A brief brush-up on Wharton and LSO’s upcoming seasons
Editor’s note: In case you missed Lawrence Cosentino’s April coverage of the Wharton Center’s 2026-‘27 fine arts season or the several articles he wrote about the Lansing Symphony Orchestra’s search for a new music director following longtime maestro Timothy Muffitt’s departure, he’s got you covered with abbreviated reminders of what to expect from two of Greater Lansing’s biggest arts leaders.
Lansing Symphony Orchestra: Duel for all the donuts
It’s been 20 years since the Lansing Symphony Orchestra tackled the task of choosing a new music director, and just as long since it’s had a crazy-quilt concert season like the one coming up. (Some maniacs decide such matters with cage matches, but Lansing is much too classy for that.)
In a once-in-a-generation pageant of top orchestral maestros, five candidates for the Lansing gig will direct one concert each, beginning Oct. 2 with a deep dive into the “Symphonie Fantastique” of Hector Berlioz, courtesy of athletic Oklahoma maestro Scott Seaton. Shanghai-born Yue Bao, currently assistant conductor of the Houston Symphony, will deploy her joy to conjure an evening of music by Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and MSU composer Zhou Tian Oct. 16. Thunder wizard Joshua Gersen, most recently assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, will lead a meaty Nov. 20 concert pairing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with the Sibelius violin concerto. Charismatic Tokyo-born maestro Shizuo Kuwahara will lead a stupendous all-Russian program Jan. 29, anchored by Dmitri Shostakovich’s epic 10th Symphony. Finally, New York innovator James Blachly, director of the Experiential Orchestra and the Johnstown Symphony, will get in the last licks March 20 with the help of Tchaikovsky’s rambunctious Fourth Symphony and music by Samuel Barber.
All the conductors have shown a strong commitment to new music, and each concert will feature one work by a new or emerging composer. They’ve all worked at top venues around the nation and the world, from New York to Chicago to Shanghai to St. Petersburg (both the one in Florida and the one in Russia). Now it’s time to see which of the five candidates wants regular access to Quality Dairy long johns, and just how badly they want it.
Wharton Center: Familiar and surprising
The old “crispy creamy” cookie paradox — how can they be both? — doesn’t bother Michigan State University’s Wharton Center for the Performing Arts one bit. Wharton’s 2026-‘27 fine arts season deftly juggles performances that are both familiar and surprising, often at the same time.
A perfect example is Ballets Jazz Montreál’s “Dance Me” (Nov. 5), a probing excursion into the world of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Whether you dig Cohen’s music but have never been to a ballet or the other way around, you get to have it both ways. (If you don’t know Cohen AND you’ve never been to a ballet, you can check two big life boxes.)
Another season highlight is the Dec. 8 pairing of two of the world’s greatest musicians, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax, a follow-up to their 2024 “Beethoven for Three” sellout at Wharton with violinist Leonidas Kavakos. Ma and Ax have worked together for 55 years, but their busy schedules make a public recital a rare occasion.
The same can be said of the Berlin Philharmonic Brass (Feb. 2), stopping at Wharton for one of only three dates on a whirlwind North American tour. In an opening salvo of jazz, ebullient bassist, longtime “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” mainstay and MSU alumna Endea Owens will bring her trio, The Cookout, to Wharton’s Pasant Theatre Oct. 9 — a homecoming for Owens during MSU’s own homecoming week. In a neat convergence of local treasures and national ones, MSU vocal Professor Carmen Bradford will have a chance to showcase her longstanding association with the Count Basie Orchestra Jan. 12.
Upping the ante on the recent return of live theater to Wharton, the Acting Company will take a break from a New York run of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” to bring a fully staged version to Wharton Feb. 9.
Another high point in Wharton’s fine arts season is a cabaret-style evening with Tony-winning star Sutton Foster (Oct. 3), one of the most prominent actors and singers on the Broadway stage today. If her name rings a bell, that might be because Foster grew up in Troy and is the namesake of Wharton’s Sutton Foster Awards, recognizing top Michigan high school theater productions and performances.
Wharton’s website has the full list of events — only it’s never really complete, because dates are added all the time when performers become available. Besides Wharton’s two main venues, the Cobb Great Hall and the Pasant Theatre, there’s a full slate of comedy, cabaret and musical talent at the facility’s cozy, drink-y, cabaret-style venue, Club 750. A standout this season at Club 750 is Brittany Davis (Jan. 6), a charismatic, powerful singer-songwriter-pianist who fuses gospel, blues, hip-hop, jazz and funk with overwhelming originality and energy.
