CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
september 20
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CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
KLAUS MÄKELÄ Zell Music Director Designate | RICCARDO MUTI Music Director Emeritus for Life
Saturday, September 20, 2025, at 6:30
SYMPHONY BALL
Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider Conductor
Joyce DiDonato Mezzo-soprano
WEBER
MENDELSSOHN
STRAUSS
BIZET
WAGNER
There will be no intermission.
Overture to Oberon
Scherzo and Wedding March from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61
Three Songs
Wiegenlied, Op. 41, No. 1
Morgen!, Op. 27, No. 4
Zueignung, Op. 10, No. 1 (orch. Heger)
JOYCE DIDONATO
Quand je vous aimerai . . . L’amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera) from Carmen
JOYCE DIDONATO
Overture to Tannhäuser
Northern Trust is the Presenting Sponsor of Symphony Ball.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Artist-in-Residence position, held by Joyce DiDonato, is made possible through a generous gift from James and Brenda Grusecki. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council. Chicago Magazine and Newsradio 105.9 WBBM are Media Partners for Symphony Ball.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association thanks Northern Trust for its generous support.
COMMENTS by Phillip Huscher
CARL MARIA VON WEBER
Born November 18, 1786; Eutin, near Lübeck, Germany
Died June 5, 1826; London, England
Overture to Oberon
Dying from consumption at the age of thirty-eight and running low on cash, Carl Maria von Weber had little choice but to accept an invitation to write an opera for London from the impresario Charles Kemble. “Whether I travel or not, in a year I’ll be a dead man,” he wrote to a friend after he had finished the score of Oberon and was weighing whether to go to England to oversee the production. “But if I do travel, my children will at least have something to eat, even if Daddy is dead—and if I don’t go, they’ll starve. What would you do in my position?”
Weber’s career began unusually well. Related by marriage to Mozart—his cousin Constanze married Wolfgang after her sister Aloysia rejected him—he was pushed from an early age to follow in his footsteps. (He was born the year of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and trained in Salzburg and Vienna not long after Mozart’s death.) He immediately showed great promise— he studied composition with Michael Haydn (Joseph’s brother) and wrote his first opera at the age of fourteen. Like Mozart, he excelled both as a composer and as a performer—he was one of the most brilliant pianists of his day and a fine conductor.
Weber earned his place in history as the composer of a single work, Der Freischütz (The Free Shooter), which was an overnight sensation, quickly became the best-loved opera in all Germany, and changed forever the course of the German art form. Der Freischütz was followed by Euryanthe, which did not enjoy the popularity of its predecessor but deepened Weber’s understanding of opera and anticipated the innovations of Wagner.
For his final opera, Kemble offered Weber a choice between Goethe’s Faust and the story of Oberon, the fairy king already familiar from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Weber picked Oberon and quickly began taking English lessons in preparation. The opera, which opened in April 1826, was a success, and it had already guaranteed Weber’s family a good deal of money by the time he died that June.
COMPOSED 1825–26
FIRST PERFORMANCE
April 12, 1826; London, England
INSTRUMENTATION
2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings
APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 10 minutes
FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES
January 6, 1892, Joliet Theater. Theodore Thomas conducting January 22 and 23, 1892, Auditorium Theatre. Theodore Thomas conducting
July 5, 1936, Ravinia Festival. Ernest Ansermet conducting
MOST RECENT
CSO PERFORMANCES
July 29, 2014, Ravinia Festival. James Conlon conducting June 13, 14, and 15, 2024, Orchestra Hall. Juraj Valčuha conducting
CSO RECORDINGS
1973. Sir Georg Solti conducting. London
1979. Daniel Barenboim conducting. Deutsche Grammophon
above: Carl Maria von Weber, portrait in oil by John Cawse (1778–1862), 1826. Foundling Museum Collection, London, England
The well-known overture begins with distant horns and light woodwind chords that anticipate the opera’s opening chorus, “Light as Fairy Foot Can Fall.” The main
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Born February 3, 1809; Hamburg, Germany
Died November 4, 1847; Leipzig, Germany
allegro borrows several big melodies from the opera, including, at the climax, the soprano’s grand desert-island aria, “Ocean! Thou Mighty Monster!”
Scherzo and Wedding March from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61
Mendelssohn was the most astonishing child prodigy among composers. Mozart, for all his brilliance, didn’t find and master his own voice at so early an age, and even Schubert, one of history’s most amazing early achievers, produced nothing to compare with the Octet for Strings Mendelssohn composed at sixteen or the overture to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream he wrote the following year.
Mendelssohn was born into a wealthy German Jewish family and grew up in a home filled with music and literature and frequented by distinguished guests. His father, Abraham, was a prosperous banker, and his grandfather was the famous philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. (Years later, after Felix had made his mark, Abraham would say, “First I was the son of my father. Now I am the father of my son.”) His sister, Fanny, four years older, showed exceptional musical talent, although, for reasons that have nothing to do with art, she was fated to become one of the nineteenth century’s lost composers.
this spread, clockwise from top left: Felix Mendelssohn, watercolor by James Warren Childe (1780–1862), 1839 | Titania, the fairy queen, with her entourage, including a young Indian figure; and The Meeting of Oberon and Titania. Illustrations by Arthur Rackham (1867–1939) from his 1908 edition of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Mendelssohn family home in Berlin was a gathering place for the most important creative artists and intellectuals of the day, and it was there, during the regular Sunday musicales, that young Felix first heard his music performed, sometimes almost as soon as the ink was dry.
