Carnegie Hall announced their 2025/26 season yesterday, with a record number of Askonas Holt artists and touring partners appearing in a variety of concerts, recitals and special presentations.

This season, Askonas Holt is proud to be co-presenting with Carnegie Hall a new annual tradition in collaboration with New York’s Irish Arts Center and Dublin’s National Concert Hall. Renowned fiddler Martin Hayes will lead a St Patrick’s Day celebration featuring his Common Ground Ensemble and special guests which will include traditional sean-nós singing and dancing, poetry, and modern takes on Irish traditions.

In another collaboration – this time with sister company Opus 3 Artists – Askonas Holt is delighted to be bringing Cristian Mǎcelaru and the Orchestre National de France to Carnegie for an all-French programme with soloist Daniil Trifonov.

Our Tours and Projects team also brings Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with soloist Veronika Eberle who makes her concerto debut, as well as the Galilee Chamber Orchestra and Saleem Ashkar back to Carnegie following their 2022 debut which was hailed as “fresh and energetic … impressive” by the New York Classical Review.

In addition to his performance with the COE, Yannick also makes appearances with The Met Orchestra and Joyce DiDonato, The MET Orchestra Chamber Ensemble for a six-concert series which sees Yannick both conducting and at the keyboard, and a concert with The Philadelphia Orchestra and soloist Emanuel Ax.

Marin Alsop curates five events as part of Carnegie’s Perspectives series, leading two esteemed orchestras with which she serves as Principal Guest Conductor—the Philharmonia Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra—and collaborating in a range of concerts with young musicians from Ensemble Connect, The Juilliard School, the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, plus local teachers participating in Carnegie Hall’s Music Educators Workshop.

Joyce DiDonato returns for a series of performances, the first of which (in partnership with Askonas Holt) is the New York premiere of Emily–No Prisoner Be, a semi-staged song cycle with Time for Three based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Joyce also joins an all-star cast including Emanuel Ax, Evgeny Kissin and Daniil Trifonov with the NYO-USA All-Stars under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Carnegie’s historic “Concert of the Century”. Proceeds from the evening support Carnegie Hall’s artistic, education, and social impact programmes. Joyce also reprises her Masterclass series.

Daniel Harding also takes the stage with the NYO-USA All-Stars conducting selections from Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite with Yuja Wang leading Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 from the keyboard. Yuja returns later in the season with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra – this time leading concerti by Prokofiev and Chopin from the piano.

Jonathan Cohen, Artistic Director of the Handel and Haydn Society brings his ensemble to Carnegie for their Zankel Hall debut with a programme of cantatas by Bach and Telemann paired with one of the former’s Brandenburg concerti.

Also presenting Handel are Artistic Director Harry Bicket and The English Concert who perform a concert version of Hercules as part of their multi-year Handel project at Carnegie Hall. “It was never staged in Handel’s lifetime, and rarely is in ours,” said The Guardian’s five-star review of their London performance, “yet this concert performance makes an outstanding case for the work’s dramatic qualities.”

In contrast, Louis Langrée conducts New York’s own Orchestra of St. Luke’s in an all-American programme of Ellington, Bernstein and Gershwin.

Piano enthusiasts will have several opportunities to hear Daniil Trifonov next season. In addition to his appearances with the Orchestre National de France and at the 50th anniversary gala, Daniil gives a recital of Handel, Brahms and R. Schumann, and teams up with baritone Matthias Goerne for Schubert’s complete Die schöne Müllerin.

Emanuel Ax and Evgeny Kissin also give recitals, with Emanuel treating the audience to Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A Minor alongside selected works by Chopin, and Evgeny performing Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 7 followed by a series of Chopin’s mazurkas. Evgeny returns later in the season for a trio performance with Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis.

Alisa Weilerstein returns with FRAGMENTS 4 and FRAGMENTS 5, the next two new instalments in her multi-year project in collaboration with Askonas Holt that weaves together Bach’s solo cello suites with newly commissioned works, responsive lighting, and scenic architecture. She also joins forces with Leonidas Kavakos, Gil Shaham, Antoine Tamestit and Clemens Hagen for a performance of Beethoven and Schubert.

Vilde Frang also makes an appearance with a super-group, joining forces with Maxim Vengerov, James Ehnes, Daniel Müller-Schott, Yefim Bronfman and Anthony McGill for an all-Brahms chamber programme.

Alex Rosen makes his Carnegie Hall debut singing Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 alongside Laurence Kilsby with the Orchestra of St Luke’s, and Asmik Grigorian and Joshua Guerrero return with The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Franz Welser-Möst for Verdi’s Requiem.

Günther Groissböck makes his Zankel Hall recital debut in a duo recital with Julius Drake performing works by R. Schumann, Rott, Bruckner, Wolf, G. Mahler, and R. Strauss. Julius returns for a recital with soprano Axelle Fanyo.

Benjamin Beilman makes an appearance as part of the Young Concert Artists 2026 Season Finale performing Ravel and Tchaikovsky.

Carnegie Hall’s full season announcement and full ticketing information can be viewed here.

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