Patron Services associate Karlos Piñero-Mercado selects jazz and vocalists

The 2025/26 seasons of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Center Presents are just weeks away, and members of the Sales and Patron Experience team are here to help.

Subscriptions for all series are now on sale and can be ordered online or over the phone. Can’t decide which concerts to select? Over the next weeks, staff members will offer their own choices for the must-see performances of 2025/26.

Karlos Piñero-Mercado, a Patron Services associate, casts a wide net, ranging from CSO Classical concerts with stellar vocalists to great instrumentalists scheduled for the SCP Jazz series.

Christian McBride & Brad Mehldau, SCP Jazz (Oct. 10): After seeing Christian McBride in February 2024 in The Movement Revisited, I am excited to see what he and Brad Mehldau have been cooking up for this upcoming season. I had left that concert renewed and inspired by the history of people who stood up for change and equality for all.

Klaus Mäkelä & Yunchan Lim, CSO Classical (Dec. 18-20): This is going to be a great concert with our new music director designate and an incredible piano prodigy to boot. It is going to be a beautiful evening as we have the privilege finally to see Lim play in person and bask in the magic instead of just watching him in YouTube videos.

Nubya Garcia & Somi, SCP Jazz (March 13, 2026): The sweet and melodious singing from Somi combined with Nubya’s soulful playing on the tenor saxophone is a combination not to be missed! I am excited to be serenaded and hear the fusion of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and the electronic soundscape that these two artists have planned for their set. I am ready to be musically transported.

Songs of Love and Farewell, CSO Classical (April 9-12, 2026) with guest conductor Jakub Hrůša and soprano Corinne Winters: I was incredibly impressed when I saw Maestro Hrůša conducting Janáček’s Jenůfa at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2023. Ever since that experience, I have been interested in every concert that he has been a part of here with the CSO. Corinne Winters has recently sung and has had notable success with roles in Janáček’s Jenůfa and Káťa Kabanová. I have been following her career for a while, and it is beautiful to see the evolution of her career and finally being able to have her here at the CSO. Everyone at this concert is in for a treat!

Joyce DiDonato Performs Neruda Songs, CSO Classical (May 7-9, 2026): I am a DiDonato fan. The last time I saw her at the CSO was in fall 2016 with Maestro Muti conducting, and it was an absolutely stunning performance. For this program, she performs Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with the CSO under Edward Gardner. She is one of those artists who has molded so many of us young opera singers. Through her acting and musicality, DiDonato dares us to take risks. She takes her audiences on a journey and challenges us all to grow as humans and help the world around us. I have watched many of her masterclasses at Carnegie Hall, where she makes space for the next generation of opera singers to take risks in their own storytelling and music-making. Needless to say, I cannot wait for her tenure as Artist-in-Residence at Symphony Center next season!

Alsop Conducts Adams, Copland & Marsalis, CSO Classical (June 4-6, 2026): I am looking forward to seeing the collaboration between Marin Alsop and Wynton Marsalis. Two incredible legends in the music industry take up the Orchestra Hall stage at this phenomenal concert featuring Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. If you love new music and loved Adams’ Slonimsky’s Earbox, you won’t want to miss his new work, The Rock You Stand On & Marsalis’ Liberty (Symphony No. 5); both works were co-commissioned by the CSO.