The most famous of Shakespeare’s plays were often read aloud (in August Wilhelm Schlegel’s
new German translation) and sometimes even acted out in the Mendelssohn parlor. The Mendelssohn family library added Schlegel’s edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to its collection in 1826, and it apparently was for an at-home performance of the play that year that Felix wrote an overture, originally scored for two pianos, that quickly became his calling card. In August 1843 the king of Prussia, Frederick William IV, asked Mendelssohn to write incidental music for a new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Now established, famous, and already even considered old hat by the avant-garde, Mendelssohn quickly set to work on a “sequel” to his most celebrated work, in the process recapturing his childhood love for Shakespeare and creating some of his greatest music. Mendelssohn’s score contains some of his loveliest and most enduring work, including the breathtaking scherzo that introduces Shakespeare’s second act (and transports us to Shakespeare’s fairy world), which is the most celebrated example of the featherlight, will-o’-the-wisp style for which Mendelssohn is known, and the famous wedding march that manages to sound fresh and ingenious despite its near over-familiarity.
COMPOSED 1843
FIRST PERFORMANCE
October 14, 1843; Potsdam, Germany
INSTRUMENTATION
2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (cymbals), strings
APPROXIMATE PERFORMANCE TIME 10 minutes
FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES
January 6, 1892, Joliet Theater. Theodore Thomas conducting (Scherzo)
January 12 and 13, 1894, Auditorium Theatre. Theodore Thomas conducting (Wedding March, Overture, Nocturne, and Scherzo)
July 19, 1936, Ravinia Festival. Willem van Hoogstraten conducting (Overture)
MOST RECENT
CSO PERFORMANCES
July 21, 2013, Ravinia Festival. James Conlon conducting (Overture, Scherzo, and Wedding March)
February 22, 23, 24, and 27, 2018, Orchestra Hall. Christoph Eschenbach conducting (Overture)
CSO RECORDINGS
1916. Frederick Stock conducting. Columbia Graphophone Company (Wedding March)
1967. Jean Martinon conducting. RCA (Overture, Scherzo, Nocturne, and Wedding March)
1979. Daniel Barenboim conducting. Deutsche Grammophon (Overture)
1984. Judith Blegen and Florence Quivar as soloists, Chicago
Symphony Chorus (Margaret Hillis, director), James Levine conducting (Incidental Music)
RICHARD STRAUSS
Born June 11, 1864; Munich, Germany
Died September 8, 1949; Garmisch, Germany
Three Songs
Richard Strauss married a soprano. He met Pauline de Ahna in the summer of 1887, when his uncle suggested he give lessons to the neighbors’ daughter, a young woman with a generous voice and a boisterous temperament. She needed coaching and discipline; she found romance instead.
Richard eventually realized that he had discovered both his life partner and the ideal interpreter of his songs. Both of their careers took off—in 1894, the year they married, Richard composed Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, one of his first successes, and Pauline sang Elisabeth in Tannhäuser (under Richard’s baton) at Bayreuth.
Pauline inspired a flood of songwriting that continued throughout Strauss’s life, even during his heyday as a composer of orchestral tone poems and operas. The soprano voice was the sound Strauss loved best—he asked that the famous trio from Der Rosenkavalier be sung at his funeral—and even after Pauline retired from the concert stage, Richard continued to write songs with her voice in mind.
Strauss wrote his first song, a Christmas piece, in 1870, the year he turned six. He died nearly eighty years later with an unfinished song on his desk. In all, he wrote some two hundred, including the Four Last Songs composed in his final year. In the early years of their marriage, the couple often performed together in public, with Richard at the piano, and he later orchestrated a few of his best and most popular songs so that she could perform with him when he guest conducted orchestras around the world. When they came to Chicago in April 1904, Pauline sang seven of her husband’s songs with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Auditorium Theatre under Richard’s baton.
Tonight, Joyce DiDonato sings two of the songs Pauline sang that night, including the dreamily floating “Wiegenlied” (Lullaby) with which she ended her set, and “Morgen!” (Tomorrow!), the last of the four songs Richard gave her as a present on their wedding day, September 10, 1894. The popular and impassioned “Zueignung” (Dedication) comes from Strauss’s first mature collection of songs, written in 1885—even before Pauline.
COMPOSED 1885–99
FIRST PERFORMANCE dates unknown
INSTRUMENTATION
solo voice, 2 flutes, 2 oboes and english horn, 2 clarinets and bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, trombone, timpani, 2 harps, strings
APPROXIMATE
PERFORMANCE TIME 11 minutes
from top : Richard Strauss, portrait, 1900, Bain News Service. George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs Division
Pauline Strauss, née de Ahna (1863–1950), soprano, wife of the composer. Featured in the Illustrated Magazine for the Noble World, 1902
Wiegenlied, Op. 41, No. 1
FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES
April 1 and 2, 1904, Auditorium Theatre. Pauline Strauss de Ahna as soloist, the composer conducting
MOST RECENT
CSO PERFORMANCES
February 27 and 28, 1958, Orchestra Hall. Roberta Peters as soloist, Fritz Reiner conducting
July 5, 1992, Ravinia Festival. Jessye Norman as soloist, James Levine conducting
Morgen!, Op. 27, No. 4
FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES
April 1 and 2, 1904, Auditorium Theatre. Pauline Strauss de Ahna as soloist, the composer conducting
August 9, 1941, Ravinia Festival. Helen Traubel as soloist, Pierre Monteux conducting
MOST RECENT
CSO PERFORMANCES
July 19, 2008, Ravinia Festival. Kiri Te Kanawa as soloist, James Conlon conducting
February 5, 7, and 8, 2015, Orchestra Hall. Matthias Goerne as soloist, Jaap van Zweden conducting
Zueignung, Op. 10, No. 1 (Orchestrated by Robert Heger)
FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES
July 26, 1936, Ravinia Festival. Marion Claire as soloist, Henry Weber conducting December 6 and 7, 1951, Orchestra Hall. Todd Duncan as soloist, Rafael Kubelík conducting
MOST RECENT
CSO PERFORMANCES
October 3, 2009, Orchestra Hall. Renée Fleming as soloist, Paavo Järvi conducting
July 9, 2011, Ravinia Festival. Deborah Voigt as soloist, Christoph Eschenbach conducting (performed as an encore)
CSO PERFORMANCE, THE COMPOSER CONDUCTING December 18, 1921, Auditorium Theatre. Claire Dux as soloist
CSO PERFORMANCE, THE COMPOSER CONDUCTING December 18, 1921, Auditorium Theatre. Claire Dux as soloist
WIEGENLIED
Träume, träume du, mein süßes Leben, Von dem Himmel, der die Blumen bringt. Blüten schimmern da, die beben Von dem Lied, das deine Mutter singt.
