Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Oct 26-27. Acclaimed American conductor James Gaffigan returns to conduct Rachmaninov's spirited orchestral masterpiece, the Symphonic Dances. As part of a season-long celebration of Leonard Bernstein's centenary, the program also features the dramatic Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront, the only score Bernstein wrote for a film. Violinist James Ehnes, praised for his "honeyed tone and immaculate technique" (The Guardian), performs Barber's beguiling Violin Concerto.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Oct 5-7. French conductor Alain Altinoglu leads a program of richly scored works, including Poulenc's joyfully devotional Gloria. The power of Gounod's Saint Cecilia Mass is best described by his contemporary Saint-Saens: "This simplicity, this grandeur, this serene light which rose before the musical world like a breaking dawn…at first one was dazzled, then charmed, then conquered."

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Sep 28-Oct 1. "Nobility, lyrical feeling and dramatic thrust are keys to Muti's approach to the Bruckner symphonies. The sound he elicited from one of the world's great Bruckner bands was lean and incisive" (Chicago Tribune). Riccardo Muti and the CSO continue a multi-season exploration of Bruckner's symphonies with the sunny Romantic Symphony. Also on the program is the rousing William Tell Overture and a world premiere by Mead Composer-in-Residence Elizabeth Ogonek, whose music has been praised as "lush and enticingly scored" (The Arts Desk).

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Sep 23-26. The 2017/18 season opens with acclaimed violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter joining Riccardo Muti and the CSO for Tchaikovsky's dazzling Violin Concerto. Krzysztof Penderecki's atmospheric The Awakening of Jacob, best known from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and Schumann's rich and emotive Second Symphony, one of his noblest works, bookend this dramatic start to the season.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jun 22-25. Riccardo Muti leads a collection of Italian opera's greatest masterpieces in this festive finale to the 2016/17 season. Enjoy some of the most well-known works by Giuseppe Verdi including "Va, Pensiero" from Nabucco and the famous Anvil Chorus from Il trovatore, along with the Prologue from Boito's Mefistofele, which tells the story of Faust's deal with the devil.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jun 15-17. Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki leads Branford Marsalis in an eclectic concert featuring Fauré’s Pavane (arranged for soprano saxophone and orchestra) and music from Steven Spielberg’s film Catch Me If You Can, composed by the incomparable John Williams. A world premiere by Pulitzer Prize winner Melinda Wagner and Debussy’s Ibéria, rich with the colors and rhythms of Spain, complete this imaginative program.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jun 1-4. In his CSO podium debut, Juraj Valcuha leads Haydn's Symphony No. 85, said to have been a favorite of Queen Marie Antoinette, and Szymanowski's First Violin Concerto, performed by Christian Tetzlaff, "an artist of rare virtuosity and fearless commitment" (San Jose Mercury News). Richard Strauss' Suite from Der Rosenkavalier is dazzlingly orchestrated and includes several famous waltzes.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jun 8-13. Manfred Honeck is joined by two distinguished soloists in an all-Mozart program. In her United States debut, Swiss soprano Regula Muhlemann sings Exsultate, jubilate with its joyous Allelujah finale, and British pianist Paul Lewis performs Mozart's final piano concerto. The concert ends with Mozart's Haffner Symphony.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 25-30. Spanish composer Joaquín Turina's Danzas fantasticas makes a suitable companion to George Gershwin's lively Piano Concerto, played by Inon Barnatan. Jesus Lopez-Cobos closes the program with Dvorak's Sixth Symphony, an homage to the composer's friend and mentor, Johannes Brahms.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 18-20. The Moldau, Smetana's much-loved portrayal of Bohemia's mighty river, is one of six tone poems in the composer's musical portrait of his homeland. Rarely performed in its entirety, Ma vlast (My Fatherland) is an extraordinary cycle that traces the history of the Czech people and evokes the rich natural beauties of the countryside.