Playful and imaginative, it’s big music in a small space. This “matchbox” presentation of The Matchbox Magic Flute features a cast of 10 and orchestra of five—following the fantastic adventures of Prince Tamino and Princess Pamina. With dragons, a man who is a bird, trials by fire and water and underground corridors, Day and Night do battle.

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The Matchbox Magic Flute

Goodman Theatre

It’s her turn. Penelope has waited 20 years for her husband to return from the Trojan War. Now, as authorial control shifts to Odysseus’ long-suffering wife—and the 12 faithful maids who have long tended to her—we discover a new perspective on the domestic vigil. This ancient tale told anew by “one of the most admired authors in North America” (NPR) gives voice to those left behind.

The Penelopiad

Tugan Sokhiev conducts Tchaikovsky’s youthful First Symphony, nicknamed Winter Dreams for its cozy evocation of Russian winters. Chopin’s exuberant Piano Concerto No. 1 features Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva, described by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as “a one-woman powerhouse” who “stole the show.” Andrzej Panufnik’s Heroic Overture, composed in 1952, is a tribute to the courageous spirit of the Polish people.

CSO at Wheaton: Chopin & Tchaikovsky

Symphony Center

Wheaton College

When young Goldilocks stumbles upon a quaint cottage and goes inside to explore, she has no idea it belongs to three bears who are on their way home! With this classic story as a guide, young audiences are invited to experience the wide and wonderful world of the forest through Goldilocks’ eyes and playfully explore some of the responsibilities that come along with growing older. Perfect for ages 3-5.

Once Upon a Symphony: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/4hagYvrYbuM

The Artelize Podcast and Kasper Holten - Pedefining Opera for the modern world

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36M5Hi6O80

The Artelize Podcast - A legacy of innovation in Opera: Celebrating Marc A. Scorca

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59E40S_EQSY

The Artelize Podcast: A love letter that was never sent

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THv6htilWtI

The Artelize Podcast and Adolfo Corrado: Mediterranean flavors, opera and social media

When the Three Little Pigs are sent out into the world by their father, each chooses to build a house using a different material. With the Big Bad Wolf on the prowl, the pigs are quick to learn whether straw, sticks or bricks can best withstand his ferocious strength! This story explores, through music, how the combination of courage, hard work and individual talent leads to success. Perfect for ages 3-5.

Once Upon a Symphony: The Three Little Pigs

Marking his first season as its chief conductor, Sir Simon Rattle leads the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s mighty Sixth Symphony. Sir Simon has been celebrated for his “complete command” (The New York Times) of this piece, one of the composer’s darkest and most impassioned symphonies. Its vast panorama includes cowbells to evoke the Austrian countryside and fateful hammer blows in its final movement.

BRSO Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Dutch brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen comprise one of today’s most sought-after piano duos. Critics have marveled at how they “move as a single organism” (The Boston Globe) and play with “flair and instinctive collusion” (The Scotsman). Their Symphony Center recital debut features music by Mozart, Schubert and Kulenty, capped off with Stravinsky’s ferocious two-piano version of The Rite of Spring.

Lucas & Arthur Jussen

Susanna Mälkki conducts a thought-provoking program anchored by Gustav Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. This celestial score, which includes a cryptic dance of death, is announced with sleigh bells and a rustic melody that ends with a child’s view of heaven, delivered here by soprano Ying Fang. Principal Flute Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson is the soloist in a newly commissioned concerto written for him by the esteemed Lowell Liebermann.

CSO at Wheaton: Mahler 4

Prodigious pianist Hélène Grimaud, whose “performances attempt, whenever possible, to shake up conventional pianistic wisdom” (The New Yorker), climbs four summits of the piano literature. Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 109, a work of volatility and ravishing poetry, paves the way for Brahms’ heart-warming Fantasies and his wistfully nostalgic Three Intermezzos, as well as Busoni’s colossal arrangement of Bach’s solo-violin Chaconne.

Hélène Grimaud

Lina González-Granados leads members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Saint-Saëns’ humorous and imaginative masterpiece, The Carnival of the Animals. Guided by narration from master storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston, the orchestra depicts nature’s most amazing creatures — from the mighty elephant to the majestic swan.

Carnival of the Animals

One of the most celebrated Japanese composers of our time, Joe Hisaishi has produced music for 10 Hayao Miyazaki films, including Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), and has also composed the music for Takeshi Kitano films. His credits include Sonatine (1993), the Oscar-winning Spirited Away (2001) and Departures (2008). Hisaishi conducts the CSO in his much-anticipated latest symphony alongside musical highlights from his most captivating compositions.

