Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Center

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1891 by Theodore Thomas and he was its conductor until his death in 1905. His successors have been Frederick Stock (until 1942), Desire Defauw, Artur Rodzinski, Rafael Kubelik, Fritz Reiner, Jean Martinon, Sir Georg Solti and Daniel Barenboim (until 2006). The orchestra has its own concert hall which was completed in 1904 and which now forms part of the Symphony Center Complex in Chicago. The many distinguished guest conductors which the CSO has seen include Richard Strauss, Arnold Schoenberg, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninov, Maurice Ravel, Edward Elgar and Aaron Copland. More recent guest conductors include John Williams, Andre Previn, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado and Pierre Boulez.

Mandy Gonzalez is an American actress and singer, best known for her leading roles on Broadway. She originated the role of Nina Rosario in the Off-Broadway and Broadway productions of the musical In the Heights. In 2010 and 2011, she played Elphaba in the Broadway production of Wicked. She also played Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway cast of Hamilton for a six-year run, from 2016 to 2022. In 2024, she joined the cast as the alternate Norma Desmond in Jamie Lloyd's Broadway revival of Sunset Boulevard.