Symphonic
Kaleidoscope
Our 2026-2027 season is sponsored by Tom and Carolyn Cochran.
Just as a kaleidoscope reveals constantly shifting patterns of color and light as it turns, this Symphonic Kaleidoscope season will present a vibrant spectrum of musical styles, composers, and performers. Each program challenges expectations and invites you to view SASO through a new lens, from our opening concert with sopranista Mayaan Licht to the debut of SASO’s own chorus.
Saturday Performances
7:00 pm at DesertView Performing Arts Center, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive, SaddleBrooke
Sunday Performances
3:00 pm at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, SW Sanctuary, 7575 N Paseo del Norte, Tucson
Season Tickets
Season tickets include all SASO orchestra concerts at either DesertView Performing Arts Center (Saturday at 7pm) or St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (Sunday at 3pm).
Cycle One: Sopranista Fireworks
October 10 & 11, 2026
Saturday, October 10, 7:00pm
DesertView Performing Arts Center, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive, Saddlebrooke
Sunday, October 11, 3:00pm
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, SW Sanctuary,
7575 N. Paseo Del Norte, Tucson
This opening night bursts with vocal brilliance as the extraordinary sopranista Maayan Licht, named “Best Newcomer” at the Oper! Awards 2025, dazzles in virtuosic operatic arias. Interwoven with sparkling orchestral interludes and Gould’s celebratory American Salute, the season begins with theatrical flair and radiant vocal artistry.
- Morton Gould: American Salute
- Operatic Arias by soloist Mayaan Licht
Thank you to our generous concert sponsors;
Jennifer Schneider (10/11)
Soloist Maayan Licht is sponsored by the Duerkson Living Trust (Harold and Rosella Duerksen)
Cycle Two: Epic & Lyric
November 14 & 15, 2026
Saturday, November 14, 7:00pm
DesertView Performing Arts Center, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive, Saddlebrooke
Sunday, November 15, 3:00pm
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, SW Sanctuary,
7575 N. Paseo Del Norte, Tucson
Elegance and grandeur meet in a program of lyrical beauty and sweeping Romantic drama. The evening begins with the graceful charm of Rosamunde Overture before Richard White’s expressive English Horn Concerto highlights the instrument’s warm, singing voice. After intermission, Tchaikovsky’s monumental Symphony No. 5 in E minor brings epic emotional power to a thrilling conclusion.
Guest Conductor: Kristian Alexander (Canada)
- Franz Schubert: Rosamunde Overture
- Richard White: Concerto for English Horn | Mateo Mendez, soloist
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64
Thank you to our generous concert sponsor;
Marica Molter (11/15)
Soloist Mateo Mendez is sponsored by Paula Jacobi and Todd Wiener
Cycle Three: From Beethoven to Broadway
January 30 & 31, 2027
Saturday, January 30, 7:00pm
DesertView Performing Arts Center, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive, Saddlebrooke
Sunday, January 31, 3:00pm
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, SW Sanctuary,
7575 N. Paseo Del Norte, Tucson
This electrifying program traces the evolution of dramatic rhythm across centuries. Beethoven’s noble classicism meets the vibrant pulse of American theater, as the evening moves from the heroic drama of Egmont Overture and his luminous Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 to the jazz-infused brilliance of Gershwin and Bernstein.
- Ludwig Van Beethoven: Egmont Overture
- Ludwig Van Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, op. 61 | Oscar Bohorquez, soloist
- George Gershwin: Cuban Overture
- Leonard Bernstein: Three Dances Episodes from “On the Town “
- Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story Selections (Mason)
Thank you to our generous concert sponsors;
Joyce and Robert Norton Wainscott (1/30) and Jerry Levine (1/31)
Cycle Four: From Nordic Fire to Eternal Light
March 6 & 7, 2027
Saturday, March 6, 7:00pm
DesertView Performing Arts Center, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive, Saddlebrooke
Sunday, March 7, 3:00pm
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, SW Sanctuary,
7575 N. Paseo Del Norte, Tucson
From the passionate nationalism of Finlandia to the radiant serenity of Lux Aeterna, this program journeys from dramatic Nordic landscapes to luminous choral transcendence. Along the way, Forsyth’s Viola Concerto and Grieg’s beloved piano concerto add Romantic fire and virtuosity.
- Jean Sibelius: Finlandia
- Cecil Forsyth: Viola Concerto in G minor | Anna Serova, soloist
- Max Bruch: Romance for Viola and Orchestra | Anna Serova, soloist
- Edward Grieg: Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 16 (1st mov) | Dorothy Vanek Youth Concerto Competition Winner Hannah Kim, soloist
- Morten Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna (featuring the new SASO Chorus)
Thank you to our generous concert sponsor;
Rudi Faller (3/7)
Soloist Anna Serova is sponsored by Rudi Faller
Cycle Five: Folk Fire & Romantic Voices
April 10 & 11, 2027
Saturday, April 10, 7:00pm
DesertView Performing Arts Center, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive, Saddlebrooke
Sunday, April 11, 3:00pm
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, SW Sanctuary,
7575 N. Paseo Del Norte, Tucson
The season concludes with vibrant national color and symphonic grandeur. Dvořák’s jubilant Carnival Overture launches a program rich with melodic warmth, followed by Brahms’s deeply expressive Double Concerto and the sweeping orchestral power of Amy Beach’s Gaelic Symphony.
