Beyond the Score

Witness the evolution of a masterpiece

3 FRIDAYS AT 7:30 / 3 SUNDAYS AT 3:00

Bringing the composer’s voice to life, each Beyond the Score production weaves together historical narrative with live actors, visual illustrations and music to immerse the audience in a single work. With the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, your imagination and your ear will engage with the composer’s unique perspective and discover the entrancing emotional power of music. Add this series to your subscription today!

DECEMBER 6 & 8

BERLIOZ SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Stéphane Denève conductor Gerard McBurney creative director Berlioz Symphonie fantastique Young composer Hector Berlioz imagined a phantasmagorical symphonic adventure, complete with witches, guillotines and colorful, opium-induced hallucinations. Even in the stirring and Romantic atmosphere of Paris in the 1820s, this music sounded shocking and outrageous.

NEW! BEYOND THE SCORE COMES TO FRIDAY NIGHTS AT 7:30

FEBRUARY 14 & 16

HAYDN MILITARY SYMPHONY

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Nicholas McGegan conductor Gerard McBurney creative director Haydn Symphony No. 100 (Military) Late eighteenth-century London was the bustling capital of an expanding empire, its citizens rapidly acquiring wealth and eagerly seeking the latest cultural delights. Who better to entertain them than the world-famous Josef Haydn, whose newly composed, modern symphonies were bursting with brilliance, wit and deep sentiment?

APRIL 25 & 27

IVES SYMPHONY No. 2

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sir Mark Elder conductor Gerard McBurney creative director Ives Symphony No. 2 Who would write the first great American symphony? Enter Charles Ives, a successful insurance executive, musical maverick and wildly experimental composer. In the early twentieth century, who else could have gospel hymns, tunes by Stephen Foster and barn-dance fiddles in a symphony?

PHOTOS CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER LEFT:

GERARD McBURNEY, STÉPHANE DENÈVE, NICHOLAS McGEGAN,

SIR MARK ELDER