Träume, träume Knospe meiner Sorgen, Von dem Tage, da die Blume sproß; Von dem hellen Blütenmorgen, Da dein Seelchen sich der Welt erschloß.
Träume, träume, Blüte meiner Liebe, Von der stillen, von der heil’gen Nacht, Da die Blume seiner Liebe Diese Welt zum Himmel mir gemacht.
—Richard Dehmel
MORGEN!
Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen, Und auf dem Wege, den ich gehen werde, Wird uns, die Glücklichen, sie wieder einen Inmitten dieser sonnenatmenden Erde . . .
Und zu dem Strand, dem weiten, wogenblauen, Werden wir still und langsam niedersteigen, Stumm werden wir uns in die Augen schauen, Und auf uns sinkt des Glückes stummes Schweigen . . .
—John Henry Mackay
ZUEIGNUNG
Ja, du weißt es, teure Seele, Daß ich fern von dir mich quäle, Liebe macht die Herzen krank, Habe Dank.
Einst hielt ich, der Freiheit Zecher, Hoch den Amethysten Becher Und du segnetest den Trank, Habe Dank.
Und beschworst darin die Bösen, Bis ich, was ich nie gewesen, Heilig, heilig ans Herz dir sank, Habe Dank.
—Hermann von Gilm
LULLABY
Dream, dream, my sweet, my life, Of heaven that brings the flowers; Blossoms shimmer there, Trembling with the song your mother sings.
Dream, dream, bud of my sorrows, Of the day the flower unfolded; Of that bright blossoming morning, When your little soul opened to the world.
Dream, dream, little blossom of my love, Of the silent, of the sacred night, When the flower of his love Made this world my heaven.
TOMORROW!
And tomorrow the sun will shine again, And on the path where I shall walk, It will unite us, the happy ones, again, In the midst of this sun-breathing earth . . .
And to the broad, blue-waved shore, We shall quietly and slowly descend; Mute, into each other’s eyes gazing, And upon us sinks the muted silence of happiness . . .
DEDICATION
Yes, dear soul, you know How wretched I am away from you, Love makes the heart sick, Take my thanks.
Once I drank in freedom, I held high the amethyst cup And you blessed the drink, Take my thanks.
And you exorcised its evil, Until I was, as never before, Blessed, and sank upon your breast, Take my thanks.
GEORGES BIZET
Born October 25, 1838; Paris, France
Died June 3, 1875; Bougival, near Paris, France
Quand je vous aimerai . . . L’amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera) from Carmen
Georges Bizet was a remarkable young talent. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory two weeks before his tenth birthday and won the first of many prizes only six months later. Bizet began to study counterpoint with Pierre Zimmerman, a distinguished teacher near retirement age, whose main contribution to his student’s development may have been his frequent absences from the classroom, when his substitute was Charles Gounod, then on the verge of international fame. (Gounod was married to Zimmerman’s daughter Anna.) Gounod quickly recognized Bizet’s exceptional gifts and asked him to assist with various musical projects.
Bizet did not find his true calling until the 1860s. The Pearl Fishers, which premiered in 1863, was not a success with the public or the critics (except for the invariably perceptive
this page, from top: Georges Bizet, as photographed by Étienne Carjat (1828–1906), 1875. Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France | Lithograph of the premiere production of Bizet’s Carmen by Pierre-Auguste Lamy (1827–1883), 1875 | next page: Célestine Galli-Marié (1840–1905), creator of the title role in Carmen, ca. 1875–83. Attributed to Paul Nadar (1856–1939) and Atelier Nadar, Paris, France
COMPOSED 1873–74
FIRST PERFORMANCE
March 3, 1875; Paris, France
INSTRUMENTATION
solo voice, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 cornets, 3 trombones, timpani, percussion, strings
APPROXIMATE
PERFORMANCE TIME 4 minutes
FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES
December 9, 1891, Auditorium Theatre. Singers from the Metropolitan Opera, Auguste Vianesi conducting (Act 3)
February 24 and 25, 1893, Auditorium Theatre. Theodore Thomas conducting (Suite no. 1)
July 21, 1940, Ravinia Festival. Artur Rodziński conducting (Suite no. 1)
MOST RECENT
CSO PERFORMANCES
April 13, 14, and 15, 2023, Orchestra Hall. Hilary Hahn as soloist, Thomas Adès conducting (Fantasy on Bizet’s Carmen arranged by Pablo de Sarasate)
July 20, 2025, Ravinia Festival. Himari as soloist, Marin Alsop conducting (Franz Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy)
Berlioz), but it is the work of a born opera composer, overflowing with the promise that would ultimately be fulfilled in his final work, Carmen. Bizet didn’t live to see Carmen acclaimed as one of the true classics of music theater. He fell ill shortly after the premiere and died the night of the thirty-third performance. That night the Carmen, Célestine Galli-Marié, is said to have been so overcome with premonition in the scene where she reads death in the cards that she fainted while leaving the stage.
