CSO Audio Program Notes: Recent Episodes
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association
Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the greatest orchestras in the world. In collaboration with the best conductors and guest artists on the international music scene, the CSO performs well over one hundred concerts each year at its downtown home, Symphony Center, and at the Ravinia Festival on Chicago’s North Shore, where it is in residency each summer. Music lovers outside Chicago enjoy the sounds of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra through best-selling recordings and frequent sold-out tour performances in the United States and around the globe.
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Verdi’s Requiem Mass, in its fervent quest for eternal rest, stands as a powerful demonstration of the composer’s ability to harness the human voice. Hailed by NPR as “simply magnificent” for their two-time Grammy Award-winning CSO Resound recording of this work, Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are joined by a thrilling quartet of international singers to once again deliver a masterful blend of passion and precision.Please note: This program replaces Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/muti-verdi-requiem
Esteban Batallán, the CSO’s principal trumpet since 2019, makes his much-anticipated debut as a soloist with the Orchestra in a pair of brilliant, high-flying concertos. Riccardo Muti frames the program with Joseph Haydn’s tempestuous Symphony No. 48 and Schubert’s Haydn-inspired Tragic Symphony.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/muti-and-esteban-batallan
2024 Ravinia Festival Opening Night: Celebration of Americana - Broadcast by CSO Association
In Randall Goosby, the pioneering American composer Florence Price “has her ideal champion,” writes The Guardian, “his playing full of old-school warmth and breadth but never schmaltzy.” Price’s beguiling violin concerto shares a program with Prokofiev’s enchanting Seventh Symphony, composed for a children’s radio broadcast. The suite from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg gathers stirring moments from Wagner’s opera. Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/elder-goosby-and-price
Dvořák’s radiant salute to the New World kicks off an American road trip with James Gaffigan at the wheel. Take in poignant selections from Gershwin’s landmark opera — sung by Janai Brugger — and the composer’s urbane and nostalgic love letter to Paris. Chicago native Florence Price sets two American poems to song, and a pair of symphonic showstoppers by Bernstein transports audiences to “New York, New York” and beyond.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/an-american-suite
The CSO brings the soaring emotional peaks and valleys of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony to Chicago audiences before performing it on Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw stage. The “hammer blows of fate” in the finale seem to foreshadow the tragedies in Mahler’s life, including his own fatal illness. But the symphony brims with life’s pleasures, too, from memories of mountain pastures (listen for the cowbells) to a rapturous portrait of the composer’s wife, Alma.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/mahler-6-with-jaap-van-zweden
CSO Artist-in-Residence Daniil Trifonov, “without question the most astounding pianist of our age” (The Times of London), takes on Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto, as remarkable for its rich orchestral writing as for its simultaneously glittering and muscular piano part. Dvořák’s turbulent Seventh Symphony is both an expression of the composer’s personal crises and a lyrical tribute to the Czech spirit.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/makela-and-trifonov
In his Third Symphony, Mahler portrays the whole of earthly existence. Its six movements — written for a massive orchestra, two choruses and a contralto soloist — explore humanity’s relationship with nature using fanfares, marches, folk dances and bird calls. Children’s voices portray angels while the sixth movement is a pantheistic love song to all of creation.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/makela-conducts-mahler-3
Dancers from Chicago’s world-renowned Joffrey Ballet join the CSO with newly commissioned choreographies. Symphonies by Haydn and the Chevalier de Saint-Georges abound in witty and joyful melodies while two 20th-century works are full of popular influences: Perkinson’s jazz-tinted Sinfonietta No. 1 and Milhaud’s rollicking Brazilian postcard, The Ox on the Roof.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/cso-and-the-joffrey-ballet
Earth, in all its marvelous vitality and fragility, has inspired generations of composers. In The Oceanides, Sibelius conjures the water nymphs of Greek mythology and the broad majesty of the sea. Dvořák’s The Wild Dove is based on a dark folktale about a dove’s prophetic song. Childhood memories shape Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, his sumptuous masterpiece.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/canellakis-and-rachmaninov
Journey up the Rhine River, as lovingly portrayed in Robert Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony. Listen for the flowing water and contemplate the majesty of the Cologne Cathedral. To begin, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider leads and performs the rich and alluring melodies of Bruch’s First Violin Concerto. Pierre Boulez’s iridescent Livre pour cordes marks the centenary of the composer’s birth.This program will also be performed at Wheaton College on Friday, March 28.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/bruch-and-schumann-rhenish
Shostakovich’s Eleventh Symphony unfolds with the immediacy of a newsreel as it depicts the harrowing events of the 1905 Russian Revolution. Brimming with rebellious anthems and prisoners’ songs, the Cold War-era score is widely heard as a veiled critique of the Soviet regime. Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto, a farewell to Russia, features the captivating Simon Trpčeski.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/hrusa-trpceski-and-rachmaninov
Composed as Napoleon’s forces were threatening Austria, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War features an extraordinarily ominous use of timpani and ends with a plea for peace. Beethoven’s spirited First Symphony bears the influence of Haydn but also foreshadows the development of his own compositional style. MacMillan’s eloquent Larghetto is based on his choral setting of Psalm 51.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/haydn-mass-in-time-of-war
Hear why Ravel is a classical music master, whether capturing the sensuous allure of Spain in Rapsodie espagnole or summoning “the Greece of [his] dreams” in his ravishing suite from Daphnis and Chloe. Barber’s Second Essay reflects the turbulent emotions of wartime. CSO Principal Clarinet Stephen Williamson solos in the world premiere of Indigo Heaven, a work written for him by American composer Christopher Theofanidis.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/ravel-daphnis-and-chloe
The cool of the Arctic meets the warmth of Italy. The brooding, majestic themes of Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony evoke the remote landscapes of conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s native Finland. Tchaikovsky transports listeners to a Roman carnival in his Capriccio Italien. Seong-Jin Cho, lauded for his “expert music-making … miraculous in its execution” (The New York Times), takes on Prokofiev’s incendiary Second Piano Concerto.This program will also be performed at Wheaton College on Friday, February 28.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/seong-jin-cho-plays-prokofiev/
Mixing ceremonial pomp with pastoral splendor, this survey of British classics features Haydn’s last and grandest symphonic statement, the London Symphony; exquisite gems by Elgar and Britten, and the soaring beauty of Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending with violinist Stella Chen, winner of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition and Gramophone’s 2023 Young Artist of the Year. Marking the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth, the program crosses the English Channel for the composer’s beguiling Tzigane.CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen has withdrawn from his planned solo appearances in these performances due to rotator cuff tendinitis symptoms.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/glover-and-english-classics
The rugged, windswept beauty of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto is a perfect showcase for Christian Tetzlaff, whose “fiery and compelling” 2022 CSO performance was named one of the year’s 10 best by Chicago Classical Review. Schoenberg’s Pelleas and Melisande is a lush, quintessentially romantic orchestral portrait of Maeterlinck’s mysterious, symbolist play, while Wagner’s prelude delivers a thrilling opener.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/tetzlaff-plays-sibelius
A taut and gripping thriller, Bartók’s one-act opera follows Duke Bluebeard and his newest wife Judith as she opens the seven doors of his castle and discovers increasingly disturbing sights. Opera stars Christian Van Horn and Ekaterina Gubanova bring to life these ill-fated characters. Juxtaposed with this macabre folktale is Beethoven’s joyful Second Symphony.Sung in Hungarian with English supertitles.Bluebeard’s Castle by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, publisher and copyright owner.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/salonen-and-bluebeards-castle
Revel in the sonic splendor of the CSO with two of its signature works: Strauss’ brash symphonic portrait of the infamous libertine Don Juan and Bartók’s exhilarating Concerto for Orchestra, a virtuosic tour de force for every instrument. The organ in Salonen’s “boldly cinematic” (Los Angeles Times) Sinfonia concertante adds another thrilling aural dimension.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/bartok-concerto-for-orchestra
Brimming with wry wit and affectionate warmth, Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto was a gift for his teenage son. Here, it’s a showcase for the brilliant Lahav Shani, who conducts from the keyboard. Beethoven’s powerful Egmont Overture captures the brave struggle for freedom and justice, while Brahms’ stormy and heroic First Symphony is the culmination of years of labor by the composer.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/shani-shostakovich-and-brahms
Embark on a seafaring journey as Tchaikovsky summons Shakespeare’s magical island and storm-tossed seas in The Tempest. Korngold evokes the swashbuckling sailors of the 1940 Hollywood epic The Sea Hawk, and Britten portrays the coastal village of his opera Peter Grimes. The voyage concludes as Konstantin Krimmel presents Mahler’s song cycle about a traveling journeyman.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/the-tempest-and-the-sea-hawk
Rachmaninov’s majestic First Symphony churns with youthful romantic fervor and ethereal mystery — perfect for a December outing. Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, inspired by Norway’s national folk hero, includes the instantly familiar dream-like fantasy of “The Hall of the Mountain King.” Johannes Moser brings his “remarkably visceral and vivid playing” (Gramophone) to Lutosławski’s wild and enchanting Cello Concerto.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/grieg-and-rachmaninov
