CITY NEWSPAPER: RPO’s 2026-27 season includes Chuck Mangione tribute, Fringe collab, Piano Festival and more

by Patrick Hosken March 18, 2026

Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra music director Andreas Delfs conducts. Credit: smilliephoto.com

Before they ever actually met, Chuck Mangione brought Jeff Tyzik to Rochester. All it took was hearing his music.

“Somebody sent me a Chuck Mangione recording, and when I listened to that, I was inspired by his music enough to want to come to Rochester and study at the Eastman School [of Music] where he was teaching,” Tyzik told WXXI in 2025 after Mangione’s death.

Eventually, Tyzik played lead trumpet in Mangione’s jazz ensemble before assuming his current position as the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s principal pops conductor in 1994 .

Next year, he’ll have the chance to return to his roots, honoring Mangione with a tribute show as part of the RPO’s 2026-27 season.

“Tyzik’s Jazz & Mangione,” with Tyzik as conductor and Alexa Tarantino on saxophone, is one of many programs that color the RPO’s new season, announced today. The two-night affair, set for May 21-22 of 2027, is also perhaps the most heartfelt, featuring special guests and a direct, personal connection thanks to Tyzik himself.

“Celebrating Mangione’s music is a chance to honor our hometown legend in style,” Tyzik said in the new season’s program guide.

The Mangione tribute will end the RPO’s Pops season. Long before that, the Philharmonics season begins with “Contemporary Works with Theremin,” the RPO’s special show as part of the 2026 ESL Rochester Fringe Festival on September 19, 2026.

Centering theremin player Carolina Eyck, the program offers a celebration of the science fiction-sounding electronic instrument that’s long been at home both in the classical and pop-music spheres.

The showcase features forward-thinking works by Mason Bates, Régis Campo and John Adams, with RPO music director Andreas Delfs conducting.

Delfs will also lead the world premiere of composer Michael Torke’s new commission “Voices of Today” as part of the season’s opening night, September 26 (with a matinee the following day). The show features violinist Leila Josefowicz; the program also includes John Adams’ “Violin Concerto” and Dvořák’s: Symphony No. 9 “From the New World.”