Rachmaninoff & Schubert

Fabio Luisi and pianist Lise de la Salle are coming to the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center for a series of concerts from October 22 to 24, as part of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's 2026/27 Classical season. The program brings together three very different works, and the whole thing runs without intermission.

At the center is Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, which he finished when he was just 18. Even then, it had the romantic fire and the kind of superhuman virtuosity that would come to define his career. Lise de la Salle returns to the DSO to take it on; Bachtrack has described her as someone who "calms nerves and soothes the soul," and that's a good way to keep in mind when she's navigating the concerto's emotional depths.

Sharing the bill is Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor, better known as the Unfinished. Its incompleteness has long cast a hypnotic spell, and it sits here alongside the Rachmaninoff. Closing the program is Hovhaness' Symphony No. 2 'Mysterious Mountain', a work of serene spirituality that conjures the majesty of mountain ranges the composer regarded as "symbols of man's attempt to know God."

If you want a bit more context before the music starts, there are pre-concert talks with Assistant Conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg at Horchow Hall—6:30 PM each concert evening and 1:00 PM on Sunday. The concerts themselves run Thursday, October 22 at 6:30 PM; Friday, October 23 at 7:30 PM; and Saturday, October 24 at 7:30 PM. Tickets start at $58, with a $44 price on Friday.