Elim Chan’s San Francisco Symphony debut.

Xian Zhang leads the CSO in Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony and Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s Primal Message. In between, Simon Trpčeski joins her in Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Opening the program, Sir Georg Solti leads the CSO in Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, Op. 56a from 1997 London recording.

Yefim Bronfman is the soloist in Prokofiev’s fiendishly difficult Piano Concerto No. 2. We also present Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 from that same concert and the broadcast opens with Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from the opera Eugene Onegin.

The new music director designate is just 28 years old. He’ll be the youngest in orchestra history when he takes the baton.

Take out the high courts and bring in the dancing elephants: here are some of the strangest opera plots that have ever been put to paper.

Much like a gourmet dish, classical music is the result of many individual elements coming together. The composer, like a chef, must know the distinct flavor profiles of each instrument and how they complement each other.

Plus the overture to Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims.

Radovic, a student at Midwest Young Artists Conservatory, plays both violin and viola in this recital.

Classical concertos are a great entry point for beginners. High-flying, exciting, virtuosic, they are often a pinnacle of solo performance.

Another packed summer of live music awaits.

This broadcast features symphonies by Haydn and Prokofiev, plus a selection of songs by Franz Schubert orchestrated by various composers and the Fantasy-Overture, Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky. The orchestra is joined by mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter for the Schubert.

Fast-rising pianist Beatrice Rana is heard in music by Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev.

Violinist James Ehnes takes center stage in a performance of Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto. Music by Jessie Montgomery, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky rounds out the performance.

Klaus Mäkelä makes his CSO debut in Stravinsky’s The Firebird.

Chamberworks by Paul Hindemith, Charles Wuorinen, Sergei Prokofiev, and Brett Dean.

Plus Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major.

We all came to love classical music in different ways. Here are some of the musical first loves of our WFMT listeners, in their own words.

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 is paired with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with soloist Isata Kanneh-Mason.

Musicians from rap to alternative to K-Pop and beyond look to classical music for inspiration! Here are just a few creative examples.

Wanderers, farewells, and sightseeing; people are always on the go. This week, Bill calls up, “A Little Traveling Music, Please” from the pens of Handel, Smetana, Duke Ellington, and more. Reflections from such travels infuse themselves into their works, as we will discover throughout the week. We will hear selections from Beethoven’s Les Adieux, Schubert’s Die Schöne Mullerin, and Haydn’s …

Star violinist Augustin Hadelich makes a return to the festival to play Prokofiev’s 2nd Violin Concerto.

Lahav Shani makes the CSO debut in Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances. Included in the program is Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini featuring Beatrice Rana.

Roderick Cox welcomes guest artist violinist Karen Gomyo to perform Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1.

Whether you are looking to rev up for the race or drown out the din, this playlist of cacophonous classical music is for you.

We celebrate Riccardo Muti’s 13th and culminating season as the CSO’s tenth music director.