Although it wasn’t an immediate hit, Carmen soon found many admirers, including Brahms,
QUAND JE VOUS AIMERAI?
Quand je vous aimerai?
Ma foi, je ne sais pas,
Peut-être jamais!
Peut-être demain!
Mais pas aujourd’hui, c’est certain!
L’AMOUR EST UN OISEAU
REBELLE
L’amour est un oiseau rebelle
Que nul ne peut apprivoiser, Et c’est bien en vain qu’on l’appelle, S’il lui convient de refuser.
Rien n’y fait, menace ou prière, L’un parle bien, l’autre se tait; Et c’est l’autre que je préfère, Il n’a rien dit: mais il me plaît.
L’amour est enfant de Bohème Il n’a jamais, jamais connu de loi,
Si tu ne m’aimes pas, je t’aime!
Si je t’aime, prends garde à toi!
Si tu ne m’aimes pas, je t’aime!
Mais si je t’aime, prends garde à toi!
who went to see the opera twenty times in 1876 alone, and Nietzsche, who thought it the ideal antidote to Wagner mania. Eventually Carmen’s overwhelming popularity substantially elevated Bizet’s posthumous status, and the opera quickly became so beloved that two suites of excerpts were made for the concert hall. But nothing from the opera has proved as irresistible as Carmen’s entrance number, the sinuous and teasing habanera that Don José, alone of all onstage, resists, even though it is the last time he will be able to ignore the great seductress.
WHEN WILL I LOVE YOU?
When will I love you?
Good Lord, I don’t know, Maybe never, Maybe tomorrow!
But not today, that’s for sure!
LOVE IS A REBELLIOUS BIRD
Love is a rebellious bird
That no one can tame, And it is quite in vain we call it, If it suits it to refuse. Nothing helps, neither threat nor prayer. One man talks well, the other is silent; And it is the other I prefer, He has said nothing, but I like him.
Love is a Gypsy child, It has never, never known a law.
If you don’t love me, then I love you!
If I love you, beware!
If you don’t love me, then I love you; But if I love you, beware!
L’oiseau que tu croyais surprendre Battit de l’aile et s’envola; L’amour est loin, tu peux l’attendre; Tu ne l’attends plus, il est là! Tout autour de toi vite, vite, Il vient, s’en va, puis il revient; Tu crois le tenir, il t’évite; Tu crois l’éviter, il te tient!
L’amour est enfant de Bohème, etc.
—Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy after Prosper Mérimée
RICHARD WAGNER
Born May 22, 1813; Leipzig, Germany
Died February 13, 1883; Venice, Italy
Overture to Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser was once Wagner’s most popular opera. At the time of his death, it was staged more often than any of his other works and a bigger box-office draw than the later, groundbreaking music dramas—Tristan and Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg), Parsifal, and The Ring. It was the first of his operas produced in the United States—in 1859, just fourteen years after the Dresden world premiere—where audiences lapped up the music so eagerly (along with the beer and cakes served between acts) that the
this page, from top: Richard Wagner, portrait by Ernst Benedikt Kietz (1815–1892), 1840, Paris, France | Music Pavilion, Brighton Beach, Coney Island, New York, where the Tannhäuser overture was the theme song of the “Wagner Nights” concerts. Photo by William M. Chase, (ca. 1818–1901), Robert N. Dennis Collection of stereoscopic views. Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs Division, New York Public Library
The bird you thought to surprise Beat its wings and flew away; Love is far away; you may wait for it; When you’ve given up waiting, it is there! All around you, quickly, quickly, It comes, goes, and comes again. You think you’ve caught it, it escapes you; You think to escape it, it’s got you!
Love is a Gypsy child, etc.
theater put on a Tannhäuser burlesque four months later to keep the crowds coming. It was music from Tannhäuser that had introduced Wagner’s name to this country in 1852, when the opera’s “finale” was presented in Boston, and the
following year, when the overture was performed, again in Boston. The overture quickly became a huge hit with the public, and it was regularly played by bands as well as orchestras. In the years immediately following Wagner’s death, the Tannhäuser overture was the theme song of the packed “Wagner Nights” concerts at Brighton Beach on Coney Island, where it was sometimes played ten or more times a season.
Wagner took his subject from two separate legends—the tale of a crusading knight from Franconia who deserts Venus to make a pilgrimage to Rome and the story of a song contest at the Wartburg. By combining them, and in the process inventing the love between Tannhäuser and Elisabeth (taking a character from each legend), Wagner created a powerful conflict between two worlds. The idea of Tannhäuser, torn between the allure of the sensual Venus and the pure spirituality of Elisabeth, was particularly intriguing to Wagner at the time, for he was troubled by the hedonism and emptiness of modern life. Tannhäuser captures his yearning for “more elevated and noble” concerns instead of the “immediately recognizable sensuality” he found all around him. The opera vividly defines this polarity through two distinct styles: a landscape of music centered in E-flat major for Elisabeth and the pilgrims of the Wartburg and a radically more advanced, unsettled music in E major for the exotic realm of Venus.
Theodore Thomas programmed the overture several times during the Chicago Orchestra’s first season, in 1891 and 1892, in Chicago; and in Rockford, on the Orchestra’s first run-out concert; as well as in Louisville, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis. Although it brilliantly introduces the two realms vying for Tannhäuser’s soul, even Wagner couldn’t juxtapose music in E-flat major and E major within a single curtain-raiser, and so, for the only time in the opera, the pilgrim’s noble march—the first music we hear—is played in E major, Venus’s key borrowed for the purpose to make musical, if not dramatic, sense.
