Wherever the CSO travels in Europe, the reception is the same — sold-out dates

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra will embark in January on its first European tour since 2020, a three-week odyssey that will take it to many of the continent’s most celebrated music venues, including Vienna’s Musikverein and Milan’s Teatro alla Scala.

The Jan. 11-29 trip will mark the CSO’s 35th tour to Europe, and its eighth with Riccardo Muti, who stepped down earlier this year after serving as music director since 2010; he now holds the title of Music Director Emeritus for Life.

“It will be four years since the last time we went,” said Heidi Lukas, CSO director of operations. “I think it’s very exciting that we can get back out there, and people have a chance to hear the orchestra live, which is something that is hard to match when listening to a recording.”

There was considerable enthusiasm among presenters for this tour. Some of that, Lukas said, was pent-up demand because of the COVID-19 shutdown and the CSO’s unusually long absence from the continent. “We’re very fortunate because we have more presenters that want the orchestra to come than we have time to include,” she said.

Though the CSO has previously visited all the venues on its 2024 itinerary, it  has not been to Brussels since 1998, Budapest since 2005 or Turin since 2007. “So there are definitely some [cities] on the list where we haven’t been for quite some time,” Lukas said.

Among the venues welcoming back the CSO back is the Musikverein, the historic 1890 hall with extraordinary acoustics, and the storied home of the acclaimed Vienna Philharmonic.

“We are very fortunate that the best orchestras in the world feel welcome in our Golden Hall, and we are very grateful for that,” said Stephan Pauly, the Musikverein’s intendant, via email. “Music history was written in our building, and key works of the Romantic repertoire were premiered here. This fantastic aura and the famous acoustics of the Golden Hall make it a special place, both for the visiting orchestras and for the audience and listeners as well.”

Over the years, the CSO has performed 25 times in the Musikverein, with the first occasion coming in 1971 under Carlo Maria Giulini, then CSO principal guest conductor. “We are convinced that this guest performance will be an early highlight of the still young year 2024 for the audience and the press,” Pauly said. Referring to outreach activities organized by the CSO’s Negaunee Music Institute, he added, “I particularly like the fact that musicians from the orchestra are also planning to meet and interact with young people here in Vienna.”

There and elsewhere on the tour, CSO members will supplement its concerts with a wide range of community programs and master classes presented by the Negaunee Music Institute.

“Audiences love Maestro Muti. Audiences also love the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the combination between the two is very special.” — Heidi Lukas

Another venerable hall that will welcome the CSO on this tour is the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, constructed in 1880 but destroyed during World War II. Originally an opera house, it was rebuilt in 1970s as a concert hall featuring other smaller stages. The hall hosts about 55 visiting orchestras per season, according to Markus Fein, Alte Opera’s artistic and managing director. Beginning in 1981, the CSO performed there four times under then-music director Georg Solti on the podium.

The venue is excited to have the CSO back after the COVID-19 hiatus and “to pay homage” to Muti, as he embarks on the CSO’s first foreign tour with his new title. “The Alte Oper has an exceptionally knowledgeable and very music-loving audience,” he said. “For the CSO concert, we expect many international visitors beyond the normal audience, especially the many American expats living in Frankfurt. Internationality is very important in Frankfurt.”

Because Muti is European and one of the world’s most acclaimed conductors, his presence on this tour provides extra appeal. In the case of La Scala in Milan, an added attraction was his service as as its music director from 1986 through 2005.

“Audiences love Maestro Muti,” Lukas said. “Audiences also love the orchestra, and the combination between the two is very special, adding a lot of excitement and anticipation for the concerts. People are very excited about that special connection that the orchestra and Maestro Muti have.”

Pauly echoed that sentiment, saying that the CSO and Muti are among the hall’s “most valued guests.” “Riccardo Muti is our honorary member [of the Musikverein] and therefore closely associated with our house. He has conducted almost 200 concerts in the Golden Hall,” he said.

The repertoire for the European tour includes notable works by Florence Price, the 20th-century Black composer (and longtime Chicago resident) whose reputation has soared in recent years, and Philip Glass, one of this country’s most acclaimed and accomplished living composers

The CSO will perform Price’s Symphony No. 3, which Muti led in critically acclaimed first performances in May 2022 at Symphony Center, and a new work by Glass titled The Triumph of the Octagon, a CSO commission that received its world premiere Sept. 28 in Chicago with Muti on the podium.