Season Finale: With its rich, sweeping melodies and dynamic brass chorales, Sibelius’s Second Symphony vividly evokes the beauty of his native Finland. Icy Nordic landscapes are also heard in Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus, a haunting “concerto for birds and orchestra” that weaves recordings of birdsong into the orchestral tapestry. Julia Perry’s setting of the 13th-century Stabat Mater hymn adds a powerful …

Works by Scott Joplin, Julia Perry, William Grant Still, Bernard Herrmann, Raven Chacon, and Edgard Varèse.

Armstrong is Oakland’s first music director since the unexpected death of Michael Morgan in 2021.

“This work is a fabulous example of Perry’s modernist style,” says LCO music director Orlando Cela.

A rare opportunity to hear Margaret Bonds’s Montgomery Variations. Composed in 1964 and dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr., the work is based on events and ideas in the Civil Rights Movement.

In her role as chief conductor, Alsop curates and conducts a three-week stretch of programs with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Embedded within that residency will be the Breaking Barriers Festival.