Pines of Rome and Poulenc's Organ Concerto

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra brings Pines of Rome and Poulenc's Organ Concerto to the Hilbert Circle Theatre on Thursday, February 18. It's part of their 2026-27 classical series, a season led by Music Director Jun Märkl that puts Beethoven right at the center. Throughout the year, the orchestra is pairing all seven of his concertos with works by Mahler, Brahms, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky, while also looking at the legacy of the Ballets Russes and programming living composers.

This particular night pairs two very different sounds. Pines of Rome is one of Respighi's most famous works, a tone poem that takes you through four different Roman pine forests at different times of day—dawn, midday, sunset, and moonlight. It's known for its vivid imagery, and hearing it in a hall like the Hilbert Circle Theatre is usually the best way to take it in. Beside it is Poulenc's Organ Concerto, a piece that lets the organ take center stage and brings a different kind of weight to the program.

To get a sense of where this fits, it helps to look at the rest of the season. The 2026 Gala: OPUS kicked things off with Denis Kozhukhin on piano, and the classical series continues with those Beethoven pairings. There's also a Film Series with movies performed live to picture and a Pops Series led by Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly. This February 18 concert sits within that larger classical run, so it's one of the nights when the full orchestra is out on the main stage.

If you're planning to go, keep in mind that the program is still being finalized, so the exact order of the pieces might shift. The concert is on Thursday, February 18, at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis.