Nittany Valley Symphony to Launch 2026-27 Season With ‘Dreams of the Forest’

The Nittany Valley Symphony will present its 2026–27 season opener, “Dreams of the Forest” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, at Bellefonte Area High School.

Tickets are $33.85 including fees for adults, and $7.18 including fees for students and youth. Tickets may be purchased by going to nvs.org/upcoming-events or by visiting the will call table on the day of the concert.

The concert begins with Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, drawing listeners into a languid, sun-drenched world before venturing into the darker forests of Sibelius’ rarely heard tone poem, The Wood Nymph.

Once nearly lost to history, The Wood Nymph disappeared from the concert stage after 1936 and was not heard again until its rediscovery 60 years later, in 1996. The NVS performance will be one of only a handful the work has received in the United States.

The afternoon culminates with Brahms’ Symphony No. 3, one of the great masterpieces of the Romantic repertoire. Throughout the symphony, joy mingles with loneliness, major turns unexpectedly to minor, and moments of tremendous intensity turn quietly inward.

“‘Dreams of the Forest’ invites audiences to lose themselves for an afternoon in three very different musical landscapes and experience the remarkable journey these pieces create,” NVS wrote in a news release.

The nonprofit Nittany Valley Symphony is supported by donors, sponsors and community partners who help make its performances, educational programs and community engagement initiatives possible.