COMPOSED 1843–45
FIRST PERFORMANCE
October 19, 1845; Dresden, Germany
INSTRUMENTATION
2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, strings
APPROXIMATE
PERFORMANCE TIME 14 minutes
FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES
October 19, 1891; Grand Opera House, Rockford. Theodore Thomas conducting
January 22 and 23, 1892, Auditorium Theatre. Theodore Thomas conducting August 6, 1938, Ravinia Festival. Eugene Ormandy conducting
MOST RECENT
CSO PERFORMANCES
May 11, 12, 13, and 16, 2023, Orchestra Hall. Riccardo Muti conducting
August 9, 2025, Ravinia Festival. Lidiya Yankovskaya conducting
CSO RECORDINGS
1976. Sir Georg Solti conducting. London (video)
1977. Sir Georg Solti conducting. London
1994. Daniel Barenboim conducting. Teldec
Phillip Huscher has been the program annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1987.
PROFILES
Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider Conductor
FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES
November 24 and 25, 2000, Orchestra Hall. Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, Daniel Barenboim conducting
July 16, 2015, Ravinia Festival. Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 3 (conducting from the violin) and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique
December 21, 22, and 23, 2017, Orchestra Hall. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (conducting from the violin) and Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 5
MOST RECENT CSO PERFORMANCES
September 18 and 19, 2025, Orchestra Hall. Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante with Teng Li and Szeps-Znaider (conducting from the violin) and Elgar’s Symphony no. 2
The 2025–26 season marks Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider’s sixth as music director of the Orchestre National de Lyon, a partnership that has been extended until 2026–27.
Szeps-Znaider regularly features as guest conductor with the world’s leading orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony, and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. His return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra continues a flourishing relationship.
On the operatic front, following a successful debut conducting Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Dresden Semperoper, Szeps-Znaider was immediately re-invited to lead Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. He recently made debuts with the Royal Danish Opera, Bavarian State Opera, and the Zurich Opera House.
Also a virtuoso violinist, Szeps-Znaider maintains his reputation as one of the world’s
leading exponents of the instrument with a busy calendar of concerto and recital engagements. This season, he makes return appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, London Philharmonic, and Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as with the New World and St. Louis symphony orchestras. He also embarks on an extensive European recital tour with pianist Daniil Trifonov.
Szeps-Znaider boasts an extensive discography of much of the core repertoire for violin, including a critically praised complete collection of Mozart’s violin concertos with the London Symphony Orchestra, which he directs from the violin. Other notable recordings include Nielsen’s Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert, Elgar’s Concerto in B minor with the Dresden Staatskapelle and Sir Colin Davis, award-winning recordings of the concertos by Brahms and Korngold with the Vienna Philharmonic under Valery Gergiev, the concertos by Beethoven and Mendelssohn with the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta, Prokofiev’s Concerto no. 2 and Glazunov’s Concerto in A minor with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Mariss Jansons, and Mendelssohn’s concerto on DVD with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly. Szeps-Znaider has also recorded all of Brahms’s works for violin and piano with Yefim Bronfman.
Szeps-Znaider plays the 1741 “Kreisler” Guarnerius del Gesù instrument on extended loan by the Royal Danish Theatre through the generosity of the VELUX Foundations, the Villum Foundation, and the Knud Højgaard Foundation.
Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider is managed by Enticott Music Management in association with IMG Artists.
PHOTO BY LARS GUNDERSEN
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Artist-in-Residence position, held by Joyce DiDonato, is made possible through a generous gift from James and Brenda Grusecki.
Joyce DiDonato Mezzo-soprano
FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES
September 29, 30, and October 1, 2016, Orchestra Hall. Martucci’s Canzone dei ricordi, Riccardo Muti conducting
MOST RECENT CSO PERFORMANCES
May 2, 4, and 7, 2019, Orchestra Hall; May 3, 2019, Edman Memorial Chapel, Wheaton College. Berlioz’s The Death of Cleopatra, Riccardo Muti conducting November 15, 2019, Carnegie Hall. Berlioz’s The Death of Cleopatra, Riccardo Muti conducting
Winner of multiple Grammy awards and a 2018 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Kansas-born Joyce DiDonato has soared to the top of the industry as a performer, producer, and fierce advocate for the arts.
Recent highlights include Handel’s Theodora for the Teatro Real in Madrid and an acclaimed European recital tour. She continued her celebrated musical partnership with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and a spring residency at the Konzerthaus Dortmund featured the world premiere of Rachel Portman’s song cycle Another Eve.
DiDonato’s varied 2025–26 season commences with season-opening concerts with both the Minnesota Orchestra and the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, as well as the reopening of Powell Hall with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Kevin Puts’s House of Tomorrow. She returns to Musikkollegium Winterthur for Another Eve and collaborates with Radio France for Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder in Paris and Dijon. She also reunites with pianist Craig Terry for recitals at Théâtre de Genève and Suntory Hall in Tokyo and embarks on her first major tour of Australia with the Melbourne, Tasmanian, and New Zealand symphony orchestras. DiDonato makes her Lincoln Center Theater stage debut as the mother in Menotti’s Amahl and the
Night Visitors and her much-anticipated role debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Saariaho’s Innocence. Concert appearances include Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Symphony no. 3 with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Nézet-Séguin. The artist maintains her annual master class series at Carnegie Hall in New York and tours her album SongPlay throughout Asia. She also joins the Met Orchestra for her second European tour with Nézet-Séguin following a performance of Mahler’s Symphony no. 4 at Carnegie Hall.
