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
Keegan Morris | April 2, 2024
Harding Conducts The Planets
October 25, 2026, 6:00 pm
This week, Daniel Harding leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Schumann’s Overture to Manfred, Brahms’ Schicksalslied and Holst’s The Planets, featuring the Chicago Symphony Chorus prepared by guest director Jenny Wong. Closing the broadcast, Sir Georg Solti conducts Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms.
Conductor Neeme Järvi and Cellist Alisa Weilerstein
February 10, 2019
Neeme Järvi conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program of Smetana and Dvořák. Also, under Järvi’s baton, Alisa Weilerstein and the CSO perform Barber’s Cello Concerto.
Semyon Bychkov conducts Brahms
February 3, 2019
Recently-appointed as Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic, celebrated conductor Semyon Bychkov takes the podium to lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program featuring Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 and Violin Concerto in D, with violinist Renaud Capuçon.
Conductor Christoph Eschenbach and Pianist David Fray
January 27, 2019
Celebrated conductor Christoph Eschenbach returns to Symphony Center to lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program of Weber, Mendelssohn, and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, featuring pianist David Fray. To conclude the program, Jean Martinon leads a performance of Suite No. 2 from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé.
Donald Runnicles conducts the Enigma Variations
January 20, 2019
Scottish conductor Donald Runnicles takes the podium to lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program of Britten, Strauss, and Elgar.
Marek Janowski conducts Beethoven and Wagner
January 13, 2019
Marek Janowski takes the podium to lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 as well as selections from Wagner’s Tannhäuser and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Conductor Juraj Valčuha and Violinist Christian Tetzlaff
January 6, 2019
Conductor Juraj Valčuha made his Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut in May 2017 with this concert, featuring works by Haydn, Szymanowski, Johann Strauss II, and Richard Strauss. This broadcast also features Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the CSO in Lutosławski’s Symphony No. 3.
Conductor and Composer John Williams Returns
December 30, 2018
This week’s program features the music of John Williams, the composer and conductor behind some of the most iconic scores in film history, including the Star Wars series, Jaws, the Indiana Jones series, and more. Conductor Richard Kaufman begins the program, then the Grammy and Academy Award-winning composer conducts his own music including selections from Jaws, the Star Wars films, Superman, and Memoirs of a Geisha.
Alain Altinoglu conducts Gounod’s Saint Cecilia Mass
December 23, 2018
Alain Altinoglu conducts works by Prokofiev, Poulenc, and Gounod, plus, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite.
Emmanuel Krivine, Isabelle Faust, and Paul Jacobs
December 16, 2018
Emmanuel Krivine leads the CSO in Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony with organ player Paul Jacobs. Violinist Isabelle Faust performs Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D Minor.
Neeme Järvi and Robert Chen
December 9, 2018
Neeme Järvi conducts the Chicago Symphony orchestra in a varied program featuring music by Pärt, Beethoven, and Sibelius. CSO concertmaster Robert Chen performs Bartók’s Violin Concert No. 1.
Matthias Pintscher and Jean-Yves Thibaudet
December 2, 2018
Conductor Matthias Pintscher leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program featuring works by Ravel and Debussy. Guest pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet appears for a performance of Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.
Salonen conducts Mahler 9
November 25, 2018
Join us for an evening of Mahler. Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the CSO in Mahler’s profound Symphony No. 9. Then, hear recordings of Songs of a Wayfarer and selections from Des Knabern Wunderhorn conducted by Georg Solti and featuring mezzo-soprano Yvonne Minton.
Bernard Haitink conducts An Alpine Symphony
November 18, 2018
Bernard Haitink, the former Principal Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, returns to Symphony Center to lead performances of Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 with pianist Till Fellner.
Frederick Stock Retrospective
November 11, 2018
This program celebrates the legacy of the CSO’s second music director Frederick Stock, who was born on November 11, 1872. Stock was appointed the second music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1905, a position he held for a record 37 years. During his tenure, Stock led the CSO in its first recording, numerous North American and US premieres, and ...
Riccardo Muti conducts Dvořák and Copland
November 4, 2018
Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, Ravel’s orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and Dvořák’s New World Symphony headline this week’s broadcast. Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti conducts the CSO, and John Malkovich narrates Lincoln Portrait.
Riccardo Muti conducts Liszt’s Dante Symphony
October 28, 2018
Riccardo Muti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Zell Music Director, conducts a varied program featuring pianist Mitsuko Uchida and soprano Alison Wahl.
Giovanni Antonini conducts Classical and Baroque Treasures
October 21, 2018
Antonini leads the CSO and guest mandolinist Avi Avital in a program of Boccherini, Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn and more.
Edo de Waart conducts Beethoven
October 14, 2018
Guest conductor Edo de Waart leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program featuring Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 (Prague) and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2.
Muti conducts Schubert Mass in E-flat Major
October 7, 2018
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra shares a program featuring a piece by Weber, the world premiere of a co-commissioned piece from CSO violist Max Raimi, and Schubert’s Mass in E-flat Major with the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
Rossini, Ogonek, and Bruckner
September 30, 2018
Maestro Riccardo Muti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a performance featuring Rossini’s Overture to William Tell, a world premiere by former CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Elizabeth Ogonek, and Bruckner’s great Symphony No. 4.