Experiencing a Bruckner symphony is often compared to walking around inside a massive gothic cathedral. Step inside this sacred space and experience its awed silences, reverent melodies and towering brass chorales. Francesco Piemontesi, “a performer in total, joyful command of his material” (The Guardian), brings power and panache to Liszt’s formidable Second Piano Concerto.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/liszt-and-bruckner-3/
Be transported to the landscapes of southern Spain with vivacious, dance-inspired works by Falla and Chabrier. The journey begins in Riccardo Muti’s native Italy with a boisterous overture by Donizetti and sumptuous ballet music by Verdi. Golijov’s Megalopolis Suite features music from his score to the 2024 release of Francis Ford Coppola’s epic film, in which the fate of Ancient Rome haunts a modern world.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/muti-and-the-cso
Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti returns with Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, a work that shattered the symphonic conventions of its day, with themes of heroism, struggle and triumph. Beethoven’s majestic Emperor Concerto features Mitsuko Uchida, who brings “the unaffected wisdom and clarity that comes with decades of interpretive rigor and commitment” (The New York Times).Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/muti-uchida-emperor-and-eroica
Join Nicholas Kraemer and four preeminent singers for a selection of Handel’s brilliant and soul-stirring vocal numbers, which explore the full spectrum of human emotions — from utmost sorrow to joy and sensuality. Plus, enjoy music fit for a king with Handel’s Water Music, composed for the royal court of George I, and Mozart’s grand Coronation Mass.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/mozart-coronation-mass
With his Fifth Symphony, Shostakovich outwitted Soviet authorities with the finesse of a double agent. Threatened by Stalin’s regime, the composer skillfully appeased Soviet officials with this gripping work packed with triumphant Russian themes, but also subversive satire and daring irony. Chief conductor of the Ravinia Festival Marin Alsop also leads the CSO in a captivating work about Harriet Tubman and a beloved Chopin concerto featuring pianist Lukáš Vondráček.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/alsop-and-vondracek
Lose yourself in the idyllic landscapes of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. Inspired by the composer’s country hikes, the piece summons rippling streams, a raging thunderstorm and plenty of warmth. Mozart’s double piano concerto showcases the deft teamwork of Dutch brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen, who make two pianos “sound for all the world like a single instrument” (Gramophone).Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/eschenbach-jussen
Starting with a ferocious fanfare representing fate, Tchaikovsky pours his soul into his Fourth Symphony, a fearless musical autobiography packed with surging melodies and dazzling colors. Antoine Tamestit brings his “gorgeous smoky sound” (The Guardian) to Walton’s Viola Concerto, a work of wistful beauty and quicksilver energy.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/tchaikovsky-4
Forbidden love is in the air as Andrés Orozco-Estrada takes listeners from the streets of Bernstein’s New York to Tchaikovsky’s fantasy on Shakespearean Verona. The Argentine Pampas region is the setting of Ginastera’s vibrant ballet about a city boy who wins the heart of a rancher’s daughter.Barber’s lush and virtuosic Violin Concerto features Benjamin Beilman, whose “rich sound conveys both dreamy lyricism and heated intensity” (The New York Times).Please note: Hilary Hahn must regrettably withdraw from her planned September 19 and 20 performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Earlier this summer, Hahn suffered from a double pinched nerve; as part of her treatment, her medical team advised her to abstain from performing. While Hahn is expected to recover in time for the majority of her fall engagements and is improving steadily, she is not yet cleared to perform.Original ticket orders for this concert remain valid; no additional action is needed. For order adjustments, please contact Patron Services.Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/orozco-estrada-conducts-romeo-juliet
Lahav Shani conducts Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique, a symphony that the composer premiered less than a week before his death and was later nicknamed for the passion and suffering it expresses. Daniil Trifonov takes the spotlight in a piano concerto composed for him by former CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Mason Bates, which “shows off the pianist’s virtuosity first and foremost, but also captures a listener’s attention with jazzy rhythms, ear-catching tunes … and a number of big climaxes” (Seen and Heard International).Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/tchaikovsky-pathetique-and-trifonov
Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell presents The Elements, a suite of five works for violin and orchestra, commissioned by Bell and written by leading American composers Kevin Puts (Earth), Edgar Meyer (Water), Jake Heggie (Fire), Jennifer Higdon (Air), and CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery (Space). Conductor Juraj Valčuha frames the program with Weber’s Oberon Overture and Shostakovich’s jaunty, mischievous First Symphony.The June 15 performance of The Elements with Joshua Bell is a part of the 2023/24 Season of CSO MusicNOW.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/the-elements-with-joshua-bell
Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet brings his customary joie de vivre to Saint-Saëns’ Egyptian Concerto, inspired by a trip down the Nile in 1896. Conductor Stéphane Denève unpacks the French fascination with Spanish culture in Debussy’s sultry Ibéria and Ravel’s ever-popular Boléro, with its sensuously hypnotic theme building to a volcanic climax.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/ravel-bolero
Conductor Manfred Honeck leads the CSO in two captivating works. Principal Percussion Cynthia Yeh takes the spotlight in the premiere of a new concerto by Jessie Montgomery, the CSO’s Mead Composer-in-Residence. Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony awes with its breadth, drama and rapturous intensity. This enthralling score includes a radiant tribute to Bruckner’s idol, Richard Wagner, and a boisterous Austrian country dance.The June 1 performance of Montgomery & Bruckner 7 is a part of the 2023/24 Season of CSO MusicNOW.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/montgomery-and-bruckner-7
In his Second Symphony, Mahler constructs a universe all his own, exploring themes of death and afterlife using a massive orchestra, offstage brass and percussion, chorus and vocal soloists. Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi — whose music-making is “as dynamic and exhilarating as ever” (Chicago Classical Review) — guides the CSO from the great, tragic opening march, through pastoral dances and gentle songs to a final tableau of trumpet calls, percussive thunderbolts and the hymn of resurrection.Conductor Neeme Järvi replaces Esa-Pekka Salonen, who has withdrawn from these performances for personal reasons.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/mahler-resurrection
Martin Helmchen, “who brings both freshness and expressive depth to everything he plays” (Chicago Classical Review), takes on Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto, a work of youthful bravura and pensive elegance. To open the program, Kazuki Yamada conducts Takemitsu’s shimmering How slow the Wind and Franck’s D Minor Symphony, featuring a mix of soaring lyricism and brooding intensity.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/helmchen-plays-beethoven
The versatile Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider leads the CSO as soloist in Mozart’s richly melodic Violin Concerto No. 2 and Kreisler’s wistful Liebesleid. Trading violin bow for baton, Szeps-Znaider conducts Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, a neoclassical gem that shines a spotlight on the orchestra’s principal players, and Mozart’s Prague Symphony, a work of grand gestures and profound, melodious depth.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/mozart-and-stravinsky
Elim Chan leads Rimsky-Korsakov’s sumptuous symphonic suite Sheherazade, inspired by the legendary heroine and tales of One Thousand and One Nights. Paul Jacobs, “a virtuoso of dazzling technical acumen” (The New York Times), performs Barber’s Toccata festiva, an exuberant showcase for organ containing echoes of J.S. Bach.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/sheherazade
Two mighty orchestras present a rousing, jazz-meets-classical event. Discover selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, alternating between the original orchestral version performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and imaginative new jazz arrangements presented by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Both ensembles join forces for a selection from Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony, which The Telegraph calls “a journey through jazz history and the sounds of America itself.”Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/cso-x-jazz-at-lincoln-center-orchestra
Tugan Sokhiev conducts Tchaikovsky’s youthful First Symphony, nicknamed Winter Dreams for its cozy evocation of Russian winters. Chopin’s exuberant Piano Concerto No. 1 features Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva, described by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as “a one-woman powerhouse” who “stole the show.” Andrzej Panufnik’s Heroic Overture, composed in 1952, is a tribute to the courageous spirit of the Polish people.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/chopin-and-tchaikovsky
The 19th century’s most enduring oratorio, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, sung here in English, depicts the story of the biblical prophet Elijah, complete with his ascent to heaven on a flaming chariot. James Conlon leads the assembled forces, including Chicago favorite Lucas Meachem in the mighty title role and the Chicago Symphony Chorus performing the work’s pensive and ecstatic ensembles.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/mendelssohn-elijah
Sol Gabetta, whose “enthusiastic music-making and animated style are completely infectious” (Classical Voice), makes her CSO debut in Shostakovich’s captivating Cello Concerto No. 1 — a riveting journey through themes of defiance, sorrow and triumph. Electrifying conductor Klaus Mäkelä frames the program with Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony, a searing portrait of the composer’s tormented life in Stalinist Russia, and the U.S. premiere of Sauli Zinovjev’s vibrant Batteria.Please note: Pianist Yuja Wang, who was scheduled to perform Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on this program, has withdrawn from these concerts.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/klaus-makela-and-sol-gabetta
