The 50 Greatest Chicago Moments

Chicago Sun-Times
Published April 8, 2007
original link

Our kind of town, Chicago is … but what kind of town is that, really? From TV/film to art and architecture, this week we chronicled the people, places and cultural happenings that have made our city great. Last, but not least is classical music’s contribution to our arts landscape. From its beginnings, the local classical music scene has been the preserve of visionaries:

KEY MOMENT: Launching the CSO
1891: The story of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra unfolds like scenes from a great opera, in which the hero meets a tragic end after pursuing an elusive dream: Imagine Wagner’s “Siegfried” or “Parsifal” set on the shores of Lake Michigan over a century ago.

Theodore Thomas, the CSO’s founder and first music director, labored for years to establish the orchestra and then provide a permanent home. The German-born violin prodigy began conducting in 1859 and introduced his own traveling ensemble, the Theodore Thomas Orchestra, in 1862. After that body broke up, Chicago civic leaders asked Thomas if he would consider creating a resident group here. His famous reply: “I would go to hell if they gave me a permanent orchestra.”

In October 1891, his brainchild, then known as the Chicago Orchestra, presented its first concerts at the Auditorium Theatre. Unsatisfied with that venue, which at nearly 4,000 seats, was too large, Thomas lobbied for a new home. At last, he succeeded when the Daniel Burnham-designed Orchestra Hall opened in 1904.

After conducting the inaugural concert there Dec. 14, Thomas fell ill; 10 days later, he led his last concert on Christmas Eve. Secure in realizing his greatest dream, he succumbed to pneumonia on Jan. 4, 1905.

1910: The Chicago Grand Opera Company, the city’s first resident company, stages its inaugural season.

1911: After failing as an amusement park, the Ravinia Festival reinvents itself as a summer showcase for classical music.

1935: Originally designed as a series of free concerts to uplift Depression-era Chicagoans, the Grant Park Music Festival becomes a permanent institution.

1951: Devoted to classical music and the fine arts, WFMT-FM goes on the air and eventually evolves into a national powerhouse.

1954: In February, Lyric Theatre, later known as Lyric Opera of Chicago, gives calling card performances of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” In November, it launches its first season with Maria Callas in Bellini’s “Norma.”

1970: Music director Georg Solti leads the CSO on its first-ever international tour, on which critics dub it “the world’s greatest orchestra.”

1981: After rising from humble roles as a house mezzo and administrative secretary, Ardis Krainik takes over Lyric Opera and saves it from bankruptcy and near-extinction.

1987: Maestro Paul Freeman establishes the Chicago Sinfonietta, the first local classical music institution dedicated to advancing works written by people of color.

2003: The Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park becomes the first multi-use performing arts venue built downtown since 1929. The following July, its sister stage, the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, opens.