Riccardo Muti conducts three of Beethoven’s works, beginning with his Coriolan Overture and followed by his eighth and fifth symphonies. Plus, the CSO Brass performs Barber’s Mutations from Bach, selections from Bach’s The Art of Fugue and Michael Tilson Thomas’s Street Song.

Exploring unique pairings — violin & viola, plus piano four hands — in American repertoire from Mark O’Connor, George Tsontakis, Samuel Barber, and George Gershwin.

Amir Hoshang Farsi, flute, and Yun Janice Lu, piano perform works by Samuel Barber, Charles T. Griffes, William Grant Still, and Lowell Liebermann.

Marin Alsop opens this program with Barber’s First Symphony and Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto, featuring Lukáš Vondráček in his debut performances, followed by Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

Eleanor Steber speaks about commissioning Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville, Summer of 1915.” Note: This program takes place at midnight because of a live performance from Ravinia Festival.

Pianist Joyce Yang, a 2023 artist-in-residence for the festival, joins conductor Gemma New to perform Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Proving that two is better than one in works by Henri Dutilleux, Paul Schoenfield, and Samuel Barber.

Hrůša also conducts music by Barber and Coleridge-Taylor.

Time once called Rorem “the world’s best composer of art songs,” and he was notable for his hundreds of compositions for the solo human voice.

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

September is National Piano Month, so WFMT is sharing a supersized playlist – with one selection corresponding to each key on the keyboard.

Take this quiz to find out which dean of American music you’re most like! Are you sparse and minimal like Philip Glass? Or do you prefer the sis-boom-bah John Philip Sousa? Do you prefer Samuel Barber’s sonic landscapes of America, or Scott Joplin’s Ragtime portraits of American life?

Brace your ears: the Chicago Air and Water Show is upon us! But there’s more to hear than the roars of the Blue Angels and Red Arrows — take in the excitement while listening to music inspired by aviation and nautical navigation!

In the early 1990s, the famed composer and librettist Gian Carlo Menotti came to Chicago as the guest for a black-tie event for Chicago Opera Theater. Larry Johnson recounts a rare opportunity to spend time with a world-famous musician and composer.

Summer is upon us! Whatever your plans, we have the perfect musical accompaniment: summery classical music selected by WFMT hosts and staff!

It will mark Muti’s tenth-anniversary season as music director as well as the 250th birthday of Beethoven. Muti conducts all of Beethoven’s symphonies over the course of the season, culminating in the triumphant Symphony No. 9 in June 2020.

Looking back on his many years experiencing great music in Chicago, Carl shares some of his very favorite performances.

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

If “Music oft hath such a charm / To make bad good, and good provoke to harm,” perhaps these 10 Shakespeare-inspired operas will charm you.

Can you imagine a world without the music of Handel, Tchaikovsky, or Britten? These great composers of the past are just a few of many important musical figures who did not identify as heterosexual.