The baton has passed — and Chicago’s classical music scene is glowing. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has opened its 136th concert season, the 2026/27 season, with new Music Director Klaus Mäkelä leading five weeks of subscription concerts at Symphony Center, capped by the glamorous Symphony Ball. It’s a landmark chapter for one of the world’s most celebrated orchestras.
The season is a true homecoming-and-world-stage story: Mäkelä will take the CSO on an eight-city, 12-concert European tour in January 2027, with stops at Vienna’s Musikverein, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and the Philharmonie de Paris. Back home, Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti returns for three weeks of concerts in December 2026 and April 2027, including Rossini’s Stabat mater with the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
The guest list sparkles: pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet serves as 2026/27 Artist-in-Residence with three appearances, and the season features Yo-Yo Ma, singer-songwriter Andrew Bird, and Lang Lang performing all five Beethoven piano concertos — a once-in-a-lifetime marathon for piano lovers.
With repertoire spanning four centuries and a season running through spring 2027, there has never been a better moment to hear the CSO live at Symphony Center. Program details and tickets are at chicagosymphony.org.
Photo: Clevnax / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
