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30. 55. 55.
Those three numbers all relate to the July 31 departure of Heidi Lukas, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s director of operations, and help explain why she believes now is the right moment to say goodbye.
In one month, Lukas marked her 30th anniversary at the CSO, oversaw her 55th CSO tour and turned 55. “All three of those things, the 30 years at the CSO and the two 55s, happened in May, and it just seemed like a good time,” she said.
She does not yet know what comes next. “I’m starting a new chapter in my life,” she said. “I’m undecided as to exactly what I will be doing. I’m going to take some time off and regroup and be open to opportunity.”
Lukas carefully chose the time of her departure, so that she wouldn’t force her successor to come on board in the middle of an orchestral season or weeks before a tour. “I wanted to give plenty of notice, and I wanted to leave when I thought it would be a good time for someone else to step in and make the transition,” she said.
July 31 is about six weeks before the start of the 2025-26 season and a little more than two months after the CSO returned from its most recent European tour. The five-city, eight-concert itinerary with guest conductor Jaap van Zweden was highlighted by concerts May 14-15 at the Mahler Festival 2025 in Amsterdam’s renowned Concertgebouw.
“It was fantastic,” she said. “A really great tour to be my last one. We had smooth logistics. The concerts were amazing. Wonderful cities. Little surprises along the way but only good surprises. It was really nice.”
Lukas sees that most recent trip as a fitting bookend to her first tour in 1997, when the CSO went to Cologne and Leipzig and one of the main works featured was Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.
“Honestly, at that time, I don’t think I’d ever heard Mahler 5,” she said. “I was a pianist, and I hadn’t heard a Mahler symphony live at that point in my life. I was young. I went on this trip, and my eyes were opened to so many different things — the travel, just hearing that piece at such a high level and the incredible audiences and how appreciative they were. It really planted Mahler in my heart forever.”
On this most recent tour, the CSO performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 in A Minor and Symphony No. 7 in E Minor, and she was able to enjoy them 28 years later as a much more experienced and knowledgeable listener. “That was very meaningful to me,” she said.
As director of operations, Lukas oversees stage production for all the events that the CSO presents in Symphony Center, including managing its stage crew and supervising the house manager, along with supervising the operations team related to event rentals and Symphony Center Presents. In addition, she plans and manages all CSO tours and off-site concerts, including contracting with presenters, coordinating production details and handling the logistics of passenger and cargo travel.
“It’s overwhelming to me to think about the opportunities and the experiences that this role has given me. Just how rich my life has become from knowing all the individuals I’ve met along the way.” — Heidi Lukas
The job has brought her experiences that she never imagined while growing up in Milton, Wisconsin, like going to China — something she has done not just once but six times during her tenure. “It’s overwhelming to me to think about the opportunities and the experiences that this role has given me,“ she said. ”Just how rich my life has become from knowing all the individuals I’ve met along the way.”
Lukas started at the CSO in 1995 in the entry-level position of operations assistant, and she quickly worked her way up. In 1998, after one other job in between, she was promoted to her current post, which was formerly known as operations manager.
She went on two tours with the CSO before she took over her current position, starting in 1997. Since she has been in her current position, she has overseen and participated in every tour that the CSO has undertaken — all 55.
“And many of these trips are certainly high points in my time here,” she said. “But other parts of my role, which relate more to production and overseeing the stagehands — some of the things that happen at Symphony Center — are equally important if not as seemingly glamorous.”
Lukas started during a time when Orchestra Hall was being renovated and expanded to become the Symphony Center complex, a $120 million project that began in 1995. After Symphony Center opened in fall 1997, the project concluded in 1999 with the dedication of its refurbished and enlarged pipe organ.
“I think about those early days,” she said. “1997 was a huge year for me and for the CSO, because we moved into Symphony Center, my first tours were in that year, and we had our first Day of Music.”
(At left: Heidi Lukas with husband Charles Grode, president and executive director of the Merit School of Music. Grode used to be vice president of the CSO’s Negaunee Music Institute.)
An inaugural gala concert on Oct. 4, 1997, for Symphony Center, was followed at midnight by the Day of Music, which consisted of 24 hours of free, live performances in multiple Symphony Center venues, attended by more than 20,000 people. “A ton of work but very rewarding and fun to see everyone come out for that,” she said of the marathon event.
Lukas also is proud of working on the CSO concert that helped celebrate the July 2004 opening of Millennium Park. It featured a pops-flavored program featuring star violinist Sarah Chang and Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth and concluded with fireworks choreographed to the music. “It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life, being in involved in the planning of that and seeing it happen,” she said.
Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion also was the site of an outdoor concert in 2010 that welcomed Riccardo Muti as the CSO’s 10th music director. “It was packed beyond capacity,” she said. “They had to shut down the park, because there were so many people were there. It was an incredible event to be part of.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the suspension of live performances, Lukas was part of the team that helped the CSO switch to online performances via its CSOtv portal. She served as executive producer.
“We all had different roles, and we all pitched in to produce these chamber-music videos, and that’s a highlight for me, too. It was a very dark time, obviously, but I think about that spirit of everyone working together and the gift to me of being able to hear live music during that time.”
Lukas admits that leaving the CSO will be hard. She has nothing but warm feelings and gratitude for her time with the orchestra. “It’s been an amazing job, an amazing journey,” she said. “All the people I’ve gotten to know not only here at Symphony Center, but also around the world — it’s been such an honor and a pleasure working with everybody.”
As much as she has loved her days with the CSO, she also believes the point has come for something else. “I feel like the years go by so quickly and suddenly it’s 30,” she said. “I’d also be happy to keep doing this, but I felt like I needed some time for other pursuits. My role here has been all-encompassing and so much for quite a long time. I feel like it is the right time for me to step back. I am so fortunate for the time I have had at the CSO and will always treasure the countless memories I take with me.”
A backward glance
Heidi Lukas shares highlights of her international tours with the CSO:
South America 2000: First and only time the CSO went there.
Europe 2001: She experienced 9/11 on tour with the orchestra.
Europe 2005: Went to the grave of Sir Georg Solti in Budapest for a memorial tribute with Adolph “Bud” Herseth, the CSO’s longtime principal trumpet, who played "Taps." Solti (1912-1997) served as the CSO’s music director from 1969 to 1991.
2007: Worked with musicians, stagehands and a tour-trunk designer to design and build the wardrobe trunks the CSO uses today (Previously it used individual, non-uniform “steamer trunks” that were decades old.)
Asia 2009: The first time the CSO went to China.
New York/Mexico 2012: The first and only time the orchestra went to Mexico.
Europe 2024: Longest itinerary of her tenure: 23 days, 14 concerts and 11 cities.
