a work full of youthfulness, grace, and elegance, in which the violin sings and converses with natural ease.
The concert will conclude with the Symphony No. 103, Timpani Roll. From its dramatic opening with the solo timpani, the work displays humor, formal ingenuity, and an energy that confirms why Haydn forever transformed the concept of the symphony.
Program 7: Mozart from Three Perspectives
Saturday, August 15, 8:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY. Sunday, August 16, 12:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY.
This program is entirely dedicated to Mozart. Symphony No. 33 opens with clarity and balance: music that says a great deal with restrained means, without needing to impose itself through sheer scale. Composed in 1779, likely for Johann Heinrich Böhm’s traveling theater company, its original three-movement structure follows a sonata form pattern that was unusual for the time; the Menuetto was added around 1784, and only two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings achieve the architectural precision that defines the true opening.
The highlight will be Piano Concerto No. 22, featuring Anne-Marie McDermott as soloist. The work showcases Mozart at the height of his maturity, with a refined dialogue between the piano and the orchestra and a particularly rich presence of the woodwinds, including the clarinets. Composed in late 1785, it is Mozart’s first concerto to include clarinets in the original orchestration; as William Kinderman notes, here Mozart displays “the greatest luxury in timbral coloration.” The middle movement contains a solo wind episode on par with those in his serenades, so striking that it was repeated at the audience’s request during the premiere.
Symphony No. 40 will close the program, showcasing one of the composer’s most intense works. Of Mozart’s 41 symphonies, only two are written in a minor key, and both are in G minor. Composed in the summer of 1788, when Mozart wrote his last three symphonies in seven weeks without commissions or obligations, purely for pleasure. Written in G minor, it combines classical elegance with an emotional tension that does not dissolve into serenity.
Schumann saw in it “the finest expression of Greek elegance”; Toscanini called its Minuet “one of the most tragic and sombre pieces ever written.” It is Mozart with a sense of shadow, urgency, and depth.
Program 8: Odgers, Rachmaninoff, and Stravinsky: Vertigo, Virtuosity, and Theater
Saturday, August 22, 8:00 p.m., Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY. Sunday, August 23, 5:00 p.m., Palacio de Bellas Artes.
"Trajín", by Alejandra Odgers, opens the program with a compact and contrasting energy. Derived from a chamber work, the piece transforms opposition, friction, and movement into orchestral momentum.
The focus will be on the Piano Concerto No. 3 , featuring Angel Stanislav Wang as soloist. The work demands the mastery of a vast musical architecture: dense pianistic textures, long melodic arcs, a complex dialogue with the orchestra, and a tension that builds to the very end. Wang, a 23-year-old pianist with more than 35 international awards to his credit, is tackling one of the most demanding pieces in the repertoire.
The program will close with Petrushkaby Stravinsky (1947 version), a ballet transformed into an orchestral explosion of carnival, dance, theater, and tragedy. A marionette comes to life, loves, suffers, and dies amid carnival crowds.
Program 9: Closing Gala featuring Beethoven's *Missa solemnis*
Friday, August 28, 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, August 29, 8:00 p.m.; Sunday, August 30, 12:00 p.m. Silvestre Revueltas Hall at the CCOY.
The season culminates with three gala performances dedicated to the Beethoven’s *Missa solemnis* , one of the most profound and demanding works in the symphonic-choral repertoire. More than just a ceremonial mass, it is a spiritual and human affirmation of faith, doubt, and the search for meaning.
The Minería Symphony Choir will take on a piece that is extremely challenging both vocally and expressively. Founded in 2017, the choir has established a symphonic-choral repertoire that includes works by Bach, Beethoven, Mahler, Handel, Brahms, Verdi, and Prokofiev.
The gala will feature Jennifer Rowley, Guadalupe Paz, Kameron Lopreore, and Harold Wilson as soloists. Each voice brings color and presence to a work in which the individual and the collective are intertwined.
Music that brings people together, inspires, and transforms lives
Nine programs. Two venues. A gala that closes with Beethoven’s most spiritual work. After 48 years of musical excellence, the Minería Symphony Orchestra presents its 2026 Summer Season as it has always been: music that unites, inspires, and transforms lives.
