Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony at Carnegie Hall

Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

Riccardo Muti

By Susan Stempleski, 23 January 2025

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“Displaying extraordinary vigor, the 83-year-old maestro himself danced along as he conducted”

Reviewed at Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium, New York City on 21 January 2025

Bellini, Norma: Overture

Verdi, Les Vêpres siciliennes (I vespri siciliani): Ballet – Les Quatres Saisons (Quattro stagioni)

Tchaikovsky, Symphony no. 4 in F minor, Op.36

Martucci, Notturno in G flat major, Op.70 no.1

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Riccardo Muti, Conductor

Klaus Mäkelä is speaking... Chicago is listening

Graham Meyer, 19th February

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Music Director Designate juxtaposes his Finnish countryman's music on their shared national epic, the Kalevala, with the heroic life limned in the tone poem of Richard Strauss.

****1

Matthew Aucoin’s Song of the Reappeared premieres in Chicago

Graham Meyer, 4th December

A strong world premiere of Aucoin's evocative and immediate Song of the Reappeared, a concerto for voice written for soprano Julia Bullock which sets vivid imagery by a poet who suffered under authoritarianism.

*****

Manfred Honeck brings his über-dramatic Mozart Requiem to Chicago

Graham Meyer, 20th November

The Austrian conductor's loudest fortes and softest pianos pull together a dramatic arc from the Requiem, other Mozart works and chant. But it's not really a funeral.

****1

Daniela Candillari makes her Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut

Graham Meyer, 3rd October

Without a baton, the contemporary-music specialist showcases the Chicago Symphony strings in an intimate program ranging from music of the last decade all the way back to Pergolesi.

****1

Polished Ravel x 2 from Alice Sara Ott with the Chicago Symphony

Graham Meyer, 25th September

Three hands for two concertos: Alice Sara Ott joins the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Ravel's Piano Concerto for the left hand and the Piano Concerto in G major.

****1

Ravinia Festival opens with bombastic Gershwin, emotional Tchaikovsky

Cameron Kelsall, 12th July

Under Marin Alsop, the Chicago Symphony string players also offered a lyrical reading of Jessie Montgomery’s beguiling Strum.

***11

More reviews...

Susan Stempleski

Based in New York City, Susan is a retired specialist in second and foreign language teaching and the author/editor of several professional books for language teachers and many widely used textbooks for English language learners around the world. An avid concertgoer, she spends her time attending operas and other classical music events in New York and Paris. Since 2002, she has regularly published reviews on Classical Source. A keen Francophile, she has a particularly strong interest in French music, literature and film.

Vigor and Virtuosity: Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony at Carnegie Hall