Hisaishi Conducts Hisaishi

Lahav Shani conducts Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique, a symphony that the composer premiered less than a week before his death and was later nicknamed for the passion and suffering it expresses. Daniil Trifonov takes the spotlight in former CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Mason Bates’ Piano Concerto, a journey through three stylistic sound worlds, from Renaissance dance music to Romantic-era brooding to a contemporary finale imbued with strains of jazz and minimalism.

Tchaikovsky Pathétique & Trifonov

Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell presents The Elements, a suite of five works for violin and orchestra, commissioned by Bell and written by leading American composers Jake Heggie (Fire), Jennifer Higdon (Air), Edgar Meyer (Water), CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery (Ether) and Kevin Puts (Earth). Conductor Juraj Valčuha frames the program with Weber’s Oberon Overture and Shostakovich’s jaunty, mischievous First Symphony.

The Elements with Joshua Bell

CSO Artist-in-Residence and Musical America’s 2023 Artist of the Year Hilary Hahn returns to Symphony Center for an afternoon showcasing the intimate beauty of chamber music. Hahn “cuts a tightly controlled, even economical figure on stage, letting her multilayered tone — decadent, dense, yet ringing with an irresistible sheen — speak for itself” (Chicago Tribune).

Hilary Hahn & Friends

Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet brings his customary joie de vivre to Saint-Saëns’ Egyptian Concerto, inspired by a trip down the Nile in 1896. Conductor Stéphane Denève unpacks the French fascination with Spanish culture in Debussy’s sultry Ibéria and Ravel’s ever-popular Boléro, with its sensuously hypnotic theme building to a volcanic climax.

Ravel Boléro

Enjoy a concert featuring iconic music from the ageless James Bond movie franchise, including hits from Skyfall, Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and more. John Morris Russell conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra alongside Broadway star and vocal powerhouse Capathia Jenkins in this salute to the notorious secret agent.

Shaken, Not Stirred

Following a meteoric rise “to rock-star status in the classical music world” (Globe and Mail) sparked by winning the 2021 International Chopin Piano Competition, Bruce Liu makes his much-anticipated Chicago debut. He brings to Symphony Center works by Liszt and Kapustin, inventive keyboard compositions by Rameau, Haydn’s delicate Sonata in B Minor and Chopin’s emotionally complex Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor.

Bruce Liu

Conductor Manfred Honeck leads the CSO in two captivating works. Principal Percussion Cynthia Yeh takes the spotlight in the premiere of a new concerto by Jessie Montgomery, the CSO’s Mead Composer-in-Residence. Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony awes with its breadth, drama and rapturous intensity. This enthralling score includes a radiant tribute to Bruckner’s idol, Richard Wagner, and a boisterous Austrian country dance.

Montgomery & Bruckner 7

In his Second Symphony, Mahler constructs a universe all his own, exploring themes of death and afterlife using a massive orchestra, offstage brass and percussion, chorus and vocal soloists. Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen guides listeners on this journey from the great, tragic opening march, through pastoral dances and gentle songs to a final tableau of trumpet calls, percussive thunderbolts and the hymn of resurrection.

Mahler Resurrection

On the heels of Gem of the Ocean (2022), expert August Wilson interpreter Chuck Smith revives the second work in the famed American Century Cycle—one of Wilson’s best-loved, most compelling plays. Herald Loomis searches the country with his young daughter to find his estranged wife. But first, he must regain a sense of his own heritage and identity in this story of spiritual and emotional resurrection.

Events in Chicago, IL

The Matchbox Magic Flute

Goodman Theatre

The Penelopiad

Goodman Theatre

CSO at Wheaton: Chopin & ...

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Once Upon a Symphony: Gol...

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast - A ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast: A l...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

Once Upon a Symphony: The...

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

BRSO Symphonieorchester d...

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Lucas & Arthur Jussen

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

CSO at Wheaton: Mahler 4

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Hélène Grimaud

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Carnival of the Animals

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Hisaishi Conducts Hisaish...

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Tchaikovsky Pathétique & ...

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Elements with Joshua ...

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Hilary Hahn & Friends

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Ravel Boléro

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Shaken, Not Stirred

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Bruce Liu

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Montgomery & Bruckner 7

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Mahler Resurrection

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Joe Turner's Come and Gon...

Goodman Theatre