The 2026/27 Programme Enhances Orchestra’s Growth
The Tenerife Symphony Orchestra has unveiled its 2026/2027 season, titled “Liberty or Destiny”, an artistic proposal that invites reflection on one of the fundamental questions of human experience: to what extent are we free to determine our path, or are we shaped by forces beyond our control? From this concept, the orchestra has organised a programme of eighteen subscription concerts, traversing significant milestones in the symphonic repertoire, from Mahler and Beethoven to contemporary works.
The new season was announced on Tuesday by the Vice President of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Lope Afonso, the island’s Councillor for Culture, Museums and Sports, and President of the Insular Music Board, José Carlos Acha, alongside the Managing Director of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Broncano. They highlighted a programme that combines major works from the repertoire, premieres, international artists, and collaborative projects that reinforce the orchestra’s artistic, social, and territorial significance.
“Liberty or Destiny” illustrates “the philosophical dilemma that evokes thoughts and feelings” and reflects “the historical tension between will and inevitability,” Afonso explained. “There is no doubt that this season is presented with the aim of consolidating the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra’s role in the island’s cultural life,” affirmed the Cabildo Vice President.
Season Overview
This concert cycle will run from September 2026 to June 2027 and comes at a time of consolidation for the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, following sustained growth in audience and subscriptions over recent years while strengthening its presence both within and beyond the Canary Islands. Subscription and family concerts have grown from 23,805 attendees in 2025 to 27,200 in 2026 – an approximate increase of 15% – while subscriptions have surged by 38% this season. “The best news is not only that the orchestra is programming more and better, but that an increasing number of citizens feel it is their own,” noted José Carlos Acha, highlighting these figures as a testament to the orchestra’s status as a cultural reference point on the island.
Signature Works
In this context, “Liberty or Destiny” lays out a journey through some of the works that have best addressed themes of identity, memory, hope, fate, resilience, and the capacity to transform one’s own life.
Daniel Broncano highlighted that “Liberty or Destiny” “is not a closed opposition, but an open question that resonates throughout the season.” According to the Managing Director, “music has the unique ability to inhabit that territory like no other language: even a score, which appears predetermined, opens up to freedom each time it is performed and heard.”
The programme will commence on 11 and 12 September 2026 with one of the most monumental scores in symphonic literature, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”, conducted by Pablo González, featuring soloists Berna Perles and Olesya Petrova, as well as the Tenerife Opera Chorus-Intermezzo. This will mark the beginning of a season that traverses individual affirmation and collective destiny, loss and hope.
A central theme of the season will be Ludwig van Beethoven, coinciding with the bicentennial of his death in 2027. Works such as the Fifth Symphony, the Eighth, the overtures Leonora No. 3 and Egmont, as well as “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage”, will allow exploration of different facets of a composer whose music embodies the concept of freedom as an ethical, artistic, and human conquest.
Reflections on destiny will also emerge in some of the most intense pages of the symphonic repertoire. The Fourth, Fifth, and “Pathétique” symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich’s Fifth and Symphony No. 12 “The Year 1917”, Brahms’s “A German Requiem” and “The Song of Destiny”, Nielsen’s “The Inextinguishable”, Sibelius’s “Finlandia”, Elgar’s “Enigma Variations”, and Richard Strauss’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” will form a journey through some of the works that have most profoundly explored the relationship between the individual and the forces that shape their existence.
Prominent Artists and Contemporary Creations
Leading the programme will be Pablo González, the orchestra’s principal guest conductor, alongside honorary conductor Víctor Pablo Pérez, and seasonal artistic collaborator Delyana Lazarova. Additionally, notable conductors such as Giancarlo Guerrero, Ariane Matiakh, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Jordi Francés, Manuel Hernández Silva, Antony Hermus, Ilan Volkov, Ana María Patiño-Osorio, Wilson Ng, and Thomas Dausgaard will take to the podium.
The season will also feature outstanding international soloists, including Isabelle Faust, Truls Mørk, Seong-Jin Cho, Daniel Hope, Alexander Melnikov, Simon Trpčeski, Ksenija Sidorova, Colin Currie, David Kadouch, and Francisco Fullana, alongside the orchestra’s own musicians Irina Peña and Ülker Tümer, who will take on solo roles in one of the season’s programmes.
Contemporary creation will also hold a prominent place in the programming. Included will be the world premiere of “In the Aftermath of Gravity” by Helga Arias, commissioned with support from the SGAE Foundation, in addition to works by Julia Wolfe, Frederic Rzewski, Andy Akiho, Brett Dean, Fazıl Say, and Francisco Coll, reinforcing the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra’s commitment to music of our time and expanding its repertoire.
The vocal and choral dimension will have a particularly significant presence thanks to the participation of artists such as Serena Sáenz, Olesya Petrova, José Antonio López, and Berna Perles, along with the Tenerife Opera Chorus-Intermezzo and the Community Chorus of Madrid.
A Season Open to the Community and Broader Projections
Beyond subscription concerts, the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra’s activities will extend through family concerts, educational and social projects, performances across various municipalities, mediation and accessibility initiatives, chamber music cycles, and collaborations with other cultural and educational institutions.
The season will also mark new milestones in international exposure. Following its strengthened presence on national stages and festivals in recent years, the orchestra will return to the National Auditorium of Music in Madrid on 10 May 2027 to perform “The Song of Destiny” under the direction of Pablo González, alongside the Community Chorus of Madrid. This event adds to the orchestra’s recent appearances on international stages, such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and is part of the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra’s strategy for outreach and projection.
Subscriptions and Tickets
The renewal campaign for subscriptions for the 2026/2027 season will take place from 9 to 22 June. General sales for the Seasonal Subscription and Youth Subscription will be available from 2 July to 11 September, while partial subscriptions can be purchased from 14 July to 11 September. Individual ticket sales will begin on 23 July. In this regard, the orchestra continues to maintain an accessible pricing policy, with tickets starting from €12, youth tickets at €5, special prices for the unemployed, and discounts for large families.
The Symphony will also retain its six subscription categories—season, youth, sun, moon, autumn-winter, and spring—as well as accessibility initiatives such as the Symphonic Shuttle, a free transport service in collaboration with TITSA, connecting various points on the island to the Tenerife Auditorium on concert days.
