Podcasts by CSO Audio Program Notes
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.
Visit cso.org for tickets and information.
Further podcasts by Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association
Podcast on the topic Musik
All episodes
CSO Program Notes: Bychkov Conducts Brahms from 2023-12-07T22:20:57
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 arsena...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Hilary Hahn Plays Brahms from 2023-11-27T16:52:24
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 conclu...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: MTT Conducts Mozart from 2023-11-27T16:41:12
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,...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: The Rite of Spring&Kavakos from 2023-11-09T17:41:51
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Glass&Rachmaninov from 2023-11-03T15:49:12
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: The Planets from 2023-10-25T21:09:27
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,” ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Mahler 1 from 2023-10-18T18:05:54
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 o...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Gershwin&Bernstein from 2023-10-06T20:09:43
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” (...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Jaap van Zweden Conducts Beethoven 5 from 2023-10-02T21:21:22
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 Gerha...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti, Glass&Mendelssohn Italian from 2023-09-11T18:25:45
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts The Firebird from 2023-09-11T17:45:55
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 depic...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Beethoven Missa solemnis from 2023-06-08T15:33:38
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-op...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti, Pokorny&Schubert 9 from 2023-06-06T21:24:30
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Hrůša Conducts Mahler 9 from 2023-05-31T16:09:13
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Debussy La mer&Ravel La valse from 2023-05-30T14:08:21
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 mo...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti, Herbert&Pines of Rome from 2023-05-19T15:33:14
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. Th...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti, Chen&Mozart Gran Partita from 2023-05-12T17:11:30
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 Violi...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti, Montgomery&Rachmaninov 2 from 2023-05-08T16:01:55
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 th...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Vivaldi Gloria from 2023-05-01T15:41:09
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 th...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Jurowski, Helmchen&Shostakovich 8 from 2023-04-19T16:06:17
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Trifonov Plays Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 from 2023-04-11T17:53:05
“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 electrifyi...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Hilary Hahn Plays Carmen Fantasy from 2023-04-11T17:45:34
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Adès Conducts Adès with Gerstein from 2023-04-03T15:30:33
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 Sibeli...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Boccherini, Vivaldi&Mozart 40 from 2023-03-23T16:37:52
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 Trib...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Coleridge-Taylor, Copland&Dvořák 9 from 2023-03-17T15:40:52
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 materia...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Carmina burana from 2023-03-07T17:05:31
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 bird...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Blomstedt Conducts Dvořák 8 from 2023-02-24T21:48:57
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti, Fischer&Tchaikovsky Manfred from 2023-02-02T21:04:43
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 viol...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Mäkelä Conducts López Bellido&Mahler 5 from 2023-02-02T20:59:10
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. Not...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Shani Conducts Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances from 2023-01-03T17:11:48
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 gr...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Alsop Conducts Wolfe: Her Story from 2022-12-13T17:25:51
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 Compos...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice&Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony from 2022-12-07T23:07:43
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Hilary Hahn, Tchaikovsky&Bartók from 2022-11-18T16:39:03
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 Ar...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Stravinsky, Beethoven&Sibelius 2 from 2022-11-18T16:34:29
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Honeck, Capuçon&Shostakovich 5 from 2022-11-07T20:51:35
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 l...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: CSO&The Joffrey Ballet from 2022-11-02T21:00:15
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 wi...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Wagner, Bartók and Vaughan Williams from 2022-10-12T17:06:12
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 war...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Grieg Piano Concerto and Prokofiev 6 from 2022-10-12T16:51:02
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 Trpčesk...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Thielemann Conducts Bruckner 8 from 2022-09-28T16:17:09
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 i...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Pictures from an Exhibition from 2022-09-28T16:11:55
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. Riccard...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Mozart&Prokofiev from 2022-09-16T18:41:36
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 Symp...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti&Bronfman from 2022-09-15T15:54:40
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Verdi Un ballo in maschera from 2022-06-17T16:22:57
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 poli...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti, Mutter&Beethoven Violin Concerto from 2022-06-10T14:48:49
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 i...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Tchaikovsky Romeo&Juliet from 2022-06-07T14:23:14
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’ ri...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Salonen Conducts Daphnis&Chloe from 2022-05-27T19:22:34
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 t...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Salonen Conducts Ravel&Stravinsky from 2022-05-19T21:11:44
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 marc...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Ein Heldenleben from 2022-05-12T18:23:31
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Beethoven, Mozart&Tchaikovsky from 2022-05-02T14:46:25
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 conce...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Beethoven, Still&Price from 2022-04-28T14:42:35
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, l...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Montgomery&Beethoven Pastoral from 2022-04-25T14:28:33
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 colorfu...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Van Zweden Conducts Mahler 6 from 2022-04-18T15:02:35
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: The Firebird from 2022-03-29T15:04:32
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti, Andsnes&Britten Piano Concerto from 2022-03-29T14:24:09
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Mazzoli&Mahler with Elīna Garanča from 2022-03-29T14:15
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 p...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: All-Tchaikovsky with Alisa Weilerstein from 2022-03-17T16:41:58
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 P...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Glover Conducts Mozart, Haydn&Handel from 2022-03-07T16:01:03
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Blomstedt Conducts Bruckner 4 from 2022-03-02T23:33:46
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 Helmc...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Symphonie fantastique from 2022-02-15T17:09:54
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’ sa...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Beethoven 9 from 2022-02-15T16:42:28
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 euph...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti, Uchida&Philip Glass from 2022-02-09T21:27:52
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Alsop&Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 from 2022-02-02T22:57:08
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 portr...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Vivaldi&Handel Water Music from 2022-01-21T15:58:32
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. Concludi...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Sleeping Beauty&Swan Lake from 2022-01-10T21:16:47
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Beethoven 5&8 from 2022-01-03T15:49:13
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Rhapsody in Blue&Boléro from 2021-12-13T20:50:04
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Handel’s Messiah from 2021-12-08T18:31:47
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Hilary Hahn, Dvořák Violin Concerto&Tchaikovsky 5 from 2021-12-02T18:13:57
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, whic...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Lindberg, Lalo&Brahms 4 from 2021-11-16T20:01:22
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’...
