Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concerts - During its 134th season, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra inspired audiences through more than 130 performances, including 32 weeks of subscription concerts. The 2024/25 Season was highlighted by landmark performances with Zell Music Director Designate Klaus Makela and Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti. Makela, whose tenure as the CSO's 11th Music Director begins in the 2027/28 Season, returned for a two-week spring residency that featured Mahler's Third Symphony and a program with Dvorak's Seventh Symphony and Brahms' Second Piano Concerto, featuring 2024/25 CSO Artist-in-Residence Daniil Trifonov. Muti conducted four distinct programs in Chicago, including a program featuring the world premiere of the CSO-commissioned Megalopolis Suite by former Mead Composer-in-Residence Osvaldo Golijov, and capped the season with four capacity performances of Verdi's Requiem Mass. This followed a critically acclaimed U.S. tour in January 2025 led by Muti, which included performances in Florida, at New York's Carnegie Hall and the McKnight Center for the Performing Arts in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Other artistic milestones included a 2025 European tour with Jaap van Zweden on the podium, where the CSO was the only North American ensemble invited to perform at the Mahler Festival in Amsterdam, followed by concerts in Hamburg, Dresden, Prague, and Wroclaw, Poland, and a collaboration with The Joffrey Ballet that featured two newly commissioned ballets.

Symphony Center Presents Concerts - Symphony Center Presents (SCP) programs throughout the 2024/25 Season welcomed a wide array of world-class artists and ensembles. The SCP Chamber Music series featured the return of viol player Jordi Savall with his early music ensembles; violinist Julia Fischer with pianist Jan Lisiecki, and a trio comprising violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, pianist Yefim Bronfman, and cellist Pablo Ferrandez. The SCP Piano series brought legendary artists like Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Daniil Trifonov, Emanuel Ax, Evgeny Kissin, and Vikingur Olafsson back to Orchestra Hall, alongside notable debuts by Alexandre Kantorow and Mao Fujita. The SCP Jazz series included performances by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Cecile McLorin Salvant, the Bill Charlap Trio, Hiromi, the Brandee Younger Trio, Eliane Elias, and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra in a tribute to Oscar Peterson. Other highlights included Grammy Award-winning vocalist Lila Downs returning for a Dia de los Muertos program, as well as performances by the Sphinx Virtuosi, Kodo, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and Pink Martini.