Classical Concerts in Chicago metro: Area Guide

The Piano & Strings Program at the Steans Institute focuses on interpreting classical sonatas and chamber music through deep collaboration in small groups. Each season, about 30 violinists, violists, cellists, and pianists come together for an immersive experience. They engage in intensive rehearsals and receive guidance from leading artists, who help them refine their craft and enhance their interpretive skills and creative insights.In addition to several afternoon concerts presented during the summer, the musicians participate in a series of public master classes, where the faculty or a Ravinia guest artist provide in-the-moment insights on the fellows’ performances of excerpts from their repertoire, guiding both the growth of their interpretations and sharing the experience with all in attendance.

Ravinia is grateful for the support ofRavinia Women’s BoardPremier SponsorA Grammy winner and Musical America Instrumentalist of the Year, Augustin Hadelich returns to “revel in [his] myriad ways of making a phrase come alive on the violin” (Washington Post), fusing Baroque and blues forms in works at the pinnacle of solo music, from Bach and Telemann to Paganini and Ysaÿe to Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.One of the great violinists of our time, Hadelich is known for his phenomenal technique, insightful and persuasive interpretations, and ravishing tone. Over the past two decades, he has appeared extensively on the world’s foremost concert stages, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, and many other eminent ensembles.In this recital, Hadelich explores the remarkable expressive range of the solo violin across centuries and traditions. The program opens with the elegant inventiveness of Georg Philipp Telemann before turning to the blues-inflected sound world of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, whose Louisiana Blues Strut and Blue/s Forms fuse Baroque gestures with the rhythms and spirit of American vernacular music. Virtuosic works by Eugène Ysaÿe and Nicolò Paganini showcase the instrument at its most dazzling, culminating in one of the towering monuments of the repertoire: Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor, ending with the monumental Chaconne.In the hands of one of today’s most compelling violinists, this journey from Baroque elegance to American blues and Romantic virtuosity reveals the extraordinary expressive possibilities of a single instrument.

The Piano & Strings Program at the Steans Institute focuses on interpreting classical sonatas and chamber music through deep collaboration in small groups. Each season, about 30 violinists, violists, cellists, and pianists come together for an immersive experience. They engage in intensive rehearsals and receive guidance from leading artists, who help them refine their craft and enhance their interpretive skills and creative insights.In addition to a series of public master classes that focus on growing the fellows’ experience and interpretations of specific repertoire, the musicians participate in several afternoon concerts presented during the summer, featuring the artists in varying instrumental and personnel groupings across the season.

Ravinia is grateful for the support ofThe Negaunee FoundationPremier SponsorMahler 6 Consortium“A symphony must be like the world,” Mahler said. “It must contain everything.” Marshaling the profound energy of the CSO for Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, Marin Alsop leads a riveting search for meaning in a complex, rapidly changing world. Moving through moments of idyllic nostalgia to devastating fanaticism and fateful blows, this monumental work perfectly anticipates the challenges and longing of the 21st century.Writing for NPR, Alsop elaborates: “I’m not sure there has ever been a more fitting symphony for our time than Mahler’s Symphony No. 6. … Today, as we have become immune to shock, where nothing seems too extreme and where hyperbole rules, Mahler and his Sixth Symphony seem to fit right in.” More than a century after its premiere, the Sixth still confronts audiences with its prophetic intensity and unflinching emotional truth.For all its thunder and tragedy, the Sixth is also a refuge: a vast emotional landscape where beauty and brutality coexist, and where life’s biggest questions are asked with fearless honesty. Leonard Bernstein, Alsop’s mentor and one of Mahler’s most passionate champions, called him “the prophet of the 20th century.” In this searing performance, Alsop and the CSO reveal why Mahler’s voice speaks just as urgently to our own time.

The Piano & Strings Program at the Steans Institute focuses on interpreting classical sonatas and chamber music through deep collaboration in small groups. Each season, about 30 violinists, violists, cellists, and pianists come together for an immersive experience. They engage in intensive rehearsals and receive guidance from leading artists, who help them refine their craft and enhance their interpretive skills and creative insights.In addition to a series of public master classes that focus on growing the fellows’ experience and interpretations of specific repertoire, the musicians participate in several afternoon concerts presented during the summer, featuring the artists in varying instrumental and personnel groupings across the season.

Ravinia is grateful for the support ofSusan & Don CivginBreaking Barriers SponsorDaniela O’Leary-Gill & George GillBreaking Barriers SponsorEllen Rudnick & Paul EarleBreaking Barriers SponsorMarin Alsop and Oscar-nominated composer Laura Karpman co-curate highlights on original orchestral music’s magic in screen storytelling. A 30-year veteran of prestige TV, documentary, game, and Marvel scores, Karpman has collaborated with some of the most renowned filmmakers of our time, including Francis Ford Coppola, Cord Jefferson, Nia DaCosta, and Steven Spielberg. Nominated for an Oscar in 2024 for her work on American Fiction, Karpman continues to push the boundaries of storytelling with her powerful, imaginative scores.With performances by Alsop and the CSO, Karpman demonstrates how music can guide interpretation of a film scene, sharpening dramatic tension and revealing layers of meaning that might otherwise remain unseen. Together, Karpman and Alsop bring the focus to women composers—long under-represented on the screen—sharing music by the likes of Shirley Walker, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Rachel Portman, and Chanda Dancy. Alsop premieres Karpman’s Unsung, featuring music for iconic female characters who never before had a theme, and Taki Alsop Conducting Fellow Chi-Yuan Lin leads Star Wars themes by John Williams and Natalie Holt, the first woman to compose for the storied franchise.This centerpiece of the fifth Breaking Barriers Festival is bookended by a pre-concert panel and, before Saturday’s concert, an extended live demonstration of music setting film moods.

The GRAMMY® Award–winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer is known around the world as “an orchestra of voices,” celebrated for its wide-ranging repertoire and dazzling virtuosity. Founded in San Francisco in 1978 by singer and musicologist Louis Botto, Chanticleer quickly became one of the world’s most prolific recording and touring ensembles. The group has sold more than one million recordings and performed thousands of concerts for audiences across the globe. As The New York Times writes, “These men are phenomenal: as fresh as a blade of grass, tightly focused and keenly expressive.”This summer, the ensemble celebrates America’s 250th anniversary of independence with Our American Journey, a program highlighting the diverse voices, songs, harmonies, and rhythms that shape the nation’s shared musical heritage. At the heart of the program is a new commission by composer Trevor Weston, exploring the connections between traditional American hymnody and African American spirituals. Other repertoire traces the evolution of American choral traditions—from Black gospel quartets and shape-note singing to barbershop harmony and vocal jazz.The program also features settings of traditional American bluegrass tunes and beloved folk songs such as “Calling My Children Home” and “Shenandoah,” alongside arrangements of contemporary classics including Queen’s “Somebody to Love” and “Home” from The Wiz.The program revisits Chanticleer’s 2002 album Our American Journey, which was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in April 2025. Building on that recording, the ensemble continues the voyage, exploring how many distinct musical voices have shaped—and continue to shape—America’s choral tradition.

Official public performance from Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music calendar.