Be transported to Zimmermann’s Coffee House, the Leipzig café where J.S. Bach introduced many of his instrumental works. CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen leads the dazzling Third Brandenburg Concerto, kaleidoscopic Violin Concerto in E Major and buoyant and graceful Orchestral Suite No. 1. Chen also teams up with Principal Oboe William Welter in Bach’s exquisite Concerto for Oboe and Violin.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/music-of-bach
Susanna Mälkki conducts a thought-provoking program anchored by Gustav Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. This celestial score, which includes a cryptic dance of death, is announced with sleigh bells and a rustic melody that ends with a child’s view of heaven, delivered here by soprano Ying Fang. Principal Flute Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson is the soloist in a newly commissioned concerto written for him by the esteemed Lowell Liebermann.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/mahler-4
Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra — with its iconic opening popularized in 2001: A Space Odyssey — sets the tone for a program of dazzling, otherworldly pieces. Bartók’s pantomime ballet, The Miraculous Mandarin, is a lurid, supernatural tale rendered in arresting colors. Czech violinist Josef Špaček takes on Martinů’s tuneful and vivacious Violin Concerto No. 1.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/also-sprach-zarathustra
Experience the “brilliant and incisive” (Chicago Tribune) Gil Shaham in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, ever popular for its mix of vigor and finesse. Richard Strauss’ tone poem explores the ultimate mystery of death and what might lie beyond. Lutosławski’s 1954 Concerto for Orchestra is a symphonic showpiece that draws on Polish folk songs and Baroque forms.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/gil-shaham-plays-mendelssohn
Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is treasured by generations of music fans for its whirling dance rhythms and majestic Allegretto movement. It finds an admirable interpreter in Czech conductor Petr Popelka, who “lets the music glow without overshadowing details” (Der Standard). Composed in his youth, Schubert's exuberant Sixth Symphony draws inspiration from Beethoven.Conductor Herbert Blomstedt has withdrawn from these concerts due to health reasons.Please note: the originally scheduled performance for March 5 has been canceled due to scheduling conflicts. Ticket holders for March 5 may exchange into the March 1 or 2 concert dates, or another CSO concert this season.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/schubert-and-beethoven
With his Ninth Symphony, Shostakovich delivered a tragicomic work with nods to Haydn and circus tunes. Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov makes his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s thrilling First Piano Concerto. Mussorgsky’s radiant Khovanshchina prelude and Saariaho’s ethereal Winter Sky round out the program.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/tchaikovsky-and-shostakovich
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, hailed by The New Yorker as “a cellist of blazing sensitivity,” makes his CSO debut in Elgar’s rhapsodic Cello Concerto. Paavo Järvi conducts Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony, a visceral, dramatic work exploring humanity’s potential for conflict, born in the aftermath of World War I. Beethoven’s jubilant hymn to liberty opens the program.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/sheku-kanneh-mason-plays-elgar
Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto is a landmark of his dark and restless middle period, here featuring Seong-Jin Cho, whose 2018 Chicago debut offered “about as thrilling a display of sheer powerhouse keyboard bravura as one is ever likely to encounter” (Chicago Classical Review). Gemma New conducts the program, which closes with Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, evoking highland mists, warring clans and long-lost folk dances.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/seong-jin-cho-plays-beethoven
Experience the power of nearly 100 voices in magnificent harmony. From “The Trumpet Shall Sound” to the rousing “Hallelujah” Chorus, Handel’s Messiah is packed with regal choral passages, exultant arias and glittering instrumental fireworks. The award-winning Chicago Symphony Chorus and four world-class soloists join Sir Andrew Davis in this must-see holiday favorite.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/sir-andrew-conducts-handel-messiah
When Renaud Capuçon and Semyon Bychkov last appeared together with the CSO, sparks flew. The French violinist “made you aware of a searching musical intellect supported by a superb technical arsenal” (Chicago Tribune). The parties reunite in Saint-Saëns’ brilliant Third Violin Concerto. Framing the program are Dvořák’s boisterous portrait of a street carnival and Brahms’ noble and heart-rending Fourth Symphony.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/bychkov-conducts-brahms
CSO Artist-in-Residence Hilary Hahn illuminates Brahms’ Violin Concerto, with its ardent beauty and fiery finale. Mikko Franck conducts Wagner’s ecstatic Prelude to Tristan und Isolde before concluding with Sibelius’ Seventh Symphony, an awesome, “time-bending journey” (The Guardian), and the Finnish composer’s crowning symphonic achievement.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/hilary-hahn-plays-brahms
Michael Tilson Thomas lends his fresh insights to a compelling Austro-Germanic program. It includes Mozart’s whirling Six German Dances as well as his expressive and intimate Piano Concerto No. 23, which features Orion Weiss, acclaimed for his “limpid touch, clean runs and purling legato phrasing” (Chicago Tribune). Schoenberg’s lavishly imaginative orchestration of Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 completes the program.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/mtt-conducts-mozart
A panorama of ancient pagan rituals, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring put modernism squarely on the map. Experience the swaggering and suspenseful ballet score that drove Parisian audiences to riot at its 1913 premiere. Leonidas Kavakos brings an “intense, silken, mercurial” sound (The Guardian) to his rendition of Szymanowski’s folk-inspired Second Violin Concerto. Mussorgsky’s fiery depiction of a witches’ sabbath opens the program.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/the-rite-of-spring-and-kavakos
Rachmaninov’s poignant Third Symphony evokes the Russia he left behind. Violinist Karen Gomyo, hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “a first-rate artist of real musical command, vitality and brilliance,” joins the CSO for Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 1. From its exciting first movement to its thrilling finale, this is one of Glass’ most powerful and captivating concertos. Complementing these works is Sibelius’ atmospheric Pohjola’s Daughter.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/glass-rachmaninov
Daniel Harding leads Holst’s The Planets, the interstellar orchestral suite that has inspired generations of sci-fi film composers. Experience the ferocity of “Mars,” the golden song of “Jupiter,” the eerie calm of “Saturn” and the haunting off-stage vocals of the ethereal “Neptune.” The full Chicago Symphony Chorus delights in Brahms’ radiant Schicksalslied (“Song of Destiny”).Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/the-planets
Mahler’s First Symphony unfolds with the elemental sounds of nature, foot-stomping folk dances and a stormy but ultimately heroic finale. Conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider opens with the symphony's original second movement, Blumine, notable for its gentle trumpet serenade. Distinguished cellist Jian Wang takes center stage for Bloch’s stirring “Hebraic Rhapsody.”Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/mahler-1
An exuberant melding of jazz, blues and classical styles, Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F is an ideal vehicle for Illinois native Conrad Tao, “a personality-plus pianist with a fearless technique” (Chicago Classical Review). Bernstein’s beloved West Side Story dances include themes from the songs “Somewhere” and “Maria.” Barber’s soulful overture and Revueltas’ joyfully raucous Sensemayá frame the program.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/gershwin-and-bernstein-west-side-story
From its commanding four-note opening to its blazing finish, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony remains the unrivaled expression of struggle and triumph in orchestral music. German baritone Christian Gerhaher, “the foremost art song singer of our time” (The New York Times), performs selections from Mahler’s The Youth’s Magic Horn. Inspired by Hindustani classical music, Nina Shekhar’s shimmering Lumina explores the contrast of light and dark.Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/jaap-van-zweden-conducts-beethoven-5
Join Riccardo Muti and the CSO for a sensuous journey to Italy. Richard Strauss’ Aus Italien whisks the listener through the sun-soaked countryside, past Roman ruins and on to sites in Sorrento and Naples. Mendelssohn’s sparkling Italian Symphony gathers impressions of Mediterranean warmth and traditional dances. A world premiere by the venerable American composer Philip Glass opens the program.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/muti-glass-and-mendelssohn-italian
Riccardo Muti and the CSO open the 2023/24 Season with two pieces capturing the fairy-tale splendor of Russian music. Stravinsky’s suite from The Firebird uses a dynamic orchestral palette to depict infernal dances and a haunting lullaby. Liadov’s The Enchanted Lake is a softly iridescent portrait of a moonlit night. Composed at an Austrian lakeside resort, Brahms’ Second Symphony captivates with its warm, sunny melodies.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/muti-conducts-the-firebird
Few mass settings pose more questions of listeners than Beethoven’s Missa solemnis. A fervent meditation on faith and doubt, the piece spans moments of ecstasy and angst, soaring beauty and near-operatic theatricality. Riccardo Muti leads this rarely performed score with a thrilling quartet of international singers and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-conducts-beethoven-missa-solemnis
Schubert's magnificent final symphony and J. Strauss Jr.'s Overture to Indigo and the Forty Thieves bookend this program with distinctive Viennese touches. CSO Principal Tuba Gene Pokorny takes the spotlight in a concerto written for him by Lalo Schifrin (best known for his Mission: Impossible theme), which incorporates Baroque and jazz influences.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-pokorny-and-schubert-9
Mahler “peacefully bids farewell to the world” is how the composer’s protégé Bruno Walter described the finale to his Ninth Symphony. This valedictory score contains the many hallmarks of Mahler’s symphonies — their grand scale, profound emotions and folk dance themes — capped by an ethereal finale that achieves a sense of transcendent rapture.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/hrusa-conducts-mahler-9
David Afkham conducts landmarks of early 20th-century French music, including Debussy’s La mer, a shimmering depiction of the sea and its many moods, and Ravel’s La valse, in which a misty waltz morphs into a delirious portrait of a vanished age. Turning to Russia, Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman takes on Shostakovich’s alternately biting and poignant First Violin Concerto.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/debussy-la-mer-and-ravel-la-valse
