Intro

The 2025/2026 Halekulani Masterworks season kicks off with an extraordinary musical adventure along a symphonic Silk Road. The world’s leading pipa virtuoso Wu Man joins forces with Music and Artistic Director Dane Lam and the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra for Jiping Zhao’s captivating Pipa Concerto No. 2, paired with two iconic tone poems: Respighi’s evocative Pines of Rome and Strauss’ Don Quixote featuring principal violist Mark Butin and principal cellist Mark Votapek.

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 3:00 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.

Intro

GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist Anne Akiko Meyers has earned the title “the Wonder Woman of Commissioning” from The Strad due to her relentless advocacy for many of today’s most influential living composers. Her collaboration with Michael Daugherty on the violin concerto Blue Electra, commissioned by her, powerfully reflects the extraordinary life and enigmatic disappearance of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. Critically acclaimed conductor Carl St. Clair returns to “pilot” a compelling journey that intertwines the themes of flight and fate, featuring Tchaikovsky’s commanding Symphony No. 4.

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 3:00 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.

Intro

Praised by Gramophone Magazine for her "infinitely sweet" tone, violinist Jinjoo Cho takes center stage to perform Brahms' beloved Violin Concerto. Music and Artistic Director Dane Lam leads a program focused on themes of cultural crossroads, featuring the Hawaiʻi premiere of Māori composer Gillian Whitehead's powerful work, Tūranganui, alongside Elgar's cryptic Enigma Variations.

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 6:30 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.

Intro

Celebrated as one of the top ten greatest symphonies of all time by BBC Magazine, Mahler’s Ninth Symphony reflects a deep passion for life and the earth, even in the face of impending mortality. Though he never lived to hear it performed, Mahler’s masterpiece features an extraordinary opening movement resonating with profound emotion. Music and Artistic Director Dane Lam conducts a symphonic farewell, paired with Mozart’s Oboe Concerto, featuring principal oboist Gustav Highstein.

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 3:00 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.

Intro

The geomungo, a traditional Korean zither, also known as the Black Dragon, symbolizes an extraordinary spirit and good fortune and is the title of a captivating concerto by Honolulu composer Donald Reid Womack. Experience the world premiere of the orchestral version, performed by the sought-after geomungo virtuoso Yoon Jeong Heo. Led by Music and Artistic Director Dane Lam, themes of theology and mythology weave together in a spellbinding program including Messiaen's Les Offrandes Oubliées and Brahms' Symphony No. 4.

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 3:00 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.

Intro

A lunar new year finale! Music and Artistic Director Dane Lam leads your Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra with an all-star program of seasonal favorites featuring renowned violinist Cho-Liang Lin and the phenomenal virtuosity of 16-year-old Canadian pianist Sophia Liu. 

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 4:00 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.

Intro

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”

Beware the Ides of March! Shakespeare Festival kicks off with all things Bard at your HSO. Dane Lam leads Mendelssohn’s enchanted incidental music from A Midsummer Night Dream in collaboration with Manoa Valley Theatre. Get your tickets before they vanish “into thin air.”

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 3:00 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.

Intro

“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

The Shakespeare Festival is back, showcasing all things tragic. From the Merry Wives of Windsor to the story of star-crossed lovers, emotions run high in a Prokofiev double feature. Conductor Dane Lam leads selections from the composer's ballet Romeo and Juliet, and Gramophone Young Artist of the Year, violinist Stella Chen, performs Violin Concerto No. 2.

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 6:30 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.

Intro

“Oh, I am fortuneʻs fool!”

Passions double and toil in trouble with a Tchaikovsky double feature! Dane Lam conducts the lovestruck Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture in collaboration with Ballet Hawaii;. Silver Medalist of the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, pianist George Li, performs Piano Concerto No. 1. The Shakespeare Festival comes full circle, concluding with violent delights and violent ends, including Michael-Thomas Foumai’s Lady Dark, inspired by the Dark Lady Sonnets.

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 3:00 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.

Intro

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Hōkūleʻa's maiden voyage to Tahiti, the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra joins forces with conductor Anthony Parnther, the Oʻahu Choral Society and the Polynesian Voyaging Society to present, for the first time, Michael-Thomas Foumai’s complete choral symphony, Raise Hawaiki. Inspired by the legendary voyages of Hōkūleʻa and the powerful words of Eddie Aikau and Nainoa Thompson, experience the trials and triumphs of Polynesian voyaging with captivating visual projections of historical photos alongside video from the current Moananuiākea voyage.  The performance opens with Britten’s seaworthy Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes.

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 3:00 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.

Intro

Praised for his “brilliant technique and real emotional depth” by the Washington Post, Polish-American pianist Adam Golka performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23. Conductor Emeritus JoAnn Falletta returns to conduct a program of classical delights, including Michael Torke’s speed fueled Javelin, and Dvořák Symphony No. 6.

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 3:00 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.

Intro

International superstar and America’s most celebrated soprano Renée Fleming joins your Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra for a Halekulani Masterworks season finale! Inspired by her 2023 GRAMMY® Award-winning album, Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene comes to the symphonic stage. Experience the majesty of nature with stunning film projections by the National Geographic Society, accompanying inspired songs, arias by Handel and Puccini, music from Lord of the Rings and Carousel, contemporary hits by Björk, Kevin Puts, and Nico Muhly , and selections by famed film composer Ennio Morricone.

Ticket holders: We invite you to join us in the auditorium at 3:00 PM for a special pre-concert talk.

Masterworks Series Sponsor

Season Sponsors

*Tickets for this concert are sold online or through the HSO Box Office. For additional information, please call the HSO Box Office at (808) 380-7720, T-F between 10 am - 2 pm.