The Grant Park Orchestra onstage at Chicago’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion (Photo: Elliot Mandel)
2026 is shaping up to be a big year for the Grant Park Music Festival. Chicago’s annual, free classical music series will be celebrating multiple anniversaries throughout its 2026 season: from celebrations surrounding the 250th anniversary of the United States, to Christopher Bell’s 25th season as the Festival’s Chorus Director.
This year’s concert series will take place on Wednesday and Friday evenings from June 10 – August 15 at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Four of those performances will be held at the Harris Theater (June 26 and 27, July 31, and August 1).
Season Launch
The 2026 season officially begins on Wednesday June 10 with an orchestral presentation of Bernstein’s West Side Story. Giancarlo Guerrero conducts the Grant Park Festival Orchestra in a program that also includes works by other American composers: Joan Tower’s Made in America and Samuel Barber’s Symphony No. 1. Later that week on Friday, June 12 and Saturday, June 13, Guerrero and the orchestra spotlight Brahms’s moving and melancholic Symphony No.4. The program is rounded out by Gabriela Lena Frank’s Conquest Requiem, which features special guests Jessica Rivera (soprano) and Andrew Garland (baritone).
Special Programming
Like many organizations across the country, the Grant Park Music Festival will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States by playing music of American composers. Programs will explore “American-sounding music” through various lenses, from immigrant composers to current citizens, as well as compositions by African American, Latin American artists, and other historically underrepresented composers. These works will be placed alongside classical music cornerstones that have been inspiring the United States for generations.
Christopher Bell conducting the Independence Day Salute
The Grant Park Music Festival will also honor longtime Chorus Director Christopher Bell who, with his iconic outfits and charismatic conducting, has become one of the festival’s calling cards. Bell will return to conduct his signature Independence Day Salute on the 4th of July. To mark his 25th season, he will also conduct Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem on July 17 and 18, and lead the Grant Park Chorus in four more productions throughout the summer. Of particular interest is Bell’s acapella program on July 2, made up of American traditional and contemporary choral works curated by the director.
During the Summer, the festival will open its doors to the public for free lunchtime rehearsals. The festival’s Classical Campers musical outreach program for students 6-12 will return as well.
High Profile Works
Many classical music staples will be heard throughout the 2026 season; among these will be Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5, Mozart’s Requiem, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. In keeping with the season’s American theme, many great American masterworks will also make an appearance, from Aaron Copland’s Symphony No. 3 and Gershwin’s An American in Paris, to Duke Ellington’s The Three Black Kings and John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine.
The 2026 season also brings with it two world premieres – a string quartet by Clarice Assad and a vocal work by Jasmine Barnes. Both compositions have been commissioned by the festival for their 2026 String and Vocal Fellows. Among the season’s six Illinois premieres is an orchestral work from Julia Wolfe titled Liberty Bell, as well as one Chicago premiere.
Guest Artists
A myriad of artists will be joining the festival’s ensembles throughout the summer. Artistic Director Giancarlo Guerrero will be conducting eight of the festival’s performances. Two former Principal Conductors of the festival return to their old stomping grounds: Carlos Kalmar leads the orchestra on July 1, 3, and 8, while Leonard Slatkin takes the reins on July 10 and 11. Kendrick Armstrong, Kalena Bovell, Jeri Lynne Johnson, Enrico Lopez-Yañez, and Jason Seber are all set to make their conducting debuts at this year’s festival.
Third Coast Percussion (Photo: Saverio Truglia)
Many performers will be making their festival debuts as well, from Chicago’s Grammy Award-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion to songwriter-composer Ben Folds, pianists Sara Davis Buechner and Olga Kern, violinists Yevgeny Kutik and Gabriela Lara, and even select actors from the Lookingglass Theatre Company. Popular return guests include Stewart Goodyear, Garrick Ohlsson, William Hagen, Anne Akiko Meyers, Janai Brugger, Imara Miles, John Matthew Myers, and Sankara Harouna. Aerialists from Troupe Vertigo will also be making a return to the festival for a program themed around space.
Pianist Michelle Cann and composer Clarice Assad will be this season’s Visiting Masters, leading five masterclasses throughout the season that are open to the public.
Collaboration with WFMT
WFMT’s partnership with the Grant Park Music Festival continues into 2026. Full details about this year’s broadcasts will be announced as the season approaches. Explore the full season announcement at grantparkmusicfestival.com.
