Taipei Symphony Orchestra

Fresh from the 2025 Asia Tour through five cities—Fukuoka, Kumamoto and Hofu in Japan, and Bucheon and Tongyeong in Korea—the Taipei Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has returned home to strong acclaim for its refined sound and deeply considered interpretations. Back in Taipei, the TSO is announcing the launch of a 2026 season that promises a broader perspective and a curatorial approach that will continue to map the city’s sonic identity.

Building on the concept of the “curated-season” introduced in 2023, next year’s programme will span both a classical and contemporary repertoire, keeping Taipei’s musical window onto the world wide open. Under its new Chief Conductor, Alexander Liebreich, the TSO is starting a new chapter, bringing fresh energy to theatrical, vocal and large-scale collaborative projects.

The Chief Conductor Series has European tonal aesthetics at its foundation and contemporary cultural dialogue at its core. With a set of high-profile collaborations, the season-opening concerts feature Gautier Capuçon and Lisa Batiashvili in the world premiere of Richard Dubugnon’s Le poème silencieux; pianist Paul Lewis joins Liebreich to explore Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27; and further partnerships with leading European musicians such as Sergey Khachatryan and Jean-Guihen Queyras present Schumann, Brahms and Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony, alongside Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 and Richard Strauss’s Don Juan.

Every concert in the series will be conducted by Grammy nominee, two-time International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) winner and former Artistic Director of the Tongyeong International Music Festival Alexander Liebreich, whose detailed, layered grasp of each score will shape the distinctive TSO sound he has envisioned.

Led by Laureate Conductor Eliahu Inbal, the Master Series offers a season-long journey into late-Romantic and twentieth-century traditions. Widely regarded as one of the most magisterial conductors working today, Inbal has twice recorded the Mahler and Shostakovich symphony cycles in their entirety and is the first to have recorded the full set of original-version Bruckner symphonies. Continuing the Mahler project he launched in 2025, Maestro Inbal and the TSO will perform, in turn, Mahler’s Sixth, Seventh, and First (Titan) symphonies, followed by the Ninth—a measured advance in the orchestra’s second Mahler cycle. Not only did Mahler reshape the symphony as a form, but the emotional and intellectual depths he opened up continue to define music worldwide.

Beyond Mahler, audiences can look forward to the Taiwan premiere of Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony—a large-scale work of considerable spiritual intensity—and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, with its striking rhythms and primal energy. Inbal joins forces with Edgar Moreau, Lilya Zilberstein, Vadym Kholodenko and others to offer a richly varied interpretative landscape.

The TSO’s spirit of exploration continues in 2026 with works by leading contemporary composers that revealing the evolving language of global music. Highlights in the Maestro Series include the Asian premiere of a Nico Muhly concerto, co-commissioned with the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Outi Tarkiainen’s Rapids of Life; and Donghoon Shin’s Of Rats and Men. These works position Taipei as a city where the pulse of contemporary creation can be felt directly, keeping the musical avant-garde in step with the city itself.

As a key force behind Taipei’s classical season and its opera productions, TSO is also announcing a full staging of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde next year, conducted by Maestro Liebreich. The work marks the pivot from Romantic to modern musical language and signals the next horizon that the new Chief Conductor and the TSO will chart together.

With an international outlook and contemporary voice, the 2026 TSO season will continue to expand the identity of the capital’s orchestra. Tickets for the Chief Conductor Series, Master Series and Maestro Series are now on sale. Early-bird discounts (25% off) will be available until 2 pm on 26 December. For full programme and ticketing details, visit OPENTIX or the TSO website.