The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.
In Wednesday’s (3/5) Chicago Classical Review, Lawrence A. Johnson writes, “While he will not take the reins of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra until the fall of 2027, music director designate Klaus Mäkelä will double his time in town for the 2025-26 season. Mäkelä will conduct four weeks of local concerts next season as well as taking the CSO on its first tour under his baton. The Finnish conductor will make his first appearance of the season in the fall leading an all-Berlioz program … Mäkelä will add some topspin to a standard program in December [works by Beethoven and Schumann] with a pair of contemporary works inspired by Beethoven: Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza and Con brio by Jörg Widmann…. Riccardo Muti, the CSO’s ‘music director emeritus for life,’ will also lead four weeks next season [including] Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler and Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony, followed by Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, Stravinsky’s Divertimento, and Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez … In March, Muti leads a program of Italian opera excerpts … In January, Muti leads the CSO on a seven-city U.S. tour … The season will conclude with a three-week festival of American music marking the nation’s 250th birthday year.” The season’s premieres include new works by John Adams, Matthew Aucoin, and Wynton Marsalis, all commissioned or co-commissioned by the CSO.
