Music from some of the world's best known operas will be presented by the members of the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra at the Pickwick Theatre, under the baton of the orchestra's founder and music director Edgar Muenzer.

Pierre Boulez seemed a lion in winter on his latest visit to Carnegie Hall , over the weekend, and not only because of the bitter cold and wind outside.

Business and art have always shared a close relationship. Wherever there's a creative idea, there's a financial backer and institutional hoops to jump through.

There's something fitting and timely about listening to Mahler's Symphony No. 2, . Like the times, the work is ominous in tone and all about troubled transfiguration.

"When I see 85 in print, I see that I am an old man," Pierre Boulez says with a laugh.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's monthlong tribute to the upcoming 85th birthday of its much-loved conductor emeritus Pierre Boulez is in its last days but is hardly winding down.

JAMES BRADSHAW I t may, at first glance, be jarring to see actor Paul Gross on the podium, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra promising to go "beyond the score." Traditionally, the symphony is about musicians and the score is pretty well what it's got on offer.

I was catching up with a good friend in Chicago last week, a pianist who knows - and relishes - a good concert when she hears one.

This week's Chicago Symphony Orchestra subscription concerts are the first of the new calendar year and the first in a month's time.

Chamber music of the highest quality has been resounding from Northwestern University's Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in Evanston during January for the past 13 years.

Two hundred guests attended the annual benefit of the Solti Foundation U.S. celebrating the life of Sir Georg Solti on Oct.

Critics' Choices and other notable concerts: Lady Gaga, Pierre Boulez with the CSO, Rob Mazurek, Anvil Das Boton, and other notable shows By Barbara Yaross , Ann Sterzinger , Jessica Hopper , Peter Margasak , Bill Meyer , Miles Raymer and Monica Kendrick Music Picks archives>> Lady Gaga thursday7 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Tonight the Chicago ...

While the List is brimming with recommended musical entertainment, including strings of Lady Gaga and Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances, Rob Mazurek at both the Green Mill and the Hideout, and 80s-metal-band-turned-movie-stars Anvil at the House of Blues, there are a few other notables this weekend that shouldn't fall by the wayside: Circus ...

When Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal flute Mathieu Dufour takes the stage Thursday night as a soloist for the first of a month of CSO concerts saluting the upcoming 85th birthday of conductor emeritus Pierre Boulez, there should be even more than the usual cheers for the popular musician.

The award-winning jazz drummer, Charlie Harrington, has been invited to audition for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a percussionist.

I was downtown with my family last Wednesday, and we were waiting for the L at the Grand stop.

As with most things in life, music is a matter of personal preference. Some listeners love their classics, others can talk about astonishing concertizing soloists for hours and even others, like me, enjoy a good dose of experimental music.

If you're looking for something festive to do this weekend--well as festive as listening to music from a pair of tragic love stories can be--I'd suggest the Tales from Tchaikovsky program the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is running through the weekend.

When Italian director Riccardo Muti comes to Chicago next September, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra wants to make sure he has the best team around him.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director designate Riccardo Muti took a giant step toward realizing his goals of connecting the CSO with wider audiences and young people of all backgrounds by tapping cellist Yo-Yo Ma, one of the world's best known musicians and most tireless classical music advocates, for a new position in the orchestra's artistic ...