2025 brings lots of mighty Mahler, along with U.S., foreign tours and more

This year, which spanned the 134th and 135th seasons of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, unfolded as a series of triumphs. At the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association’s Annual Meeting on Oct. 29, CSOA President Jeff Alexander summed up the situation: “From start to finish, the CSO’s 134th season featured extraordinary musical artistry in concerts that went from strength to strength.”

He lauded the artistic leadership of Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti, who led CSO programs in Chicago and on tour, and Zell Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä, “who is laying a strong foundation” for his role as the CSO’s 11th music director, an era that begins in 2027/28.

In January, Muti and the CSO embarked on a six-city U.S. tour, their 20th sojourn together; this time featuring works by Bellini, Chabrier, Donizetti, Falla, Schubert and Tchaikovsky, as well as Osvaldo Golijov’s Megalopolis Suite, a CSO commission, based on Golijov’s score for Francis Ford Coppola’s epic 2024 film of the same name.

After concerts in four Florida cities, the CSO and Muti traveled to New York City for a performance at the venerable Carnegie Hall, followed by a return to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for a two-day residency at the McKnight Center for the Performing Arts of Oklahoma State University. Muti led two concert programs for capacity audiences there, while 13 CSO members conducted masterclasses during the visit.

In the run-up to the 2025 Mahler Festival, hosted in May by the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the CSO showcased some of the composer’s symphonies in spring programs at Orchestra Hall, conducted by Jaap van Zweden and Klaus Mäkelä. The CSO was the only U.S. orchestra invited to participate in the 2025 Mahler Festival, a 10-day tribute featuring all of the composer’s symphonies and songs, hosted by the Concertgebouw. Led by van Zweden, the CSO performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 on May 14 and the Seventh on May 15. Mäkelä attended the CSO’s performances and conducted Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and his Eighth, theso-called Symphony of a Thousand, with the Royal Concertgebouw.

The Dutch newspaper NRC, regarded as the paper of record in the Netherlands, characterized the CSO performance as follows: “Drifting woodwinds, lightning-tight percussion. The brass is a dream, so radiant and sharp, and the entire string section forms a well-oiled machine with one big hyper-concentrated sound. The CSO is a beast of an orchestra with a mighty sound, and Mahler in its blood.”

After its Mahler Festival concerts, the CSO embarked with van Zweden on a European tour of the German cities of Hamburg (May 17-18) and Dresden (May 19), then Prague (May 20) in the Czech Republic and Wrocław (May 22-23) in Poland, with a return to Chicago on May 24.

On June 3, the CSOA announced the appointment of distinguished choral director and educator Donald Palumbo as the next director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, just the third person to hold the title in the ensemble’s 68-year history. Palumbo’s official tenure began on July 1; his first official assignment was preparing the Chorus for its performance July 18 of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) at the Ravinia Festival.

In other appointment news, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato was named the CSO’s Artist in Residence for 2025/26, following pianist Daniil Trifonov in 2024/25.

At the CSOA’s Annual Meeting on Oct. 29, Alexander noted the range and excellence of the CSO’s guest-conducting ranks, with last season seeing nearly 30 guest conductors, including David Afkham, Marin Alsop, Karina Canellakis, Sir Mark Elder, James Gaffigan, Dame Jane Glover and Sir Donald Runnicles, along with CSO conducting debuts by Dima Slobodeniouk, Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Gustavo Gimeno. So far this season, guest conductors have consisted of Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Mikko Franck, Daniela Candillari, Philippe Jordan, Stefan Asbury (CSO debut), Manfred Honeck, Petr Popelka and Gianandrea Noseda. 

More 2025 highlights, listed by series:

CSO Classical

Salonen residency: Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen returned for two weeks of programs featuring the music of Béla Bartók, including the composer’s Concerto for Orchestra (Jan. 30-Feb. 4) and his one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle, in dramatic concert performances (Feb. 6-8) with mezzo soprano Ekaterina Gubanova as the ill-fated Judith and bass Christian Van Horn as the murderous Duke Bluebeard.

