Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra

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The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra is the resident summer orchestra of Chautauqua Institution. It plays concerts on most Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights throughout the Institution's nine-week season. The CSO draws its members from professional orchestras all over the country, and even some from outside the U.S. Nearly all of its violinists (and one violist!) are concertmasters of their home orchestras, demonstrating the caliber of musicians that come to play in this professional summer orchestra. Some of the musicians have been playing with the CSO for more than 45 years.

After auditioning candidates for a new music director after Maestro Uriel Segal announced his retirement in 2007, the CSO has announced its selection of Maestro Stefan Sanderling as new music director. The repertoire played throughout the season includes many well-known and difficult pieces, as well as a few contemporary or commissioned works. Some selections from the 2005 season include Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, Mahler's Symphony No. 7, and Manuel de Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat. In addition to standard concerts, the CSO also accompanies programs with the Chautauqua Ballet Company and the Chautauqua Opera Young Artists.

The 2007 season, Segal's 18th and final season as music director, featured monumental works such as Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Shostakovitch's 15th Symphony, Mahler's 9th Symphony, Camille Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 in C, Op. 78 ("Organ"), Brahms' Symphonies No. 1 and 4, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, and Dvořák's 9th Symphony ("From the New World"), and featured soloists such as Cho-Liang Lin (Beethoven Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61), Peter Frankl (Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, Op. 58), Colin Carr (Shostakovitch Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 126), Alexander Gavrylyuk (Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23), Augustin Hadelich (Bartók Violin Concerto No. 2) and many others.