Overview
- Zell Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä leads five weeks of Chicago subscription programs and an eight-city, 12-concert European tour in January 2027.
- Riccardo Muti returns as Music Director Emeritus for Life for two Chicago residencies spanning three weeks in December 2026 and April 2027.
- Beethoven anchors the lineup with Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 and 9 and a March 2027 residency in which Lang Lang performs all five piano concertos under Paavo Järvi.
- Contemporary highlights include the world premiere of Mason Bates’s The Escapist Symphony in February 2027 and U.S. premieres by Magnus Lindberg and Esa-Pekka Salonen in May.
- Jean-Yves Thibaudet serves as artist-in-residence as star guests such as Yo-Yo Ma and Hilary Hahn appear, critics note a lean new-music slate and the continued pause of MusicNOW, and single tickets go on sale in August.