Sibelius' Violin Concerto opens with an exquisite melody that soars above shimmering strings. Latvian violinist Baiba Skride performs this work in a program of 20th-century music conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Strauss' tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra showcases the CSO's magnificent brass section.

Emanuel Ax, a Chicago favorite, performs Beethovens First Piano Concerto with David Afkham. Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony is a riveting portrait of Stalin's regime, a journey through grave brass chorales and satirical waltzes that leads to a triumphant finale.

CSO Principal Cello John Sharp, praised for his "exceptional lyric sensibility and a flawless technique" (Chicago on the Aisle), is given the spotlight in Schumann's Cello Concerto. Hindemith's thrilling Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass precedes Mussorgsky's Pictures from an Exhibition, a signature CSO showpiece.

James Gaffigan, "a talented force to be reckoned with" (The Examiner), conducts the world premiere of Australian composer Carl Vine's trombone concerto Five Hallucinations. CSO trombonist Michael Mulcahy, who hails from Sydney, Australia, performs this special co-commission by the CSO and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Gaffigan also leads Prokofiev's interpretation of the enchanting fairy tale Cinderella.

Joyce DiDonato, "one of the finest singers of our time" (Gramophone), makes her much-anticipated CSO debut under Riccardo Muti in Martucci's La canzone dei ricordi (Song of Remembrance). Beethoven's celebratory Seventh Symphony, which closes the program, is a whirlwind of kinetic energy.

Riccardo Muti opens the concert with Mussorgsky's tone poem A Night on Bald Mountain, followed by Strauss' orchestral showpiece Don Juan. Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, one of his most popular, completes the concert.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jun 23-26. Riccardo Muti closes the CSO's 125th season with awe-inspiring power and grace. Bruckner's mighty Te Deum mixes granite-like choral utterances with some of his most beautiful music. Bruckner, who left his last Symphony incomplete at his own death in 1896, regarded its noble slow third movement as his own "farewell to life."

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jun 16-21. Celebrated violinist Julia Fischer joins Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to perform Beethoven's serenely beautiful Violin Concerto. Brahms' richly lyrical Serenade No. 1 concludes a program of Romantic masterpieces.

Christoph von Dohnanyi conducts stirring works from the Classical and early Romantic era. Mozart's mighty and joyous final symphony, the Jupiter, crowns a program that opens with his Symphony No. 25, composed when he was just 17. Rising star Martin Helmchen tames the furies in Beethoven's poetic Second Piano Concerto.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jun 2-7. Edo de Waart pairs Beethoven's Second Symphony with two of Mozart's most charming and inventive scores-the Horn Concerto No. 3, performed by CSO horn player Daniel Gingrich, and Prague Symphony. One of Beethoven's most uplifting and beautiful works, the Second Symphony eloquently demonstrates the composer's strength amid increasing deafness.