The Lowell Chamber Orchestra (LCO) has unveiled its eighth season under the title "The Sound of Belonging," presenting a 2026–27 program built around the question of who belongs in concert culture — and whose music and stories are represented on stage. All concerts remain free to the public, a policy the orchestra has maintained since its founding in 2019 as a means of removing what it describes as one of the most significant barriers to professional orchestral music.

The season opens with scenes from Pasquale Tassone's opera Seven Rabbits on a Pole, based on John C. Picardi's drama with a libretto by Elizabeth Searle, tracing an Italian immigrant family's struggle with poverty, prejudice, assimilation and the search for home. A second program, "The Memory of Melodies," examines how composers borrow and transform music across generations and borders, featuring soloists Wei Zhao on flute, guitarist Apostolos Paraskevas, violinist Krista Buckland-Reisner and pianist Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta.

A concert titled Armenia, presented at Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Cambridge, focuses on music preserved across migration and diaspora, including Alan Hovhaness's Symphony No. 6 "Celestial Gate," with violinist Sargis Karapetyan as soloist. On February 4, the orchestra moves to the Berklee Performance Center for "Black Resilience and Jubilation," tracing Black musical creativity from Julia Perry and Bessie Smith through to Stevie Wonder and Kendrick Lamar across classical, spiritual, blues, gospel, jazz, R&B and contemporary popular forms.

A fifth program, "Blissful Insolence," pairs Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's Symposium and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 with a new commission by Ryan Suleiman and works selected through LCO's International Call for Scores. Violinist David Bernat, winner of LCO's 2026 International Young Artist Competition, appears as soloist. The season closes with "Pride: A Rainbow of Repertoire," celebrating LGBTQ+ composers and artists whose contributions shaped musical culture, often at times when their identities could not be openly acknowledged.

Founded in 2019, LCO operates alongside educational initiatives, community partnerships, an International Call for Scores and its International Young Artist Competition.

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