Feeling down? Beethoven gets it.

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.

Season Finale: Soloist Hilary Hahn joins conductor Alain Altinoglu and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra to perform one of her staple pieces: Beethoven’s violin concerto. Paired with the concerto is the eight symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich, a work which the composer described as “an attempt to reflect the terrible tragedy of war.” Some have also called it a requiem to …

The BBC Philharmonic welcomes pianist Paul Lewis to perform Beethoven’s third piano concerto, under the baton of conductor John Storgårds. The program also includes Gustav Holst’s The Planets Suite, and a new work commissioned by BBC Radio 3: Grace-Evangeline Mason’s Ablaze the Moon. 

WFMT’s series of concerts from Ravinia Festival returns on Sunday, August 31 at 3:00 pm for a 10-week lineup of wonderful chamber recitals.

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.

Humans across cultures have played percussion instruments to accompany music and dance or for ritual, religious, or military purposes. But percussion’s rise in prominence within the context of the Western symphony orchestra only really began in the 20th century.

Music Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas is joined by soprano Angel Blue, mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford, tenor Ben Bliss, and bass Dashon Burton with the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus to perform Beethoven’s dramatic Symphony No. 9, which celebrates the bonds of humanity and the glory of the creator in its triumphant “Ode to Joy.”

Zubin Mehta and Leonard Bernstein share conducting duties in music by Paul Hindemith, Ludwig van Beethoven, John Corigliano, and Antonio Vivaldi.

In Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn, Brahms travels in time, using ancient musical forms to explore possible futures. In Beethoven’s Second Symphony, anarchic glee subverts Classical elegance. Between the two big Bs, precisely in the present, Esa-Pekka Salonen debuts his longtime friend Anders Hillborg’s witty and colorful new Piano Concerto, performed with genial sophistication by soloist Emanuel Ax.

This week, Julian Rachlin showcases his singular versatility as a violinist, violist and conductor. He joins Associate Concertmaster Stephanie Jeong in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante before leading a performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Meditation” from Souvenir d’un lieu cher. Taking the podium, Rachlin bookends the program by conducting works by Mozart and Beethoven.

Soprano Lise Davidsen stars as Leonore, who risks everything to save her husband from the clutches of tyranny, with Susanna Mälkki conducting.

Guest artists include cellist Oliver Herbert, violinist Geneva Lewis, and pianist Orion Weiss.

No U.S. president has served as a member of the Kennedy Center board before, let alone its chair.

Two players is all you need to make great chamber music in duos by Zoltán Kodály and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Any chamber music demands a deceptive level of coordination and mastery. But what about when two artists are playing the same instrument, side-by-side?

Ahead of his debut as WFMT’s Morning Music host, WFMT spoke with John Clare to welcome him to Chicago airwaves and introduce him to listeners.

The compositions of two historical women composers: Clara Schumann and Ruth Gipps. Plus a survey of 20th century works by violinist Paul Huang, and dazzling male vocal ensemble Cantus.

Plus music by Charles Ives, Anton Webern, and Robert Schumann.

Curated celebratory classical music, and the exact second to press play so the music crescendos with the changing of the New Year.

Storms capture the human imagination, inspiring awe and fear in equal measure.

Some of today’s most beloved works of classical music weren’t well received when they made their debuts!

A duo of unconventional works fill this program featuring an abundance of string instruments.

The Brazilian pianist in unreleased music by Beethoven, Bach, Liszt, Strauss, Debussy, Gluck, and Villa-Lobos.

Music that vanished, whether by accident or by design, only to be brought back into the light years, or centuries, later.