Interlochen Students to Perform Alongside Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2026 Tour

Interlochen Arts Academy students walked onto the stage at Orchestra Hall in Detroit tonight alongside members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, performing a newly commissioned cello concerto by Wynton Marsalis as part of "Imagine Us: Interlochen Center for the Arts Celebrates America at 250," a nine-day, four-city tour marking the nation's 250th anniversary.

The 7:30 p.m. performance at the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward Avenue, brings together students from the 1,200-acre campus in Green Lake Township, about 10 miles southwest of Traverse City, and one of the country's most prominent professional orchestras. Conductor Cristian Măcelaru, who serves as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Interlochen's World Youth Symphony Orchestra and is an Interlochen alumnus himself, leads the program. Cellist Tommy Mesa performs as guest soloist for the Marsalis concerto at the Detroit stop, with Yo-Yo Ma serving in that role for the other three cities on the tour.

Măcelaru described the emotional weight of bringing the program to life. "We've been working on this for a couple of years now, and now that we are putting the final touches on things … I had tears in my eyes yesterday, hearing everything come together," he said. "It's so poignant to hear what a 16- or 17-year-old writer writes about their American experience: What do they see with their eyes, and what do they want to see from the America of tomorrow? It was really, really, poignant in the rehearsals, I have to say."

The program runs three works: the new Marsalis cello concerto commissioned by Interlochen, Reena Esmail's "RE|member," and a reimagined performance of Charles Ives' Symphony No. 4 that incorporates multidisciplinary elements by students from all seven of the Academy's artistic disciplines, including music, dance, theater and visual art. Măcelaru framed the evening as a continuous arc: "It's really an evening that is nonstop from beginning to end with a really beautiful three-part connection in the past, the present and the future."

Students are not seated in the background. Interlochen structured the collaboration so that their work, both onstage and behind the scenes, is built directly into how each concert unfolds. The project places Academy students in side-by-side positions with professional musicians, many of whom are Interlochen alumni.

The tour kicked off March 7 in Interlochen before moving to Detroit tonight. It continues to Philadelphia on March 13 and concludes in Boston on March 15. Yo-Yo Ma, who worked with Arts Academy students in preparation for the tour, will perform the Marsalis concerto as soloist at those remaining three stops.

Creative direction for the project is by Diana Wyenn. The tour arrives as Interlochen looks toward its centennial in 2028, having been founded on its Grand Traverse County campus in 1928 by Joseph E. Maddy. The school has previously sent students to perform at David Geffen Hall in New York City, the New World Center in Miami and National Sawdust in Brooklyn, among other major venues.