![Chicago Symphony Orchestra 2005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Chicago_Symphony_Orchestra_2005.jpg)
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by
Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at
Orchestra Hall in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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and plays a summer season at the
Ravinia Festival. The music director is
Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure in 2010. The CSO is one of five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "
Big Five".
History
![Theodore thomas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Theodore_thomas.jpg)
In 1890,
Charles Norman Fay, a Chicago businessman, invited
Theodore Thomas to establish an orchestra in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
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. Under the name "Chicago Orchestra," the orchestra played its first concert October 16, 1891 at the
Auditorium Theater
The Auditorium Theatre is a music and performance venue located inside the Auditorium Building at 50 Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, Illinois. Inspired by the Richardsonian Romanesque Style of architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the building was d ...
. It is one of the oldest orchestras in the United States, along with the
New York Philharmonic, the
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...
and the
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Orchestra Hall, now a component of the Symphony Center complex, was designed by Chicago architect
Daniel H. Burnham and completed in 1904. Maestro Thomas served as music director for thirteen years until his death shortly after the orchestra's newly built residence was dedicated December 14, 1904. The orchestra was renamed "Theodore Thomas Orchestra" in 1905 and today, Orchestra Hall still has "Theodore Thomas Orchestra Hall" inscribed in its façade.
In 1905,
Frederick Stock became music director, a post he held until his death in 1942. The orchestra was renamed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1913.
Subsequent music directors have included
Désiré Defauw
Désiré Defauw (5 September 1885, Ghent, Belgium – 25 July 1960, Gary, Indiana, United States) was a Belgian conductor and violinist.
During World War I he became a refugee, working in London where in 1917 he appeared at the Wigmore Hal ...
,
Artur Rodziński,
Rafael Kubelík,
Fritz Reiner,
Jean Martinon,
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...
, and
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...
. Solti thought it was essential to raise the orchestra's international profile. He led it in a European tour in 1971, playing in ten countries. It was the first time in its 80-year history that the orchestra had played outside of North America.
[Greenfield, Edward. "The great provincials", ''The Guardian'', 4 October 1971, p. 8] The orchestra received plaudits from European critics, and was welcomed home at the end of the tour with a
ticker-tape parade.
[Follows, Stephen]
"Solti, Sir Georg (1912–1997)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2011, accessed 22 February 2012
On May 5, 2008, the CSO announced the appointment
Riccardo Muti as its 10th music director, starting with the 2010–2011 season, for an initial contract of 5 years.
His contract was renewed for another five years, through the 2020 season.
Muti's most recent CSO contract extension, announced in January 2018, is through the 2021–2022 season. In January 2020, the CSO confirmed that Muti is to conclude his music directorship of the orchestra at the close of the 2021–2022 season. In September 2021, the CSO announced a revision to Muti's contract as its music director, with an extension of the scheduled closing date of his tenure to the end of the 2022-2023 season.
The orchestra has also hosted many distinguished guest conductors, including
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Roya ...
,
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
,
Aaron Copland,
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
,
Morton Gould
Morton Gould (December 10, 1913February 21, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist.
Biography
Morton Gould was born in Richmond Hill, New York, United States. He was recognized early as a child prodigy with abilities ...
,
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
,
Erich Kunzel
Erich Kunzel, Jr. (March 21, 1935 – September 1, 2009) was an American orchestra conductor. Called the "Prince of Pops" by the ''Chicago Tribune'', he performed with a number of leading pops and symphony orchestras, especially the Cincinnati ...
,
Erich Leinsdorf,
Charles Munch,
Eugene Ormandy,
André Previn
André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...
,
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
,
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...
,
Maurice Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
,
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
,
Leonard Slatkin,
Leopold Stokowski,
James Levine,
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
,
George Szell,
Klaus Tennstedt
Klaus Hermann Wilhelm Tennstedt (; June 6, 1926 – January 11, 1998) was a German conductor from Merseburg. Known for his interpretation of the Austro-German repertoire, especially his sympathetic approaches towards Gustav Mahler, Tennstedt ...
