PROFILES
Samara Joy Vocals
Few figures in jazz history have experienced the kind of success that Samara Joy has, especially at such a young age. Still only twentysix years old, she leads a career that can safely be called sensational.
To date, Joy has received three Grammy awards, which has given her the profile of a pop celebrity. With millions of likes on TikTok, she has helped new generations of music fans discover timeless American music, and she’s earned a reputation as a masterful interpreter of jazz standards and a rightful heiress to the sound, technique, and charisma that defined her jazz heroines, including Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, Abbey Lincoln, and Carmen McRae.
A native of the Bronx’s Castle Hill neighborhood, Joy was entranced by classic R&B as a child and cut her teeth in her church’s gospel choir. Her grandparents, Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, helmed the Philadelphia gospel group the Savettes, and her father, musician and songwriter Antonio McLendon, toured with Andraé Crouch and has recorded his own original work. Joy began exploring jazz singing in her teens as a senior at Fordham High School for the Arts in the Bronx and won Best Vocalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington program. After graduating high school as valedictorian, Joy studied jazz at SUNY Purchase College, where she fell in with gifted instrumentalists that she would collaborate with in the years to come. While a college student, she won
the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, which kick-started her professional career.
Joy released her self-titled debut on the Whirlwind label in 2021, the same year she graduated college. She followed up a year later with Linger Awhile, which showcased her ability to write lyrics to improvised jazz solos alongside her interpretations of well-known classics. At the Grammy Awards in 2023, she won Best New Artist over the most buzzed-about stars in rock, pop, hip-hop, and R&B and was profiled in dozens of outlets, appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and The Today Show, among others.
For her next venture, Joy looked toward the comforts of home and family with the release of her EP A Joyful Holiday in the fall of 2023, which featured a track with members of her McLendon family. That same season, she crossed over to the world of fashion, starring in a campaign for the New York–based brand Theory.
Only a year later, her self-produced single “Tight,” recorded with her working band, earned Joy the 2024 Grammy for Best Jazz Performance. The following month, she released the single “Why I’m Here,” cowritten with PJ Morton, which appears as the end-credits music in Netflix’s film Shirley, about Shirley Chisholm, starring Oscar-winner Regina King.
Samara Joy’s new Verve release, Portrait, which she coproduced with fellow multipleGrammy-winning trumpeter and musical director Brian Lynch, won her an NAACP Image Award in 2025 for Outstanding Jazz Album and Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 2026 Grammy Awards.
REFRESHMENTS AT SYMPHONY CENTER
You can order drinks and snacks before the performance or during intermission at various bars located throughout Symphony Center, including the Bass Bar in the Rotunda and most of the lobby spaces in Orchestra Hall.
PHOTO
Steven Reineke Conductor
Steven Reineke, one of North America’s leading conductors of popular music, is in his second decade as music director of the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. He also is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington (D.C.) and principal pops conductor of the Houston Symphony and Toronto Symphony Orchestra. A frequent guest conductor, Reineke can be seen on the podium with the Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit symphony orchestras.
Reineke collaborates with a range of leading artists in hip-hop, R&B, Broadway, television, and rock, including Killer Mike, Maxwell, Common, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Ne-Yo, Bob Weir, Trey Anastasio, Barry Manilow, Cynthia Erivo, Ben Rector, Cody Fry, Sutton Foster, Amos Lee, Dispatch, Jason Mraz, and Ben Folds, among others. In 2024 he led the NSO on PBS’s Next at the Kennedy Center in the episode “Ben Folds Presents: Declassified” with Jacob Collier, Laufey, and dodie. He was previously seen with the NSO on PBS’s Great Performances with hip-hop legend Nas performing his seminal album Illmatic. Reineke is the conductor on Ben Folds Live with The National Symphony Orchestra and William Shatner’s So Fragile, So Blue with the NSO. In November 2025 Reineke was joined on the podium by NFL legend Marshawn Lynch, who visited the Houston Symphony ahead of Thursday Night Football for a conducting tutorial featured in his Amazon Prime show N Yo City.
