Chicago Symphony Orchestra

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.

January 29
Muti Conducts Beethoven 9

Music Director Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus—prepared by Duain Wolfe—in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, featuring Janai Brugger, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Issachah Savage, and Tareq Nazmi. The broadcast opens with choral works from the CSO Resound catalog by Verdi, including selections from Otello, Nabucco, Macbeth, and the Requiem.

February 5
Muti Conducts Beethoven & Price

Celebrating Black History Month! Music Director Riccardo Muti leads works by William Grant Still and Florence Price, the first African American composers to have symphonic works performed by major orchestras. The program begins with Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont and Fourth Symphony, followed by Still’s Mother and Child and Price’s Third Symphony. Rounding out the broadcast, Fritz Reiner conducts Hovhaness’s Mysterious Mountain.

February 12
de Ridder & Barnatan

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

February 19
Salonen & Kuusisto

Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to the CSO podium for Ravel’s Mother Goose and Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements. In between, Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto introduces a 2021 concerto by Bryce Dessner. The broadcast rounds out with a 1990 recording of Bartók’s Divertimento for String Orchestra led by eighth music director Sir Georg Solti.

February 26
Muti Conducts Vivaldi, Handel & Beethoven

Music Director Riccardo Muti conducts the first suite from Handel’s Water Music and Vivaldi’s Flute Concerto in G Minor featuring Principal Flute Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson. The broadcast opens with Saint-Georges’s Overture to L’Amant anonyme and includes Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and Vivaldi’s Concerto in C Major (Per la solennità di San Lorenzo).

March 5
Blomstedt Conducts Mozart & Beethoven

Herbert Blomstedt returns to the CSO podium for Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 and Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. The program is bookended by 1955 RCA recording of Smetana’s Overture to The Bartered Bride led by Fritz Reiner, and 2007 CSO Resound recording of Poulenc’s Gloria, led by Bernard Haitink and featuring the Chicago Symphony Chorus.

March 12
Orozco-Estrada & Hahn

Andrés Orozco-Estrada leads the world premiere of Haillí-Serenata, a CSO commission from Gabriela Lena Frank. The program also includes Dvořák’s Violin Concerto with Hilary Hahn — the CSO’s first artist-in-residence — and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. Plus, Daniel Barenboim leads Bruckner’s Te Deum featuring the Chicago Symphony Chorus from a 1981 Deutsche Grammophon recording.

March 19
Janáček, J. Strauss, Jr. & Mussorgsky

Carlo Maria Giulini, the CSO’s first principal guest conductor, conducts Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The program opens with Janáček’s Sinfonietta led by Seiji Ozawa; continues with Copland’s Dance Symphony, conducted by Morton Gould; and also includes works by Johann Strauss, Jr., conducted by Fritz Reiner, the CSO’s sixth music director.

March 26
Muti Conducts Montgomery & Beethoven

Music Director Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Hymn for Everyone by Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery. The program also includes Bottesini’s Double Bass Concerto No. 2, featuring Principal Bass Alexander Hanna, and Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. Pierre Boulez conducts Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta from a 1994 Deutsche Grammophon release to round out the program.