Armstrong is the first music director since the unexpected death of Michael Morgan in 2021.

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

Plus chamber music and ensemble appearances from renowned Chicago artists.

The 2024-2025 programming is marked by elements of fantasy, world premieres, and the return of a Chicago holiday staple.

The Japanese conductor amazed audiences with the lithe physicality of his performances during three decades at the helm of the BSO. He served as the first music director of Ravinia from 1964 to 1968.

The recipient joins a respected roster of fellowship winners, including Karina Canellakis, Mei-Ann Chen, Jeri Lynne Johnson, and Valentina Peleggi.

Marin Alsop, one of the most respected American conductors, gets another appointment.

As we look forward to the festivities, we have compiled some of Chicago’s most enticing holiday offerings!

“I have so much pouring out of me that I would like to share before I can’t share it anymore. It seems the more years I’ve been given, the more I need.”

Works by Florence Price and other women composers, including unpublished songs by Margaret Bonds.

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

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.

In this new program, haunting ballads and legends give way to driving reels.

The faculty of Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute — including violinist and program director Miriam Fried, pianist Alessio Bax, and violist Kim Kashkashian — perform works by Haydn, Brahms, and Busoni.

The duo performs their program “Broken Branches” with music ranging from Dowland, Monteverdi, Britten, Rodrigo, Takemitsu, Harvey, and Chakerto traditional songs from the Middle East, scrutinizing the close cultural and musical ties between East and West. Recorded on June 21 in Bennett Gordon Hall.

Two alumni of the Ravinia Steans Music Institute — Arnaud Sussmann, violin, and Michael Stephen Brown, piano — join forces for a wide-ranging program of music from the 18th century to today.

Marin Alsop reflects that “courage is important in leadership, but accountability is, too.”

Artists from the Ravinia Steans Music Institute — Ravinia’s training ensemble — join the program’s director, violinist Miriam Fried, to play a medley of quartets.

The American soprano performs her signature role in The Magic Flute next month at Ravinia Festival.

Opening night of CSO’s annual summer residency at Ravinia features Marin Alsop leading the chorus and orchestra in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Midori will succeed Miriam Fried, who’s led the program for the past 30 years.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2023 Ravinia residency features conductor Marin Alsop and a lineup of other leading conductors.

When beloved satirist and musician “Weird Al” Yankovic visited Ravinia, WFMT spoke with him about his tour… and then challenged him to a classical music speed round!

Tenor Matthew Polenzani reflects that “there are definitely pieces where what’s required dramatically in a hall of 4,000 seats is different from what’s required dramatically on a screen.”

WFMT spoke to the Chicago-born Lewis in 2015, when, at the age of 80, his music received its first CSO performance.