,
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...
,
Bruno Walter, and
John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
. Many of these guests have also recorded with the orchestra.
Carlos Kleiber
Carlos Luis Bonifacio Kleiber (3 July 1930 – 13 July 2004) was an Austrian conductor who is widely regarded as among the greatest conductors of all time.
Early life
Kleiber was born as Karl Ludwig Bonifacius Kleiber in Berlin in 1930, the ...
made his only symphonic guest appearances in America with the CSO in October 1978 and June 1983.
The three principal guest conductors of the orchestra have been
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini (; 9 May 1914 – 14 June 2005) was an Italian conductor.
From the age of five, when he began to play the violin, Giulini's musical education was expanded when he began to study at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conserva ...
,
Claudio Abbado, and
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music.
Born in Mont ...
.
The CSO holds an annual fundraiser, originally known as the Chicago Symphony Marathon, more recently as "Radiothon" and "Symphonython," in conjunction with Chicago radio station
WFMT
WFMT is an FM broadcasting, FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk music, folk. The station is managed by Window to the World Communications, In ...
. As part of the event, from 1986 through 2008, the orchestra released tracks from their broadcast archives on double LP/CD collections, as well as two larger sets of broadcasts and rarities (CSO: The First 100 Years, 12 CDs, 1991; CSO in the 20th Century: Collector's Choice, 10 CDs, 2000).
Ravinia Festival
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra maintains a summer home at the
Ravinia Festival in
Highland Park, Illinois
Highland Park is a suburban city located in the southeastern part of Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located o ...
. The CSO first performed there during Ravinia Park's second season on November 20, 1905, and continued to appear there on and off through August 1931, after which the Park fell dark due to the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. The CSO helped to inaugurate the first season of the
Ravinia Festival on July 3, 1936, and has been in residence at the Festival every summer since. The one exception to this is during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, when the orchestra did not perform any concerts due to Ravinia announcing that it had cancelled all concerts for the 2020 season.
Many conductors have made their debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia, and several have gone on to become music director for the festival, including
Seiji Ozawa
Seiji (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, Japanese ski jumper
*, Japanese racing driver
*, Japanese politician
*, Japanese film directo ...
(1964–68),
James Levine (1973–93), and
Christoph Eschenbach (1995–2003).
James Conlon
James Conlon (born March 18, 1950) is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of Los Angeles Opera, principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and artistic advisor to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Early ...
, held the title from 2005 until 2015. The Ravinia Festival created an honorific title for James Levine, "Conductor Laureate", and signed him to a five-year renewable contract beginning in 2018. On December 4, 2017, after Levine was accused of sexual misconduct, the Ravinia Festival severed all ties with Levine, and terminated his five-year contract to lead the Chicago Symphony there.
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop ( mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate ...
served as the festival's first artistic curator from 2018 until 2019, and she is scheduled to begin her tenure as chief conductor and curator in 2021.
Recordings
The Chicago Symphony has amassed an extensive discography. Recordings by the CSO have earned 63 Grammy Awards from the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. These include several Classical Album of the Year awards, awards in Best Classical Performance in vocal soloist, choral, instrumental, engineering and orchestral categories.
On May 1, 1916, Frederick Stock and the orchestra recorded the Wedding March from
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...
's music to ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
'' for
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
. Stock and the CSO made numerous recordings for Columbia and the
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidia ...
/
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
. The Chicago Symphony's first electrical recordings were made for Victor in December 1925, including a performance of
Karl Goldmark's ''In Springtime'' overture. These early electrical recordings were made in Victor's Chicago studios; within a couple of years Victor began recording the CSO in Orchestra Hall. Stock continued recording for Columbia and RCA Victor until his death in 1942.
