Season 2025-2026: OPMC reveals Kazuki Yamada’s farewell season
The OPMC will welcome Pablo Ferrández as artist in residence © opmc
The Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo’s 2025-2026 season will mark the end of a decade under the baton of Kazuki Yamada, with a varied programme and cellist Pablo Ferrández as artist in residence.
After ten years as artistic and musical director at the OPMC, Kazuki Yamada is about to turn an important page in his career. In his editorial, the Japanese conductor expresses his gratitude for this adventure which has led him to the “final culmination” of his work: “Today, I feel at home at the OPMC and I am happy to have spent these ten years in the company of all the people who are part of it.”
For his final season, the OPMC will welcome Pablo Ferrández as artist in residence. The Spanish cellist, winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition and an exclusive Sony Classical artist, has already performed with the orchestra, in 2024 alongside Anne-Sophie Mutter. Kazuki Yamada says he was “totally captivated by his playing” during their first collaboration: “I immediately invited him to become our Artist in Residence the following season. Not only does he have exceptional technique, but his deeply moving interpretations will bring joy and ‘vitamins’ to his listeners. Monaco is very fortunate to be able to welcome him for a series of concerts next season.”
A programme with four tributes
The 2025-2026 programme will pay tribute to four major composers. In addition to Shostakovich and Ravel, who were already celebrated last season, the orchestra will be commemorating the 200th anniversary of the death of Carl Maria von Weber and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Manuel de Falla.
The season will feature 36 Grande Saison concerts, plus recitals, chamber music concerts and Musical Happy Hours. Among the highlights, the Mozart in Monaco festival is back from 20 to 24 January 2026, with Mozart’s Requiem conducted by Kazuki Yamada.
Kazuki Yamada’s farewell will conclude with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in June 2026, a work he has chosen to “remind us of the message: we are all brothers and sisters and the world must live in peace.”
The first 10 concerts of the 2025 season
- Sunday 21 September – 6pm (Auditorium Rainier III). Season opening concert – Conductor: Kazuki Yamada / Cello: Pablo Ferrández. Programme: Saint-Saëns (Phaéton, Symphony No. 1) / Strauss (Don Quixote)
- Sunday 28 September – 6pm (Auditorium Rainier III). Conductor: Mikhail Pletnev / Piano: Dmitry Shishkin. Programme: Haydn (Symphony No. 49 “La Passione”) / Shchedrin (Piano Concerto No. 6) / Shostakovich (Symphony No. 14)
- Friday 3 October – 7.30 pm (Salle Garnier). Piano recital – Vsevolod Zavidov. Programme: Haydn, Schubert (4 Impromptus op.90), Ravel (Gaspard de la nuit), Stravinsky (Petrouchka)
- Sunday 5 October – 6pm (Auditorium Rainier III). Conductor: Alondra de la Parra / Mezzo-soprano: Gaëlle Arquez. Programme: Ravel (Rhapsodie espagnole, Schéhérazade, Alborada del gracioso, Daphnis et Chloé Suite n°2) / De Falla (El Amor Brujo, Seven Spanish folk songs)
- Wednesday 8 October – 7.30 pm (Auditorium Rainier III). Recital – Matthias Goerne (baritone) & Maria João Pires (piano). Program: Schubert (Schwanengesang, 4 Impromptus D.935)
- Sunday 12 October – 6pm (Auditorium Rainier III). Conductor: Stanislav Kochanovsky / Piano: Simon Trpčeski. Programme: Shostakovich (October op.13, Symphony No. 12 The Year 1917) / Tchaikovsky (Piano Concerto No. 1)
- Tuesday 14 October – 7.30 pm (Auditorium Rainier III). Chamber music – Julie Nemer & OPMC soloists. Programme: Britten (Lacrimae, A ceremony of Carols), interlude for harp) / De Falla (Psyché, Seven Spanish folk songs) / Berio (Folksongs)
- Sunday 19 October – 6pm (Grimaldi Forum). Special Friends of the Orchestra concert – Conductor: Zubin Mehta. Programme: Stravinsky (The Rite of Spring) / Tchaikovsky (Symphony No. 4)
- Tuesday 28 October – 6.30 pm (Auditorium Rainier III). Musical Happy Hour. Programme: Boccherini (String quintet in C major) / Schubert (String quintet in C major)
- Tuesday 4 November – 6.30 pm (Auditorium Rainier III) Musical Happy Hour. Programme: Penderecki (Quartet for clarinet and string trio) / Suk (Meditation) / Dvořák (American String Quintet)
The full listing for the 2025-2026 season is on the opmc website.
Tickets and practical information
Ticket sales open on Tuesday 15 July at 10am, online at montecarloticket.com and at the Casino Atrium box office (Place du Casino de Monte-Carlo), open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5.30 pm. Please note that the ticket office will be closed from 8 August to 1 September inclusive for the summer period.
- Telephone : +377 92 00 13 70.
- Email: atrium@opmc.mc