Riccardo Muti conducts two of Respighi’s vibrant orchestral tapestries: his sumptuous homage to Rome’s iconic neighborhoods and pine groves and his masterful evocation of Renaissance lute music. The program includes the vivid First Concerto for Timpani by American composer William Kraft, featuring CSO Principal Timpani David Herbert.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-herbert-and-pines-of-rome
In his Gran Partita for 13 instruments, Mozart achieves a sublime combination of grandeur, complexity and sunny charm. CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen presents the composer’s stately and rustic Violin Concerto No. 4, a product of his Salzburg years. Riccardo Muti opens the concert with Cimarosa’s overture, which echoes Mozart’s comic vein and abounds in freshness and invention.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-chen-and-mozart-gran-partita
Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony marked a personal comeback after a debilitating crisis of confidence. In the spring of 2023, a century and a half after the composer’s birth, Riccardo Muti conducts this sumptuous score, along with the world premiere of Transfigure to Grace by Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery, who writes with “a Technicolor brilliance and harmonic plushness perfect for the CSO’s own heart-on-its-sleeve proclivities” (Chicago Tribune).Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-montgomery-and-rachmaninov-2
Experience the uplifting power of Antonio Vivaldi’s joyous Gloria, with its gleaming vocal fireworks and richly embroidered orchestral passages. Early-music specialist Giovanni Antonini conducts this and other Vivaldi treasures, including the Magnificat, in all its variety and invention; the luminous nobility of La Senna festeggiante, and the poignant Kyrie.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/vivaldi-gloria/
Vladimir Jurowski marks his return to Symphony Center with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8. In this immense wartime symphony, Shostakovich searches for hope and renewal beyond the anguish of violence and honors the ordinary people who contributed — and suffered — away from the frontlines. Celebrated pianist Martin Helmchen brings his “powerful yet refined approach” (The New York Times) to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25. This late Mozart masterwork navigates a fascinating series of twists and turns — from its expansive first movement and tranquil second to its triumphant finale.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/jurowski-helmchen-shostakovich-8
“Peerless today as a Rachmaninov interpreter” (The Guardian) and in possession of “monstrous technique and lustrous tone” (The New Yorker), pianist Daniil Trifonov performs Rachmaninov’s electrifying Third Piano Concerto. Russian folklore animates Stravinsky's magical world of Petrushka and Liadov’s dark and fantastical Kikimora.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/trifonov-plays-rachmaninov-piano-concerto-no-3
CSO Artist-in-Residence Hilary Hahn returns for Sarasate’s brilliant and sultry arrangement of Bizet’s Carmen and two beguiling serenades by the late Finnish master Einojuhani Rautavaara. Returning conductor Thomas Adès frames the program with Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier Suite — a loving and graceful tribute to the Viennese waltz — and the profoundly stirring and vivid Night Ride and Sunrise by Sibelius.Please note: Conductor Thomas Adès will step in for Mikko Franck, who had to withdraw due to a knee injury, and lead the Orchestra in this program.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/hilary-hahn-carmen-fantasy
Come along for an engrossing program of musical storytelling as Thomas Adès conducts Liszt’s swirling treatment of the Faust legend, Janáček’s depiction of a 17th-century Cossack warrior and Sibelius’ incidental music to Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Kirill Gerstein presents Adès’ own Piano Concerto, “an affectionate, joyous, remarkably uncomplicated tribute to tradition” (The New York Times).Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/ades-conducts-ades-with-gerstein
In his 2019 CSO debut, Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas thrilled with “the profundities of his art,” along with “the sheen of his tone and the nobility of his rhythms,” wrote the Chicago Tribune. Sáinz-Villegas joins the ensemble in two pieces with bright Mediterranean character. Bernard Labadie, making a welcome return to the CSO, conducts the program, which also features dark-hued symphonies by Mozart and Boccherini.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/boccherini-vivaldi-and-mozart-40
Thomas Wilkins conducts three works featuring unique musical visions of America, capped with Dvořák’s majestic New World Symphony, which draws on African American and Native American source materials. Coleridge-Taylor’s ballet suite captures the spirit of Longfellow’s epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. CSO Principal Clarinet Stephen Williamson performs Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, premiered by Benny Goodman, which features a rollicking blend of jazz and classical sounds.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/coleridge-taylor-copland-and-dvorak-9
Carl Orff’s choral celebration of love, lust and youthful excess in medieval times is as iconic as ever — at once gloriously bawdy and touchingly beautiful. Rautavaara’s ethereal “concerto for birds and orchestra” features bird calls recorded in arctic Finland. Banner, by CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery, is a vibrant rhapsody on The Star-Spangled Banner.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/carmina-burana
Eminent Swedish American conductor Herbert Blomstedt leads two Dvořák landmarks — the restless, bucolic Eighth Symphony and the impassioned Cello Concerto — each imbued with the composer’s hallmark warmth and Bohemian charm. Joining the CSO is the young Romanian Andrei Ioniţă, “one of the most exciting cellists to have emerged for a decade” (The Times of London).Explore the music in the free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets are needed.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/blomstedt-conducts-dvorak-8
Tchaikovsky’s turbulent Manfred Symphony takes its inspiration from Lord Byron’s dramatic poem about a world-weary traveler who wanders the Alps and is bewitched by supernatural forces. German violinist Julia Fischer, acclaimed for her “pure and fine-spun tone” (Chicago Tribune), joins Riccardo Muti and the CSO for Schumann’s poetic and autumnal Violin Concerto.Explore the music in the free preconcert conversation featuring Daniel Schlosberg in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets are needed.Classic EncounterThursday, February 23: Preconcert lecture hosted by Chicago’s favorite radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmert, with co-host John Yeh, CSO assistant principal clarinet and E-flat clarinet.You will have the opportunity to add Classic Encounter to your order after selecting your seats for the concert.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-fischer-and-tchaikovsky-manfred
In his Fifth Symphony, Mahler embraces all aspects of life. After a tumultuous funeral march, the work’s five movements include folk-inspired dances, a tender love song and a boisterous finale. Noted for his "great affinity with Mahler" (Le Monde), Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä pairs the composer’s Fifth Symphony with the U.S. premiere of Aino by Peruvian American composer Jimmy López Bellido.Explore the music in the free preconcert conversation featuring Steve Rings in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets are needed.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/makela-conducts-lopez-and-mahler-5
In a program celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninov’s birth, Lahav Shani conducts the composer’s Symphonic Dances, which marries diabolical, jazzy melodies with plush, old-world grandeur. Italian pianist Beatrice Rana is soloist in Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody, a set of 24 variations that crackle with wit and furious energy. Prokofiev’s delightful Classical Symphony opens the program.Explore the music in the free preconcert conversation featuring Kyle Dzapo in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets are needed.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/shani-conducts-rachmaninov-symphonic-dances
Conductor Marin Alsop leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in three pivotal works by 21st-century women composers. This Midnight Hour, a single-movement orchestral composition by former Mead Composer-in-Residence Anna Clyne, evokes a visual journey for the listener. Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds, commissioned for and performed by pianist Awadagin Pratt, is inspired by the constancy, rhythms and duality of life that impact all living things. Closing the program is Her Story, a CSO co-commission by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe that captures the passion and perseverance of women who have led the fight for representation and gender equality. A 40-minute theatrical experience for orchestra and women’s vocal ensemble, the piece is the latest in a series of compositions by Wolfe that highlights monumental and turbulent moments in American history.Explore the music in the free preconcert conversation featuring Max Raimi in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets are needed.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/alsop-conducts-wolfe-her-story
Iconoclastic organist Cameron Carpenter, “one of the rare musicians who changes the game of his instrument” (Los Angeles Times), takes on Poulenc’s sparkling, Baroque-infused concerto, followed by the elegance and floor-shaking grandeur of Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony.Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.Classic EncounterDecember 15: Preconcert lecture hosted by Chicago’s favorite radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmert, with co-host Miles Maner, CSO bassoon and contrabassoon.You will have the opportunity to add Classic Encounter to your order after selecting your seats for the concert.Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/the-sorcerers-apprentice-and-saint-saens-organ-symphony
Dalia Stasevska leads the CSO in Bartók’s glittering late masterpiece — which shows off every section of the orchestra — and the scampering, playful sounds of Tarrodi’s Birds of Paradise II. CSO Artist-in-Residence Hilary Hahn joins the Orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s thrilling and tender Violin Concerto.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/hilary-hahn-tchaikovsky-and-bartok
Sibelius’ intense love of nature is mirrored in his Second Symphony, which inhabits a world of rugged, windswept beauty. In his kaleidoscopic choral masterpiece, Stravinsky creates an otherworldly aura. Beethoven’s ebullient concerto features pianist Francesco Piemontesi in his CSO debut. “Piemontesi made a wonderful impression… [He] drew out the reflective undercurrents even while playing with grace and élan” (The New York Times).
