Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Chicago that is part of the short list of American orchestras that are commonly referred to as the "Big Five." Since playing its first concert in 1891 at the now historic Auditorium Theater, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has attracted some of the greatest performers from across the world, as well as distinguished guests like Sergei Rachmaninov, Maurice Ravel, Edward Elgar, Andre Previn and Leonard Bernstein. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra enjoyed its greatest period of fame under the directorship of Sir Georg Solti, which lasted from the 1970s through the 1980s; this was a period that ensured the orchestra's place as one of the United States' most culturally significant symphony orchestras.