The CSO Messiah performance, led by Matthew Halls, comes from a longer local Handel tradition than is apparent on the surface. While perhaps not a Messiah for the ages, the English conductor made a largely impressive CSO debut, leading a worthy and stylish performance of Handel’s Christmas perennial. (Chicago Classical Review)
1/2 Handel: Messiah parts I-III (Amanda Forsythe, s; Sasha Cooke, ms; Nicholas Phan, t; Joshua Hopkins, bar; Chicago Symphony Chorus; Duain Wolfe, dir; Matthew Halls, cond)
1/9 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 Strauss: Don Juan (Emanuel Ax, p; David Afkham and Fritz Reiner, cond)
1/16 Verdi: Patria oppressa! from Macbeth Puccini: Intermezzo from Manon Lescaut Verdi: Messa da Requiem (Vittoria Yeo, s; Daniela Barcellona, ms; Piotr Beczala, t; Dmitry Belosselskiy, bs; Chicago Symphony Chorus; Duain Wolfe, dir; Riccardo Muti, cond)
1/23 Bizet: Symphony Faure: Pavane for Soprano Saxophone Williams: Escapades for Alto Saxophone from Catch Me If You Can M. Wagner: Proceed, Moon Debussy: Iberia from Images for Orchestra, Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun (Branford Marsalis, sax; Susanna Malkki and Cristian M?celaru, cond)
1/30 Haydn: Symphony No. 85, The Queen Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1 J. Strauss, Jr: Emperor Waltz R. Strauss: Suite from Der Rosenkavalier Lutos?awski: Symphony No. 3 (Christian Tetzlaff, v; Juraj Valcuha and Esa-Pekka Salonen, cond)
