Waldbühne II: Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmonic

The Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill Petrenko take the Waldbühne stage in a program pairing Maurice Ravel with music by Modest Mussorgsky and Sergei Prokofiev and featuring pianist Yuja Wang.

10 Classical Earworms: The Mastery Behind Unforgettable Music

This music will stay with you—drawing you back to these pieces time and again.

6 (+1) Fascinating Premieres You Never Knew Happened in Chicago

For more than a century, artists from all over the world have chosen to give their first performances in the Second City.

Isabella Biscagna, viola & Nadia Azzi, piano

Violist Isabella Biscagna and pianist Nadia Azzi perform works by Clarice Assad, Sergei Prokofiev, and Caroline Shaw.

Russian Reflections

Contemplative works by Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, and Prokofiev.

Shani & Rana

Lahav Shani makes his CSO debut in Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances. Included in the program is Prokofiev’s Symphony No.1 and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini featuring Beatrice Rana.

Elim Chan Conducts Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, and a World Premiere by Ogonek

Elim Chan’s San Francisco Symphony debut.

Zhang & Trpčeski

Xian Zhang leads the CSO in Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony and Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s Primal Message. In between, Simon Trpčeski joins her in Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Opening the program, Sir Georg Solti leads the CSO in Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, Op. 56a from 1997 London recording.

15 Books About Music For the Young & Young at Heart

Every library could use more books! Here are our top books about music for the young and the young at heart.

Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff

Yefim Bronfman is the soloist in Prokofiev’s fiendishly difficult Piano Concerto No. 2. We also present Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 from that same concert and the broadcast opens with Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from the opera Eugene Onegin.

CSO Names Klaus Mäkelä as Music Director

The new music director designate is just 28 years old. He’ll be the youngest in orchestra history when he takes the baton.

7 Strange, Silly, and Surreal Opera Plots

Take out the high courts and bring in the dancing elephants: here are some of the strangest opera plots that have ever been put to paper.

Playlist: Classical Music for Cooking

Much like a gourmet dish, classical music is the result of many individual elements coming together. The composer, like a chef, must know the distinct flavor profiles of each instrument and how they complement each other.

Muti Conducts Mozart & Prokofiev

Plus the overture to Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims.

Encore broadcast | Sofia Radovic, 17, violin & viola

Radovic, a student at Midwest Young Artists Conservatory, plays both violin and viola in this recital.

Playlist: Beginner Concertos to Excite the Senses

Classical concertos are a great entry point for beginners. High-flying, exciting, virtuosic, they are often a pinnacle of solo performance.

90 Years: Grant Park Music Festival Announces 2024 Season

Another packed summer of live music awaits.

Alan Gilbert Conducts Symphonies by Haydn and Prokofiev

This broadcast features symphonies by Haydn and Prokofiev, plus a selection of songs by Franz Schubert orchestrated by various composers and the Fantasy-Overture, Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky. The orchestra is joined by mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter for the Schubert.

Italian pianist Beatrice Rana

Fast-rising pianist Beatrice Rana is heard in music by Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev.

James Ehnes Plays Prokofiev

Violinist James Ehnes takes center stage in a performance of Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto. Music by Jessie Montgomery, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky rounds out the performance.

Mäkelä Conducts The Firebird

Klaus Mäkelä makes his CSO debut in Stravinsky’s The Firebird.

Vanguard Voices

Chamberworks by Paul Hindemith, Charles Wuorinen, Sergei Prokofiev, and Brett Dean.

Muti, Chen & Mozart Gran Partita

Plus Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major.

Playlist: WFMT Listeners’ First Favorites

We all came to love classical music in different ways. Here are some of the musical first loves of our WFMT listeners, in their own words.

Isata Kanneh-Mason plays Prokofiev

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 is paired with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with soloist Isata Kanneh-Mason.

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