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April/May 2026 | maconmagazine.com 55 Macon-Mercer Symphony Orchestra 2026-2027 Season Symphony, redesigned with you in mind. Some of the world's finest musicians play in Macon. On four evenings this season, the MMSO brings together rising stars om the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings with musicians om the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at the Piedmont Grand Opera House. Four nights that run the full range om pure joy to profound heartbreak, om a historic conductor's debut to Beethoven's greatest triumph. Come for one. We think you'll come for all four. Major funding for the MMSO is provided by the Peyton Anderson Foundation. Monday, Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. Case Scaglione, guest conductor Stefan Jackiw, violin Brannon Cho, cello David Diamond Rounds Prokofiev Symphony No. 1, "Classical" Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello MMSO welcomes Case Scaglione to the podium for the very first time. The former associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic arrives with two of the most compelling soloists of their generation. Violinist Stefan Jackiw, newly appointed faculty of the McDuffie Center and praised by the Boston Globe for playing of "uncommon musical substance," joins faculty cellist Brannon Cho, First Prize winner of the International Paulo Cello Competition, for Brahms' Double Concerto. The program opens with Diamond's Rounds, a jubilant American classic composed during World War II after a conductor simply asked him to "make me happy," and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1, nicknamed the "Classical" — a piece so witty and light on its feet, it sounds like Mozart reborn with a mischievous grin. $35 premium seats | $25 regular seats Free for students of all ages with any valid Student ID Subscribe & Save: $120 premium season seats $85 regular season seats $60 Mercer Faculty/Staff and Young Patron's Circle Subscribe at 478-301-5470 or mcduffie.mercer.edu Symphony Tickets Monday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m. Joseph Young, guest conductor Barber Adagio for Strings Strauss Don Juan Mozart Symphony No. 39 Barber's Adagio for Strings has a rare ability to make the world outside the concert hall fall away. Few orchestral works carry as much emotional weight, and its presence at so many significant moments of the past century has only deepened its resonance. Hearing it live adds yet another dimension to a piece that rewards every encounter. Conductor Joseph Young opens the evening with Don Juan, a blazing, restless, and vividly theatrical work, surging with youthful energy and bold orchestral color, that announced Strauss as a major voice when he was just 24. The program closes with Mozart's innovative, celebratory Symphony No. 39.