Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Pierre Boulez, conductor
Manfred Honeck, conductor

Pierre Boulez and Manfred Honeck

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, chorus director
Rafael Kubelík, conductor
Erich Leinsdorf, conductor
Jean Martinon, conductor
Fritz Reiner, conductor
Sir Georg Solti, conductor

The CSO in Debussy, Fauré, and Ravel

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Pierre Boulez, conductor

Mahler: Symphony No. 7 (October 2010)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
Pierre Boulez, conductor

Tchaikovsky  Symphony No. 6 In B Minor, Op  74 (Pathétique) (October 2021)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor
Theodore Thomas, conductor
Max Bendix, violin
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Jessye Norman, soprano
Yvonne Minton, mezzo-soprano
David Rendall, tenor
Samuel Ramey, Bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Hannu Lintu, conductor
Ray Chen, violin

Lalo Symphonie Espagnole for Violin And Orchestra, Op . 21

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 in C Minor

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Manfred Honeck, conductor
Gautier Capuçon, cello
Neeme Järvi, conductor

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Klaus Mäkelä, conductor

Mahler: Symphony No. 5

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Jaap van Zweden, conductor
Fritz Reiner, conductor

van Zweden Conducts Mahler 6 - Broadcast

Mäkelä Conducts López Bellido & Mahler - Broadcast081824

Klaus Mäkelä, conductor
Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Mäkelä Conducts Shostakovich - Broadcast

Susanna Mälkki conductor
Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson flute


Mälkki, Liebermann & Mahler - Broadcast

Pierre Boulez at 100 - Broadcast

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

CSO Program Notes: Canellakis Conducts Rachmaninov

Canellakis & Gerstein - Broadcast

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

CSO Program Notes: Mäkelä Conducts Mahler 3

Beethoven, Mozart & Tchaikovsky - Broadcast

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

CSO Program Notes: Mäkelä & Trifonov

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 Program Notes: Mahler 6 with Jaap van Zweden

Giulini Conducts Mahler 9 - Broadcast

Haitink Conducts Mahler 2 - Broadcast

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

CSO Program Notes: An American Suite

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

CSO Program Notes: Elder, Goosby & Price

2024 Ravinia Festival Opening Night: Celebration of Americana - Broadcast

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

CSO Program Notes: Riccardo Muti & Esteban Batallán

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

CSO Program Notes: Muti Conducts Verdi Requiem

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Bernard Haitink, conductor

Bruckner Symphony No. 6 in A Major (October 2018)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Bernard Haitink, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano
Neeme Järvi, conductor

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19 (October 2018)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
Hilary Hahn, violin

Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47 (May 2019)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Fritz Reiner, conductor
Leontyne Price, soprano

Falla El Amor Brujo

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
John Storgårds, conductor

Tchaikovsky Symphony No 4 in F Minor, Op. 36 (December 2019)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor

Ravel Bolero

Dvořák Symphony No. 9 (From the New World)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Manfred Honeck, conductor

Johann Strauss, Jr. Overture to the Gypsy Baron (December 2019)

Bates Resurrexit (December 2019)

Bartók The Miraculous Mandarin (DGG 1994)

Mahler Totenfeier (DGG 1996)

Pierre Boulez and Manfred Honeck - Broadcast

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Erich Leinsdorf, conductor

Debussy La Mer - III. Dialogue of the Wind And The Sea (January 1978)

Debussy La Mer - II. Play of the Waves (January 1978)

Debussy La Mer - I. From Dawn to Midday on the Sea (January 1978)

Agnes Giebel, soprano
Gérard Souzay, baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Jean Martinon, conductor

Faure Requiem - Offertorium (April 1968)

Faure Requiem - Introit and  (April 1968)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
Barbara Frittoli, soprano
Olga Borodina, mezzo-soprano
Mario Zeffiri, tenor
Ildar Abdrazakov, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director

Verdi Messa da Requiem: Dies irae, dies illa (January 2009)

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Sir Georg Solit, conductor
Heather Harper, soprano
Lucia Popp, soprano
Arleen Augér, soprano
Yvonne Minton, contralto
Helen Watts, contralto
René Kollo, tenor
John Shirley-Quirk, baritone
Martti Talvela, bass
Wiener Staatsopernchor
Norman Balatsch, director
Wiener Singverein
Helmut Froschauer, director
Wiener Sängerknaben

Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major (Symphony Of A Thousand) (September 1971)

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.

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