Klaus Mäkelä succeeds Riccardo Muti. The 82-year-old Italian conductor's 13-year tenure as the orchestra's 10th music director concluded in June 2023 with his appointment as the ensemble's music director emeritus for life. Mäkelä represents just the fourth CSO music director in the past 55 years.

Founder of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Margaret Hillis (1921-1998) served as the ensemble's director for 37 years, and she was the first woman to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

History. Built in 1904, Orchestra Hall was designed by renowned Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. The new hall was specifically designed as a home for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which had previously performed in the larger Auditorium Theater.

Its music directors have been Fredrick Stock (1905–42), Désiré Defauw (1943–47), Artur Rodzinski (1947–48), Rafael Kubelík (1950–53), Fritz Reiner (1953–62; musical adviser, 1961–63), Jean Martinon (1963–68), Irwin Hoffman (acting music director; 1968–69), Sir Georg Solti (1969–91; music director laureate, 1991–97), ...