The 2026/2027 season marks the 10th anniversary of Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the breathtaking venue that has transformed cultural life in the city. It is also Alan Gilbert’s eighth season as Chief Conductor of the resident NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, which launches its new season with a powerful program featuring James Oliverio’s timpani concerto and Mahler’s Sixth Symphony. Principal timpanist Stephan Cürlis, now entering his farewell season with the orchestra, is the soloist for the concerto, Legacy Ascendant, a work originally premiered by The Cleveland Orchestra under Gilbert’s leadership. Though Mahler’s Sixth is packed with soaring string melodies inspired by his love for his wife Alma, its grim marches and the “blows of fate” in the finale have given the work its reputation as his “Tragic” symphony (Sep 4 and 5). Later in the month, Gilbert returns to Stockholm to lead the Royal Swedish Orchestra—currently celebrating its 500th anniversary!—in a program of Britten and Stravinsky, including the latter’s still revolutionary Le sacre du printemps (Rite of Spring) (Sep 25 and 26).