Classical Music

The Illinois Symphony has released the schedule for the upcoming season, beginning with a guest conductor sending the audience to a galaxy far, far away.

Plus, 2022 Van Cliburn Medal Winner Anna Geniushene makes her Illinois Symphony debut this weekend playing Ravel's Piano Concert in G Major.

The concert concludes Logan Campbell's second full year on the podium after decades of leadership by Deanne Bryant. Campbell sought to keep the positive culture of the youth orchestra — while upping the rigor and repertoire.

Author and musicologist Joseph Horowitz stops in Bloomington-Normal this week as part of the fourth and final leg of a year-long celebration of American composer Charles Ives.

The Illinois Symphony's former maestro left in 2022 for a job he couldn't refuse—he is now director of orchestral studies at Juilliard's first satellite campus in China.

Music director Taichi Fukumura gives his first chamber concert with the orchestra, featuring Stacy Garrop's 2020 baroque-inspired mini-suite 'Spectacle of Light.'

Guest conductor Alastair Willis returns to lead the Illinois Symphony, nine years after his departure as music director.

Violinist Braimah Kanneh-Mason makes his Illinois Symphony debut with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's concerto, originally written for a Central Illinois violinist.

The symphony's season demonstrates a visible commitment to playing works by living composers, composers of color, women — and wizards.

Laurie Willets and T. Daniel have spent their careers confronting stereotypes, creating full-length theatrical productions and abstract interpretations of classical music.