In 1951,
Rafael Kubelík made the first modern high fidelity recordings with the orchestra, in Orchestra Hall, for
Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
. Like the very first electrical recordings, these performances were made with a single microphone.
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
has reissued these performances on compact disc with the original Mercury label and liner notes.
![Sir George Solti 6 Allan Allan Warren](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Sir_George_Solti_6_Allan_Allan_Warren.jpg)
In March 1954,
Fritz Reiner made the first stereophonic recordings with the CSO, again in Orchestra Hall, for RCA Victor, including performances of two symphonic poems by
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
: ''
Ein Heldenleben
''Ein Heldenleben'' (''A Hero's Life''), Op. 40, is a tone poem by Richard Strauss. The work was completed in 1898. It was his eighth work in the genre, and exceeded any of its predecessors in its orchestral demands. Generally agreed to be aut ...
'' and ''
Also sprach Zarathustra''. Reiner and the orchestra continued to record for RCA Victor through 1963. These were mostly recorded in RCA Victor's triple-channel "Living Stereo" process. RCA has digitally remastered the recordings and released them on CD and SACD.
Jean Martinon also recorded with the CSO for RCA Victor during the 1960s, producing performances that have been reissued on CD.
Sir Georg Solti recorded with the CSO primarily for
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...
. These
Solti recordings were issued in the U.S. on the London label and include a highly acclaimed
Mahler series, recorded, in part, in the historic
Medinah Temple—some installments were recorded in the
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is an educational and performing arts complex located at 500 South Goodwin Avenue in Urbana, Illinois and on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Herman C. Krannert, an industrial ...
at the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
(in
Urbana __NOTOC__
Urbana can refer to:
Places Italy
*Urbana, Italy
United States
*Urbana, Illinois
**Urbana (conference), a Christian conference formerly held in Urbana, Illinois
*Urbana, Indiana
* Urbana, Iowa
*Urbana, Kansas
* Urbana, Maryland
*Urbana, ...
), as well as in the
Sofiensaal
The Sofiensaal is a concert hall and recording venue located in Vienna, Austria. It is situated on Marxergasse, in the city's third district of Landstraße. The building burned down on 16 August 2001, but it was rebuilt and opened once again in ...
in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. Many of the recordings with
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...
were released on
Teldec.
In 2007, the Chicago Symphony formed its own recording label,
CSO Resound In April 2007, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association launched CSO Resound, its in-house record label. All recordings have been made live in concert in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, and a complete list of releases, chronological by recordi ...
. After an agreement was reached with the Orchestra's musicians, arrangements were made for new recordings to be released digitally at online outlets and on compact disc.
The first CSO Resound CD, a recording of
Haitink's rendition of Mahler's Third Symphony, was released in the spring of 2007. Releases that followed included Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, Mahler's Sixth Symphony, and Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony (Grammy winner), all conducted by Haitink; Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony led by
Myung-Whun Chung; "Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago" with the Orchestra's Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant
Yo-Yo Ma (Grammy winner); and recordings of Verdi's
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
(Grammy winner) and
Otello
''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887.
Th ...
, under the direction of Muti.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus have recorded the music for two movies: ''
Fantasia 2000'' conducted by James Levine and ''
Lincoln'' conducted by John Williams. Selections from the Orchestra and Chorus's recording of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
's ''
St Matthew Passion
The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets ...
'', conducted by Sir Georg Solti, were used in the movie ''
Casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
''.
Broadcasts
The Chicago Symphony first broadcast on the radio in 1925. Though often sporadic, there have been broadcasts ever since. With the 1965–1966 season, Chicago radio station WFMT began regular tape-delayed stereo broadcasts of CSO concerts, running through the 1968–1969 season. They resumed from 1976 through the 2000–2001 season before ceasing due to lack of sponsorship. In 2007, the broadcasts once again resumed with a 52-week series. The broadcasts were originally sponsored by
BP and air on 98.7
WFMT
WFMT is an FM broadcasting, FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk music, folk. The station is managed by Window to the World Communications, In ...
in Chicago and the
WFMT
WFMT is an FM broadcasting, FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk music, folk. The station is managed by Window to the World Communications, In ...
