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
Guests in the House
June 28, 2026, 6:00 pm
Opening the broadcast is Khachaturian’s Third Symphony led by Leopold Stokowski, followed by John Williams’ Suite from Memoirs of a Geisha for Cello and Orchestra with Yo-Yo Ma under the baton of Williams himself. Next, Neeme Järvi conducts Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, and closing the broadcast, Pierre Monteux leads Franck’s Symphony in D minor.
Harding Conducts The Planets
September 14, 2025
This week, Daniel Harding leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Schumann’s Overture to Manfred, Brahms’ Schicksalslied and Holst’s The Planets, featuring Chicago Symphony Chorus and guest chorus director Jenny Wong. Closing the broadcast, Sir Georg Solti conducts Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms.
Muti & Batallán
September 7, 2025
This week, Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti leads concertos by Telemann and Michael Haydn—featuring Principal Trumpet Esteban Batallán in his CSO solo debut—along with Schubert’s Fourth Symphony. The program also includes historic RCA recordings of Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé Suite and R. Strauss’s Der Bürger als Edelmann under the baton of sixth music director Fritz Reiner.
Reiner Rarities
August 31, 2025
This week, a special broadcast featuring Fritz Reiner, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s sixth music director. The program includes the CSO’s first recordings of Liebermann’s Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, with soprano Lisa Della Casa. Opening the broadcast is Kabalevsky’s Colas Breugnon Overture, followed by Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 and Weinberger’s Polka and Fugues from ...
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis
August 24, 2025
This week, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis collaborate with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra! Giancarlo Guerrero conducts Adams’ The Chairman Dances, Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra No. 1, Prokofiev’s Selections from Romeo and Juliet, and Marsalis’ “All American Pep” from Swing Symphony. In between, we hear Ellington’s Big Fat Alice’s Blues, Amad, and The Mooch.
Musicians of the Orchestra
August 17, 2025
Legendary Chicago Symphony Orchestra soloists take center stage in this program, including Steven Staryk in Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs, Donald Peck in Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and Arnold Jacobs in Vaughan Williams’s Tuba Concerto. Dale Clevenger and fellow horns are featured in Schumann’s Konzertstück, and the broadcast closes with Samuel Magad, Charles Pikler, and John Sharp ...
Janáček; J. Strauss, Jr. & Mussorgsky
August 10, 2025
This week, Seiji Ozawa opens the program in Janáček’s Sinfonietta. Next on the program, Morton Gould leads Copland’s Dance Symphony, followed by J. Strauss Jr.’s Wiener Blut, Rosen aus dem Süden, Der Zigeunerbaron, and Unter Donner und Blitz under Fritz Reiner’s baton. Closing the broadcast, Carlo Maria Giulini conducts Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition.
Barenboim Conducts Bruckner 4
August 3, 2025
This week, we hear Daniel Barenboim leading the CSO before his tenure as the ninth Music Director. Opening the broadcast is Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol, followed by Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini and Bruckner’s “Romantic” Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major.
Muti & the CSO
July 27, 2025
This week, Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti leads the world premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Megalopolis Suite, commissioned by the CSO. The program also includes Donizetti’s Overture to Don Pasquale, Verdi’s “The Four Seasons” from I vespri siciliani, Chabrier’s España, and Maurice de Falla’s Suite No. 2 from The Three-Cornered Hat. Rounding out the broadcast, Lei Hou, Qing Hou, ...
Solti Conducts Beethoven and Liszt
July 20, 2025
This week, we hear two Grammy Award-winning recordings of Sir Georg Solti and the CSO. Opening the broadcast is Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2, featuring Vladimir Ashkenazy. Next, we hear Liszt’s A Faust Symphony, featuring vocal soloist Siegfried Jerusalem and the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
Composers’ Early Successes
July 13, 2025
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, and Strauss his first horn concerto at age eighteen, and nineteen-year-old Shostakovich submitted his first symphony as a graduation exercise from the Petrograd Conservatory. The overture to Rienzi, ...
Salonen & Apkalna
July 6, 2025
This week, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts his own composition, Sinfonia Concertante for Organ and Orchestra, with soloist Iveta Apkalna. The program also includes Richard Strauss’ Don Juan and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. Opening the broadcast, Pierre Boulez leads Stravinsky’s Four Studies for Orchestra.
Sokhiev & Avdeeva
June 29, 2025
This week, guest conductor Tugan Sokhiev conducts the CSO in Tchaikovsky’s “Winter Dreams” Symphony. Opening the program is Panufnik’s Heroic Overture, followed by Chopin’s first Piano Concerto, featuring Yulianna Avdeeva.
Muti, Herbert & Pines of Rome
June 22, 2025
Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti conducts Kraft’s Timpani Concerto, featuring Principal Timpani David Herbert. The program opens with Mozart’s Divertimento in F Major and closes with Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 1 and Pines of Rome.
Muti Conducts Sleeping Beauty & Swan Lake
June 15, 2025
This week, Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti leads a program featuring Tchaikovsky’s Suites from The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, opening with Reznicek’s Overture to Donna Diana. Filling out the broadcast, Stephanie Jeong, So Young Bae, Lawrence Neuman, and Kenneth Olsen perform Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major.
Hrůša Conducts Má vlast
June 8, 2025
This week, we hear Jakub Hrůša’s CSO debut concert program: Smetana’s Má vlast. Opening the broadcast is Pierre Boulez conducting Mahler’s Totenfeier from a 1996 Deautsche Grammophon recording.
2024 Ravinia Festival Opening Night: Celebration of Americana
June 1, 2025
We look back at last year’s opening night CSO performance at Ravinia. Marin Alsop, Chief Conductor of the Ravinia Festival, leads the CSO in a program celebrating American composers. Opening the program is Copland’s Suite from Appalachian Spring, followed by Johnson’s Charleston. Next, soloist Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha joins in Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24. Rounding out the program ...
Haitink Conducts Mahler 2
May 25, 2025
In honor of the Mahler Festival 2025, Bernard Haitink leads the CSO in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, featuring vocalists Miah Persson and Christianne Stotijn, alongside the Chicago Symphony Chorus. Opening the broadcast, Pierre Boulez leads Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy.
Giulini Conducts Mahler 9
May 18, 2025
As part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mahler Festival 2025 celebrations, tune in to a special radio broadcast featuring the CSO’s First Principal Guest Conductor Carlo Maria Giulini leading Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 9.
Thielemann Conducts Bruckner
May 11, 2025
Christian Thielemann returns to the CSO podium to lead Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony. The broadcast also includes Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde, led by Daniel Barenboim, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s ninth music director from 1991 until 2006.
Mäkelä Conducts López & Mahler 5
May 4, 2025
Zell Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä returns to the CSO podium to lead Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. The program includes Sibelius’ The Swan of Tuonela, and the U.S. premiere of Aino by Jimmy López, which the CSO co-commissioned. Opening the broadcast is Corigliano’s Tournaments Overture under Sir Georg Solti’s baton.