Her latest global touring project, EDEN, completed a groundbreaking three years with tours in Asia, South America, the United States, and Europe. A newly commissioned song cycle by Kevin Puts, Emily—No Prisoner Be, for her and the Grammy Award–winning string trio Time for Three, had its world premiere at the Bregenz Festival in August 2025.
On the operatic stage, DiDonato’s recent roles include Virginia Woolf (The Hours), Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking), Agrippina, Cendrillon, Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito), and Adalgisa (Norma), all for the Metropolitan Opera.
Much in demand on the concert and recital circuit, DiDonato has held residencies at Carnegie Hall and the Barbican Centre in London; toured extensively in the United States, South America, Europe, and Asia; and appeared as guest soloist at the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms.
Her expansive discography includes Berlioz’s Les Troyens (Gramophone’s Recording of the Year) and Handel’s Agrippina (Gramophone’s Opera Recording of the Year). Other albums include the singular EDEN, spanning four centuries of music; Schubert’s Winterreise with Nézet-Séguin; and the Grammy-winning SongPlay, Diva Divo, and Drama Queens. Other honors include her inaugural induction into the Gramophone Hall of Fame, receiving the Fourteenth Concertgebouw Prize in September 2024, and being named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Republic.
Joyce DiDonato is the CSO Artist-in-Residence for the 2025–26 season, made possible through a generous gift from James and Brenda Grusecki.
PHOTO © BY CHRIS GONZ
Tax-deductible donations do more than support the concerts you love — they impact more than 200,000 people through education and community engagement programs each year. Thanks to a generous matching grant, all gifts to the CSOA will be doubled. Make a difference with your gift today.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra—consistently hailed as one of the world’s best—marks its 135th season in 2025–26. The ensemble’s history began in 1889, when Theodore Thomas, the leading conductor in America and a recognized music pioneer, was invited by Chicago businessman Charles Norman Fay to establish a symphony orchestra. Thomas’s aim to build a permanent orchestra of the highest quality was realized at the first concerts in October 1891 in the Auditorium Theatre. Thomas served as music director until his death in January 1905, just three weeks after the dedication of Orchestra Hall, the Orchestra’s permanent home designed by Daniel Burnham.
Frederick Stock, recruited by Thomas to the viola section in 1895, became assistant conductor in 1899 and succeeded the Orchestra’s founder. His tenure lasted thirty-seven years, from 1905 to 1942—the longest of the Orchestra’s music directors. Stock founded the Civic Orchestra of Chicago— the first training orchestra in the U.S. affiliated with a major orchestra—in 1919, established youth auditions, organized the first subscription concerts especially for children, and began a series of popular concerts.
Three conductors headed the Orchestra during the following decade: Désiré Defauw was music director from 1943 to 1947, Artur Rodzinski in 1947–48, and Rafael Kubelík from 1950 to 1953. The next ten years belonged to Fritz Reiner, whose recordings with the CSO are still considered hallmarks. Reiner invited Margaret Hillis to form the Chicago Symphony Chorus in 1957. For five seasons from 1963 to 1968, Jean Martinon held the position of music director.
Sir Georg Solti, the Orchestra’s eighth music director, served from 1969 until 1991. His arrival launched one of the most successful musical partnerships of our time. The CSO made its first overseas tour to Europe in 1971 under his direction and released numerous award-winning recordings. Beginning in 1991, Solti held the title of music director laureate and returned to conduct the Orchestra each season until his death in September 1997.
Daniel Barenboim became ninth music director in 1991, a position he held until 2006. His tenure was distinguished by the opening of Symphony Center in 1997, appearances with the Orchestra in the dual role of pianist and conductor, and twenty-one international tours. Appointed by Barenboim in 1994 as the Chorus’s second director, Duain Wolfe served until his retirement in 2022.
In 2010, Riccardo Muti became the Orchestra’s tenth music director. During his tenure, the Orchestra deepened its engagement with the Chicago community, nurtured its legacy while supporting a new generation of musicians and composers, and collaborated with visionary artists. In September 2023, Muti became music director emeritus for life.
In April 2024, Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä was announced as the Orchestra’s eleventh music director and will begin an initial five-year tenure as Zell Music Director in September 2027. In July 2025, Donald Palumbo became the third director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
Carlo Maria Giulini was named the Orchestra’s first principal guest conductor in 1969, serving until 1972; Claudio Abbado held the position from 1982 to 1985. Pierre Boulez was appointed as principal guest conductor in 1995 and was named Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus in 2006, a position he held until his death in January 2016. From 2006 to 2010, Bernard Haitink was the Orchestra’s first principal conductor.
Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato is the CSO’s Artist-in-Residence for the 2025–26 season.
The Orchestra first performed at Ravinia Park in 1905 and appeared frequently through August 1931, after which the park was closed for most of the Great Depression. In August 1936, the Orchestra helped to inaugurate the first season of the Ravinia Festival, and it has been in residence nearly every summer since.
Since 1916, recording has been a significant part of the Orchestra’s activities. Recordings by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus— including recent releases on CSO Resound, the Orchestra’s recording label launched in 2007— have earned sixty-five Grammy awards from the Recording Academy.
Discover more about the musicians, concerts, and generous supporters of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association online, at cso.org.
Find articles and program notes, listen to CSOradio, and watch CSOtv at Experience CSO.
Get involved with our many volunteer and affiliate groups.