Radio Network. They consist of 39 weeks of recordings of live concerts, as well as highlights from the CSO's vast discography.
The CSO appeared in a series of telecasts on
WGN-TV
WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...
, beginning in 1953. The early 1960s saw the videotaped telecast series ''Music from Chicago'', conducted by Fritz Reiner and guest conductors including
Arthur Fiedler,
George Szell,
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in ...
, and
Charles Munch. Many of these televised concerts, from 1953 to 1963, have since been released to DVD by
VAI Distribution.
Sir
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...
also conducted a series of concerts with the Chicago Symphony that were recorded for the European firm Unitel and were broadcast in the 1970s on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
. They have subsequently been reissued by Decca Video on DVD.
Civic Orchestra of Chicago
Frederick Stock founded the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the first training orchestra in the United States affiliated with a major symphony orchestra, in 1919. Its goal is to recruit pre-professional musicians and train them as high-level orchestra players. Many alumni have gone on to play for the CSO or other major orchestras. It is currently the only training orchestra sponsored by a major orchestra in North America.
The Civic Orchestra performs half a dozen orchestral concerts and a chamber music series annually in Symphony Center and in other venues throughout the Chicago area free of charge to the public.
Music directors, conductors
Music Directors & Principal Conductors
*
Theodore Thomas (1891–1905)
*
Frederick Stock (1905–1942)
*
Désiré Defauw
Désiré Defauw (5 September 1885, Ghent, Belgium – 25 July 1960, Gary, Indiana, United States) was a Belgian conductor and violinist.
During World War I he became a refugee, working in London where in 1917 he appeared at the Wigmore Hal ...
(1943–1947)
*
Artur Rodziński (1947–1948)
*
Rafael Kubelík (1950–1953)
*
Fritz Reiner (1953–1962; musical advisor, 1962–1963)
*
Jean Martinon (1963–1968)
*
Irwin Hoffman (1968–1969, acting music director)
* Sir
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...
(1969–1991)
*
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...
(1991–2006)
*
Bernard Haitink (2006–2010, Principal Conductor)
*
Riccardo Muti (2010–present)
Titled conductors
*
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini (; 9 May 1914 – 14 June 2005) was an Italian conductor.
From the age of five, when he began to play the violin, Giulini's musical education was expanded when he began to study at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conserva ...
– Principal Guest Conductor, 1969–1972
*
Claudio Abbado – Principal Guest Conductor, 1982–1985
* Sir
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...
- Music Director Laureate, 1991–1997
*
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music.
Born in Mont ...
– Principal Guest Conductor, 1995–2006
* Pierre Boulez – Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus, 2006–2016
Composers-in-residence
*
John Corigliano
John Paul Corigliano Jr. (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, an ...
(1987–1990)
*
Shulamit Ran
Shulamit Ran ( he, שולמית רן; born October 21, 1949, in Tel Aviv, Israel) is an Israeli-American composer. She moved from Israel to New York City at 14, as a scholarship student at the Mannes College of Music. Her Symphony (1990) won her th ...
(1990–1997)
*
Augusta Read Thomas
Augusta Read Thomas (born April 24, 1964) is an American composer and professor.
Biography
Thomas studied composition with Oliver Knussen at Tanglewood; Jacob Druckman at Yale University; Alan Stout and Bill Karlins at Northwestern University ...
(1997–2006)
*
Osvaldo Golijov (2006–2010)
*
Mark-Anthony Turnage (2006–2010)
*
Anna Clyne
Anna Clyne (born 9 March 1980, in London) is an English composer, now resident in New York, US. She has worked in both acoustic music and electro-acoustic music.
Biography
Clyne began writing music as a child, completing her first composition a ...
