Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Orchestra Series
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Klaus Mäkelä, music director designate
Friday, February 27, 2026, 7:30 p.m.
Music Center at Strathmore
One of the world’s most revered ensembles, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra returns under the baton of electrifying music director designate Klaus Mäkelä, hailed for his “mesmerizing presence and interpretive depth” (The Guardian). Mäkelä leads a program that pairs two revolutionary masterworks of symphonic form: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, a pulse-quickening triumph of rhythm and vitality that Wagner called “the apotheosis of the dance,” and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, the wildly imaginative, hallucinatory tale of love, obsession, and dreams gone awry. Together, conductor and orchestra promise an unforgettable evening of high drama, orchestral brilliance, and virtuosity.
Program Details
Beethoven – Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
Berlioz – Symphonie Fantastique
Our Partners
This performance is made possible in part by the generous support of Dr. Mark Cinnamon and Ms. Doreen Kelly.
Washington Performing Arts’s classical music performances this season are made possible in part through the generous support of Betsy and Robert Feinberg.
Special thanks to the following lead supporters of Washington Performing Arts’s mission-driven work: Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated; D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities; the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs Program and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; and Events DC.
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