2026 Summer Festival:
August 10-20
We can’t wait to welcome you to the 49th Summer Season this August in Bend & Sunriver, Oregon!
As America celebrates 250 years in 2026, we honor one of its greatest gifts to the world: music. The 49th season, curated by Artistic Director & Conductor Brett Mitchell, will feature world-class orchestra musicians and acclaimed soloists performing eclectic works by American composers — Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, William Grant Still, Joan Tower, Kevin Puts, Edgar Meyer and John Williams — alongside favorites by Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Schumann, and Mendelssohn and more.
The Summer Festival opens August 10 at Sunriver Resort’s historic Great Hall and closes August 20 at the iconic Tower Theatre in downtown Bend. Four classical concerts, a pops concert and a family concert will be presented. Featured artists include pianist Michelle Cann, violinists William Hagen and Tessa Lark, bass-baritone Timothy Jones, and the Central Oregon Mastersingers.
Ticket sales begin on April 1 for Conductor’s Guild members. All tickets are on sale to the public on June 1. Get the best seats by becoming a member today!
“This summer, America celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence, and we’re so pleased to mark the occasion with at least one work by an American composer on every program this season. We’ll feature American classics like Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, plus we’ll introduce new favorites by Pulitzer Prize winner Kevin Puts and GRAMMY winners Edgar Meyer and Joan Tower. We’ll also bring to life so many of the great European classics we all know and love, including works by Beethoven, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Bach, Mozart and Schumann.” ~Brett Mitchell
2026 Summer Festival Concert Schedule
led by Artistic Director & Conductor Brett Mitchell
Opening Classical Concert:
Beethoven, Haydn & Made in America
Monday, August 10 at 7:30 PM
Sunriver Resort Great Hall
Festival Orchestra
Brett Mitchell, conductor
Michelle Cann, piano
JOAN TOWER Made in America
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major
HAYDN Symphony No. 101 in D Major, “Clock”
The Festival season opens with variations on America the Beautiful by one of today’s foremost composers, Joan Tower, in her GRAMMY-winning work, Made in America. Tower says that Beethoven is one of her biggest compositional influences, so his exquisite Piano Concerto No. 4 will be performed by GRAMMY-winner Michelle Cann. The evening closes with Haydn’s masterful 101st Symphony, also known as the “Clock.”
Classical Concert II:
America Meets Scotland
Wednesday, August 12 at 7:30 PM
Sunriver Resort Great Hall
Festival Orchestra
Brett Mitchell, conductor
William Hagen, violin
STILL Darker America
BARBER Violin Concerto
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3 in A minor, “Scottish”
This program celebrates the 100th anniversary of William Grant Still’s jazzy tone poem, Darker America, premiered in 1926. Barber’s Violin Concerto follows with William Hagen joining the Festival Orchestra for the third time, after his performances of the Brahms Concerto in 2022 and the Bruch Concerto in 2023. The concert culminates with Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3, “Scottish,” inspired by his grand tour of Europe.
Family Concert:
Harry Potter & the Instruments of the Orchestra
Friday, August 14 – Time TBD
Sunriver SHARC
Festival Orchestra
Brett Mitchell, conductor
This matinee explores the instruments of the orchestra through magnificent music by John Williams, featuring Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. In a fun, informal setting, learn more about the strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, harp and the magical celesta — all accompanied by Harry, Hedwig & friends!
Bring the family and enjoy a one-hour concert featuring a virtuosic Young Artists Scholarship recipient with the Festival Orchestra. An instrument petting zoo is held before the concert.
Pops Concert:
John Williams & the American Journey
Saturday, August 15 at 7:30 PM
Tower Theatre, Bend
Festival Orchestra
Brett Mitchell, conductor
Central Oregon Mastersingers
Enjoy the Festival Orchestra in a lively program featuring various works by American legend John Williams paired with other masterpieces to explore America’s journey from the Revolutionary War to today. Highlights include music from Saving Private Ryan, Born on the Fourth of July, The Cowboys, patriotic favorites and Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.
Classical Concert III:
The Genius of Music
Tuesday, August 18 at 7:30 PM
Tower Theatre, Bend
Festival Orchestra
Brett Mitchell, conductor
Timothy Jones, bass-baritone
KEVIN PUTS Einstein on Mercer Street
J.S. BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major
MOZART Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major
The third Classical Concert opens with a deeply moving, multimedia work about Einstein’s inner world and relationships, written by Kevin Puts and featuring the return of bass-baritone Timothy Jones. Einstein was a string player himself, so we’re thrilled to present Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 with nine soloists from the Festival Orchestra. Einstein had no greater admiration or love for an artist than he did for Mozart, so the program closes with Mozart’s Symphony No. 39, one of the final three symphonies he ever composed.
Season Finale Classical Concert:
Appalachia & Spring
Thursday, August 20 at 7:30 PM
Tower Theatre, Bend
Festival Orchestra
Brett Mitchell, conductor
Tessa Lark, violin
COPLAND Suite from Appalachian Spring
EDGAR MEYER Violin Concerto
R. SCHUMANN Symphony No. 1 in B-flat Major, “Spring”
The season finale includes the most iconic American orchestral work of all time, Appalachian Spring, by the Dean of American Music, Aaron Copland. Violinist Tessa Lark wowed Sunriver audiences in 2024 with her performance of Michael Torke’s Sky, and she’ll do the same this year with the bluegrass-inflected Violin Concerto by Edgar Meyer. The season closes with one of the greatest Romantic symphonies ever composed: Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, “Spring.”
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