Chicago Symphony Orchestra

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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, based in Chicago, Illinois, is one of the leading orchestras in the world. It is currently in its 115th season.

1 Chicago Symphony Orchestra
2 Recordings and Broadcasts
3 Civic Orchestra of Chicago
4 Music Directors
5 Principal Conductors
6 Principal Guest Conductors
7 Conductors Emeritus
8 Composers-in-Residence
9 External links

[edit] Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Symphony Center of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

In 1891 Charles Norman Fay, a Chicago businessman, invited Theodore Thomas to establish an orchestra in Chicago. Conducted by Theodore Thomas under the name "Chicago Orchestra," the orchestra played its first concert on October 16, 1891 at the Auditorium Theatre. It is one of the oldest orchestras in the United States, along with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Orchestra Hall (now a component of the Symphony Center complex and the orchestra's main home), located at 220 South Michigan Avenue (map[1]), was designed by famed Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham and completed in 1904. Maestro Thomas served as music director for thirteen years until his death shortly after the orchestra's newly built residence was dedicated on December 14, 1904. The orchestra was renamed "Theodore Thomas Orchestra" in 1905 and today, Orchestra Hall still has "Theodore Thomas Orchestra Hall" inscribed in its façade.

In 1905, Frederick Stock became Music Director, a post he held until his death in 1942. The orchestra was renamed "Chicago Symphony Orchestra" in 1913.

Other Music Directors have included Désiré Defauw (1943-47), Artur Rodziński (1947-48), Rafael Kubelík (1950-53), Fritz Reiner (1953-63), Jean Martinon (1963-68), Georg Solti (1969-91) and, Daniel Barenboim (1991-2006). Maestro Barenboim's final concerts leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra took place on June 15-17 2006. On 27 April 2006, the orchestra named Bernard Haitink to the role of Principal Conductor and Pierre Boulez to the role of Conductor Emeritus "while [the] music director search continues." The appointment begins in the 2006-2007 season. The season is scheduled to take place with all guest conductors, creating a unique schedule, the likes of which has not occurred in Chicago since the 1950s. Haitink will conduct the CSO in October 2006 and May 2007, and is scheduled for a further four to six weeks of performances beginning with the 2007-2008 season, as well as at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, at the Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland, and at London’s BBC Proms. Pierre Boulez will conduct three to four weeks of CSO performances each season, including touring activities.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has long been associated with Ravinia, in Highland Park, Illinois, having first performed during Ravinia Park’s second season in November 1905 and appearing semiregularly through August 1931, after which the Park fell dark under the Great Depression. The Orchestra helped to inaugurate the first season of the Ravinia Festival in August 1936 and has been in residence at the Festival every summer since. Many conductors have made their debut with the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia, and several have gone on to become the 'Artistic Director' (or primary summertime guest conductor) at Ravinia, including Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, and Christoph Eschenbach. As of 2005, James Conlon holds the title of Ravinia Music Director.

The orchestra has also had a number of distinguished guest conductors. Guest conductors have included Richard Strauss, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edward Elgar, Leonard Slatkin, André Previn, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Stokowski, Morton Gould, Erich Leinsdorf, Walter Hendl, Eugene Ormandy, George Szell and Charles Munch. Many of these guests have also recorded with the Orchestra.

There have also been designated Principal Guest Conductors including Carlo Maria Giulini (1969-72) and Claudio Abbado (1982-85). From 1995-2006 Pierre Boulez was the Principal Guest Conductor. Starting with the 2006-2007 season, Boulez will have the title Conductor Emeritus.

Music performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has appeared in various movies, including Immortal Beloved (conducted by Sir Georg Solti) and Fantasia 2000 (conducted by James Levine).

The Chicago Symphony also holds an annual fundraiser, originally known as the Chicago Symphony Radiothon and more recently as "Symphonython," in conjunction with Chicago radio station WFMT. As part of the event, the Orchestra has, since 1986, released exclusive tracks from their broadcast archives on double LP/CD collections.

[edit] Recordings and Broadcasts

The Chicago Symphony has made over 900 recordings, fifty-eight of which have won Grammy® Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Their Grammy Awards include several Classical Album of the Year awards, awards in Best Classical Performance in vocal soloist, choral, instrumental, engineering and orchestral categories.

On May 1, 1916, Frederick Stock recorded the Wedding March from Felix Mendelssohn's music to A Midsummer Night's Dream, in Aeolian Hall, New York City, for what was then known as the Columbia Gramophone Company. This made the Chicago Symphony Orchestra the first American symphony orchestra to record with its own music director. Stock and the orchestra made numerous recordings for Columbia Records and the Victor Talking Machine Company, renamed RCA Victor in 1929. The orchestra's first electrical (as opposed to acoustic) recordings were made for Victor in 1925, including a performance of Karl Goldmark's In Springtime overture. These early electrical recordings were made in Victor's Chicago studios; within a couple of years Victor began recording the orchestra in Orchestra Hall. Stock continued recording until 1942, the year he died.

In 1951, Rafael Kubelik made the first modern high fidelity recordings with the orchestra, in Orchestra Hall, for Mercury. Like the very first electrical recordings, these performances were made with a single microphone. Philips has reissued these remarkable performances on compact disc with the original Mercury label and liner notes.

In March 1954, Fritz Reiner made the first stereophonic recordings with the orchestra, again in Orchestra Hall, for RCA Victor, including a powerful performance of Richard Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra. Reiner and the orchestra continued to record for RCA through 1962. Jean Martinon also recorded with the orchestra for RCA Victor during the 1960s, producing impressive performances that have been reissued on CD.

Sir Georg Solti recorded primarily for Decca in recordings that were issued in the U.S. on the London label, including a highly-acclaimed Mahler series. Most of the recordings with Daniel Barenboim have been released on Teldec.

The Chicago Symphony was first broadcast on the radio in 1925. There have been regular broadcasts ever since, except for a few years during World War II. For many years the WFMT network has carried broadcasts of the orchestra. They also appeared on videotaped telecasts ("Music from Chicago") in the early 1960s, when Fritz Reiner and guest conductors led the orchestra.

[edit] Civic Orchestra of Chicago

Frederick Stock founded the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the first training orchestra in the United States affiliated with a major symphony orchestra, in 1919. Its goal is to recruit pre-professional musicians and train them as high-level orchestra players. Many alumni have gone on to play for the CSO or other major orchestras.

The Civic Orchestra performs half a dozen orchestral concerts and a chamber music series annually in Symphony Center and in other venues throughout the Chicago area free of charge to the public.