Sundays at 6:00 pm
Hear live performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra every week
The Chicago Symphony presents a full range of orchestral works under the seasoned baton of music director emeritus for life Riccardo Muti. The top-tier soloists and guest conductors complete the series with artists like Yo-Yo Ma, Hilary Hahn, and Daniil Trifonov; as well as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mitsuko Uchida, and Bernard Haitink. The two-hour Chicago Symphony Orchestra broadcasts include dynamic and innovative commentary which takes the listener behind the scenes and into the music.
News: Meet the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's New Music Director
CSO Names Klaus Mäkelä as Music Director
Mäkelä Conducts Rite of Spring
On this week’s broadcast, Zell Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä leads the CSO in Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Gershwin’s An American in Paris, and Milhaud’s Le Boeuf sur le toit. Opening the broadcast is Seventh music director Jean Martinon conducting Roussel’s Bacchus and Ariadne and Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess.
Ozawa Conducts Beethoven and Bartók
Seiji Ozawa served as the first music director of the Ravinia Festival from 1964 until 1968 and as principal conductor for the 1969 season. During his tenure, he recorded a number of works for RCA and Angel, including works by Beethoven, Borodin, Schoenberg and Bartók.
Composers’ Early Successes
Most of the music on this program was written by teenagers: Mendelssohn was seventeen years old when he composed his Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Rachmaninoff completed his First Piano Concerto at the age of eighteen, the same age Strauss was upon completing his first Horn Concerto, and nineteen-year-old Shostakovich submitted his First Symphony as a graduation exercise from ...
Benny Goodman in Nilesen and Weber
American jazz clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman—known as the “King of Swing”—appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on several occasions in the 1960s. He also recorded concertos by Weber and Nielsen with the ensemble under Jean Martinon and Morton Gould for RCA along with a very special Windy City–themed encore.
Janáček; J. Strauss, Jr. & Mussorgsky
This week, Seiji Ozawa opens the program with Janáček’s Sinfonietta. Next on the program, Morton Gould leads Copland’s Dance Symphony, followed by a collection of Johann Strauss Jr.’s best loved waltzes, polkas and overtures under Fritz Reiner’s baton. Closing the broadcast, Carlo Maria Giulini conducts Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition.
