Phillip Huscher has been the program annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1987. He studied piano at the Aspen School of Music and music history at the University of Chicago. A former journalist and music critic, he wrote extensively about the Chicago classical music scene for the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. He was also the Chicago correspondent for Musical America and contributing editor at Chicago Magazine for more than a decade. He has written liner notes for Grammy® Award-winning recordings, scripts for televised performances on PBS and program notes for many organizations, including Carnegie Hall, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and major U.S. orchestras. He has participated in public conversations with many leading music personalities, including Riccardo Muti, Yo-Yo Ma, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Williams, Gustavo Dudamel, Daniel Barenboim, John Adams, Mitsuko Uchida, Lang Lang, Branford Marsalis, Pierre Boulez and Sir Georg Solti. He is the author of Passing the Baton: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Music Directors Who Shaped Its Greatness, a comprehensive history of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra published by the University of Chicago Press in 2026. His previous book, The Santa Fe Opera: An American Pioneer, was published in 2006.