- Antonin Dvořák: Carnival Overture
- Johannes Brahms: Double Concerto in A minor, op. 102 | Elena Chernova-Davis and Theodore Buchholz, soloists
- Amy Beach: Gaelic Symphony
Thank you to our generous concert sponsors;
Al and Rosalie Baumrucker (4/11)
Soloist Elena Chernova is sponsored by Jim and Marcene Franz
SASO Chorus
Let All Nations Sing
October 24 & 25, 2026
Saturday, October 24, 6:00pm
Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 E Adams St,
Tucson
Sunday, October 25, 2:00pm
Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church,
2331 E Adams St,
Tucson
Folk and classical music from 11 different countries, featuring the beautiful Heyr Himna Smidur by Icelandic composer Thorkell Sigurbjörnsson, and works by four Tucson composers.
- New Britain (trad. southern US, Sacred Harp)
- Antioch (trad. southern US, Sacred Harp)
- Gandagana (trad. Republic of Georgia)
- Suliko (trad. Republic of Georgia)
- Feigur Fallandason (trad. Iceland)
- Souricho (French Central African variant of Suliko)
- Strazde Strazdeli (trad. East Prussian)
- Turėja Liepa, Liaj Taduvėla (trad. Lithuania)
- Trallallera (trad. Sicily)
- Heyr Himna Smidur (Sigurbjörnsson, Iceland)
- Lord Randall (Vargas, USA, on trad. English poem)
- Tacciono i boschi e i fiumi (Lopez-Hanshaw, USA, on 16th-c. text by Torquato Tasso)
- Missa Luba (Haazen, Congo)
- Indodana (Barrett and Schmitt, South Africa)
- My Kind-Hearted Boy (Linthicum-Blackhorse, USA)
- Prayer of Death (Blakeslee, USA)
- Lull to the Array (Aurora Bass, USA)
- Everchanging Trail (Kepner-Adney, USA)
Midwinter Lights
December 5 & 6, 2026
Saturday, December 5, 2026
DesertView Performing Arts Center
39900 S Clubhouse Dr, Saddlebrooke
Sunday, December 6, 2026
Jewish Community Center,
3800 E River Rd, Tucson
Featuring shofar virtuoso Bar Zemach
Music for Chanukah, Christmas, Diwali, and other winter festivals both sacred and secular, and a world premiere by Michael Kaulkin. Both concerts will be performed with chamber orchestra drawn from SASO members.
- Hanukkah Triptych (Lopez-Hanshaw)
- Hanerot Halalu
- S’vivon b’Sheva
- Estrellas llameen
- Ayni Tzofia (Syrian Jewish prayer, music by Divahn)
- Reno erat Rudolphus (Gregorian chant)
- Gloucestershire Wassail (trad. England)
- Ave verum corpus (Turnblom)
- Ave Maria (Biebl)
- Three Sacred Hymns (Schnittke)
- In The Bleak Midwinter (Betinis)
- Noel des enfants (Debussy)
- Rune of St Patrick (Lopez-Hanshaw)
- White Winter Hymnal (Pentatonix)
- Winter Solstice (LaViolette)
- Song of Becoming (Kaulkin premiere)
- Shab-e Yalda (Foroughi)
- Diya Jalein (Kaundinya)
- Son Of Pandu (Rajasekar) for string orchestra
From Nordic Fire to Eternal Light
March 6 & 7, 2027
Saturday, March 6, 7:00pm
DesertView Performing Arts Center
39900 S Clubhouse Dr, Saddlebrooke
Sunday, March 7, 3:00pm
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, SW Sanctuary,
7575 N Paseo Del Norte,
Tucson
The SASO Chorus joins the full Southern Arizona Symphony, as well as the Tucson Masterworks Chamber Singers, in a performance of Morten Lauridsen’s transcendent Lux Aeterna. The orchestra performs works by Bruch, Grieg, Forsyth, and Sibelius.
SASO Opera
Die Fledermaus
April 17 & 18, 2027
Saturday, April 17, 2027
Pima Community College Proscenium Theater
2202 W Anklam Rd,
Tucson
Sunday, April 18, 2027
Pima Community College Proscenium Theater
2202 W Anklam Rd,
Tucson
Tucson soloists Kyle DeGraff, Diana Peralta, Andrew Stuckey, Kristin Dauphinais, and others will perform with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a full production of Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II.
We are proud to recognize Michael Stelman as the sponsor of our production of Die Fledermaus, whose generous support makes this performance possible.