For ten years now, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra has been at home in the Elbphilharmonie—a decade rich in sonic exploration, musical encounters and ever-growing inspiration, shaped by a unique symbiosis between this remarkable space and the people who bring it to life.
At a press conference in Hamburg today, Alan Gilbert, who will mark his 8th season as Chief Conductor with the 2026/2027 season, said: “We at the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra might be the luckiest orchestra in the world having the Elbphilharmonie as our home. The hall has quickly become one of the most important stops for any touring orchestra, and we get to play here all the time! I love that the hall is so flexible as an arts space: it can absorb the largestorchestral sound mass and also works impeccably for a small chamber formation or even a solo instrument. The space is inspiring — the variety of what we have been able to imagine and realize is limitless.”
The performance of 20th- and 21st-century music, concert operas and large-scale vocal-symphonic works has helped to define the orchestra’s artistic profile. The 2026/27 season builds on this legacy while also looking to the future—with a program that ranges from masterpieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler to a number of striking rarities by Ferruccio Busoni, AlexanderScriabin and Dmitri Shostakovich, as well as the sonic worlds of anniversary composer John Adams and other contemporaries such as Unsuk Chin, Ondřej Adámek and Peter Ruzicka.
Among the highlights of the season are an opening night concert featuring Mahler’s tragic Symphony No. 6 (Sep 4, 5); this year’s Artist in Residence, pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, playing the world premiere of a new piano concerto by composer Missy Mazzoli, NDR’s Artist Across Ensembles; concerts celebrating the 80th birthday of composer John Adams — including his iconic Harmonielehre; and performances of Igor Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex together with the iconic ballet Le Sacre du printemps as part of the annual Hamburg International Music Festival.