Connect with us on social @chicagosymphony
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association Board of Trustees
OFFICERS
Mary Louise Gorno Chair
Chester A. Gougis Vice Chair
Steven Shebik Vice Chair
Helen Zell Vice Chair
Renée Metcalf Treasurer
Jeff Alexander President
Kristine Stassen Secretary of the Board
Stacie M. Frank Assistant Treasurer
Dale Hedding Vice President for Development
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association Administration
SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Jeff Alexander President
Cristina Rocca Vice President, Artistic Administration
The Richard and Mary L. Gray Chair
Vanessa Moss Vice President, Orchestra and Building Operations
Stacie Frank Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Finance and Administration
Ryan Lewis Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Dale Hedding Vice President, Development
For complete listings of our generous supporters, please visit the Richard and Helen Thomas Donor Gallery.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Klaus Mäkelä Zell Music Director Designate
Joyce DiDonato Artist-in-Residence
VIOLINS
Robert Chen Concertmaster
The Louis C. Sudler Chair, endowed by an
anonymous benefactor
Stephanie Jeong
Associate Concertmaster
The Cathy and Bill Osborn Chair
David Taylor*
Assistant Concertmaster
The Ling Z. and Michael C.
Markovitz Chair
Yuan-Qing Yu*
Assistant Concertmaster
So Young Bae
Cornelius Chiu
Gina DiBello
Kozue Funakoshi
Russell Hershow
Qing Hou
Gabriela Lara
Matous Michal
Simon Michal
Sando Shia
Susan Synnestvedt
Rong-Yan Tang
Baird Dodge Principal
Danny Yehun Jin
Assistant Principal
Lei Hou
Ni Mei
Hermine Gagné
Rachel Goldstein
Mihaela Ionescu
Melanie Kupchynsky §
Wendy Koons Meir
Ronald Satkiewicz ‡
Florence Schwartz
VIOLAS
Teng Li Principal
The Paul Hindemith Principal Viola Chair
Catherine Brubaker
Youming Chen
Sunghee Choi
Wei-Ting Kuo
Danny Lai
Weijing Michal
Diane Mues
Lawrence Neuman
Max Raimi
CELLOS
John Sharp Principal
The Eloise W. Martin Chair
Kenneth Olsen
Assistant Principal
The Adele Gidwitz Chair
Karen Basrak §
The Joseph A. and Cecile Renaud Gorno Chair
Richard Hirschl
Daniel Katz
Katinka Kleijn
Brant Taylor
The Ann Blickensderfer and Roger Blickensderfer Chair
BASSES
Alexander Hanna Principal
The David and Mary Winton
Green Principal Bass Chair
Alexander Horton
Assistant Principal
Daniel Carson
Ian Hallas
Robert Kassinger
Mark Kraemer
Stephen Lester
Bradley Opland
Andrew Sommer
FLUTES
Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson § Principal
The Erika and Dietrich M.
Gross Principal Flute Chair
Emma Gerstein
Jennifer Gunn
PICCOLO
Jennifer Gunn
The Dora and John Aalbregtse Piccolo Chair
OBOES
William Welter Principal
Lora Schaefer
Assistant Principal
The Gilchrist Foundation, Jocelyn Gilchrist Chair
Scott Hostetler
ENGLISH HORN
Scott Hostetler
Riccardo Muti Music Director Emeritus for Life
CLARINETS
Stephen Williamson Principal
John Bruce Yeh
Assistant Principal
The Governing
Members Chair
Gregory Smith
E-FLAT CLARINET
John Bruce Yeh
BASSOONS
Keith Buncke Principal
William Buchman
Assistant Principal
Miles Maner
HORNS
Mark Almond Principal
James Smelser
David Griffin
Oto Carrillo
Susanna Gaunt
Daniel Gingrich ‡
TRUMPETS
Esteban Batallán Principal
The Adolph Herseth Principal Trumpet Chair, endowed by an anonymous benefactor
John Hagstrom
The Bleck Family Chair
Tage Larsen
TROMBONES
Timothy Higgins Principal
The Lisa and Paul Wiggin
Principal Trombone Chair
Michael Mulcahy
Charles Vernon
BASS TROMBONE
Charles Vernon
TUBA
Gene Pokorny Principal
The Arnold Jacobs Principal Tuba Chair, endowed by Christine Querfeld
* Assistant concertmasters are listed by seniority. ‡ On sabbatical § On leave
The CSO’s music director position is endowed in perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation. The Louise H. Benton Wagner chair is currently unoccupied.
TIMPANI
David Herbert Principal
The Clinton Family Fund Chair
Vadim Karpinos
Assistant Principal
PERCUSSION
Cynthia Yeh Principal
Patricia Dash
Vadim Karpinos
LIBRARIANS
Justin Vibbard Principal
Carole Keller
Mark Swanson
CSO FELLOWS
Ariel Seunghyun Lee Violin
Jesús Linárez Violin
The Michael and Kathleen Elliott Fellow
Olivia Jakyoung Huh Cello
ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL
John Deverman Director
Anne MacQuarrie
Manager, CSO Auditions and Orchestra Personnel
STAGE TECHNICIANS
Christopher Lewis
Stage Manager
Blair Carlson
Paul Christopher
Chris Grannen
Ryan Hartge
Peter Landry
Joshua Mondie
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra string sections utilize revolving seating. Players behind the first desk (first two desks in the violins) change seats systematically every two weeks and are listed alphabetically. Section percussionists also are listed alphabetically.
SYMPHONY BALL SPONSORS
The Women’s Board of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association thanks the following donors for their support of Symphony Ball.
SYMPHONY BALL PRESENTING SPONSOR
SYMPHONY BALL SPONSORS
PLATINUM SPONSORS
The Negaunee Foundation
Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Foundation
Dr. and Mrs. Gene and Jean Stark
Zell Family Foundation
GOLD SPONSORS
Sharon Angell
Lori Julian
Cathy and Bill Osborn
Andrew Pritzker
SILVER SPONSORS
AAR CORP
Anonymous
BRONZE SPONSORS
Karin and Tony Gambell
GCM Grosvenor
Goldman Sachs & Co.
