Sundays at 8pm
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
September 14
Harding Conducts The PlanetsThis week, Daniel Harding leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Schumann’s Overture to Manfred, Brahms’ Schicksalslied and Holst’s The Planets, featuring Chicago Symphony Chorus and guest chorus director Jenny Wong. Closing the broadcast, Sir Georg Solti conducts Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms.
Robert Schumann
Overture to Manfred, Op. 115
Johannes Brahms
Schicksalslied, Op. 54
Gustav Holst
The Planets, Op. 32
Chicago Symphony Chorus , Jenny Wong director
Daniel Harding conductorIgor Stravinsky
Symphony of Psalms
Chicago Symphony Chorus, Duain Wolfe director
Sir Georg Solti conductor
September 21
Mäkelä Conducts Mahler 3The CSO celebrates the opening of 2025/26 season with Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 lead by Zell Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä, featuring vocal soloist Wiebke Lehmkuhl, the Chicago Symphony Chorus, and Uniting Voices Chicago.
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 3 in D Minor
Wiebke Lehmkuhl contralto
Chicago Symphony Chorus, James Bass director
Uniting Voices Chicago, Josephine Lee director
Klaus Mäkelä conductor
September 28
Salonen & KuusistoThis week, Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the CSO in Ravel’s Mother Goose, Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements, and Dessner’s Violin Concerto, featuring soloist Pekka Kuusisto. Rounding out the broadcast, Sir George Solti conducts Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.
Maurice Ravel
Mother Goose
Bryce Dessner
Violin Concerto
Pekka Kuusisto violinIgor Stravinsky
Symphony in Three Movements
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
May 2022Béla Bartók
Concerto for Orchestra
Sir Georg Solti conductor
1981 (London)Georges Bizet
Suites Nos. 1 and 2 from L’arlésienne
Jean Martinon, conductor
October 5
Mahler Festival Broadcast: Mahler 6This week, experience the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the 2025 Mahler Festival in Amsterdam, as Jaap van Zweden leads Mahler’s Symphony No. 6. The broadcast opens with Sir Georg Solti leading Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, featuring soprano Yvonne Minton.
Gustav Mahler
Songs of a Wayfarer
Yvonne Minton soprano
Sir Georg Solti conductor
1970 (London)Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 6
Jaap van Zweden conductor
May 2025Charles Ives
The Unanswered Question
Adoph Herseth, trumpet
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
CBS (1986)
October 12
Carmina buranaThis week, Osmo Vänskä leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Orff’s Carmina burana, featuring vocal soloists Joélle Harvey, Reginald Mobley and Hugh Rusell. Opening the program is Montgomery’s Banner and Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus. Before that, Seiji Ozawa conducts Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.
Benjamin Britten
The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34
Seiji Ozawa conductor
1976 (RCA)Jessie Montgomery
Banner
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Canticus Arcticus
Carl Orff
Carmina burana
Joélle Harvey soprano
Reginald Mobley countertenor
Hugh Russell baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus Jenny Wong guest director
Uniting Voices Chicago Josephine Lee director
Osmo Vänskä conductor
March 2023
October 19
Ravinia Opening Night 2025Marin Alsop conducts the CSO in the first concert of their 2025 Ravinia Season. This program features Simon’s Amen, Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody of a Theme of Paganini, and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. To follow, former Ravinia music director Seiji Ozawa leads the CSO in Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, Mussorgsky’s Night on Bare Mountain, and Stravinsky’s Fireworks.
Frederick Stock/
John Stafford SmithThe Star-Spangled Banner
Carlos Simon
Amen
Sergei Rachmaninov
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
Igor Stravinsky
The Rite of Spring
Marin Alsop conductor
July 2025Alexander Borodin
Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor
Seiji Ozawa conductor
1969 (Angel)Modest Mussorgsky
A Night on Bare Mountain
Seiji Ozawa conductor
1968 (RCA)Igor Stravinsky
Fireworks
Seiji Ozawa conductor
1968 (RCA)
October 26
Opera without WordsFive CSO music directors—Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti, Fritz Reiner, Artur Rodzinski, and Sir Georg Solti—lead orchestral excerpts from operas by Beethoven, Copland, Mascagni, Rossini, and Strauss. The program closes with several selections from Wagner’s Ring cycle.
Mikhail Glinka
Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla
Fritz Reiner conductor
1959 (RCA)Ludwig van
BeethovenLeonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b
Sir Georg Solti conductor
1972 (London)Richard Strauss
Waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier
Fritz Reiner conductor
1957 (RCA)Aaron Copland
Suite from The Tender Land
Fritz Reiner conductor
1958 (CSO: The First 100 Years)Pietro Mascagni
Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana
Riccardo Muti conductor
2017 (CSO Resound)Gioachino Rossini
Overture to William Tell
Fritz Reiner conductor
1958 (RCA)Richard Wagner
The Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre
Artur Rodzinski conductor
1948 (CSO: The First 100 Years)Richard Wagner
Forest Murmurs from Siegfried
Daniel Barenboim conductor
1991 (Erato)Richard Wagner
Dawn, Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, and Siegfried’s Death and Funeral March from Götterdämmerung
Daniel Barenboim conductor
1991 (Erato)