Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra Unveils 2026-2027 Season for 170th Anniversary

OPMC 170th Anniversary Season Schedule and Highlights

Founded in 1856 originally as the Orchestra of the New Foreigners’ Club, the Monaco-based orchestra marks its milestone 170-year history throughout the 2026–2027 concert calendar. The milestone precedes the full inaugural season of incoming music director Nathalie Stutzmann, who takes her post in September 2026 and will unveil her first official programming slate for the 2027–2028 season, according to OPMC announcements.

Vocal and Lyrical Masterpieces in Monaco and Paris

Among the season’s centerpiece vocal events is a concert performance of Jules Massenet’s tragic five-act opera Roma, organized in collaboration with the Palazzetto Bru Zane. Originally premiered at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo on February 17, 1912, the revival runs on September 26, 2026, at the Auditorium Rainier III in Monaco before traveling to Paris for a performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on September 28, according to season details. The cast features Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Fausta, Jean-François Borras as Lentulus, Julie Robard-Gendre as Posthumia, and Tassis Christoyannis as Fabius Maximus, with a recording slated for the Bru Zane Label’s French Opera collection.

Later in the season, Béla Bartók’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle arrives under the direction of Lio Kuokman, featuring Elīna Garanča and Christian Van Horn. The production is scheduled for June 20, 2027, at the Auditorium Rainier III in Monaco and June 22, 2027, at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, per the OPMC schedule.

Guest Conductors and Orchestral Masterworks

Maestro Marek Janowski returns to the Monegasque ensemble to conduct Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major on October 4, 2026, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. Designated music director Nathalie Stutzmann conducts two major programs: a December 5, 2026 concert featuring Wagner’s Rienzi overture, the Tristan und Isolde Prelude and Liebestod with soloist Anja Kampe, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 1; and a May 14, 2027 concert pairing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 with soloist Johan Dalene and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”), according to the OPMC.

The season concludes on July 4, 2027, at the Auditorium Rainier III with a tribute concert to American cinema led by conductor Yvan Cassar. The program features medleys from classic American film scores composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, André Previn, and John Williams.

Beethoven Bicentenary and Resident Artists

Marking the bicentenary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s death in 2027, the orchestra presents a dedicated series pairing standard repertoire with rare works. Pianist Dezső Ránki performs the Piano Concerto No. 4 on October 18, 2026, while young pianist Colin Pütz takes on Concerto No. 2 on December 20, 2026. Alexandra Dovgan performs Piano Concerto No. 3 on January 24, 2027. Additionally, conductor Frank Beermann and baritone Matthias Goerne team up to present rare orchestral suites from The Creatures of Prometheus and an orchestral version of the song cycle An die ferne Geliebte on January 31, 2027.

Tokyo-born pianist Mao Fujita serves as the orchestra’s artist-in-residence, following a previous tour with the ensemble in May 2024. Fujita’s residency features a December 6, 2026 solo piano recital of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Ravel, and Scriabin; a performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on February 7, 2027, under conductor Tianyi Lu; and a chamber music concert on February 18, 2027, featuring Beethoven’s Quintet and Richard Strauss’s Quartet.