Guggenheim Securities, LLC
Helen Han and Dan Pan
Nancy and E. Scott Santi
Cynthia and Michael Scholl
Helen G. and Richard L. Thomas
Laura and Terrence Truax
PNC Bank
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Mayer Brown LLP
McDermott Will & Schulte LLP
McGuireWoods LLP
Christopher Tower
XA Investments
SYMPHONY BALL PATRONS
PLATINUM PATRONS
Mr. and Mrs. William Adams IV
Nancy Garfien
Mimi Murley
Shelley Ochab and Chester Gougis
Sandy Rusnak
GOLD PATRONS
Global Verification Network
Anna and Mark Hertsberg
Scott and Judy McCue
Toni-Marie Montgomery
Gloria and Mark Nusbaum
Cheryl Sturm
Lois B. Wolff
SILVER PATRONS
Dora J. and R. John Aalbregtse
Allstate Insurance Company
Elizabeth Berry and Philip S. Revzin
Judith E. Feldman
Gabrielle and Knox Long
Mirjana Martich and Zoran Lazarevic
Courtney Shea
Lynn Singer
BRONZE PATRONS
Rene Alphonse
Peter and Elise Barack
Cynthia Bates
Dr. Jacob Bonnema
Anne Brennan and Scott Strubel
Debra Cantor
Kyle Chen and Isabelle Swartz
Jacqui Cheng and Clint Ecker
Sonya and Heratch Doumanian
Jennifer Amler Goldstein
Dr. Dominic A. Harris and Elysa Cappelucci
Nancy Hess and Dr. John Zautcke
Colette and William Rodon Hornof
Catherine Grochowski Kranz
Dr. Michael Krco
Maryrose Murphy
Victoria Nee
Heidi and Bob Rogers
Ruthie and Rich Ryan
Marcia Sabesin
Scott Byron & Co. Inc.
Kim Shepherd
Ashley White and John Powers
Gifford R. Zimmerman and Jennifer Christensen
OVERTURE COUNCIL
Daniel Bohlmann
Emily Duda
Kim Ellwein
Matthew Fry
David Greene
Lauren Huefner
Dr. Valerie Mayuga
Anatoliy Mustuk and Khrystyna Musiy
Veronika Rockova
Ben Stewart
Danielle Williams
Ken Zhang
CONTRIBUTORS
Katie and Chris Barber
Liz Branch
Rosemarie and Dean L. Buntrock
John and Leslie Henner Burns
Donna and David Fleming
Juli Crabtree and Donald Horvath
Mr. and Mrs. William M. Goodyear, Jr.
Graham C. Grady
Elisa Harris and Ivo Daalder
Joyce Honigberg
Leah Laurie
Elizabeth Parker and Keith Crow
Mary Jo Potts and Jim Selsor
UNDERWRITING
Red Carpet: CDW
MEDIA PARTNERS
Listing as of September 5, 2025
FOR Musıc with FALL IN LOVE
A fundraising event presented by the League of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, featuring Zell Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä and violist Antoine Tamestit.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17
11:00 am | Guest Check-In
11:30 am | Luncheon
12:30 pm | Program
UNION LEAGUE CLUB OF CHICAGO
Presidents Hall | 65 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604
TICKETS $250
For event tickets and more information, visit cso.org/fallinlove.
HOSTED BY
Sarah Good, President
Sharon Mitchell, Vice President of Fundraising
Mimi Duginger and Margo Oberman, Co-Chairs
Contact Brent Taghap at taghapb@cso.org with event-related questions.
Discover the benefits of making a legacy gift to your Chicago Symphony Orchestra
“The symphony is a major part of my life, and I want to see it continue for generations so that others may enjoy the beauty of classical music and hear the best orchestra in the world.”
— Merle Jacob
Join the Theodore Thomas Society
Named in honor of the founding music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Theodore Thomas Society recognizes individuals who have included the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in their will, trust or beneficiary designation.
Contact Brian Nelson at 312-294-3192 or visit cso.org/PlannedGiving for more information.
Symphony Ball is presented by the Women’s Board of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association.
KIMBERLY FLYNN
CYNTHIA SCHOLL Co-Chair, Symphony Ball Co-Chair, Symphony Ball
LAURA TRUAX
RODERICK BRANCH
President, Women’s Board Trustee Co-Chair, Symphony Ball
JEFF ALEXANDER
MARY LOUISE GORNO
President, Chicago Symphony Chair, Board of Trustees Orchestra Association
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association Women’s Board
Dora Aalbregtse
Elisabeth Adams*
Keiko Alexander
Rene Alphonse
Sharon Angell
Katie Barber*
Betsy Berry
Liz Branch
Anne Brennan
Leslie Henner Burns*
Debra Cantor
Juli Crabtree
Suzanne Demirjian
*Women’s Board Past President
Listing as of September 5, 2025
Judith E. Feldman*
Donna Fleming
Kimberly Flynn
Karen Goodyear*
Helen Han
Elisa Harris
Kyle Harvey
Anna Hertsberg
Nancy Hess
Colette Rodin Hornof
Leah Laurie
Mirjana Martich
Mimi Murley
Victoria Nee
Shelley Ochab*
Elizabeth A. Parker*
Mary Rafferty
Sandy Rusnak
Ruthie Ryan
Nancy Santi
Cynthia Scholl
Courtney Shea
Kim Shepherd
Lynn Singer
Cheryl Sturm
Laura Truax