Listen
Virtual Preconcert Conversation: Guerrero Conducts Piazzolla&Beethoven from 2021-11-12T18:21
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. G...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Guerrero Conducts Piazzolla&Beethoven from 2021-11-11T19:23:38
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. G...
Listen
Virtual Preconcert Conversation: Coleridge-Taylor, Barber&Dvořák 6 from 2021-11-05T17:18:58
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-t...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Coleridge-Taylor, Barber&Dvořák 6 from 2021-11-05T16:43:58
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-t...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Mozart Jupiter&Robert Chen Plays Bruch from 2021-10-27T15:02:46
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 p...
Listen
Virtual Preconcert Conversation: Mozart Jupiter&Robert Chen Plays Bruch from 2021-10-27T15:01:36
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 p...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Montgomery, Schubert 8&Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 from 2021-10-21T18:20:19
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 ce...
Listen
Virtual Preconcert Conversation: Montgomery, Schubert 8&Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 from 2021-10-19T14:20:17
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 ce...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Shostakovich, Schubert 3&Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1 from 2021-10-13T21:47:36
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, ...
Listen
Virtual Preconcert Conversation: Shostakovich, Schubert 3&Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1 from 2021-10-08T17:23:36
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, ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Saint-Saëns&Schumann from 2021-10-08T16:48:51
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 ...
Listen
Virtual Preconcert Conversation: Saint-Saëns&Schumann from 2021-10-08T16:23:03
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Mazzoli&Tchaikovsky Pathétique from 2021-09-22T21:58:16
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...
Listen
Virtual Preconcert Conversation: Muti Conducts Mazzoli&Tchaikovsky Pathétique from 2021-09-22T20:20:15
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...
Listen
Virtual Preconcert Conversation: Muti, Kavakos&Beethoven 7 from 2021-09-22T20:11:01
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 repertoir...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti, Kavakos&Beethoven 7 from 2021-09-22T20:07:23
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 repertoir...
Listen
Virtual Preconcert Conversation: Muti Conducts Saint-Georges, Price&Beethoven 3 from 2021-09-18T15:07:07
Virtual Preconcert Conversation for Muti Conducts Saint-Georges, Price&Beethoven 3 For tickets and more info:https://order.cso.org/21851/
Listen
Program Notes: Muti Conducts Saint-Georges, Price&Beethoven 3 from 2021-09-18T15:04:42
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Beethoven 9 Facebook Premiere from 2020-04-07T20:29:09
Join us for the Beethoven 9 Facebook Premiere! https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoSymphony/posts/10157359874958049Riccardo Muti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Beethoven’s most ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Rhapsody In Blue from 2020-03-09T21:38:06
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Blomstedt Conducts Brahms 2 from 2020-03-02T16:13:11
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Sibelius&Nielsen: A Nordic Celebration from 2020-02-18T17:45:29
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Beethoven 2&5 from 2020-02-13T17:39:14
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 Mut...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Cavalleria Rusticana from 2020-02-03T17:25:51
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-cen...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Paul Lewis Plays Beethoven from 2020-01-27T18:11:06
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 Op...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Stravinsky & Dvo?ák 8 from 2019-12-10T18:43:11
Dvo?ák’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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Higdon&Tchaikovsky 4 from 2019-12-02T16:41:59
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Holst The Planets from 2019-11-15T17:27:03
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Brahms Double Concerto from 2019-11-04T15:50:31
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti, Kavakos and Beethoven Violin Concerto from 2019-10-28T18:07:27
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” (Phila...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Brahms 3 from 2019-10-22T16:08:30
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 ...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: The Four Seasons from 2019-10-10T16:47:09
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 c...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 from 2019-10-04T16:43:49
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 wo...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Shostakovich 8 from 2019-09-27T17:06:59
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 co...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Beethoven 1&3 from 2019-09-23T17:40:30
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...
Listen
CSO Program Notes: Muti Andsnes&Grieg Piano Concerto from 2019-09-10T14:23:34
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 d...
Listen