(2010–2015)
*
Mason Bates (2010–2015)
*
Elizabeth Ogonek
Elizabeth Ogonek (born May 26, 1989) is an American composer of contemporary classical music.
Biography
Ogonek was born in Anoka, Minnesota, and raised in New York City. There she began her studies in the Preparatory Division at the Manhattan Sch ...
(2015–2018)
*
Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and ...
(2015–2018)
*
Missy Mazzoli (2018–2021)
*
Jessie Montgomery
Jessie Montgomery (born December 8, 1981, New York City) is an American composer, chamber musician, and music educator. Her compositions focus on the vernacular, improvisation, language, and social justice.
Early life and education
Jessie Mont ...
(2021–present)
Assistant / associate conductors
*
Arthur Mees – Assistant, 1896–1898
*
Frederick Stock – Assistant, 1899–1905
*
Eric DeLamarter
Eric DeLamarter (February 18, 1880 in Lansing, Michigan – May 17, 1953 in Orlando, Florida) was an American composer and classical organist.
He was the child of Dr. Louis and Mary B. DeLamarter, and went to Albion College., page 182, Septembe ...
– Assistant; 1918–1933; Associate, 1933–1936
*
Hans Lange
Hans Lange (February 17, 1884 in Istanbul – August 13, 1960 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) was a German-American conductor and musician. He was a son of Paul Lange, who had been a lecturer for music at the American College for Girls and Ger ...
– Associate, 1936–1943; Conductor 1943–1946
*
Tauno Hannikainen – Assistant, 1947–1949; Associate; 1949–1950
*
George Schick
George Schick (September 28, 1908 in Prague – March 7, 1985 in Manhattan) was a Czechoslovakian conductor, vocal coach, accompanist, and music educator. He served as accompanist for Richard Tauber on his 1946/7 tour of North, Central and Sou ...
– Assistant, 1950–1952; Associate, 1952–1956
*
Walter Hendl
Walter Hendl (January 12, 1917April 10, 2007) was an American conductor, composer and pianist.
Biography
Hendl was born in West New York, New Jersey, and later went on to study with Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia ...
– Associate, 1958–1964
*
Irwin Hoffman – Assistant, 1964–1965; Associate, 1965–1968; Conductor 1969–1970
*
Henry Mazer – Associate, 1970–1986
*
Kenneth Jean
Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byna ...
– Associate, 1986–1993
*
Michael Morgan – Assistant, 1986–1993
*
Yaron Traub Yaron Traub ( he, ירון טראוב born 1964) is an Israeli conductor and pianist. He was born in Tel Aviv.
Traub was Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Valencia Orchestra from 2005 to 2017. Throughout the 1990s he served as Daniel Baren ...
– Assistant 1995–1998, Associate, 1998–1999
*
William Eddins
William Eddins (born December 9, 1964, Buffalo, New York) is an American pianist and conductor. He served as music director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra from 2005 until 2017.
Eddins started playing piano at age 5 after his parents pur ...
– Assistant, 1995–1998; Associate, 1998–1999; Resident 1999–2004
Ravinia Festival
*
Walter Hendl
Walter Hendl (January 12, 1917April 10, 2007) was an American conductor, composer and pianist.
Biography
Hendl was born in West New York, New Jersey, and later went on to study with Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia ...
– Artistic Director, 1959–1963
*
Seiji Ozawa
Seiji (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, Japanese ski jumper
*, Japanese racing driver
*, Japanese politician
*, Japanese film directo ...
- Music Director, 1964–1968
* Seiji Ozawa - Principal Conductor, 1969
*
István Kertész - Principal Conductor, 1970–1972
*
James Levine - Music Director, 1973–1993
*
Christoph Eschenbach - Music Director, 1995–2003
*
James Conlon
James Conlon (born March 18, 1950) is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of Los Angeles Opera, principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and artistic advisor to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Early ...
