Before selected concerts in its 2025-26 season, Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra organizes a virtual conversation with LSO’s Maestro Edward Polochick and guest artists or composers, hosted by Nebraska Public Media’s Genevieve Randall. The pre-recorded chat for each concert is available to view online as well as via podcast the Monday before the concert, and for most events is also screened in person in the Steinhart Room at the Lied Center for the Performing Arts 45 minutes before the concert begins.

The chats are free to view online. The in-person screenings require the purchase of a ticket.

Links to each pre-concert chat will be included in each event’s page listed below. The entire series to date may be viewed on the LSO YouTube Channel.

PULSE & PANORAMA
Concert Date: Friday, September 19, 2025
Pre-Concert Chat Available: Monday, September 15, 2025
Guests: Genevieve Randall (host), Edward Polochick
Topics: Jesse Montgomery’s Coincident Dances, Bernstein’s West Side Story: Symphony Dances, Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, programing a themed concert (dances)

EMOTIONAL TAPESTRY
Concert Date: Sunday, October 19, 2025
Pre-Concert Chat Available: Monday, October 13, 2025
Guests: Genevieve Randall (host), Edward Polochick, pianist Michael McHale
Topics: Franz Shubert’s Symphony in B minor (Unfinished), Sarah Gibson’s warp & weft, and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, what an “unfinished” symphony means

EXPLORING THE EXPANSE
Concert Date: Friday, November 7, 2025
Pre-Concert Chat Available: Monday, November 3, 2025
Guests: Genevieve Randall (host), Edward Polochick, trombonist and LSO Principal Trombone Scott Anderson
Topics: Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres), David Ferdinand’s Concertino for Trombone in E-flat major, Holst’s The Planets, performing The Planets with multi-media images and videos of our solar system

EXPERINCE THE INTRGIUE
Concert Date: Friday, February 12, 2026
Pre-Concert Chat Available: Monday, February 9, 2026
Guests: Genevieve Randall (host), Edward Polochick, violist Rita Porfiris, composer Julia Adolphe
Topics: Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia, Julia Adolphe’s Unearth, Release: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, the story of Scheherazade

THE SPACE BETWEEN
Concert Date: Friday, March 6, 2026
Pre-Concert Chat Available: Monday, March 2, 2026
Guests: Genevieve Randall (host), Edward Polochick, LSO principal harpist Katie Wychulis, harpist Julie Smith Phillips
Topics: Zoltán Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, Marjan Mozetich’s “The Passion of Angels” (Concerto for 2 Harps & Orchestra), Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 (London), harp concerti and its performance practice

POWERFUL PERSEVERANCE
Concert Date: Friday, April 10, 2026
Pre-Concert Chat Available: Monday, April 6, 2026
Guests: Genevieve Randall (host), Edward Polochick, pianist Tony Siqi Yun
Topics: Kenji Bunch’s Supermaximum, Lincoln Youth Symphony side-by-side rehearsing and performing, Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Brahms’ Symphony No. 3

THE MUSIC OF HARRY POTTER
Concert Date: Friday, April 24, 2026
Pre-Concert Chat Available: Monday, April 20, 2026
Guests: Genevieve Randall (host), Edward Polochick, composer and professor of music for film, theater, games and other media Damon Thomas Lee, Young Artist Competition Winner
Topics: composing for film; the music of Harry Potter by John Williams and other composers; the similarities between film music and music for games and other media

INSPIRATION & COURAGE
Concert Date: Saturday, May 2, 2026
Pre-Concert Chat Available: Monday, April 27, 2026
Guests: Genevieve Randall (host), Edward Polochick, violinist and LSO Concertmaster Anton Miller, LSO Composer-in-Residence Elena Ruehr
Topics: LSO’s Composer-in-Residence program, Elena Ruehr’s new work for LSO, Elena Ruehr’s Violin Concerto written for Anton Miller and commissioned by LSO, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (Eroica)