Stories

CSO’s 90th Ravinia Residency Anchors 2026 Season

The Ravinia Festival’s 2026 season coincides with several milestones, including the 90th anniversary of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s summer residency.

Katherine BuzardAugust 5, 2025

Swan Songs: Classical Music Inspired by Swans

Keegan MorrisAugust 5, 2025

New Releases Aug. 5: Bach, Coleridge-Taylor, Hovhaness

Clayton Stephenson sits with a piano in the background

Keegan MorrisAugust 4, 2025

Chicago Sinfonietta’s 2025-26 Season: Ignite

New Releases Nov. 4: Women’s Voices

Adela SkowronskiNovember 4, 2025

Karina Canellakis continues her collaboration with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Altera's arranges Christmas music for women's voices, and more.

Music could help ease pain from surgery or illness. Scientists are listening.

Associated PressNovember 3, 2025

The healing power of song may sound intuitive given music’s deep roots in human culture. But the science of whether and how music dulls acute and chronic pain — technically called music-induced analgesia — is just catching up.

Playlists

Playlist: 10 Handel Operas Everyone Should Know

Playlist: 8 Classical Composers Who Were Cuckoo for Cuckoos

Playlist: 10 Classical Works to Put a Little Spring in Your Step

Playlist: Classical Music To Tug at Your Heart Strings

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Newberry Consort Announces 2025-26 Season, “Metamorphosis”

Keegan MorrisJuly 30, 2025

The respected Chicago early music ensemble will present four programs between October 2025 and May 2026.

Woman smiling holding sax in front of colorful urban background and sky

New Releases Jul. 29: Sax Phenom Jess Gillam & Shakespeare

Keegan MorrisJuly 29, 2025

A highly varied exploration of classical, folk, and contemporary in saxophonist Jess Gillam's PRISM, Vol. 2, and a survey of 16th-century music written for Shakespeare's plays.

closeup of man in suit and glasses onstage

Tom Lehrer, song satirist and mathematician, dies at 97

Associated PressJuly 28, 2025

His songs included "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," "The Old Dope Peddler" (set to a tune reminiscent of "The Old Lamplighter"), "Be Prepared" (in which he mocked the Boy Scouts) and "The Vatican Rag."

Through the Night with Peter van de Graaff