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Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Sundays at 8pm
CSO_Muti-Photo-High-Res_credit-Todd-Rosenberg

Photo by Todd Rosenberg

Hear live performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra alongside selections from the orchestra’s expansive catalog of recordings. Find out the fascinating stories found inside the music; get insights from the CSO musicians, guest artists, and composers themselves; and learn more about the music and programmatic themes highlighted during the CSO’s concert season. Hosted by Lisa Simeone.

Schedule
  • July 21
    Alsop & Vondráček

    Marin Alsop returns to the Orchestra Hall podium to lead Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Opening the program, we hear Barber’s First Symphony, followed by Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, featuring Lukáš Vondráček. Selections from West Side Story—composed by Alsop’s mentor Leonard Bersntein—complete the broadcast.

    Conductor

    Marin Alsop

    Samuel Barber

    Symphony No. 1, Op. 9

    Sergei Rachmaninoff

    Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18
    Lukáš Vondráček, piano

    Edward Elgar

    Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36 (Enigma)

    Leonard Bernstein

    Prologue, Tonight, Rumble, and Somewhere from West Side Story
    Daniel Barenboim, conductor

  • July 28
    Muti, Montgomery & Rachmaninoff 2

    Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti conducts the CSO-commissioned world premiere of Transfigure to Grace by former Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery. Wagner’s Overture to Tannhäuser and Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 are heard in the program. Rounding out the broadcast, we hear the U.S. premiere of Coleridge-Taylor’s Solemn Prelude from the 2022 Symphony Ball concert.

    Conductor

    Riccardo Muti

    Richard Wagner

    Overture to Tannhäuser

    Jessie Montgomery

    Transfigure to Grace
    CSO Commission, World-Premiere

    Sergei Rachmaninoff

    Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27

    Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Solemn Prelude

  • August 4
    Jurowski & Helmchen

    This week, Vladimir Jurowski conducts Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8 along with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 with Martin Helmchen. The broadcast opens with the ninth music director Daniel Barenboim leading Mozart’s sparkling Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio.

    Conductor

    Vladimir Jurowski

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 384
    Daniel Barenboim, conductor

    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503
    Martin Helmchen, piano

    Dimitri Shostakovich

    Symphony No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 65

  • August 11
    Guests in the House

    Leopold Stokowski begins this parade of guest conductors with Khachaturian’s Third Symphony followed by John Williams conducting his Suite from Memoirs of a Geisha featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Neeme Järvi is next with Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, and Pierre Monteux concludes the broadcast with Franck’s Symphony in D minor.

    Aram Khachaturian

    Symphony No. 3 in C Major
    Leopold Stokowski, conductor

    John Williams

    Suite from I for Cello and Orchestra
    Yo-Yo Ma, cello
    John Williams, conductor

    Zoltán Kodály

    Dances of Galánta
    Neeme Järvi, conductor

    César Franck

    Symphony in D Minor
    Pierre Monteux, conductor

  • August 18
    Mäkelä Conducts López Bellido & Mahler 5

    Klaus Mäkelä returns to the CSO podium to lead Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. The program includes Sibelius’ The Swan of Tuonela, and a premiere performance of Aino by López Bellido, which the CSO’s co-commissioned. The opening of the broadcast is Corigliano’s Tournaments Overture under Sir Georg Solti’s baton.

    Conductor

    Klaus Mäkelä

    John Corigliano

    Tournaments Overture
    Sir Georg Solti

    Jean Sibelius

    The Swan of Tuonela from Four Legends from the Kalevala, Op. 22
    Scott Hostetler, English horn

    Jimmy López Bellido

    Aino
    US Premiere, CSO Co-commission

    Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No. 5

  • August 25
    Celebrating Margaret Hillis

    This broadcast celebrates Margaret Hillis, founder and first director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, featuring three Grammy Award-winning recordings. Bartók’s Cantata profana led by Pierre Boulez is the centerpiece, bookended by an excerpt from Brahms’ German Requiem and Verdi’s monumental Requiem, both under the baton of eighth music director Sir Georg Solti.

    Johannes Brahms

    Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen from A German Requiem, Op. 45
    Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director
    Sir Georg Solti, conductor

    Béla Bartók

    Cantata profana
    John Aler, tenor; John Tomlinson, bass; Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director
    Pierre Boulez, conductor

    Giuseppe Verd

    Messa da Requiem
    Leontyne Price, soprano; Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano; Veriano Luchetti, tenor; José van Dam, bass-baritone; Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director
    Sir Georg Solti, conductor

  • September 1
    Ozawa Conducts Beethoven and Bartók

    We remember Seiji Ozawa, who served as the first music director at Ravinia from 1964 until 1968 and as principal conductor for the Festival’s 1969 season. This broadcast features works by Borodin and Schoenberg, along with Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

    Conductor

    Seiji Ozawa

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67

    Alexander Borodin

    Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor

    Arnold Schoenberg

    Piano Concerto
    Peter Serkin, piano

    Béla Bartók

    Concerto for Orchestra

  • September 8
    Guerrero & Binelli

    Giancarlo Guerrero leads Piazzolla’s Aconcagua Concerto for Bandoneón and Orchestra with Daniel Binelli, followed by Beethoven’s First Symphony. The broadcast closes with Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony under the baton of eighth music director Sir Georg Solti.

    Conductor

    Giancarlo Guerrero

    Dieterich Buxtehude
    (arr. & orch. Chávez)

    Chaconne in E Minor

    Astor Piazzolla

    Aconcagua Concerto for Bandoneón and Orchestra
    Daniel Binelli, bandoneón

    Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21

    Pyotr Ilyich
    Tchaikovsky

    Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36
    Sir Georg Solti, conductor

  • September 15
    Mäkelä Conducts Shostakovich 10

    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.

    Conductor

    Klaus Mäkelä

    Richard Strauss

    Excerpt from Don Juan, Op. 20
    Fritz Reiner, conductor

    Sauli Zinovjev

    Batteria
    U.S. Premiere

    Dmitri Shostakovich

    Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 107
    Sol Gabetta, cello

    Dmitri Shostakovich

    Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93

  • September 22
    de Ridder & Barnatan

    André de Ridder leads the CSO in a suite from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, along with Rhapsody in Blue and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major with Inon Barnatan. Next, seventh music director Jean Martinon conducts selections from Bizet’s L’arlésienne and second music director Frederick Stock’s arrangement of Paganini’s Moto perpetuo.

    Conductor

    André de Ridder

    George Gershwin

    Porgy and Bess, A Symphonic Picture

    George Gershwin

    Rhapsody in Blue
    Inon Barnatan, piano

    Maurice Ravel

    Piano Concerto in G Major
    Inon Barnatan, piano

    Georges Bizet

    Suites Nos. 1 and 2 from L’arlésienne
    Jean Martinon, conductor

    Niccolò
    Paganini/Stock

    Moto perpetuo, Op. 11
    Jean Martinon, conductor