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CSO - July Highlights

7/2: Guests in the House
Opening the broadcast is Khachaturian’s Third Symphony led by Leopold Stokowski, followed by John Williams’s Suite from Memoirs of a Geisha for Cello and Orchestra with Yo-Yo Ma under the baton of Williams himself. Next, Neeme Järvi conducts Kodály’s Dances of Galánta, and closing the broadcast, Pierre Monteux leads Franck’s Symphony in D minor.

Aram Khachaturian       Symphony No. 3 in C Major
Leopold Stokowski, conductor

John Williams             Suite from Memoirs of a Geisha for Cello and Orchestra
John Williams, conductor; Yo-Yo Ma, cello

Zoltán Kodály              Dances of Galánta
Neeme Järvi, conductor

César Franck                Symphony in D Minor
Pierre Monteux, conductor

7/29: Barenboim Conducts Bruckner 4
This week, we hear Daniel Barenboim leading the CSO before his tenure as ninth music director. Opening the broadcast is Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol, followed by Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini and Bruckner’s Romantic Symphony.

Nikolai Rimsky-           Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34
Korsakov                     Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Peter Tchaikovsky        Francesca da Rimini, Op. 32
                                    Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Anton Bruckner            Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major (Romantic)
                                    Daniel Barenboim, conductor

7/16: 2024 Ravinia Opening Night: Celebration of Americana
Marin Alsop, chief conductor of the Ravinia Festival, leads the CSO in a program celebrating American composers. Opening the program is Copland’s Suite from Appalachian Spring, followed by Johnson’s Charleston. Next, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha joins in Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915. Rounding out the program is Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, featuring Michelle Cann.

John Stafford Smith      The Star-Spangled Banner
(arr. Frederick Stock)

Aaron Copland             Suite from Appalachian Spring (full orchestra version)

James P. Johnson          Charleston [abridged]
(orch. Davind Rimelis, arr. Nicholas Hersh)

Samuel Barber              Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, soprano

George Gershwin          Rhapsody in Blue
(orch. Ferdinand Grofé)

James P. Johnson          Victory Stride
(ed. and arr. Nicholas Hersh)
BONUS
Charles Ives                 Variations on America
(arr. William Schuman) Morton Gould, conductor

Morton Gould              Spirituals for Orchestra
                                    Morton Gould, conductor

7/23: Kanneh-Mason Plays Elgar
On this week’s broadcast, Paavo Järvi leads the CSO in Beethoven’s Leonore Overture no. 3, followed by Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, featuring Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Rounding out the program is Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony.
Ludwig van Beethoven Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b

Edward Elgar               Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85

Sheku Kanneh-Mason   Melody
ENCORE

Carl Nielsen                 Symphony No. 5, Op. 50

7/30: Mahler Festival Broadcast: Mahler 7
This week, Jaap van Zweden leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, recorded live at the 2025 Mahler Festival in Amsterdam. Opening the broadcast, Claudio Abbado conducts Mahler’s Rückert Lieder, featuring Hanna Schwarz. The program concludes with a 1930 RCA recording of Karl Goldmark’s Ballet Music from The Queen of Sheba, under the baton of second music director Frederick Stock.

Gustav Mahler             Rückert Lieder
BONUS                       Hanna Schwarz, mezzo-soprano; Claudio Abbado, conductor

Gustav Mahler             Symphony No. 7
Jaap van Zweden, conductor

Karl Goldmark             Ballet Music from The Queen of Sheba
BONUS                       Frederick Stock, conductor