CSO Musicians
How one chord builds to the astonishing power of ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’
Perhaps the most prosaic building block in the grammar of music is the C major chord; it is the root…
Elgar and his circle of friends, immortalized in ‘Enigma’ Variations
When classical music is employed to tell a story, the themes most often explored are predictably dramatic: love, death, love…
Why the vastly underrated master Carl Nielsen is my role model
I am a composer, but that is not my “day job.” While I am always in the process of composing…
John Hagstrom recalls how Marine Band training prepared him for CSO
In mid-September of 1993, when President Bill Clinton presided over the historic handshake between PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli…
A violist offers an appreciation of Bruckner’s extraordinary music
A member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s viola section since 1984, Max Raimi also is a widely recognized composer and…
Details released for this season’s All-Access Chamber Music lineup
Programming details for one of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association’s most popular offerings, the free All-Access Chamber Music Series, have…
At 60, RCA Victor’s Living Stereo imprint still going strong
In 1958, when the first stereo recordings were hitting the market, RCA Victor signed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to its…
In a ‘Melancholy’ mood: John Bruce Yeh lauds works of James Stephenson
A few years ago, John Bruce Yeh discovered the music of James Stephenson and became so enamored with it that…
Alison Dalton’s vision: The CSO violinist innovates as her eyesight evolves
For violinist Alison Dalton, notes, staffs and signatures in scores can now twist beyond her acuity. Due to the visual condition known as bull’s-eye maculopathy, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist realizes that her “focal point is gone, and wherever I look, there’s the whiteout.” Dalton has long understood that people with her condition “historically just have had to quit. That’s old school, and I’m from that old school.” But quitting’s not a present option.
Rush Hour Concerts offer ‘great music for busy lives’
Rush Hour Concerts, the annual summer series founded by Deborah Sobol in 2000, offers free, half-hour chamber performances that, as…
Charles Vernon has great expectations for world-premiere concerto
Charles Vernon, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s internationally known bass trombone player, is no stranger to world premieres. He performed the…