Celebrate Chicago’s vibrant classical music scene.
Music in Chicago gives you a front-row seat to some of the best classical music concerts presented throughout the Chicago area. Every day in the noon hour, Lisa Flynn features recent performances from the city’s soloists, orchestras, choirs, bands and chamber ensembles. The Elgin Symphony Orchestra, St. Charles Singers, Rachel Barton Pine, Dover Quartet, Civic Orchestra, Midwest Mozart Festival, and Chicago Latino Music Festival are among the many artists and organizations that have been heard on this weekly program.
WFMT is always looking for new groups and musicians to feature on Music in Chicago. If you or your ensemble would like to be considered for our program, audition online to let us know more about you and to send us a recording.
July 4 – July 8, 2022
July 8, 2022
Coming up this week on Music in Chicago, we'll hear performances from Northwestern University - the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the winners of the Dover Quartet Competition. Julian Rhee, the winner of the 2020 Elmar Oliveira Violin Competition, performs on the Dame Myra Hess Concert. Jorge Federico Osorio plays Spanish piano music, and our Impromptu encore features famed Italian guitarist Oscar Ghiglia.
July 15-19, 2019: Camerata Chicago, Esther Lee & Sung Chang, Tom Zalmanov, Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Brasil Guitar Duo
July 19, 2019
WFMT now gives you a daily connection to the amazing wealth and variety of classical music in the Chicago region. Music in Chicago is heard weekdays at noon, featuring recordings and live performances by area soloists and ensembles and visiting artists. This Monday, we’ll share a recording by Camerata Chicago. On Tuesday, we’ll hear a past Dame Myra Hess concert ...
July 8-12, 2019: Escher Quartet, Pablo Sáinz Villegas, Gabriel Martins, St. John Cantius Church, Spektral Quartet
July 12, 2019
WFMT now gives you a daily connection to the amazing wealth and variety of classical music in the Chicago region. Music in Chicago is heard weekdays at noon, featuring recordings and live performances by area soloists and ensembles and visiting artists. This Monday, we’re sharing music from the Escher Quartet. On Tuesday, we’ll hear a WFMT Impromptu by guitarist Pablo ...
July 1-5, 2019: Wicker Park Choral Singers, Camerata Chicago, Pianist YinJia Lin, and Elgin Symphony Orchestra
July 5, 2019
Starting this July, WFMT will give you a daily connection to the amazing wealth and variety of classical music in the Chicago region. Music in Chicago will now be heard weekdays at noon, featuring concert and commercial recordings by area soloists and ensembles. This Monday, we’re sharing a program of new music by the Wicker Park Choral Singers. On Tuesday, ...
2019 Rush Hour Concerts at St. James Cathedral
June 21, 2019
In the Summer of 2000, concert pianist and civic leader Deborah Sobol founded the Rush Hour Concert series to reinvent the traditional classical music concert format by presenting chamber music masterworks in an engaging setting, accessible to all. These 30-minute concerts offer unparalleled access to repertoire spanning 700 years, performed by world-class musicians from Chicago’s leading ensembles including the Chicago Symphony ...
Chicago Chamber Choir: Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil
June 21, 2019
The Chicago Chamber Choir, a 40-voice ensemble, concluded its 2018/2019 season with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil. Originally intended for liturgical use, these stunning polyphonic settings of Russian Orthodox chant evoke introspection and jubilation in both religious and secular contexts. Rachmaninoff’s orchestration of the choir leads to some of the most awe-inspiring, dramatic moments in choral music.
Victorian Flourish with the St. Charles Singers
June 14, 2019
The St. Charles Singers concluded their 2018-19 concert season with an eclectic program of Victorian-era choral works, both secular and sacred, from the British Isles, the United States, France, and Germany. The mixed-voice professional chamber choir conducted by Jeffrey Hunt presented a broad range of composers from a specific historical period. “The Victorian era was a Renaissance for choral music,” ...
The Grand Tour with Music of the Baroque
May 31, 2019
In March 2019, Harry Bicket, Baroque specialist and artistic director of the English Concert, led Music of the Baroque in a lively musical reenactment of the grand European tour of young nobles and aristocrats, from London and Versailles to Venice and Munich. The program included a concerto by Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco, who worked in the service of the Bavarian court ...
Violist Matthew Lipman on WFMT
May 24, 2019
In a Facebook Live webcast from WFMT’s Levin Performance Studio, violist Matthew Lipman and pianist Shirley Trissell performed works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Rebecca Clarke, and Robert Schumann. Matthew hails from Chicago’s south suburbs and appeared on WFMT’s Introductions in 2008 as a student. Now, he is a member of the viola faculty at Stony Brook University, performs with the ...