The CSO last performed Bluebeard’s Castle in 2010, in concerts led by then Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus Pierre Boulez (1925-1916). As part of the Boulez centennial in 2025, his Livre pour cordes was featured in a CSO program led by Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider (March 27-29); his Domaines in a MusicNOW concert (March 23), curated by composer Jimmy López, and his Initiale in CSO concerts (May 1-4), conducted by Klaus Mäkelä.

Chicago Symphony Chorus: The Chicago Symphony Chorus gave voice to some of the year’s most thrilling and impactful performances, including Haydn’s Mass in the Time of War (March 13-15), another notable CSO first performance led by Manfred Honeck; Mahler’s Third Symphony with Mäkelä (April 24-26); Verdi’s Requiem with Muti (June 19-24) and Mozart’s Requiem, as reimagined by Manfred Honeck, with Gregorian chants and other interludes (Nov. 20-23). John Morris Russell led members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in seven performances (Dec. 19-23) of Merry, Merry Chicago!, the annual holiday program with memorable arrangements of favorite carols and festive songs.

MusicNOW: Jimmy López was one of two CSO Mead composer-curators last season, along with Daniel Bernard Roumain. López curated a MusicNOW program (March 23) titled “Inner Dialogues,” featuring his own La Caresse du Couteau and Guardian of the Horizon, as well as music by Boulez, Quinn Mason and Adam Schoenberg. López’s distinctive style and curatorial perspectives took listeners on a fascinating musical journey of discovery.

The CSO and the Joffrey Ballet, April 10-13: The CSO marked its third collaboration in recent years with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, this time in a program anchored by the premieres of two newly commissioned ballets. Choreographer Amy Hall Garner set her Second Nature to Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Sinfonietta No. 1, while choreographer Nicolas Blanc set his Les Bœufoons to Darius Milhaud’s Le bœuf sur le toit. Baroque/Classical specialist Harry Bicket conducted the program, which also featured Haydn’s Symphony No. 45 (Farewell) and the CSO’s first performances of Symphony No. 1 by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint Georges.

Mahler with Jaap van Zweden: In a preview of sorts for the CSO’s appearances at the 2025 Mahler Festival, guest conductor Jaap van Zweden led the orchestra in bracing performances of Mahler’s Seventh (April 17-19), followed by Mahler’s Sixth (May 8-9).

Mäkelä’s spring residency: Klaus Mäkelä returned for two weeks of concerts in April, conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and women of the Chicago Symphony Chorus in Mahler’s Third Symphony (April 24-26), joined by Uniting Voices Chicago and contralto Weibke Llehmkuhl in her CSO debut. The program represented Mäkelä’s first return to Mahler’s music with the CSO, after his acclaimed 2023 performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

For Mäkelä’s second week (May 1-4), he conducted the CSO in Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2, with Daniil Trifonov as soloist. Trifonov also led a masterclass with the four piano finalists of the 2025 Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition, as part of his spring visit to Chicago, after conducting a masterclass for college-level pianists, hosted at DePaul University in November 2024.

Muti’s June residency: Muti led the CSO in the two concluding CSO Classical concerts of 2024/25. The first program (June 12-14) consisted of Haydn’s Symphony No. 48 (Maria Theresa) and Schubert’s Symphony No. 4 (Tragic), as well as trumpet concerti by Telemann and Michael Haydn with Esteban Batallán, CSO principal trumpet, as soloist. Muti then conducted four performances (June 19-24) of the Verdi Requiem, a signature work throughout his CSO tenure. Joining the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (the latter prepared by newly appointed Chorus Director Donald Palumbo) were soprano Elena Guseva, mezzo Marianne Crebassa, tenor John Osborn and bass-baritone Maharram Huseynov.

FALL 2025 

Ravel Piano Concertos, Sept. 25-28: Ravel’s jazz-fueled Piano Concerto in G Major fits Alice Sara Ott “like a custom suit,” according to The New York Times. Ott performed the glittering work alongside Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. Bizet’s fiery Carmen Suite and Camille Pépin’s shimmering Celestial Waters, led by esteemed conductor Mikko Franck, expanded upon the program’s French theme.

