Julia Bullock Opens BMOP's 2026-27 Season at Jordan Hall on Nov. 6

Soprano Julia Bullock makes her Boston Modern Orchestra Project debut on Nov. 6, 2026, headlining the orchestra's season-opening concert at NEC's Jordan Hall in Boston. Gil Rose conducts the 7:30 p.m. program, which pairs American songbook repertoire with two contemporary works, including a world premiere.

Bullock, one of the most sought-after sopranos of her generation, anchors the first half. She'll perform Samuel Barber's "Knoxville: Summer of 1915," the composer's nostalgic setting of James Agee's prose poem, and two movements from Matthew Aucoin's "The No One's Rose." The Barber is a repertoire cornerstone; the Aucoin places her alongside one of America's most prominent living opera composers.

What's on the rest of the program?

The concert doesn't stop at Bullock. Two more works round out the evening:

• Anthony De Ritis' "Jiggedy, Jingle, Jaunty, Jaunty," receiving its world premiere. The piece pays homage to James Joyce and Luciano Berio through what the orchestra describes as a dialogue stretching across time.
• Charles Wuorinen's "Delight of the Muses," a homage to Mozart built on material from "Don Giovanni," which closes the night.

The shape of the program tells you what BMOP is about. Founded to champion orchestral music of the 20th and 21st centuries, the Boston-based ensemble under Gil Rose has built its identity on new music and overlooked modern scores — and this opener follows that pattern precisely: one canonical American work, two living or recent composers, and a fresh premiere.

What does this change for Boston audiences?

For listeners, the Nov. 6 concert offers a rare combination: a star soprano in an intimate hall, a first hearing of a new De Ritis piece, and the chance to hear Wuorinen's Mozart-inspired score live. For Bullock's following, it's a chance to catch her in concert repertoire rather than a full staged opera — a format where her interpretive detail tends to register most directly.

The evening begins at 7:30 p.m. local time at Jordan Hall, the New England Conservatory's landmark venue on Gainsborough Street. BMOP has also announced its full 2026-27 season, along with winter-spring highlights presented jointly with Odyssey Opera, Rose's opera company — so the Nov. 6 opener functions as the first public test of programming promises the ensemble has already laid out. Whether the premiere and the Bullock debut draw the house the orchestra expects will set the tone for the season that follows.