Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Photo: Andrew Eccles)
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2026-2027 season. One of the world’s leading orchestras, the next CSO season runs from September 17, 2026 through June 27, 2027, boasting a characteristically impressive blend of guest artists, orchestral staples, and new, expansive programming.
Headlining the announcement is the appointment of French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet as the season’s Artist-in-Residence. The CSO will also be honoring the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death by programming many of the icon’s most enduring pieces: from solo piano to symphonic masterworks.
Music Directors Past and Future
The 2026-27 season is marked by an increase in the influence of CSO Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä. The 30-year-old Finn conducts five concerts this season, three of which highlight important music by composers from his homeland. This will be his final run of concerts before he becomes the official Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in September, 2027.
Mäkelä and the CSO ring in the new season by highlighting works of Sibelius and Shostakovich in September, followed by an all-Mahler program in October. Baritone Thomas Hampson and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus will join the ensemble on October 8 and 9 for a lesser-known cantata by William Walton titled Belshazzar’s Feast.
Mäkelä departs with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for their annual European tour in January 2027. The Music Director Designate then returns to Chicago in May for a program of works by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg, which also spotlights guest violinist Lisa Batiashvili. The season concludes with Mäkelä at the helm, working alongside Donald Palumbo and the Chicago Symphony Chorus to deliver a stunning season finale: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
Klaus Mäkelä and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra receive an ovation at Symphony Center (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)
Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti returns to conduct three CSO programs in winter 2026 and spring 2027. For his first concert this season, the Italian conductor pairs Dvorak’s 8th Symphony with the Strauss Oboe Concerto, highlighting the CSO’s Principal Oboist William Welter. Longtime collaborator and classical music powerhouse Yefim Bronfman joins Muti for three concerts December 10-12, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24. Muti’s final appearance this season will see him conducting an all-Rossini program in April 2027, a concert that will include the composer’s choral masterpiece Stabat mater and the overture from William Tell.
Guest Artists and Conductors
The 2026-27 season opens with the return of internationally acclaimed violinist Hilary Hahn. A former CSO Artist-in-Residence, Hahn was forced to withdraw from all performances for most of 2024 and 2025 due to ongoing problems stemming from a herniated cervical spine disc. The violinist has since undergone a successful surgery and returned to concert halls in early 2026. She will perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto alongside the CSO and Petr Popelka for three concerts, beginning on Thursday, September 17, 2026.
The new 2026-27 Artist-in-Residence, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, makes his first appearance of the season on October 18. Thibaudet will perform alongside his frequent trio partners – violinist Lisa Batiashvili and cellist Gautier Capuçon – in a program of Shostakovich, Dvořák, and Debussy. Thibaudet will then return for two more concerts during the season: a performance of Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto with conductor Fabien Gabel in February 2027, followed by a survey of George Gershwin works with fellow pianist Michael Feinstein in May.
Chicago audience members will recognize Grant Park Symphony Orchestra Artistic Director Giancarlo Guerrero, who makes an appearance October 15-17 for a program featuring various fandangos and Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers will perform as the featured soloist.
Conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider visits the CSO next, leading the orchestra through two different programs: one spotlighting cellist Jian Wang in the Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, and another tackling Brahms’s Requiem. Soprano Louise Alder makes her CSO debut in the Requiem, one of many new soloists this season including violinist Nemanja Radulovic, pianist Mao Fujita, conductor Masaaki Suzuki, soprano Sherezade Panthaki, countertenor Hugh Cutting, bass-baritone Paul Max Tipton, and conductor Maxim Emelyanychev.
Two big names will visit the orchestra for back-to-back concerts in November. International phenom Yo-Yo Ma takes center stage on November 11, 2026 to perform Shostakovich’s first Cello Concerto, while the classically trained violinist, singer, and songwriter Andrew Bird makes his debut with the CSO November 13 and 14 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his album The Mysterious Production of Eggs.
November 19 and 21, 2026 will see conductor Jaap van Zweden leading the orchestra in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto with violinist Vadim Gluzman. Another major concerto by Prokofiev is featured later in the season when cellist Alisa Weilerstein joins conductor James Gaffigan for the Prokofiev Symphony-Concerto on March 18 and 20, 2027.
Beatrice Rana plays Tchaikovsky’s renowned Piano Concerto No.1 in a February program led by Dima Slobodeniouk that also includes Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4. Other piano soloists in spring of 2027 include Yuncham Lim, youngest-ever winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, who performs the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Liszt on May 27 and 28, 2027. In June, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor returns to the CSO alongside Sir Mark Elder for a performance of a fan favorite: Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
String soloists are also plentiful in the second half of the 2026-27 season. Violinist Randall Goosby, recently named the Cincinnati Symphony’s inaugural Community Artist-in-Residence, joins conductor Karina Canellakis to close out February with Mozart’s third Violin Concerto. Another star violinist Augustin Hadelich returns to Symphony Center for Korngold’s Violin Concerto on April 2 and 3, while CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen is featured in Strauss’s Violin Concerto later that same month.
Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša arrives at the CSO on April 15, 2027 to lead the orchestra in Shostakovich’s substantial 7th Symphony (nicknamed Leningrad.) In May, legendary composer and conductor Tan Dun makes his CSO conducting debut leading the orchestra in three of his works, featuring percussionist Yuri Yamashita as soloist.
Balancing Beethoven with New Works
Beethoven features predominantly in the 2026-27 concert season at the CSO. Many orchestral programs include some nod to Beethoven: whether it’s a symphony, overture, or concerto. A notable Beethoven celebration will occur in March 2027 when Chinese pianist Lang Lang joins the orchestra to perform Beethoven Piano Concertos 1-5 in back-to-back concerts. Paavo Järvi conducts this Beethoven piano special on March 24, 27, and 27, 2027, featuring different concertos and overtures in each performance.
The majority of pianists and chamber musicians coming to the CSO over the course of the season will also include music by the Early Romantic composer in their programs. Evgeny Kissin, Maxim Vengerov, and Gautier Capuçon will perform an evening of back-to-back Beethoven Piano Trios on Tuesday, May 18, and a number of pianists this season will focus on performing their favorite Beethoven piano sonatas.
Pianist Lang Lang (Photo: Sonja Mueller)
Despite the Beethoven focus, other beloved concert hall works are also featured this season. Staples include a variety of works from the Strauss family, beloved overtures by Mendelssohn, and standard symphonic repertoire: Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9, Sibelius’ Seventh Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, and multiple symphonies by Shostakovich and Mahler.
The CSO will also be playing a few pieces for the very first time this season, from Fandangos by Roberto Sierra and Arturo Márquez to Bach’s 3rd Keyboard Concerto and the overture to Carl Nielsen’s comic opera Maskarade. An interesting work by composer and conductor Pierre Boulez titled Le soleil des eaux will be heard prior to the CSO’s big Beethoven finale (his 9th Symphony) from June 17 through 20, 2027.
Audiences can expect the world premiere of Mason Bates’s The Escapist Symphony on February 25, 26, and 27, 2027. A CSO Commission, the orchestral work pulls from the composer’s acclaimed opera The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Manfred Honeck conducts the premiere in a program that also features Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.
U.S. premieres this season include Magnus Lindberg’s New Work in May under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä. Later that same month, Esa-Pekka Salonen premieres a revised version of his work Tiu, while June 3-6, 2027 marks the CSO debut of Philip Glass’s The Light. Other contemporary works performed by the CSO for the first time this season include Michael Abels’ More Seasons, Julia Wolfe’s Liberty Bell, and Arvo Pärt’s Summa.
Symphony Center Series
The Symphony Center chamber music series continues to host world-renowned artists.
In addition to Jean-Yves Thibaudet serving as the CSO Artist-in-Residence, The Symphony Center Presents Piano series welcomes a mix of the world’s leading pianists: Bruce Liu, Lukas Sternath, Rudolf Buchbinder, Mitsuko Uchida, Leif Ove Andsnes, Yuja Wang, Evgeny Kissin, and Piotr Anderszewski.
The Symphony Center Presents Chamber Music series features Nemanja Radulovic and Double Sens in their Symphony Center debuts, plus Kodo One on their 2027 Earth Tour. The CSO’s legendary Brass Section gets the spotlight in December for their annual brass-centric concert led by conductor Michael Mulcahy, while Mexican singer-songwriter, jazz, and cumbia artist Lila Downs performs her signature works April 4.
Jazz at Lincoln Center continues as well, with performances throughout the year by Wynton Marsalis and his ensemble, as well as Pink Martini.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s “Merry, Merry Chicago!” (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)
Additional Programming: Movies, Holidays, Kids, and more
December marks the return of popular holiday programming from the CSO. Winter season mainstays Chanticleer and the Vienna Boys Choir will make their annual appearances at Symphony Center, with multiple dates dedicated to the Merry, Merry Chicago! program and Handel’s Messiah respectively.
At the intersection of movie and music, the CSO will present the holiday classic Elf from December 11-13, 2026. Other programs under the CSO at the Movies banner are How to Train Your Dragon 2 (November), West Side Story (January), and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (June).
The season’s kid-friendly highlights include a “Symphonic Superheroes” program on Saturday November 21, and family-friendly matinees introducing younger audiences to iconic pieces of classical music. The Family Matinee on Sunday, March 6 will even feature special guests from The Second City. Once Upon a Symphony also returns for two distinct story and music pairings: “Stone Soup” on December 5th and January 30, followed by “The Elves and the Shoemaker” on March 2, April 10 and April 24, 2027.
As usual, concerts will occasionally have encore performances at Wheaton’s Edman Memorial Chapel for audiences unable to attend city performances of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
For more information, visit cso.org. For a comprehensive list of CSO’s Beethoven celebrations in particular, visit cso.org/Beethoven.