Piccolo Play & Adagio for Strings (Oct. 2-4): CSO piccolo Jennifer Gunn took a stellar solo turn in Thea Musgrave’s Piccolo Play, which the composer had reworked from a solo work to a concerto. “The way Thea has used the piccolo in this piece is very enjoyable for the player,” Gunn said in an interview with CSO program-book annotator Phillip Huscher. “In each movement, the player really gets to change characters and use different skills.”

Mäkelä Conducts Symphonie fantastique (Oct. 16-18): In this all-Berlioz program, Klaus Mäkelä commandingly led the composer’s showpiece in all its psychedelic glory, preceded by a star turn by violist Antoine Tamestit in Berlioz’s tone poem Harold in Italy, inspired by the wanderings of Lord Byron.

Muti fall residency: For his first week (Oct. 30-Nov. 1), the CSO’s Music Director Emeritus for Life returned with an all-time orchestral favorite, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 (From the New World), paired with Hindemith’s Symphony, Mathis der Maler. For his second week (Nov. 6-8), Muti and the CSO teamed with guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas in Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez (which Sáinz-Villegas also performed with the CSO in 2019). The program closed with Brahms’ Symphony No. 4.

Mozart Requiem (Nov. 20-23): Manfred Honeck led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the completed portions of Mozart’s Requiem, as the work might have been heard at the composer’s own funeral, complemented by Gregorian chant and additional choral selections composed by Mozart —capturing “the awe, the majesty and the fright this mass is supposed to inspire” (Bachtrack).

Matthew Aucoin’s Song of the Reappeared (Dec. 4-7): Czech conductor Petr Popelka returned to lead the CSO in the world premiere of Song of the Reappeared, which Matthew Aucoin, a former CSO Solti Conducting Apprentice, wrote for soprano Julia Bullock (a longtime friend and colleague, from their days at Juilliard). For this song cycle, a CSO commission, Aucoin set poems of Chilean writer Raúl Zurita, who was imprisoned and tortured under the country’s Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1991). The work reflects on the fate of those Chilean citizens who “disappeared” — that is, were killed — by the Pinochet regime.

Noseda in Debussy & Prokofiev 4 (Dec. 11-13): For his first Orchestra Hall engagement in 14 years, the Milanese-born maestro Gianandrea Noseda led the CSO in a richly varied program of Britten’s Violin Concerto (with soloist James Ehnes) and a blistering version of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 4.

Klaus Mäkelä and Yunchan Lim (Dec. 18-20): The hottest ticket of the year had to be this pairing of the CSO’s Zell Music Director Designate and rising pianist Yunchan Lim, the youngest-ever winner of the Van Cliburn Competition, here performing Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Demand was so intense, the CSO box office took the rare measure of setting up standby reservations, in case of turned-back tickets at the last minute. Also on the program were Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and two new works, Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza and Jörg Widmann’s Con brio. 

CSO at the Movies

The series, which showcases original film scores in live-to-picture productions, marked a milestone in 2015. January brought the CSO’s first performances of a film score by composer Tan Dun, with his Oscar- and Grammy-winning score for the 2000 film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Jan. 9-10). In the spring, the CSO presented “Field of Dreams” (1989), conducted by Nicholas Buc (May 30-June 1), and “Back to Future” (June 26-28), conducted by David Newman, marking the film’s 40th anniversary.

In the fall, the CSO performed in a sold-out run (Nov. 28-30) of the animated “How to Train Your Dragon” (2010), led by Conner Gray Covington (in his CSO debut). December brought the perennial holiday favorite “Home Alone” (1990), led by Nicholas Buc, with an Oscar-nominated score by John Williams, for three capacity houses (Dec. 12-14).

Symphony Center Presents

Symphony Center Presents, the CSOA’s dynamic presentation series, brings the world’s leading musicians and ensembles to Orchestra Hall for stellar performances and recitals.

SCP Jazz: The year began with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (Jan. 24) for its annual residency. Next came vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant (Feb. 21), the Bill Charlap Trio with vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and trumpet Nicholas Payton (March 21), pianist-composer Hiromi and the Brandee Younger Trio (April 4) and pianist Eliane Elias and harpist Edmar Castañeda (May 9). An all-star combo of Benny Green, Christian McBride, Lewis Nash and Russell Malone gave a rare performance (June 13) of Oscar Peterson’s Africa Suite with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, in a nod to the composer-pianist’s centennial.

