The Signature Symphony at TCC will open its 2026–27 season, Just Vibin’, with New World, New Voices on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at the VanTrease Performing Arts Center for Education.

The concert brings together works by Valerie Coleman, Duke Ellington and Antonín Dvořák in a program reflecting a range of influences on American music.

Guest saxophonist Lance Bryant will join the Symphony for Ellington’s Three Black Kings, the composer’s final major work and a tribute to Balthazar, King Solomon and Martin Luther King Jr. The program also includes Coleman’s energetic Umoja Unbound, centered on themes of unity and connection.

“This concert has everything I love about live orchestral music — rhythm, color, incredible melodies, a phenomenal guest artist, a saxophone or two, and even a few surprises,” says Signature Symphony Artistic Director Scott Seaton. “Lance Bryant is absolutely electrifying in Ellington’s Three Black Kings, and then we finish with the sheer power and sweep of Dvořák’s New World Symphony. It’s joyful, soulful, and exhilarating — and exactly the kind of night I want to open a season with.”

The concert concludes with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World, composed during his time in the United States and influenced by the music and culture he encountered in America.