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Max Raimi in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/stravinsky-beethoven-and-sibelius-2
A journey from brooding despair to rousing triumph, Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony rescued him from the grips of official Soviet disfavor. But to many listeners, it’s a more subversive critique of life under Stalin. This program, led by Manfred Honeck, also showcases the U.S. premiere of Lera Auerbach’s Diary of a Madman, composed for and performed by Gautier Capuçon.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Laura Sauer-Shah in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/honeck-capucon-and-shostakovich-5
Dancers from Chicago’s world-renowned Joffrey Ballet invigorate the Symphony Center stage with two newly commissioned choreographies set to Siegfried Idyll, Wagner’s glowing birthday gift to his wife, and Rameau’s vivid ballet, composed for a royal wedding at the Palace of Versailles. Ravel evokes Baroque dance in Le tombeau de Couperin, with each movement becoming a touching tribute to friends who died in World War I. The program opens with the beguiling elegance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 34.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Stephen Alltop in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/cso-and-the-joffrey-ballet
As Great Britain endured the Blitz in 1943, the 71-year-old Vaughan Williams produced his Fifth Symphony. To celebrate 150 years since the composer's birth, Edward Gardner conducts this work of warmth and gentle contemplation. Christian Tetzlaff, “a meticulous and refined virtuoso” (The New York Times), presents Bartók’s rhapsodic Second Violin Concerto. Wagner’s serene and somber prelude to Act 3 of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg opens the program.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Steve Rings in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Classic Encounter
Thursday, November 3: Preconcert lecture hosted by Chicago’s favorite radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmert, with co-host and CSO viola Max Raimi.
You will have the opportunity to add Classic Encounter to your order after selecting your seats for the concert.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/wagner-bartok-and-vaughan-williams
Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony was a risky undertaking in post-World War II Russia: a personal meditation on suffering and loss that he described as agitated, lyrical and austere. Pianist Simon Trpčeski animates the romantic flourishes of Grieg’s Piano Concerto while Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s Primal Message is a fantasia inspired by the 1974 Aricebo interstellar radio transmission.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation Daniel Schlosberg in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/grieg-piano-concerto-and-prokofiev-6
Bruckner’s last completed symphony is a majestic statement in which every theme feels like a sacred offering. Bruckner signed the score "Hallelujah,” and eagerly declared, “The finale is the most important movement of my life.” Christian Thielemann, “the most admired of today’s German conductors” (Los Angeles Times), leads the CSO on this sweeping journey.
Classic Encounter
October 20: Preconcert lecture hosted by Chicago’s favorite radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmert, with co-host John Hagstrom, CSO trumpet (Pritzker Military Museum and Library Chair)
You will have the opportunity to add Classic Encounter to your order after selecting your seats for the concert.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Max Raimi in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/thielemann-conducts-bruckner-8
Mussorgsky, shaken by the passing of his friend, the artist Victor Hartmann, turned his grief into music, composing his lavishly evocative 10-movement suite inspired by Hartmann’s sketches. Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Ravel’s iconic orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition. 2018 Leeds International Piano Competition winner Eric Lu joins the CSO in Mozart’s dark-hued final piano concerto. The program opens with Franck’s supernatural thriller The Accursed Huntsman.
Pianist Maurizio Pollini has withdrawn from this engagement; a statement from his management notes that “Maurizio Pollini is very disappointed to announce that for medical reasons, he is required to cancel his upcoming American tour.”
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-conducts-pictures-from-an-exhibition
The 2022/23 season will mark 70 years since Sergei Prokofiev’s death. Riccardo Muti conducts Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony, composed in 1944, which ranks among his greatest achievements. Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 has grandeur and intensity that foreshadows the mature symphonies of Beethoven. The overture to Rossini’s Journey to Reims gathers several of the composer’s buoyant and picturesque themes.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Daniel Schlosberg in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-conducts-mozart-and-prokofiev
A new season begins as dazzling pianist Yefim Bronfman joins Riccardo Muti and the CSO in Brahms’ unabashedly vigorous and stirring First Piano Concerto. Tchaikovsky’s joyful Second Symphony quotes folk melodies from Ukraine. The program opens with the U.S. premiere of a long-lost and recently discovered score by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a British composer of African descent.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Johann Buis in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-and-bronfman
History supplied Verdi with the subject matter for this gripping drama. It is based on the true story of King Gustav III of Sweden, who was assassinated during a masked ball in 1792. Combining political intrigue, a love triangle and a fortune teller’s mysterious prophecy, the opera also contains radiant choral writing and richly scored dance music. Riccardo Muti leads a concert performance featuring a spectacular cast of international singers and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Derek Matson in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Cast Francesco Meli tenor (Riccardo) Joyce El-Khoury soprano (Amelia) Luca Salsi baritone (Renato) Yulia Matochkina mezzo-soprano (Ulrica) Damiana Mizzi soprano (Oscar) Alfred Walker bass-baritone (Samuel) Kevin Short bass-baritone (Tom) Ricardo José Rivera baritone (Silvano) Lunga Eric Hallam tenor (A Judge) Martin Luther Clark tenor (A Servant to Amelia)
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-conducts-verdi-un-ballo-in-maschera
By turns majestic, lyrical and iconoclastic, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto has been a signature work for Anne-Sophie Mutter ever since it propelled her to fame as a teenager. Riccardo Muti presents it alongside Brahms’ First Symphony, another 19th century landmark whose moods come in vast waves, from brooding, restless melancholy to ecstatic joy.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-mutter-beethoven-violin-concerto
James Gaffigan leads a program etched in vivid colors, including Tchaikovsky’s seductive portrait of Shakespeare’s immortal lovers, Mussorgsky’s windswept Night on Bald Mountain and Saint-Saëns’ riotous Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Stephen Yaness in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn about Soundpost, a preconcert discussion about how technology is being used as a tool to push sound by producing not only novel sounds but also innovative works of music.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/tchaikovsky-romeo-juliet
Hear how Greek and Roman mythology have captivated composers with tales of betrayal, love and heroism. In Daphnis and Chloe, Ravel uses ravishing orchestral colors and a wordless chorus to depict this pastoral romance. Salonen finds inspiration in the epic struggles of the twin half-brothers Castor and Pollux, depicted in his two-piece orchestral composition, Gemini. Opening the program is Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte, a refreshing blend of traditional harmony and contrasting dissonance inspired by Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 77, No. 2.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Derek Matson in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/salonen-conducts-daphnis-chloe
Esa-Pekka Salonen takes listeners on a voyage through astonishing terrains, from Ravel’s exquisite setting of Perrault’s fairy tales to Stravinsky’s 1940s “war symphony,” with its allusions to marching soldiers and tanks. Completing the program, Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto introduces a 2021 concerto by Bryce Dessner partly inspired by Anne Carson’s essay The Anthropology of Water. It is a re-imagining of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, “an endeavor as old as civilization to set out on a road that is supposed to take you to the very end of things.” (Carson, The Anthropology of Water)
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Stephen Alltop in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/salonen-conducts-ravel-stravinsky
Hear the sounds of bravery, battle and romance in Strauss' exuberant Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), led by Karina Canellakis. Kirill Gerstein performs Schumann’s only piano concerto, a work that brims with joy and melody. Augusta Read Thomas’ Brio is a study in agility and motion, building to a full-throttle, sparkling intensity.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/ein-heldenleben
Lithuanian-born Julian Rachlin showcases his singular versatility as a violinist, violist and conductor. He joins CSO Associate Concertmaster Stephanie Jeong in Mozart's effervescent Sinfonia concertante before leading a performance of Tchaikovsky's sweetly melancholic Souvenir. Taking to the podium, Rachlin bookends the program by conducting works by Mozart and Beethoven.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Stephen Alltop in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/beethoven-mozart-tchaikovsky
Riccardo Muti presents two groundbreaking pieces by the first African American composers to have symphonic works performed by major orchestras. William Grant Still’s Mother and Child is a gentle, lilting work inspired by a painting by Sargent Johnson. Florence Price’s expressive Third Symphony gives a powerful voice to the African American experience. The first half includes Beethoven's Fourth Symphony, a work of grace, subtlety and drive, whose smallest gestures have large implications.