- Music Director, 2005–2015
*
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop ( mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate ...
- Artistic Curator, 2018–2019
* Marin Alsop - Chief Conductor and Curator, 2020–present
Honors and awards
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra was voted the best orchestra in the United States and the fifth best orchestra in the world by editors of the British classical music magazine ''
Gramophone
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
'' in November, 2008.
The same was said by a panel of critics polled by the classical music website
bachtrack
''Bachtrack'' is a London-based international online music magazine which publishes listings of classical music, opera, ballet and dance, as well as reviews of these genres, interviews and general feature articles.
History
Bachtrack Ltd was r ...
in September, 2015.
Grammy Awards
![Riccardo Muti](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Riccardo_Muti.jpg)
Recordings by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra have earned sixty-three
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
from the
Recording Academy.
Riccardo Muti, music director, has won two Grammy Awards, both with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, for the recording of Verdi's ''Messa da Requiem'' on the CSO Resound label.
Duain Wolfe
A. Duain Wolfe (born 24 October 1945, Hammond, Louisiana) is an American choral conductor, conductor of the Colorado Symphony Chorus and the Colorado Children's Chorale. He is the former chorus director and conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus ...
, chorus director, has won two Grammy Awards for his collaboration with the Chorus, also for Verdi's ''Messa da Requiem'' on the CSO Resound label.
Bernard Haitink, former principal conductor, has won two Grammy Awards, including one with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the recording of Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony on the CSO Resound label.
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music.
Born in Mont ...
, former conductor emeritus and principal guest conductor, won twenty-six Grammy Awards including eight with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Boulez is the fifth all-time Grammy winner, behind Sir
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...
(thirty-one),
Quincy Jones and
Beyoncé
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...
(both twenty-eight), and
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer and musician. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of 8 and recording for the first time at 14. She signed with ...
(twenty-seven). Boulez also received the Academy's 2015
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sir
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...
, former music director and music director laureate, won thirty-one Grammy Awards—more than any other recording artist. He received seven awards in addition to his twenty-four awards with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. In addition, Sir Georg Solti and producer
John Culshaw
John Royds Culshaw, OBE (28 May 192427 April 1980) was a pioneering English classical record producer for Decca Records. He produced a wide range of music, but is best known for masterminding the first studio recording of Wagner's ''Der Ring ...
received the first NARAS
Trustees’ Award in 1967 for their "efforts, ingenuity, and artistic contributions" in connection with the first complete recording of
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's ''
Der Ring des Nibelungen'' with the
Vienna Philharmonic
The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world.
The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...
. Solti also received the Academy's 1995
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Margaret Hillis, founder and longtime director of the
Chicago Symphony Chorus
The Chicago Symphony Chorus began on September 22, 1957, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced that Margaret Hillis would organize and train a symphony chorus. The music director Fritz Reiner's original intent was to utilize the choru ...
, won nine Grammy Awards for her collaborations with the Orchestra and Chorus.
Volunteer groups
*African American Network
*Governing Members (established 1894)
*Latino Alliance
*League of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (formerly the Women's Association, established 1934)
*Overture Council (established 2009)
*Women's Board
See also
*
List of museums and cultural institutions in Chicago
*
Chicago Symphony Chorus
The Chicago Symphony Chorus began on September 22, 1957, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced that Margaret Hillis would organize and train a symphony chorus. The music director Fritz Reiner's original intent was to utilize the choru ...
Notes
References
External links
*
Experience CSOChicago Symphony Orchestra Sounds and Stories''From the Archives'' blogChicago Symphony Chorus websiteSilk Road websiteby Bruce Duffie, May & October, 1988
founder of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, by Bruce Duffie, July, 1986
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 1891
Musical groups from Chicago
Wikipedia requested audio of orchestras
1891 establishments in Illinois
Orchestras based in Illinois
Columbia Records artists
RCA Records artists
Sony Classical Records artists
Cedille Records artists