When I was a teenager I got to hear the Houston Symphony which came to our little town. Though not an elite group the Symphony was good enough to excite me and bring me into a life-long love of classical music.
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When I came to Chicago for school one of the reasons was that I wanted to hear Fritz Reiner conduct. Unfortunately, he died before I arrived but I still went to many concerts with the CSO buying cheap tickets to sit in the gallery. In the period after my marriage I did not get to attend much but that picked up some after I retired. Hopefully, my health improves enough that I can go some more.
Here we have three orchestras: the CSO, the Civic and the Grant Park Orchestras. The first is the world’s greatest band. The second is composed of young musicians (it is called the “training orchestra for the CSO) and plays free concerts across the city. The third plays free concerts in the Park during the summer three or four times a week. There is, of course, the Lyric Opera’s orchestra as well. All play excellently and even the worse is as good as those not in the top tier across the nation.
You had a great experience with the CSO. Philadelphia had a wonderful orchestra with Eugene Ormandy, and of Course Boston had TWO great orchestras both based in Symphony Hall, the BSO and the POPS.