Notes for Peace empowers parents who have lost children to gun violence to create original songs of tribute.

Open to high school music students and community groups of seniors and veterans.

Musical projects for incarcerated youth.

While on tour, CSO musicians offer master classes and perform chamber concerts that reach people in hospitals, social service organizations, schools, universities and conservatories across North America, Europe, Asia, and Central America.

As part of his ongoing commitment to bring classical music into all communities, Riccardo Muti returned to the Illinois Youth Center in west suburban Warrenville featuring CSO musicians Alexander Hanna and Charles Vernon.

Celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma recently made a surprising admission: He didn’t feel comfortable as a musician until he was 49. That was just 12 years ago, decades after he’d achieved global renown. At the same time, he realized that “my greatest passion was actually people.”

The Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has supported educators during remote learning by providing access to CSO Sessions — the CSO’s series of newly filmed chamber-music performances — and arranging online conversations between CSO musicians and students.

As a year of hard work by young musicians and educators comes to an end, the CSO's Negaunee Music Institute celebrates their achievements with a virtual showcase.

Throughout this season, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its children’s concerts series — what Jon Weber, director of school and family programs for the CSO’s Negaunee Music Institute, calls a “huge milestone.” “The Chicago Symphony,” he said, “is one the very few orchestras in the country that can boast that kind of continuous commitment in a series like this.”

CSO’s Dan Armstrong promotes the role of music in the classroom