Florence Price was a pioneer in the world of classical music: the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer and the first to have her work played by a major orchestra. In honor of these special performances of Price’s Symphony No. 3, arrive early to learn more about this fascinating composer.
The complete experience will include a free preconcert panel discussion in Orchestra Hall 90 minutes before each performance. The event is moderated by Dr. Toni-Marie Montgomery, Dean of the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University, and featuring Florence Price scholars Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle, Distinguished Professor of Music, Miami University, and Dr. Douglas W. Shadle, Associate Professor of Musicology, Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University, as well as special guest Jessie Montgomery, CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence. No additional tickets required.
Following the discussion, enjoy chamber music performances by Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative String Quartets performing works by Price and Montgomery in the Grainger Ballroom and Rotunda at Symphony Center.
Thursday, May 5
6:00-6:45p Panel Discussion 6:45-7:15p Preconcert Chamber Performances
Friday, May 6
12:00-12:45p Panel Discussion 12:45-1:15p Preconcert Chamber Performances
Saturday, May 7
6:30-7:15p Panel Discussion 7:15-7:45p Preconcert Chamber Performances
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-conducts-beethoven-still-price
Riccardo Muti leads a world premiere by Jessie Montgomery, the CSO’s new Mead Composer-in-Residence. Raised on New York’s Lower East Side, Montgomery writes music that is “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (The Washington Post). CSO Principal Bass Alexander Hanna is the soloist in Bottesini’s bravura concerto before the program ends on a joyous note with Beethoven’s homage to nature, the Pastoral Symphony.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Max Raimi in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
On April 28 the CSO Latino Alliance hosts Noche Alegre a special preconcert networking event. Tickets required. Learn more at CSO Latino Alliance.
Postconcert on Tuesday, May 3, all ticketholders are invited to this free postconcert discussion:
Composer Connection: A Conversation with Renée Baker and Jessie Montgomery Hosted by the CSO African American Network Tuesday, May 3
Join Chicago composer, conductor and frequent African American Network guest Renée Baker and CSO Mead-Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery for a special postconcert chat hosted by the AAN. Both known for their contributions to the modern landscape of classical music, Baker and Montgomery come together to share their unique perspectives as female composers of color.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-conducts-montgomery-beethoven-pastoral
Steeped in fateful march rhythms, bittersweet lullabies and a series of thunderous hammer blows, Mahler’s Sixth Symphony is an impassioned, searching statement. New York Philharmonic music director Jaap van Zweden returns to lead the CSO, whose “musical DNA is closely intertwined with Mahler” (Chicago Tribune), in this tour de force.
Please note: there will be no late seating for this concert, and the concert will start on time.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/van-zweden-conducts-mahler-6
In his CSO debut, Klaus Mäkelä leads a journey through two Russian masterworks: Stravinsky’s sumptuous fairy-tale ballet The Firebird, and Prokofiev’s imaginative Second Violin Concerto, featuring Swedish phenom Daniel Lozakovich, also making his first appearance with the CSO. The program opens with Anders Hillborg’s Eleven Gates, a kaleidoscopic score that the Los Angeles Times calls “hugely entertaining, sonically enveloping music.”
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Stephen Yaness in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/the-firebird
Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes brings his “effortless command and penetrating clarity” (The New York Times) to Britten’s Piano Concerto, a glittering score composed during the lead-up to World War II. Riccardo Muti frames the program with Richard Strauss’ contemplative “Dreaming by the Fireside,” from his opera Intermezzo, and Schumann’s triumphant Fourth Symphony.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Laura Prichard in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-andsnes-britten
Riccardo Muti leads the world premiere of Orpheus Undone by the CSO’s former Mead Composer-in-Residence Missy Mazzoli, whose works are celebrated for their raw emotional authenticity. Also on the program are works by two late-Romantic titans. Bruckner’s awe-inspiring Second Symphony is a perfect companion piece to Mahler’s intimate Rückert-Lieder, sung by Elīna Garanča, whose voice “is one in a million, allying grace and power to a commanding authority” (The Independent).
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Tim Munro in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-conducts-mazzoli-mahler-with-elina-garanca
Anna Rakitina, in her CSO debut, leads a Tchaikovsky celebration. The dynamic Alisa Weilerstein is the soloist in the Rococo Variations, Tchaikovsky’s graceful homage to the 18th century, and the Pezzo capriccioso, a mercurial, one-movement gem. Capriccio italien is a bustling portrait of Italian life, while selections from The Nutcracker highlight the composer’s gift for creating wondrous dance themes.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Daniel Schlosberg in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Note: Due to unforeseen scheduling complications, Edo de Waart, originally set to conduct, has had to withdraw from this engagement in Chicago.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/all-tchaikovsky
Jane Glover leads an enchanting program of Baroque and Classical masterpieces. “Dazzling virtuoso” (The New York Times) Paul Jacobs performs one of Handel’s sparkling organ concertos, and the CSO’s Principal Oboe William Welter makes his first CSO solo appearance with Mozart’s expressive Oboe Concerto.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Laura Prichard in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/glover-conducts-mozart-haydn-handel
Distinguished conductor Herbert Blomstedt conducts Bruckner’s most popular symphony, with its allusions to the peaceful countryside, hunting horns and a boisterous Austrian folk dance. Martin Helmchen, whose “pliant, quicksilver touch seemed to illuminate every solo passage” (Chicago Classical Review), is the soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17. The graceful score stems from one of the happiest periods in the composer’s career.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Laura Prichard in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/blomstedt-conducts-bruckner-4
Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi leads a program of passionate and colorful works featuring Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, a five-movement portrait of romantic obsession, replete with a witches’ sabbath, a guillotine and opium-induced hallucinations. Chopin’s dazzling Second Piano Concerto features Benjamin Grosvenor, hailed by Gramophone magazine as possibly “the most remarkable young pianist of our time.”
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Max Raimi in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/symphonie-fantastique
Riccardo Muti assembles the combined forces of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and internationally renowned soloists for “the symphony to end all symphonies” (The Guardian), Beethoven’s euphoric Ninth. A masterpiece whose staggering influence can be heard throughout classical music, it concludes with the famous Ode to Joy, which powerfully calls for understanding, peace and universal goodwill.