Reineke is the creator of hundreds of orchestral arrangements, which are performed worldwide and can be heard on numerous Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings. His symphonic works Celebration Fanfare, Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Casey at the Bat are frequently programmed in North America
by such ensembles as the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics. His Sun Valley Festival Fanfare commemorates the Sun Valley Summer Symphony’s pavilion, and his pieces Festival Te Deum and Swan’s Island Sojourn were premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops orchestras. His numerous wind-ensemble works are published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company and are performed by concert bands perennially.
A native of Ohio, Steven Reineke is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio (2020 Alumnus Distinguished Achievement Medal), where he earned bachelor’s degrees with honors in both trumpet performance and music composition.
He currently resides in New York City with his husband Eric Gabbard.
David Mason
Alto Saxophone and Flute
Saxophonist, flutist, and composer David Mason aims to portray music in the most authentic and genuine form, from inevitable melodies to the orchestration of humanistic gesturing throughout unique sonic landscapes. His debut single, “Balance,” was recorded and released in early 2023, receiving rave reviews.
Mason tours with and writes for Grammy Award–winning artist Samara Joy. In addition, he has recorded for other Grammy-winning artists, such as John Daversa and Jimmy Haslip, and performed at venues including the Hollywood Bowl, SFJAZZ, GroundUp Music Festival in Miami Beach, and Keystone Korner in Baltimore.
He also has made arrangements and orchestrations for the Boston Pops Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra and transcriptions and arrangements for Grammy-winning pianist and composer Robert Glasper.
While obtaining his master’s degree from the University of Miami Frost School of Music as
PHOTO BY LARRY BUSACCA / NEW YORK POPS, JAMES EVANS
a student of Marcus Strickland, David Mason taught private saxophone lessons, improvisation, and composition to graduate and undergraduate students.
Kendric McCallister
Tenor Saxophone and Bass Clarinet
Kendric McCallister is a SUNY Purchase College graduate and Grammy Award–winning saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and arranger. Born in St. Petersburg, Florida, he began playing saxophone at the age of nine and was introduced to jazz shortly afterward.
Throughout his musical career, he has played with many great musicians, including Roy Hargrove, Jon Faddis, Barry Harris, Kenny Washington, George Coleman, Chick Corea, and others. He currently is causing a storm on the New York jazz circuit, furthering his studies as a musician and composer along the never-ending world of music.
Jason Charos Trumpet and Flugelhorn
Jason Charos is a jazz trumpeter based in New York City. His career highlights include recording in the trumpet section on the Grammy Award–winning album The Omni-American Book Club by the Brian Lynch Big Band and touring with and arranging for Grammy-winning artist Samara Joy. Charos can be heard on her single “Lush Life” on Amazon Music.
Other accolades include winning second place in the 2019 National Trumpet Competition, Jazz Division, and the Laurie Frink Career Grant in 2022. Also in 2022, Charos recorded his debut
album of original music, Opening Statement, produced by Brian Lynch and released in August 2025 on Lynch’s label, Hollistic MusicWorks. The album features performances by Lynch, Dafnis Prieto, and Melvin Butler.
Eli Feingold Trombone
Eli Feingold is an awardwinning trombonist, pianist, composer, arranger, and orchestrator based in Brooklyn, New York.
In 2025 Feingold was awarded both the Johnny Mandel Prize for Composers and the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award for his composition 1210, which can be heard on his debut album, Good Size Park. A Variety article published in 2025 features details about the award and his work.
As the trombonist in Samara Joy’s septet, Feingold has been on multiple national tours and played at prestigious venues across the country, including concerts with such storied ensembles as the New York Philharmonic and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
As an orchestrator, he has had his work featured at the Las Vegas Sphere and on BritBox’s Outrageous and recorded at Treasure Isle Studio in Nashville.
In his own music, Eli Feingold explores his Jewish heritage and what it means to be a part of that cultural lineage, connecting with his culture in an authentic and unique way using his vast array of influences to inform the work. This exploration is on full display with his band Good Size Park, which released their debut and self-titled album in 2024.
Feingold and his long-time collaborator Damian Gutierrez cowrote the score to Chris Molina’s feature film Fallen Fruit, released on Tubi and recently featured at the Miami Film Festival and the Frameline Film Festival, among many others.