The fall brought back bassist Christian McBride and pianist Brad Mehldau (Oct. 10), Herbie Hancock (Oct. 26) in a sold-out concert and the Joshua Redman Quartet with special guest Gabrielle Cavassa (Nov. 7).

SCP Chamber Music: The series once again presented stellar instrumental and vocal ensembles: CSO Artist-in-Residence and pianist Daniil Trifonov joined violinist Leonidas Kavakos in recital (March 9). Violinist Julia Fischer and pianist Jan Lisiecki (March 30) performed works by Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann. An all-star trio recital (May 7) showcased violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, pianist Yefim Bronfman and cellist Pablo Ferrández.

SCP Piano: The series brought back world-class pianists and frequent guests Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Jan. 19), Emanuel Ax (April 27), Evgeny Kissin (May 11) and Víkingur Ólafsson (June 8) to Orchestra Hall, along with debuts by Alexandre Kantorow (Feb. 2) and Mao Fujita (March 16). In the fall, the series welcomed Yunchan Lim (Oct. 19), Behzod Abduraimov (Nov. 2) and Hayato Sumino (Nov. 16).

SCP Featured Concerts: Domestic and international ensembles spanned genres in performances by Japan’s Kodo drummers (Feb. 23), Detroit-based chamber orchestra Sphinx Virtuosi (Feb. 25), the boundary-breaking orchestra Pink Martini (Feb. 28), Boleros de Noche (April 12) and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (April 15). The Sphinx Virtuosi performed music by Curtis Stewart with percussionist and former CSO Percussion Scholarship Program alum Josh Jones and the Grammy-winning Rounds by former CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery, who joined the ensemble for this performance, which also featured guest pianist Awadagin Pratt. An evening of Latin boleros with the trio Tres Souls of Los Angeles and Trío Remembranza of Puerto Rico had patrons dancing in the aisles.

Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Negaunee Music Institute continued to expand access to music education through its CSO for Kids programming, which each season welcomes more than 25,000 children, teachers and families for school and family concerts weekday and Saturday morning concerts designed specifically for youngsters.

Half of all school concert attendees were Chicago Public School students, who receive free concert tickets and bus transportation provided by the CSOA. Also increased were in-depth partnerships with Chicago-area schools that receive teacher training and in school ensemble concerts from 48 to 58 schools.

The Civic Orchestra of Chicago deepened its community presence through six free full orchestra concerts in venues in neighborhood, downtown and on the city’s North, West and South sides.

In addition, chamber ensembles of the CSO and Civic performed more than 75 free concerts in schools and community centers across the Chicago area.

In 2024/25, the Institute presented the seventh season of the Notes for Peace program, an initiative that uses the healing power of music to support parents who have lost children to gun violence; the program includes a free concert for community members at Symphony Center. In addition, the Institute pilots a concert in partnership with the Chicago Refugee Coalition, led by the Civic Fellows. This fall marked the start of the eighth season of Notes for Peace, with a concert (Oct. 18) at the Chop Shop, 2033 W. North Ave.

Also bolstered was the partnership with the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative, a program co-founded by the CSOA and six other Chicago-area arts and education institutions and is now run by the Merit School of Music. The program trains junior high and high school musicians from backgrounds that have been underrepresented in American orchestras to advance their skills and compete successfully for admittance to university and conservatory music programs. CMPI Fellows played in masterclasses with CSO guest artists and participated in audition training with CSO musicians. Because attending CSO concerts is part of the Pathways curriculum, CMPI Fellows and their families received more than 1,000 complimentary tickets to CSO performances.

On March 17, musicians representing the many Negaunee Music Institute programs performed in IMPACT, a special concert showcasing the breadth and depth of the Institute’s influence and its positive impact.

In April, the annual Youth in Music Festival hosted a convening of artists and administrators from 11 Pathways programs across the United States. The festival culminated with 200 wind, brass and string players joining Civic musicians for performances in Orchestra Hall.