Note: There will be no intermission.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Johann Buis in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-conducts-beethoven-9
One of Beethoven’s most reflective and serene creations, the Fourth Piano Concerto is an ideal vehicle for Mitsuko Uchida, who conveys “a sense of intimacy and directness in her playing, as well as a certain quiet grace” (San Francisco Chronicle). Riccardo Muti also conducts Glass’ Symphony No. 11, a colorful, exuberant score that the composer wrote for his own 80th birthday celebration.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Daniel Schlosberg in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-uchida-philip-glass
SCORED BY GLASS: These concerts are presented in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center. Round out your Glass listening experience with the following film presentations, and celebrate the influence and impact of composer Philip Glass with some favorite Glass scores:
Friday, February 11 and Saturday, February 12 at 9:30 p.m., CANDYMAN (1992) Wednesday, February 16 at 8 p.m., INQUIRING NUNS (1968) Saturday, February 19 at 3 p.m., KOYAANISQATSI: LIFE OUT OF BALANCE (1982) Sunday, February 20 at 3 p.m., GLASS: A PORTRAIT OF PHILIP IN 12 PARTS (2007)
Details: https://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/glass
A program of rich, Romantic intensity features Rachmaninov’s ravishing Second Piano Concerto, performed by the brilliant Czech pianist Lukáš Vondráček. Elgar’s Enigma Variations are miniature portraits of friends, family members and the composer himself, alternately noble, yearning and blustery in character. Barber’s First Symphony is a mid-century gem, alive with soaring lyricism, bold colors and majestic climaxes.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Steven Rings in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/alsop-rachmaninov-piano-concerto-no-2
Riccardo Muti conducts a program of Baroque masterpieces by Vivaldi and Handel. CSO musicians are prominently featured in three defining examples of Vivaldi’s mastery of the concerto form. Concluding the program is Handel’s grand and celebrated Water Music.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Daniel Schlosberg in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-conducts-vivaldi-handel-water-music
Muti leads the CSO in suites from two of Tchaikovsky’s most popular ballets, the timeless and romantic Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. Also included in the program are Emil von Reznicek’s delightful overture to his comic opera Donna Diana and Johann Strauss’ regal Emperor Waltz.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-conducts-sleeping-beauty-swan-lake
Riccardo Muti returns to lead the CSO in an all-Beethoven program featuring the composer’s Fifth Symphony, which opens with the most famous theme in classical music. Combined with this iconic work are the light and humorous Eighth Symphony and the stormy Coriolan Overture.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-conducts-beethoven-5-8
In a vibrant program of classical music inspired by the jazz revolution of the 20th century, two of George Gershwin’s iconic works are paired with one he undoubtedly influenced, Ravel’s jazzy Piano Concerto in G Major. Ravel’s most famous work, the mesmerizing Boléro, brings the program to a rousing close.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Larry Rapchak in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/rhapsody-in-blue-bolero
From the awe-inspiring “Hallelujah” chorus to the many thrilling and intimate arias, Handel’s landmark oratorio is an unmissable CSO holiday tradition. Nicholas McGegan, “one of the finest Baroque conductors of his generation” (The Independent), leads a glorious reunion of the assembled forces of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Laura Prichard in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/handel-messiah
Intrepid superstar and CSO Artist-in-Residence Hilary Hahn returns to perform Dvořák’s Violin Concerto, a work laced with the vibrant colors and dance rhythms of the composer’s native Bohemia, which was given its U.S. premiere by the Orchestra in 1891. Andrés Orozco-Estrada leads a world premiere by Gabriela Lena Frank, named by the Washington Post as one of the 35 most significant female composers in history, and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, a work that embodies the struggle of triumph over adversity.
All ticket holders are invited to a free 30-minute Preconcert Conversation on the Armour Stage, which will start 75 minutes before the scheduled performance time.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/hilary-hahn-dvorak-violin-concerto-tchaikovsky-5/
In his 2019 CSO subscription debut, Ray Chen “conjured the archetypal 19th-century virtuoso” and “combined vivid rhetoric with impeccable technique” (Chicago Tribune). Chen returns to present Lalo’s salute to the vigorous and sultry dance rhythms of Spain. A new work by renowned Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg and Brahms' richly autumnal Fourth Symphony complete this program led by Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu.
All ticketholders are invited to a free 30 minute Preconcert Conversation on Armour Stage and will start 75 minutes prior to the scheduled performance time.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/lindberg-lalo-brahms-4
Astor Piazzolla, born a century ago, revolutionized the Argentine tango with urbane sophistication. His Aconcagua — named for an Andean mountain — is alternately pensive and streetwise in spirit. Giancarlo Guerrero leads a program bookended by Buxtehude’s Chaconne, vibrantly orchestrated by Mexican composer Carlos Chávez, and Beethoven’s witty and confident First Symphony.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/guerrero-conducts-piazzolla-and-beethoven/
Astor Piazzolla, born a century ago, revolutionized the Argentine tango with urbane sophistication. His Aconcagua — named for an Andean mountain — is alternately pensive and streetwise in spirit. Giancarlo Guerrero leads a program bookended by Buxtehude’s Chaconne, vibrantly orchestrated by Mexican composer Carlos Chávez, and Beethoven’s witty and confident First Symphony.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/guerrero-conducts-piazzolla-and-beethoven/
Jakub Hrůša conducts a joyful portrait of his Czech homeland in Dvořák’s folk-infused Sixth Symphony. Radiant soprano Joélle Harvey makes her CSO debut in Barber’s nostalgic recollection of small-town America. Opening the program is Coleridge-Taylor’s 1898 breakthrough score, the rhapsodic Ballade.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/coleridge-taylor-barber-dvorak-6/
Jakub Hrůša conducts a joyful portrait of his Czech homeland in Dvořák’s folk-infused Sixth Symphony. Radiant soprano Joélle Harvey makes her CSO debut in Barber’s nostalgic recollection of small-town America. Opening the program is Coleridge-Taylor’s 1898 breakthrough score, the rhapsodic Ballade.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/coleridge-taylor-barber-dvorak-6/
A masterwork of unrestrained joy, Mozart’s final symphony is one of the greatest in the repertoire. Marek Janowski conducts the Jupiter Symphony, along with Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture, a product of his trip to Scotland’s rugged west coast. CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen is soloist in Bruch’s beloved First Violin Concerto, noted for its rapturous melodies and crackling, dance-like finale.
Learn more: https://cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/mozart-jupiter-robert-chen-plays-bruch/
A masterwork of unrestrained joy, Mozart’s final symphony is one of the greatest in the repertoire. Marek Janowski conducts the Jupiter Symphony, along with Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides Overture, a product of his trip to Scotland’s rugged west coast. CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen is soloist in Bruch’s beloved First Violin Concerto, noted for its rapturous melodies and crackling, dance-like finale.
Learn more: https://cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/mozart-jupiter-robert-chen-plays-bruch/
A hundred years ago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with the composer as soloist. Denis Matsuev joins the CSO led by Manfred Honeck to celebrate this milestone with a performance of Prokofiev’s exuberant, poetic and witty score. Coincident Dances by Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery weaves a multicultural sonic tapestry to evoke the experience of walking through a New York City neighborhood. Schubert’s Eighth Symphony bursts with memorable themes that surprise and delight at every turn.
Michael Tilson Thomas has withdrawn from these performances due to health reasons.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cs…-piano-concerto-no-3/
A hundred years ago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with the composer as soloist. Denis Matsuev joins the CSO led by Manfred Honeck to celebrate this milestone with a performance of Prokofiev’s exuberant, poetic and witty score. Coincident Dances by Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery weaves a multicultural sonic tapestry to evoke the experience of walking through a New York City neighborhood. Schubert’s Eighth Symphony bursts with memorable themes that surprise and delight at every turn.
Michael Tilson Thomas has withdrawn from these performances due to health reasons.
Learn more: https://cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/montgomery-schubert-8-prokofiev-piano-concerto-no-3/
Ukrainian-born piano powerhouse Alexander Gavrylyuk presents Prokofiev’s iridescent and rhythmically animated First Piano Concerto, the work with which the composer made his CSO performance debut, in 1918, as part of its U.S. premiere. James Conlon leads this program framed by Shostakovich’s steely Chamber Symphony, an adaptation of his elegiac Eighth String Quartet, and Schubert’s mercurial Symphony No. 3, which shines with youthful vigor.
Michael Tilson Thomas has withdrawn from these performances due to health reasons.
Learn more: https://cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/shostakovich-schubert-3-prokofiev-piano-concerto-no-1/
Ukrainian-born piano powerhouse Alexander Gavrylyuk presents Prokofiev’s iridescent and rhythmically animated First Piano Concerto, the work with which the composer made his CSO performance debut, in 1918, as part of its U.S. premiere. James Conlon leads this program framed by Shostakovich’s steely Chamber Symphony, an adaptation of his elegiac Eighth String Quartet, and Schubert’s mercurial Symphony No. 3, which shines with youthful vigor.
Michael Tilson Thomas has withdrawn from these performances due to health reasons.
Composer Augusta Holmès broke gender barriers in 19th-century Paris, studying with Romantic master César Franck and writing symphonic works on a heroic scale. The sumptuous Night and Love offers a snapshot of her remarkable talents. Saint-Saëns’ richly melodic concerto highlights CSO Principal Cello John Sharp, and Schumann’s Second Symphony expresses triumph after his struggles with illness and depression. Learn more: https://cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/saint-saens-schumann/
Composer Augusta Holmès broke gender barriers in 19th-century Paris, studying with Romantic master César Franck and writing symphonic works on a heroic scale. The sumptuous Night and Love offers a snapshot of her remarkable talents. Saint-Saëns’ richly melodic concerto highlights CSO Principal Cello John Sharp, and Schumann’s Second Symphony expresses triumph after his struggles with illness and depression. Learn more: https://cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/saint-saens-schumann/
Tchaikovsky called his Pathétique Symphony “the best and especially the most open-hearted of my works.” Riccardo Muti leads this masterful and deeply tragic score, which was the last of Tchaikovsky’s works to be premiered during his lifetime. It is preceded by Liadov’s luminous nighttime scene and former Mead Composer-in-Residence Missy Mazzoli’s evocative meditation on her father's experiences as a soldier in Vietnam.