Eli Feingold graduated from the University of Miami Frost School of Music with a bachelor’s degree in jazz trombone performance in 2019 and a master’s degree in studio jazz writing in 2021.
Connor Rohrer Piano
A native of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, rising jazz pianist Connor Rohrer earned a bachelor’s degree in 2022 and a master’s degree in theory and composition in 2024 from the University of Miami Frost School of Music, studying under Martin Bejerano. He gained prominence as a finalist in the 2023 Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition and has toured with Grammy Award–winning vocalist Samara Joy. He received a 2022 DownBeat Student Jazz Award for Outstanding Original Composition and was named a finalist for the 2027 American Piano Awards in Jazz.
Connor Rohrer performs across genres from classical to jazz; his Frost School of Music training has led to high-profile gigs, including with Samara Joy’s touring band.
Paul Sikivie Bass
Bassist Paul Sikivie, born in Gainesville, Florida, relocated to New York City in 2007 to pursue jazz studies at the Manhattan School of Music, marking the start of his professional career.
Sikivie has built a reputation through collaborations with leading artists like Cécile McLorin Salvant, Aaron Diehl, Dan Tepfer, Ted Nash, Johnny O’Neal, Grant
Stewart, and Matt Wilson. His formative gigs included performances at such iconic venues as the Village Vanguard alongside Evan Sherman, establishing him as a go-to sideman on New York City’s jazz scene.
In recent years, Paul Sikivie has turned his attention toward composition and arranging. Most notably, he melded string quartet and jazz piano trio for six pieces on McLorin Salvant’s Dreams and Daggers recording, which was awarded the 2018 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
Evan Sherman Drums
Born in New Jersey, critically acclaimed drummer, bandleader, and arranger Evan Sherman began working professionally while still in high school, active on the New York City jazz scene from an early age. He was trained on the bandstand in the ensembles of Ron Carter, Roy Hargrove, and Jimmy Heath, and by both Branford and Wynton Marsalis, among others.
Sherman has toured on five continents, performing at Carnegie Hall, the Village Vanguard, Royal Albert Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, in addition to such festivals as Monterey, Newport, North Sea, and Umbria.
In 2014 he founded the Evan Sherman Big Band, which has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Blue Note NYC, and Midsummer Night’s Swing.
Evan Sherman has toured and recorded with vocalist Samara Joy since 2022, appearing on major broadcasts worldwide. He is featured on her Grammy Award–winning single “Tight” and her 2024 Grammy-winning album Portrait.
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 Rodziński 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.
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
Wendy Koons Meir
Ronald Satkiewicz ‡
Florence Schwartz
VIOLAS
Teng Li Principal
The Paul Hindemith Principal Viola Chair
Catherine Brubaker
Youming Chen
Sunghee Choi
Paolo Dara
Wei-Ting Kuo
Danny Lai
Weijing Michal
Diane Mues
Lawrence Neuman
Jikun Qin
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
Olivia Jakyoung Huh
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
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 Zell Family Foundation. The Louise H. Benton Wagner and Erika and Dietrich M. Gross Principal Flute chairs are currently unoccupied.
TIMPANI
David Herbert Principal
The Clinton Family Fund Chair
Vadim Karpinos
Assistant Principal
PERCUSSION
Cynthia Yeh Principal Chair sponsored by an anonymous benefactor
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
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.
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.
cso.org/experience
Get involved with our many volunteer and affiliate groups.
cso.org/getinvolved
Connect with us on social @chicagosymphony
Conductor Joe Hisaishi with the CSO, June 2024; CSO Artist-in-Residence Joyce DiDonato
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
Stacie M. Frank Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Finance and Administration
Dale Hedding Vice President, Development
Ryan Lewis Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Vanessa Moss Vice President, Orchestra and Building Operations
Cristina Rocca Vice President, Artistic Administration
The Richard and Mary L. Gray Chair
Eileen Chambers Director, Institutional Communications
Jonathan McCormick Managing Director, Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO
Visit cso.org/csoa to view a complete listing of the CSOA Board of Trustees and Administration.
For complete listings of our generous supporters, please visit the Richard and Helen Thomas Donor Gallery.
cso.org/donorgallery
