Articles in Top Story
Romantic bounty shapes Orchestra Hall debut by Tchaikovsky and Gilmore winner Kantorow

Review: The French pianist Alexandre Kantorow at age 27 made a striking first impression in his Orchestra Hall recital Feb. 2, his debut in the formidable piano series under the aegis of Symphony Center Presents. The young French virtuoso, gold medalist of the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition and winner of the Gilmore Artist Award in 2024, is a pianistic lion as serious as he is prodigious. His program here was an exercise in grandiose Romanticism, an imposing display of technical wizardry, a veritable summation of keyboard virtuosity.
Mäkelä, CSO’s maestro-elect, shows his chops with baton and bow in Oslo orchestra concerts

Report: It was June 6 and I had come to the Konzerthaus in Vienna to hear Klaus Mäkelä both play the cello part and conduct Brahms’ Double Concerto on the Oslo Philharmonic tour fresh from appearances in Amsterdam and Paris. Mäkelä had recently been named music director-designate of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra effective in September 2027 – at the same time he becomes principal conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. What I heard showed that as much as he is a natural in modern music, Mäkelä also has the DNA of Brahms in his blood, perhaps through being a cellist.