Chineke! performs Beethoven and Haydn

Anthony Parnther leads the orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4, Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, and works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, and Valerie Coleman.

Danish String Quartet

The dynamic ensemble performs works by Haydn, Bach, and Shostakovich as well as their crowd-pleasing arrangements of folk music.

A Tribute to Miriam Fried

Ravinia Steans Music Institute alumni Ariel Quartet, violinist Ayano Ninomiya, cellist Karen Ouzounian, and pianist Henry Kramer pay tribute to the retiring director of the RSMI program for piano & strings.

Playlist: 8 Popular Songs that Sample Classical Music

Musicians from rap to alternative to K-Pop and beyond look to classical music for inspiration! Here are just a few creative examples.

Barenboim Conducts Schoenberg & Schubert

Daniel Barenboim leads Schoenberg’s Pelleas and Melisande and Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C Minor. Haydn’s Symphony No. 95 in C Major opens the program.

Little Traveling Music, Please

Wanderers, farewells, and sightseeing; people are always on the go. This week, Bill calls up, “A Little Traveling Music, Please” from the pens of Handel, Smetana, Duke Ellington, and more. Reflections from such travels infuse themselves into their works, as we will discover throughout the week. We will hear selections from Beethoven’s Les Adieux, Schubert’s Die Schöne Mullerin, and Haydn’s …

Iconic Works and Unknown Gems

Selections by Joseph Haydn and Reynaldo Hahn.

Pelios String Quartet; Sofia Radovic & Miriam Kessler

Music by Debussy, Bartók, Haydn, and Saint-Saëns.

Fabien Sevitzky and the Indianapolis Symphony

Music by Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and Kalinnikov conducted by 20th century maestro Fabien Sevitzky.

Brentano String Quartet

“An ensemble of exceptional insight”, the Brentano String Quartet performs masterworks with reverence and an admirable balance of creativity and restraint.

Music of the Baroque: Circles of Friends and ’23-24

We hear MOB’s May concert Circles of Friends — featuring selections by Haydn, Mozart, and contemporaries Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf and Johann Baptist Wanhal — with an intermission feature: Declan McGovern previews the 23-24 season.

Boulez & Aimard

Pierre Boulez conducts Ligeti’s Piano Concerto, featuring Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

Haydn and Beethoven

Works by Classical era giants shine in string quartet and piano trio configurations.

Bruno Walter and the NBC Symphony

Works by Anton Bruckner, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Bedřich Smetana led by one of the 20th century’s definitive conductors.

Playlist: Classical Fire and Flames

The Great Chicago Fire began on October 8, 1871. Here’s some music that takes inspiration from flames.

St. Matthew Passion

Composed in 1727, it’s one of two surviving J.S. Bach accounts of the last days of Jesus. Bill begins by examining the history of the Lutheran church in Germany and the early musical representations of Christ’s last days, including Bach’s earlier St. John Passion. Before the week is over, we will also sample Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ and …

Grant Park Music Festival Announces Full 2022 Season

The season begins on June 15 with artistic director and principal conductor Carlos Kalmar leading music of Mozart, Wagner, and Price.

The Curious Stories Behind 10 National Anthems You Might Hear This Olympics

National anthems are some of the most iconic pieces of music from around the world. For this reason, they also contain some of the most interesting backstories.

Music of the Baroque Is Back With Messiah, Mozart, Haydn for 2021-22

Music of the Baroque today announced its plans for a 2021-22 season, the venerable Chicago area ensemble’s 51st.

Memorial Day 2021 on WFMT

All weekend long, WFMT will be honoring Memorial Day in music. Check out these highlights that you won’t want to miss.

No Maestro, No Problem for Chicago’s Conductorless Orchestra

Conductors are all but a given in symphonic performance today. Front and center, they provide a dynamic focal point for the audience while guiding the artistic experience onstage. But what if there were no conductor? Who would run the show? In chamber music, the artists themselves are usually tasked with determining the artistic interpretation and then communicating together to play …

Playlist: Classical Music for an Abundant Autumn, Selected by WFMT

In the gap between a languid summer and a long winter, there’s just enough room left for fall. It’s a season for transformation, comfort, reflection, and growth. In other words, it’s the perfect time to grab some cider, take in that brilliant fall foliage, and enjoy this playlist created for you by WFMT staff and hosts!

Video: Pianist Kimberly Han, 18, Plays Bach, Haydn, Chopin

Beneath the Tiffany Dome of the Chicago Cultural Center, 18-year-old pianist Kimberly Han performed works by Bach, Haydn, and Chopin.

Watch Pianist Tomer Gewirtzman Play Haydn and Scriabin

First prize winner at the 2015 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Israeli pianist Tomer Gewirtzman, artfully expresses style, sensitivity, and virtuosity at the keyboard. Watch his performance as part of the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series.

Grant Park Music Festival Announces 2018 Season

The summer festival’s 2018 season of concerts runs for 10 weeks from June 13 to August 18.