Composer and Guitarist Juan Falú on WFMT’s Impromptu
May 17, 2019
In his dual role as composer and performer, Juan Falú is a cornerstone of Argentinean folk music. As an interpreter, Falú employs his vast knowledge of the different Argentinean folk rhythms and displays an innate command of the artistry of improvisation. Many of his songs are already established within the repertoire of the most outstanding Argentinean folk musicians. Falú visited ...
Neave Trio at Northeastern Illinois University
May 17, 2019
Since forming in 2010, the Neave Trio – violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura – has earned enormous praise for its engaging, cutting-edge performances. The Boston Musical Intelligencer included Neave in its “Best of 2014” and “Best of 2016” roundups, writing, “it is inconceivable that they will not soon be among the busiest chamber ensembles going,” ...
Winter Chamber Music Festival at Northwestern University
May 3, 2019
Every January, the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University hosts renowned chamber groups at its Winter Chamber Music Festival. The concert on January 27, 2019, in Pick-Staiger Hall featured faculty members in a wide-ranging program, including Samuel Zyman’s 1997 Flute Sonata with flutist John Thorne and pianist Kay Kim.
Pianist Rasa Vitkauskaite at Dame Myra Hess Series
May 3, 2019
Hailed for “artistry of poetic and observant sensitivity” (Gramophone), internationally acclaimed pianist Rasa Vitkauskaite performed in the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series on April 3, 2019. Her program included works by Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Moszkowski, Guastavino, and a composer from her native country of Lithuania – Mikalojus Čiurlionis.
Pianist Sophiko Simsive Plays Liszt
April 26, 2019
Georgian-born Sophiko Simsive started to play the piano at the age of three and began her studies with her mother. At the age of eleven, she performed Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto with the student orchestra of Georgia at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Germany. Most recently she was selected as the winner of the Music Academy of the West’s second ...
Elgin Symphony Orchestra in Concert
April 26, 2019
Named “Orchestra of the Year” an unprecedented four times by the Illinois Council of Orchestras and winner of a 2010 Elgin Image Award, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, now in its 67th season, is respected for exceptional performance, innovative education programs, and community outreach initiatives. In 2013, after a two-year international search in which over 250 applicants were reviewed, Andrew Grams ...
DePaul University Faculty Chamber Concert
April 19, 2019
Completed in the summer of 2018, the Holtschneider Performance Center is the first phase of a new music complex for the DePaul University School of Music, serving as the eastern gateway to the Lincoln Park Campus. The new center houses four concert halls of varying sizes along with state-of-the-art rehearsal spaces, a sound recording technology suite, box office, and dynamic ...
Dynamic Duos with Chicago a cappella
April 19, 2019
Chicago’s acclaimed vocal ensemble Chicago a cappella spotlighted songwriting and performing duos on their April 2019 program, “Dynamic Duos: The Greatest Musical Partnerships.” Veteran pop arranger Paul Langford provided music direction and new arrangements of songs by Elton John & Bernie Taupin, the Carpenters, Hall & Oates, Simon & Garfunkel, and more. The ten professional vocalists of Chicago a cappella also ...
Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra in Concert
April 19, 2019
The Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra performs major literature from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. It is conducted and administered by Victor Yampolsky, director of orchestras. Under his baton, the ensemble has evolved into one of the nation’s great collegiate orchestras that has placed many alumni in top orchestras and opera companies. In January 2019, the NUSO presented a program ...
Brasil Guitar Duo at Northeastern Illinois University
March 29, 2019
Brasil Guitar Duo, a 2006 winner of the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, and hailed by Classical Guitar magazine for its “maturity of musicianship and technical virtuosity,” is equally at home on a classical or a world-music series. Its innovative programming features a seamless blend of traditional and Brazilian works, resulting in a full global touring schedule and a growing ...
The Civic Orchestra of Chicago Centenary Celebration
March 29, 2019
Currently celebrating its 100th season, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago is the nation’s premier orchestral training program for emerging professional musicians. Since 1919, young artists have sought membership in the orchestra to develop their musicianship and to further prepare for their careers. Benefiting from a unique alliance with the world-renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Civic members refine their skills under the ...
Third Coast Baroque Plays Muffat
March 22, 2019
Third Coast Baroque is a versatile ensemble comprised of “Chicago’s most accomplished period instrumentalists and singers” (Chicago Tribune) under the artistic direction of conductor Rubén Dubrovsky. The ensemble seeks to take Baroque music to the people of Chicago and beyond by removing barriers of location and setting, focusing on accessibility, educating audiences about the diverse influences that underlie the Baroque aesthetic, ...