Season announcement

Dallas Symphony packs new season with big stars from Renee Fleming to Ben Folds

Ben Folds is "So There."

Photo courtesy of Dallas Symphony Orchestra

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is roaring back fortissimo in its first full season on stage, post-pandemic. The orchestra has loaded its 2021-22 season, announced April 1, with exciting Dallas debuts, fan-favorite works, and a dizzying lineup of guest artists from the worlds of opera, Broadway, and pop culture: Denyce Graves, Renée Fleming, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Ben Folds, Chris Botti, Hamilton's Renée Elise Goldsberry, and more.

There are tributes to late Supreme Court Justice Ruther Bader Ginsburg and late Tejano pop star Selena. There's the United States Naval Academy Mens & Women's Glee Clubs; the return of former DSO conductor Andrew Litton with Steven Hough on Tchaikovsky's beloved Piano Concerto No. 1; there's Eugene Onegin, Beethoven "Emperor" Concerto, Mozart Requiem, and so much more that the entire schedule prints out as 11 pages.

“We are thrilled to share a full season of music with our patrons and community,” says Kim Noltemy, Ross Perot President & CEO of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, in a release. “We persevered through the 2020-21 season with incredible creativity and innovation .... The health and safety of our patrons and musicians remains of utmost important, and we have shown that as circumstances change, the DSO adapts its concerts to continue to deliver incredible performances in new ways. That will continue as we move into 2021-22, and we look forward to returning to the stage with a full complement of musicians and larger, full orchestral works."

A DSO spokeswoman adds that they do not expect to restrict audience capacity at the Meyerson Symphony Center next season unless the CDC recommends it.

In Fabio Luisi's second season as Louise W. & Edmund J. Kahn Music Director, the orchestra will perform three world premieres and make the Dallas premieres of five major new works. Luisi and the orchestra will continue their exploration of American music, now with an increased focus on music by people of color, the release says.

“I want to look at the full range of American music and those voices that we know, and those that have been perhaps forgotten," Luisi says in the release. "I would like the audience, my orchestra, and our community to learn more ... and to see how important these voices are to today’s musical life.”

Here is a quick look at the first half of the season. Find more information and artist bios on the DSO's website.

September 3-5: Coco: Movie in Concert, Jayce Ogren conducts

September 10-12: The Music of Selena, featuring Isabel Marie Sanchez, vocalist

September 16-19: Fabio Luisi conducts Bradley Hunter Welch, organist (Copland Organ Symphony)

September 23, 36: Fabio Luisi conducts David Buck, flute (DSO premiere of Joan Tower Flute Concerto)

September 25: DSO Gala Concert & After Party with Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin; Fabio Luisi conducts (DSO premiere of John Williams Violin Concerto No. 2)

October 2: Philharmonia Fantastique - Orchestra Showcase including DSO premiere of Mason Bates' Philharmonia Fantastique

October 3: Chelsea Chen, organ

October 7: Dallas Symphony Presents Tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano, Jeffrey Biegel, piano, Lidiya Yankovskaya conducts. Includes world premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's New Work: Honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg

October 8-10: Chris Botti in Concert with DSO

October 14-17: Carlos Kalmar conducts Garrick Ohlsson, piano (Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor")

October 20: Erich Bergen's Hollywood Songbook with Erich Bergen, vocalist

October 22-24: Ben Folds in Concert with DSO

October 28-30: Sir Mark Elder conducts Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano (DSO debut)

October 31: Dia de los Muertos Concert

November 4-6: Fabio Luisi conducts Dallas Symphony Chorus and guests in Mozart Requiem

November 5-7: Fabio Luisi conducts Renee Fleming, soprano, Rod Gilfry, baritone in Kevin Puts' The Brightness of Light (DSO premiere)

November 8: Renee Fleming: "Music and Mind" Presentation

November 12-14: Veterans Day Patriotic Pops

November 18-21: Gemma New conducts Nathan Olson, violin (Debussy, Bartok, Beethoven)

December: Christmas Pops, Christmas with Cantus, Big Brassy Christmas & Organ Extravaganza, A Very Swingin' Basic Christmas, New Year's Eve with DSO

For the rest of the season, visit dallassymphony.org.