Learn more: https://order.cso.org/21933/
Tchaikovsky called his Pathétique Symphony “the best and especially the most open-hearted of my works.” Riccardo Muti leads this masterful and deeply tragic score, which was the last of Tchaikovsky’s works to be premiered during his lifetime. It is preceded by Liadov’s luminous nighttime scene and former Mead Composer-in-Residence Missy Mazzoli’s evocative meditation on her father's experiences as a soldier in Vietnam.
Learn more: https://order.cso.org/21933/
Greek virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos performs Brahms’ Violin Concerto, a work that he has recorded with a “wonderful poise and instinctive elegance” (The Guardian). A cornerstone of the violin repertoire, the concerto brims with orchestral drama, rapturous melodies and earthy folk-dance rhythms. Riccardo Muti concludes the program with Beethoven’s exhilarating Seventh Symphony.
Learn more: https://order.cso.org/21924/
Greek virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos performs Brahms’ Violin Concerto, a work that he has recorded with a “wonderful poise and instinctive elegance” (The Guardian). A cornerstone of the violin repertoire, the concerto brims with orchestral drama, rapturous melodies and earthy folk-dance rhythms. Riccardo Muti concludes the program with Beethoven’s exhilarating Seventh Symphony.
Learn more: https://order.cso.org/21924/
Virtual Preconcert Conversation for Muti Conducts Saint-Georges, Price & Beethoven 3
For tickets and more info: https://order.cso.org/21851/
Riccardo Muti and the CSO reunite! Their first performance together since February 2020 features Beethoven’s stirring Eroica Symphony. The program opens with music from the only surviving opera by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the Guadeloupe-born composer, violinist and champion fencer who dazzled 18th-century Parisian society. Also featured is an enchanting, lyrical gem from the String Quartet in G Major by Florence Price, the first African American woman to have her music played by a major American orchestra — the CSO in 1933.
Learn more: https://order.cso.org/21851/
Join us for the Beethoven 9 Facebook Premiere!
https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoSymphony/posts/10157359874958049
Riccardo Muti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Beethoven’s most glorious and jubilant masterpiece. An exhilarating testament to the human spirit, Beethoven’s Ninth bursts with brooding power and kinetic energy and culminates in the exultant hymn, “Ode to Joy.”
Learn more: cso.org/beethoven9
In a vibrant program of classical music inspired by the jazz revolution of the 20th century, two of George Gershwin’s iconic works are paired with one he undoubtedly influenced, Ravel’s jazzy Piano Concerto in G Major. Ravel’s most famous work, the mesmerizing Boléro, brings the program to a rousing close.
Learn more: https://order.cso.org/9954/
After leading a 2018 CSO performance of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony full of “tensile strength and spirited dynamism” (Chicago Classical Review), distinguished conductor Herbert Blomstedt returns to conduct Brahms’ radiant Second Symphony. “Scintillating and incisive” (The Straits Times) French pianist Bertrand Chamayou makes his CSO debut with Mozart’s delightful Piano Concerto No. 23.
Learn more: https://order.cso.org/9953/
From its expansive opening to its transcendent climax, Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony is one of the most vivid orchestral works of the 20th century. Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu, in his CSO debut, pairs this with the composer’s best-known work, Finlandia. Pekka Kuusisto performs Nielsen’s spirited Violin Concerto. “Nielsen was a folk fiddler and Kuusisto made it show in the gorgeous looseness of his rhythms and stripped-back grit of his sound” (The Guardian).
Tickets and more info: https://order.cso.org/9952/
Opening with the most famous four notes in all of classical music, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is a staggering masterwork that became a symphonic blueprint for all subsequent composers. Riccardo Muti leads a program that also features the composer’s buoyant, humorous Second Symphony and a world premiere concerto performed by CSO Bass Clarinet J. Lawrie Bloom.
Tickets and more info: https://order.cso.org/9951/
Beloved by opera audiences around the world, Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana is an impassioned story of tormented love wrapped in music of fervent vibrancy. Riccardo Muti, whose command of 19th-century Italian opera is “virtually without peer” (Bachtrack), leads concert performances of the complete one-act opera with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and an international cast.
Renowned English pianist Paul Lewis returns to perform two of Beethoven’s extraordinary piano concertos—the good-humored First and the intricate Fourth. Sir Andrew Davis, music director of Lyric Opera of Chicago and “a Tippett conductor of proven pedigree and insight” (Gramophone), leads two fascinating works by the 20th-century English composer. Learn more: https://order.cso.org/9949/
Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony is a lyrical masterpiece that The Guardian calls “35 minutes of life-enhancing joy.” Edo de Waart conducts this profound work, along with John Adams’ exuberant “foxtrot for orchestra,” an outtake from his opera Nixon in China. The phenomenally gifted Leila Josefowicz returns to perform Stravinsky’s brilliant neoclassical Violin Concerto.
Tickets and more info: https://order.cso.org/9948/
Taking inspiration from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Fourth explores fate, progressing from dark despair to defiant triumph. John Storgårds leads this powerfully expressive work, along with the first CSO performance of the deeply moving blue cathedral by Jennifer Higdon, winner of the 2018 Nemmers Prize in Music Composition. The dazzling Ray Chen, making his CSO subscription series debut, brings his “liquid tone that carries with it emotional depth of great intimacy” (The Huffington Post) to the youthful bravura of Wieniawski’s First Violin Concerto.
Tickets and more info: https://order.cso.org/9945/
Juanjo Mena conducts the CSO in a program featuring Holst’s powerful and haunting The Planets. Sally Matthews, a soprano of “incandescent verve” (The Times, London), performs two scenes from Barber’s 1966 opera that opened the Metropolitan Opera's new house at Lincoln Center. Detroit-based composer James Lee III’s celebratory Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula illustrates an ancient Hebrew harvest festival refracted through the lens of the Book of Revelation.
Brahms' final orchestral composition calls for deep lyricism and virtuosic technique from its soloists to create the illusion of a single instrument. CSO Associate Concertmaster Stephanie Jeong and Assistant Principal Cello Kenneth Olsen take center stage for this exhilarating work. Riccardo Muti concludes the program with Schumann's Third Symphony, inspired by the composer's journey to the Rhineland.
A season-long Beethoven celebration continues with the composer’s dazzling Violin Concerto performed by the renowned Leonidas Kavakos, “the most deeply satisfying violinist performing today” (Philadelphia Inquirer). Riccardo Muti conducts this towering work along with a world premiere by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Bernard Rands.
Following a "blistering" (Chicago Tribune) CSO podium debut, David Afkham returns to lead a diverse program featuring Haydn's emotionally charged Mourning Symphony, Strauss' tone poem portraying a man's journey through death and Brahms' radiant Third Symphony, which Clara Schumann described as "one beat of the heart, every movement a jewel!"
A captivating program of music by Vivaldi, Mozart and Piazzolla features the CSO conducting debut of Julian Rachlin, a violinist of "brilliant high-octane technique" (The New York Times). Rachlin conducts and performs on two vastly different incarnations of The Four Seasons—Vivaldi’s pictorial baroque masterpiece and Piazzolla's tango-inspired take.
The sensational young Korean pianist Sunwook Kim, acclaimed for his "ability to shift from fantasy to fireworks and back in a gasp" (The News, Portsmouth), makes his CSO debut with two vivacious works by Mendelssohn—the glittering Piano Concerto No. 1 and virtuosic Capriccio brillant. Ukrainian conductor Kirill Karabits, in his CSO subscription series debut, leads Lutoslawski's melodic, folklore-inspired Concerto for Orchestra.
James Gaffigan, praised for his "exemplary, full-blooded conducting" (Chicago Classical Review), leads the CSO in Shostakovich's rarely heard Eighth Symphony, a profound work that represents the composer's yearning for peace. The CSO's own Cynthia Yeh gives the U.S. premiere of Israeli-born composer Avner Dorman's percussion concerto, which he calls "a celebration of life, energy and an ever-present and eternal rhythm."
The season-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth opens with a program dedicated entirely to his music. Riccardo Muti, who conducts all nine Beethoven symphonies this season, begins with the ebullient, classically scaled First. Unprecedented in proportion and epic in scope, the groundbreaking Eroica Symphony demonstrates how powerfully Beethoven redefined the musical language of his time, launching classical music into the romantic era.
Riccardo Muti opens his 10th season as music director with two dramatic Russian works—Alexander Scriabin's haunting first orchestral composition and Shostakovich's pensive Sixth Symphony, written during a time of prewar tension. The brilliant Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, hailed by the Wall Street Journal as "one of the most gifted musicians of his generation," performs Edvard Grieg's treasured Piano Concerto.