PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA & VÍKINGUR ÓLAFSSON
JOIN PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY’S 2025-26 SEASON
(IRVINE, CA, SEPTEMBER 17, 2025)—The Philharmonic Society of Orange County continues its 2025/26 season with the Philharmonia Orchestra on their 80th anniversary U.S. tour alongside world-renowned pianist Víkingur Ólafsson under the baton of principal conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, at 8pm at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Rouvali will lead the orchestra in a dynamic program featuring If Oxygen Were Green, a vibrant and evocative work by the Philharmonia’s Featured Composer, Gabriela Ortiz. The acclaimed Mexican composer is renowned for blending contemporary classical music with traditional and popular Latin American elements. Featured Artist, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, brings his trademark clarity and expression to Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major. The concert concludes with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, a gripping and emotionally charged work that balances drama and triumph. This concert is part of the Donna L. Kendall Classical Series. There will be a pre-concert lecture at 7pm.
Founded in 1945, the Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the world’s great orchestras. Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Riccardo Muti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Christoph von Dohnányi, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Esa-Pekka Salonen are some of the key figures who have honed the renowned Philharmonia sound over eight decades. The Orchestra is made up of 80 outstanding musicians. It has premiered works by Richard Strauss, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Errollyn Wallen, Laufey and many others, and performs with many of the world’s most admired soloists.
Resident at the Southbank Centre in the heart of London, the Philharmonia also holds residencies in Basingstoke, Bedford, Canterbury and Leicester, at Garsington Opera and at the Three Choirs Festival. In each of these residencies, the Orchestra is deeply embedded in the community, empowering people to engage with and participate in orchestral music. The Orchestra has a global audience—it tours extensively throughout Europe and has performed in China, Colombia, Japan, Mauritius and the USA. In the 2024/25 season, Rouvali took the Orchestra to Estonia, Finland, Spain and Japan.
The Philharmonia is also known for embracing innovative technology. The Orchestra’s recordings include benchmark LPs, more than 150 film and videogame soundtracks and streamed performances. Its recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 is travelling through interstellar space on board the Voyager spacecraft, and its immersive installations and virtual reality (VR) experiences have introduced many thousands of people to orchestral music. The Philharmonia is committed to nurturing and developing the next generation of instrumentalists and composers, with a focus on increasing diversity within the classical music industry.
This season the Philharmonia celebrates its 80th birthday with initiatives including offering 80 free tickets for first-time bookers to every concert in its London season; recruiting a team of 80 volunteers to help provide a warm welcome; reaching 80 schools with Orchestra Unwrapped, its program of schools’ concerts and teacher training; and establishing Philharmonia Social, a chance for audience members to meet and find out more about the orchestra.
Santtu-Matias Rouvali took up the baton as Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in September 2021. He is just the sixth person to hold that title since the Philharmonia was founded in 1945. Rouvali has conducted a wide range of music with the Philharmonia, from blockbusters by Strauss and Rachmaninov to works by living composers including Magnus Lindberg and Anna Clyne. He has performed with the Philharmonia in all their residency venues—at the Southbank Centre in London, and in Bedford, Leicester, Canterbury and Basingstoke—at the BBC Proms, and Edinburgh International Festival.
Víkingur Ólafsson is one of the most celebrated classical artists of our time; a unique and visionary musician who brings his profound originality to some of the greatest works in music history. His recordings resonate deeply with audiences around the world, reaching over one billion streams and winning numerous awards including the 2025 GRAMMY® for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for his album of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BBC Music Magazine Album of the Year, and Opus Klassik Solo Recording of the Year (twice). Other notable honors include the Rolf Schock Music Prize, Gramophone’s Artist of the Year, Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year, the Order of the Falcon (Iceland’s order of chivalry) as well as the Icelandic Export Award, given by the President of Iceland.
November 2025 sees Ólafsson present his latest album, Opus 109. It follows the success of his GRAMMY®-winning recording of the Goldberg Variations and features Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, a masterpiece of the composer’s late period, which Ólafsson places in an illuminating and musically thrilling temporal dialogue, tracing the lineages that converge on this beloved beacon of the piano literature. Known for his inspired programming, Ólafsson juxtaposes the work with music by J.S. Bach and Schubert, as well as Beethoven’s own earlier Sonata in E minor, Op. 90.
In 2025-26 Ólafsson opens the season and tours the U.S. with Philharmonia Orchestra as Featured Artist, as well as returning to the Berlin Philharmonic with Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic with Sir Antonio Pappano. He also reunites with John Adams and the LA Phil for performances of After the Fall, the piano concerto written expressly for him. Ólafsson will mark the Kurtag centenary celebrations in 2026 and appear as artist in residence at Cal Performances in Berkeley, California and at MUPA, Budapest.
Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall is located at 615 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Ticket prices start at $41 and are available at the Philharmonic Society box office at (949) 553-2422, or online at www.philharmonicsociety.org.
ABOUT PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY:
Founded in 1954 as Orange County’s first music organization, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County presents national and international performances of the highest quality and provides dynamic and innovative music education programs for individuals of all ages to enhance the lives of Orange County audiences through music.
Since its inception, the Philharmonic Society has evolved and grown with the county’s changing landscape, presenting artists and orchestras who set the standard for artistic achievement from Itzhak Perlman, Gustavo Dudamel, Yo-Yo Ma, and Renée Fleming to the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and many others. In addition, the Philharmonic Society celebrates multi-disciplinary performances under its Eclectic Orange brand and embraces music from a wide range of countries with its World Music performances. Its celebrated concerts introduce children to classical music with creative and inspiring performances, instilling music appreciation for future generations.
The Philharmonic Society’s nationally recognized Youth Music Education Programs, offered free of charge, engage more than 100,000 students annually through curriculum-based music education programs that aim to inspire, expand imaginations, and encourage learning at all levels. These programs are made possible by the Committees of the Philharmonic Society comprised of 500 volunteer members who provide more than 90,000 hours of in-kind service each year. As a key youth program, the exceptional Orange County Youth Symphony and String Ensemble provide top-tier training to the area’s most talented young musicians through multi-level ensemble instruction, leadership training, touring opportunities, challenging professional repertoire, and performances in world-class venues. The Philharmonic Society also promotes
life-long learning connecting with colleges and universities to conduct masterclasses and workshops and providing pre-concert lectures to introduce audiences to program selections.
Adaora Onyebeke
adaora@philharmonicsociety.org
(949) 480-4014
Marie Songco-Torres
marie@philharmonicsociety.org
(949) 553-2422, ext. 230