The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera launches its 2026–27 Season on Thursday, Sept. 24, with an Opening Night celebration spanning jazz, Broadway, classical masterworks and a reimagined work from a Chattanooga composer. The concert also marks the beginning of Moments, the second chapter of the CSO’s three-year artistic arc, Unspoken, which explores the stories, emotions and experiences that music can express beyond words. 

West Side Story & The American Groove, led by Music Director Ilya Ram, brings internationally acclaimed violinist Randall Goosby to Chattanooga for Johannes Brahms’s sweeping Violin Concerto.

The program also features Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown & Beige Suite, Leonard Bernstein’s electrifying Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and the reimagining of Pura Musica for a full scale orchestra by local composer Ben Van Winkle.

At the center of the evening is Mr. Goosby, one of the classical music world’s most compelling young artists. Known for the sensitivity and intensity of his playing, Mr. Goosby has built an international career while championing a vision of classical music that is more inclusive, accessible and reflective of a broader range of voices.

“For me, personally, music has been a way to inspire others,” Ms. Goosby has said of his work as an artist.

Signed exclusively to Decca Classics in 2020 at age 24, Goosby Mr. has quickly become a sought-after soloist on stages across the United States and abroad. His 2025–26 season included debuts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, KBS Symphony Orchestra and San Diego Symphony, alongside return engagements with the San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony and New Jersey Symphony. He also appears regularly in recitals throughout North America and Europe.

For his Chattanooga appearance, Mr. Goosby takes on one of the great works of the violin repertoire: Brahms’s Violin Concerto, Op. 77. Richly expressive and intensely virtuosic, the concerto places soloist and orchestra in constant conversation, moving from grandeur and lyricism to a fiery final movement.

Opening Night also introduces audiences to music created close to home with the orchestral premiere of Ben Van Winkle’s Pura Musica. The Chattanooga-based composer and cellist brings a local voice to a program centered on the remarkable range of musical expression found across the American concert stage.

That range is on full display throughout the evening.

Duke Ellington’s Black, Brown & Beige Suite brings the unmistakable sound and rhythmic vitality of one of America’s most influential composers into the concert hall. Originally conceived by Ellington as a musical depiction of the Black American experience, the work draws from jazz, blues and the sounds of the dance hall while expanding them on a symphonic scale.

The concert culminates in Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, an orchestral tour de force drawn from his landmark Broadway score. Propulsive dance rhythms, jazz influences, soaring melodies and moments of aching tenderness come together in music that has become an enduring part of the American musical landscape.

West Side Story & The American Groove is an opening night to remember for the CSO’s new season: an evening of bold contrasts, from rhythmic and high-energy to intimate and deeply expressive, while spotlighting musical voices both international and distinctly local.

Program:

Duke Ellington
Black, Brown & Beige Suite

Johannes Brahms
Violin Concerto, Op. 77
Randall Goosby, violin

Ben Van Winkle
Pura Musica - Orchestral premiere

Leonard Bernstein
Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

Performance Details

West Side Story & The American Groove
Thursday, Sept. 24, 7:30 p.m.
Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Auditorium
Ilya Ram, conductor
Randall Goosby, violin

Tickets are available at ChattSymphony.org or through the CSO Box Office at 423-267-8583.