Subscription packages begin at $165 and go on sale April 15; single tickets will be available at a later time. More information at dallassymphony.org.

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Theater News

Dallas' Kitchen Dog Theater unveils powerful 2026-2027 season lineup

Photo by Cameron Cobb

Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas will put on three mainstage productions for their 2026-2027 season.

Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas has revealed the lineup for the 2026-2027 season, featuring a slate of plays that boasts power players like kings, prime ministers, space force commanders, and would-be presidents.

According to a release, the theater company's 36th season — their "most powerful yet" — will consist of three mainstage productions at its new permanent home in the Design District, as well as the annual New Works Festival, featuring a readings series and the 26th annual D-PAC PUP (Playwrights Under Progress) Fest.

The season will start with The Absentee by Julia Doolittle, running September 10-October 4, 2026. The play was the winner of the 2019-2020 Woodward/Newman Drama Award.

Far out in the Milky Way, “Beacons” serve as lighthouses for warping spaceships around the galaxy. When a U.S. Space Force ship explodes in the galaxy, the Operator finds herself alone in deep space, with only her ship’s AI for companionship. That is, until a persistent canvasser calls, desperate to convince her to vote absentee in the 2088 election.

As the Operator waits for the clean up to be over, she finds she has to come to terms with her isolation, grief, and her political voice.

The season's second production comes four months later, with Equivocation by Bill Cain, running February 4-28, 2027. In 1605 England, a terrorist plots to assassinate King James I and blow Parliament to kingdom come. Shagspeare (after a contemporary spelling of the Bard's name) is commissioned by the prime minister, to write the “true historie” of the plot. And it must have witches — the king wants witches.

But as Shag and the acting company of the Globe investigate the plot, they discover that the king's version of the story might, in fact, be a coverup. Shag and his actors are confronted with the ultimate moral and artistic dilemma. Speak truth to power and perhaps lose their heads? Or take the money and lie? Is there a third option? Equivocation?

A high-stakes political thriller with contemporary resonances, Equivocation gallops from the great Globe to the Tower of London to the halls of Parliament to the heart of Judith, Shag's younger daughter, who finds herself unexpectedly at the very heart of the political, dramatic and — ultimately — human mystery.

The final mainstage production of the season comes at the 2027 New Works Festival with Black Republican by KDT Artistic Company Member Jamal Gibran Sterling, running June 3-27, 2027.

Originally featured as a Staged Reading in the 2026 New Works Festival, the ambitious first play by Sterling centers on a Black Republican candidate on the national stage who finds his campaign threatened by an activist who challenges everything he claims to stand for. Their battle exposes uncomfortable truths about race, politics, and the stories we tell ourselves.

In addition to Black Republican, the 2027 New Works Festival will showcase four staged readings of some of the newest and most exciting Texas-based playwrights. Each reading will feature accomplished Dallas-Fort Worth actors and directors to highlight the breadth of talent in the area.

The final part of the festival is D-PAC PUP (Playwrights Under Progress) Fest, featuring six staged readings of jury-selected plays written by Dallas-Fort Worth high school students and featuring student actors directed by area professionals. PUP Fest is the culmination of Dallas Playwriting Arts Collective (D-PAC), a partnership with Dallas ISD and Junior Players.

Kitchen Dog Theater offers two season subscription packages for their inaugural season in their new facility. The Kitchen Dog package includes a ticket to all three mainstage productions for any performance date for $90+ $8 fees for adults and $75 +$8 fees for students and seniors (ages 65+). The Saver Dog package includes a ticket to all three mainstage productions for Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays only. It is $60 + $8 fees for adults and $45 + $8 fees for students and seniors.

Both packages grant full access to the Staged Reading Series and PUP Fest. Subscribers also receive premium reserved seating for in-person performances, as well as subscriber-only discounts on additional single tickets, 2026 special events, and KDT merchandise.

Subscription packages are on sale now, and single tickets for each show will go on sale on Monday, August 24, at kitchendogtheater.org.

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