Shostakovich at 120

2026 is Shostakovich’s 120th year. Most of his symphonies will be heard this season, scattered across three venues, two seasons and eight months. This page puts them in one place.

By 零九14 nightsShanghai Symphony Hall / Shanghai Grand Opera House / Suzhou Culture and Arts Centre

Every night

2026Sep11

Shanghai Symphony Hall · Concert Hall

Sep13

Shanghai Symphony Hall · Concert Hall

Oct23 24 25 26 27 28

Shanghai Grand Opera House · Soar Theatre

2027Apr24

Jinji Lake Concert Hall, SSCAC

Apr29

Shanghai Symphony Hall · Concert Hall

Apr30

Shanghai Symphony Hall · Chamber Hall

May2

Shanghai Symphony Hall · Concert Hall

Scattered is the actual shape of it. The Shanghai Symphony takes him for its two opening concerts and three more at the end of April; the Mariinsky does the complete cycle in October; Suzhou plays the Eleventh; Quatuor Danel brings the quartets to the chamber hall. No season page can list these seven together, because they were never one season.

Read in date order it is one composer’s line from nineteen to old age, broken up across a city’s calendar.

Night by night

SymphonicFri11Sep 2026
Opening Concert of SSO 2026-27 Season (I) — Long Yu and Kavakos In Commemoration of the 120th Anniversary of Shostakovich
Shanghai Symphony Hall · Concert Hall · 19:30Sold Out
The First Symphony is a graduation piece written at nineteen; the First Violin Concerto sat for seven years before anyone was allowed to play it. Opening a season with both puts the two ends of a life side by side.
— 零九
SymphonicSun13Sep 2026
Opening Concert of SSO 2026-27 Season (II) — Shostakovich: The Tenth
Shanghai Symphony Hall · Concert Hall · 19:30On Sale
The Tenth was written the year Stalin died, and its third movement shouts the composer’s own initials over and over. The two opening concerts are one day apart and work as one event.
— 零九
SymphonicFri23Oct 2026
Valery Gergiev & Mariinsky Orchestra: Shostakovich Symphonies Cycle
Shanghai Grand Opera House · Soar Theatre · 19:30 · 8 sittingsOn Sale
All fifteen, eight sittings, six days. The only chance this season to hear the whole shape, and the only stretch on this page that does not ask you to wait a month between concerts.
— 马勒迷
SymphonicSat24Apr 2027
Chen Xieyang Conducts Shostakovich
Jinji Lake Concert Hall, SSCAC · 19:30On Sale
Suzhou. The Hamlet suite and the Eleventh, "1905". It is here because an hour on the train is shorter than another year of waiting, and no Shanghai date holds the Eleventh this season.
— 零九
SymphonicThu29Apr 2027
Long Yu, musicAeterna Choir and SSO Perform Shostakovich's Symphony No. 2 & 3
Shanghai Symphony Hall · Concert Hall · 19:30On Sale
The Second and Third are almost never played. Both are choral, both are 1920s experiments, and both are the kind of music he stopped writing. An anniversary is the window.
— 零九
ChamberFri30Apr 2027
Quatuor Danel Plays Shostakovich
Shanghai Symphony Hall · Chamber Hall · 19:15
Quatuor Danel have recorded the complete quartets. The night before is the Second and Third symphonies; this is the next day. One weekend holds his most public voice and his most private one.
— 马勒迷
SymphonicSun2May 2027
Dust and Echoes — Long Yu, Goerne, musicAeterna Choir and SSO Perform Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13
Shanghai Symphony Hall · Concert Hall · 19:30On Sale
The Thirteenth, "Babi Yar", sung by Goerne. His most direct political statement, and the close of the run that starts at the end of April.
— 马勒迷

Every night

Night by night

Opening Concert of SSO 2026-27 Season (I) — Long Yu and Kavakos In Commemoration of the 120th Anniversary of Shostakovich

Opening Concert of SSO 2026-27 Season (II) — Shostakovich: The Tenth

Valery Gergiev & Mariinsky Orchestra: Shostakovich Symphonies Cycle

Chen Xieyang Conducts Shostakovich

Long Yu, musicAeterna Choir and SSO Perform Shostakovich's Symphony No. 2 & 3

Quatuor Danel Plays Shostakovich

Dust and Echoes — Long Yu, Goerne, musicAeterna Choir and SSO Perform Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13