Chicago Classical Review

Music of Sibelius, Shostakovich, Mahler, Stravinsky and Walton
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Klaus Mäkelä
September 24-October 9

Klaus Mäkelä is conducting five programs with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the 2026/27 season, his final music director-in-waiting interregnum before officially taking the reins in the fall of 2027.

The Finnish conductor’s ambitious three-week fall block of concerts looks especially rewarding. For the first time Mäkelä will lead one of the canonic symphonies of his compatriot Sibelius with the CSO (No. 7), as well as Mahler’s epic swan song, the Symphony No. 9. Also on tap are Shostakovich’s Mahlerian Fourth Symphony, Stravinsky’s Petrushka, and William Walton’s choral extravaganza Belshazzar’s Feast with baritone Thomas Hampson. cso.org

Mozart: Don Giovanni
Lyric Opera of Chicago
October 10-November 1

One of the most successful productions of Lyric Opera’s past decade returns for the third time to open the company’s 72nd season. Robert Falls’ edgy, 20th-century updating of Don Giovanni brings a fresh edge and sense of danger to the sexually prolific protagonist while keeping an essential humor and faithfulness to the operatic scenario. There are several debuts by young, lesser-known singers in this cast (Tommaso Barea as Leporello, Nina Solodovnikova as Donna Elvira, and Anna El-Khashem as Zerlina). But with local favorite Christian Van Horn taking the title role in Chicago for the first time, Mané Galoyan as Donna Anna and Lawrence Brownlee as Don Ottavio, this looks like Lyric’s best bet for the 2026-27 season. lyricopera.org

Bach: Mass in B minor
Music of the Baroque/Jane Glover
November 22 & 23

In another Music of the Baroque season centered largely on the familiar, the November performances of Bach’s epic mass take pride of place. Music director Jane Glover is often at her best in Bach’s music, and the superb Joélle Harvey and Roderick Williams are among the soloists. baroque.org

Winter Chamber Music Festival
Northwestern University/Bienen School of Music
January 8-31, 2027

There are few surer bets for local musical events than the annual Winter Chamber Music Festival. Presented by Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music every January, the event has a consistent high batting average in both quality of ensembles and meaty, non-trendy programs. The lineup this season includes the Viano Quartet, Horszowski Trio, Isidore String Quartet, Ying Quartet and CSO (and Bienen faculty) members including clarinetist Stephen Williamson. music.northwestern.edu

“English Eccentrics”
Music of the Baroque/David Bates
January 24 & 25

Conductor David Bates makes his MOB debut with a welcome bit of offbeat programming. This English Baroque program includes suites by the usual suspects (Purcell and Handel) yet also roves far afield with music of such rarely heard composers as Matthew Locke, William Boyce, Charles Avison and John Blow. baroque.org

Leif Ove Andsnes
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 30, 31 and 32
March 21

Leif Ove Andsnes brings his brand of probing and selfless musicianship to a March recital, with Beethoven’s final three sonatas in the spotlight. cso.org

Floyd: Susannah
Lyric Opera of Chicago
April 11-23

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was Syracuse. The great American opera composer Carlisle Floyd was completely ignored throughout the tenure of Lyric Opera’s previous CEO, so give the company’s new chief John Mangum credit for adding Floyd’s masterpiece Susannah to the 2026-27 roster in the composer’s centenary season. (Floyd died at age 95 in 2021.) In Lyric’s first staging in 25 years, Gabriella Reyes stars as the restless title girl of the Tennessee mountains with Ryan Speedo Green making his house debut as the lustful and hypocritical Reverend Blitch. lyricopera.org

Music of Mahler and Bruckner
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Manfred Honeck, conductor
May 6-8

Manfred Honeck’s annual CSO appearances are invariably season highlights. The second of the Austrian conductor’s two programs this season offers an especially enticing nexus with mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa singing songs from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn coupled with Bruckner’s final work, the Symphony No. 9. cso.org

Glass & Moran: The Juniper Tree
Chicago Opera Theater
May 19-23

Lawrence Edelson received a huge vote of confidence earlier this month when Chicago Opera Theater’s board renewed his contract as general director for five years through 2031. Since coming on board in 2023, Edelson has shepherded the company through a devastating financial crisis while finding the right mix of quirky yet cost-effective repertoire for Chicago’s leading alternative opera company. Clearly COT is not yet out of the woods, with the company offering just two mainstage productions in the 2026-27 season.

COT opens their season with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s The Importance of Being Earnest in December. Yet most intriguing is The Juniper Tree, a 1985 collaboration by composers Philip Glass and Robert Moran. Based on an exceptionally grim Brothers Grimm tale, The Juniper Tree will be heard in its belated Chicago premiere. These performances are especially welcome since Glass’s 90th birthday season (born January 31, 1937) is otherwise being almost completely ignored in Chicago.
chicagooperatheater.org

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