Ocala Symphony Orchestra Opens 51st Season with World Premiere by
GRAMMY-Winning Composer Michael Daugherty
“Pictures at an Exhibition: From Dalí to Mussorgsky” pairs Daugherty’s new Dalí-inspired work with masterworks by
Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky, October 24–25 at the Reilly Arts Center.
OCALA, Fla. (Oct. 20, 2026) – The Ocala Symphony Orchestra opens its 51st season this weekend with Pictures at an
Exhibition: From Dalí to Mussorgsky, a program built around a world premiere by multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning
composer Michael Daugherty. Music Director Matthew Wardell conducts performances on Saturday, October 24, and
Sunday, October 25, at the Reilly Arts Center.
The centerpiece is Daugherty’s The Hallucinogenic Toreador, commissioned by the Ocala Symphony Orchestra and
inspired by the art and life of Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dalí (1904–1989). The work takes its title from Dalí’s 1970
painting, considered his last great Surrealist canvas, which depicts death and resurrection in the Spanish bullring. That
painting is part of the collection at The Dalí Museum in nearby St. Petersburg, home to more than 2,400 of the artist’s
works.
The premiere continues a long relationship between Daugherty and the orchestra, which he has called “the hardest
working orchestra in Florida.
” The OSO previously gave the Florida premieres of several of his works, including Fifteen:
Symphonic Fantasy Inspired by the Art of Andy Warhol and Rio Grande for Orchestra.
Every work on the program was inspired by a great work of visual art. Sergei Rachmaninoff’s brooding tone poem Isle of
the Dead (1909) answers Arnold Böcklin’s haunting painting of a lone boat rowing toward a cypress-covered island, its
rocking 5/8 rhythm evoking the slow pull of the oars. Daugherty’s new work turns to Dalí’s surreal bullring. Modest
Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (1874), written in memory of his friend, the artist and architect Viktor Hartmann,
turns a stroll through a gallery of Hartmann’s drawings and watercolors into music, heard here in Maurice Ravel’s
celebrated 1922 orchestration.
The concert reflects the thematic programming that earned Wardell first prize in The American Prize’s 2024 Vytautas
Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming (professional division). His concerts regularly pair the
masterpieces of the canon with bold new works and overlooked gems.
“Opening night always feels like a homecoming, and this one is special,
” said Wardell.
“Eighteen seasons in, I’m still
amazed by these musicians. They pour their hearts into every rehearsal, and this program lets them shine, with
Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky side by side with a world premiere from Michael Daugherty, a GRAMMY-winning
American composer who has been a true friend to our orchestra. Ocala has embraced its orchestra in a way I never could
have imagined, and nearly 900 subscribers tell me this community loves this organization as much as we love playing for
- This weekend, our audiences will be the first people anywhere in the world to hear this new piece, and I can’t think of a
better group of people to share it with!”
The season opens on a wave of community support. The orchestra enters opening weekend with nearly 900 season
subscribers, the most in its history. Fundraising through the first quarter of the fiscal year is running more than 60% ahead
of the same point last year.The 2026–27 season is Wardell’s 18th as Music Director and Conductor of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra, and he also
serves as Managing Director of the entire organization. Beyond its own concerts, the orchestra built and manages the
Reilly Arts Center, operates the historic Marion Theatre in downtown Ocala, and runs the Community Music
Conservatory, a music school for students of all ages. That work is carried by a dedicated staff, board and volunteers who
make every concert, performance and class possible.
Concert Information
Pictures at an Exhibition: From Dalí to Mussorgsky
Ocala Symphony Orchestra · Matthew Wardell, conductor
Sponsored by a Friend of the Ocala Symphony, Alva House of Style, Empath Health Hospice of Marion County, Nick
Robinson – Colliers Global Commercial Real Estate Services, Roberts of Ocala Funerals and Cremations
Dates Saturday, October 24, 2026, 7:30 PM · Sunday, October 25, 2026, 3:00 PM
Venue Reilly Arts Center, 500 NE 9th Street, Ocala, FL 34470
Tickets Tickets from $15 · OcalaSymphony.com
