The Grant Park Music Festival

Wednesdays at 6:30 pm

The Grant Park Music Festival is back, and so are WFMT’s live broadcasts!

WFMT is bringing you the very best that the Grant Park Music Festival has to offer this summer, giving you a front-row ticket to the Chicago summertime institution. With live broadcasts featuring scintillating solo performances, rousing choral opuses, and beloved orchestral landmarks, WFMT is your ticket to a whole summer’s worth of great music.

Upcoming Episodes
Latest Episodes

Franck Symphony in D Minor

August 10, 2022

Carlos Kalmar welcomes Marina Piccinini for a world-premiere performance of Christopher Theofanidis' Flute Concerto.

Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty

August 17, 2022

Tchaikovsky's Suite from Sleeping Beauty headlines an evening of music inspired by fairy tales.

Season Finale: Haydn Creation

August 19, 2022

For the conclusion of the Grant Park Music Festival's 2022 season, Carlos Kalmar conducts an acclaimed roster of soloists: tenor Duke Kim, bass Douglas Williams, and soprano Maeve Högland.

Latin Nights

July 29, 2020

Guitar virtuoso Pablo Sáinz Villegas joins Carlos Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra for a performance of Rodrigo’s Fantasia para un gentilhombre.

Pianist Conrad Tao

July 22, 2020

The rising pianist takes the Pritzker Pavilion stage to perform Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

Beethoven Violin Concerto

July 15, 2020

James Ehnes takes the stage for a performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Carlos Kalmar conducts.

Mozart’s ‘Jupiter Symphony’

July 8, 2020

Carlos Kalmar conducts this program, which also features Nielsen’s Flute Concerto.

An American Celebration

July 1, 2020

A program of American music for Independence Day, featuring James Carter, saxophone. Carlos Kalmar conducts.

Brahms Double Concerto

June 24, 2020

Brother-sister duo Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff share the stage for this performance of Brahms’s Double Concerto. Also featured in this program are works by Weber and Carpenter.

Conductor Carlos Kalmar leads the Grant Park Orchestra.

Debussy’s ‘La mer’

June 17, 2020

Carlos Kalmar conducts Debussy’s stirring La mer, plus selections by John Adams and Richard Strauss.

Rachmaninoff Rhapsody

June 10, 2020

Renowned pianist Stephen Hough performs Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Plus, festival principal conductor Carlos Kalmar conducts contemporary composer Sean Shepherd‘s Magiya and Walton’s oratorio Belshazzar’s Feast with bass-baritone Dashon Burton.

Mahler Symphony No. 2

August 16, 2019

The Grant Park Music Festival’s 2019 season comes to a close with Mahler’s colossal Symphony No. 2. Soprano Amanda Majeski and mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges join Carlos Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus for this performance of the Resurrection Symphony.

Flight of the Bumblebee

August 14, 2019

Maestro Carlos Kalmar leads the Grant Park Orchestra in a mixed program featuring works by Amy Beach, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Morton Gould.

Pianist Conrad Tao. (Photo: conradtao.com)

Copland Rodeo

July 31, 2019

Pianist Conrad Tao joins Carlos Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra for a performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Also featured in this program are works by MacDowell and Copland.

Dvořák Symphony No. 7

July 26, 2019

Brothers Anthony, clarinet, and Demarre McGill, flute, who hail from Chicago, join guest conductor David Danzmayr and the Grant Park Orchestra to perform Saint-Saëns’ Tarantelle and Joel Puckett Concerto Duo, which was written for them by Joel Puckett. Also featured in this performance are works by Jimmy López and Dvořák.

Pianist Stephen Hough. (Photo: Sim Cannetty-Clarke)

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3

July 19, 2019

Conductor Martyn Brabbins makes his US debut as pianist Stephen Hough returns to the Grant Park Music Festival to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. This program also features works by Vaughan Williams and James MacMillan.

Ravel Mother Goose

July 17, 2019

Works by Ravel, Ginastera, and Bizet are featured as Emmanuel Villaume leads the Grant Park Orchestra and guest harpist Yolanda Kondonassis in this week’s program.

Independence Day Salute

July 4, 2019

Conductor Christopher Bell leads the Grant Park Orchestra and guest artists Mary Stolper, flute, and John Orduña, baritone, in a program of lively and patriotic music celebrating Independence Day.

Brahms Violin Concerto

June 21, 2019

Violinist Augustin Hadelich makes his Grant Park Music Festival debut with this performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto. The program also features a Shostakovich symphony and the world premiere commission of a work by GPMF composer-in-residence Stacy Garrop.

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23

June 19, 2019

Pianist Inon Barnatan joins conductor Carlos Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra in a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23. The program also features works of Weber and Busoni.

Opening Night: Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 2

June 12, 2019

The Grant Park Music Festival’s season — and WFMT’s series of 10 live broadcasts from the festival — begins with this mixed program. Conductor Carlos Kalmar leads the Grant Park Orchestra in works of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Tchaikovsky, and violinist Benjamin Beilman performs Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1.

Carmina Burana, Closing Night

August 17, 2018

Carlos Kalmar leads the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus; Claire de Sevigne, soprano; Michael Maniaci, countertenor; John Brancy, baritone; members of the Anima – Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus.

Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1

August 8, 2018

Carlos Kalmar conducts the Grant Park Orchestra and pianist George Li in a program of works by Vincent and Chopin.

Ryan Opera Center Recital Series