The Musicians of the Chicago Symphony will present a benefit concert for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, GCFD, on Monday, June 13th at 8:00PM at the Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago.  Our musicians have always been involved in the community through chamber, educational, and community concerts. This concert, undertaken as an orchestra and conducted by our Music Director Riccardo Muti, will be the first time such a collective effort has been made.  Collaborating with the Food Depository, our musicians can offer support in direct ways, by raising funds.  This concert will bring attention to two of the most difficult problems our society faces: hunger and malnutrition.  The concert is entirely produced by the musicians. All of the proceeds will be donated to the GCFD.

All participants: musicians, stage hands, ushers, will be donating their services for this concert. CSO Music Director Riccardo Muti will also be donating his services.  He shares the musicians’ commitment to help those in need, saying "I am very happy to be conducting the first concert of the Chicago Symphony Musicians to benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository, whose effort to end hunger is so important to our City. As musicians, we strive to provide cultural nourishment and so this joint effort is a reflection of our collective desire to feed the body and soul."
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The Studebaker Theater is just two blocks south of Orchestra Hall, within the Fine Arts Building.  This location was chosen because of its easy access for audience members, and its 720 seats will give listeners an opportunity to see and hear us in a more intimate setting.  The program will begin with the William Tell Overture by Rossini, followed by the Mozart Clarinet Concerto featuring Steve Williamson, soloist, and conclude with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.   By offering the use of this venerable hall, The Fine Arts Building has joined with the musicians to support the GCFD.  We also thank the Chicago Federation of Musicians for their support and encouragement.

The Greater Chicago Food Depository began its work in 1979 . They support  directly, or through over 650 partner organizations, one of every six Cook County residents.  Currently they provide approximately 165,000 meals each day, and the proceeds from this concert will help to support this vital mission.  We are proud to offer our support!

Tickets for this benefit concert are available through the Studebaker Box Office http://www.studebakertheater.com/tickets/box-office/

Greater Chicago Food Depository Vice President of Fund Development
​Jill Zimmerman walks with Riccardo Muti and Steve Lester.
                                                                                                                           photo by Todd Rosenberg

In celebration of the CSO's 125th season, Riccardo Muti and the CSO present a free concert to the City of Chicago. This performance is part of the 125 community concerts the CSO will present during its 125th season. The program includes Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3 and Mahler: Symphony No. 1. 

Seating is general admission and tickets are not required.

Click here for more information about this exciting concert at CSO.org

The June, 2014 Chicago Tribune review of the CSO performance of the Mahler First Symphony was  extraordinary.

.... Sure enough, a great roar went up from the crowd at the end of Thursday's performance of the Mahler First, and the applause continued in full as a beaming Muti made his way through the orchestra ranks, shaking the hands of key musicians and signaling for various first-desk players and choirs to rise for solo bows.

But it didn't feel like your typical kneejerk audience reaction to a mammoth Mahlerian peroration; rather, it came across as an honest, heartfelt response to an interpretation that had been prepared with uncommon attention to detail, and realized with uncommon brilliance, by an orchestra that makes just about any other Mahler orchestra on the planet sound like slackers.

While never attempting to blow listeners away in any cheaply theatrical way (as so many conductors are wont to do with this masterpiece), Muti succeeded in blowing them away anyway, for the best possible reason: He respected what's in the score and gave it back to them whole.

Read the entire review at Chicagotribune.com