Wishing a very happy birthday to legendary American soprano Leontyne Price! @ChicagoSymphony @RaviniaFestival @CarnegieHall @RCARecords

The @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra family joins the music world in mourning the loss of American bass Paul Plishka. @RaviniaFestival @MetOpera

Celebrating the eightieth birthday of the remarkable English cellist Jacqueline du Pré! @ChicagoSymphony

Wishing a very happy ninetieth birthday to legendary American baritone Sherrill Milnes! @ChicagoSymphony @RaviniaFestival

December 31, 1920: Frederick Stock leads the @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra in the US premiere of Gustav Holst's The Planets, along with Beethoven's Leonore Overture no. 3 and Rubinstein's Piano Concerto no. 4 with Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler. #OTD

December 30, 1965: Jean Martinon leads Bernstein's Candide Overture, his Fourth Symphony (commissioned for the @ChicagoSymphony's 75th season), Stock’s Symphonic Variations, and the finale from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with Eileen Farrell. #OTD

December 29, 1949: William Kapell solos with the @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra in Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Eugene Ormandy conducting. The program also includes Beethoven's First Symphony and Hindemith's Mathis der Maler Symphony. #OTD

December 28, 1950: Kirsten Flagstad is soloist with the @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra in an all-Wagner program, including the Wesendonck Lieder and selections from Tristan and Isolde and Götterdämmerung. Rafael Kubelík conducts. #OTD

December 27, 1924: Leo Sowerby is soloist with the @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra in his Piano Concerto with Frederick Stock conducting. The program also includes Humperdinck's Prelude to Hansel and Gretel and Borodin's Second Symphony. #OTD

December 26, 1958: Margaret Hillis becomes the first woman to conduct the the @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra on subscription concerts, leading Honegger's Christmas Cantata with the Chicago Symphony Chorus. Meredith Morley is baritone soloist. #OTD

December 25, 1891: At the @AuditoriumChgo, the @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra and @ApolloChorus first collaborate in a performance of Handel's Messiah. William L. Tomlins conducts. #OTD

December 24, 1904: Theodore Thomas conducts his beloved @ChicagoSymphony for the last time. The program includes the Orchestra's first performances of his orchestration of Wagner's song Träume from the Wesendonck Lieder. #OTD

December 23, 1893: At the @AuditoriumChgo, Theodore Thomas leads the @ChicagoSymphony in an all-Wagner program, performing orchestral and vocal selections from Rienzi, Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, and Götterdämmerung. Amalie Materna is soprano soloist. #OTD

December 22, 1932: Frederick Stock leads the @ChicagoSymphony in the US premiere of Miaskowski's Twelfth Symphony, plus Debussy's Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun, Weinberger's Schwanda the Bagpiper, and selections from Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel.

Wishing a very happy eightieth birthday to legendary American conductor and composer Michael Tilson Thomas! @MTilsonThomas @ChicagoSymphony @RaviniaFestival @SonyClassical

December 21, 1967: Leonard Rose is soloist with the @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra in Bloch's Schelomo with Sixten Ehrling conducting. The program also includes Creston's Chthonic Ode and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. #OTD

December 20, 1929: Alexander Glazunov is guest conductor, leading the @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra in his Triumphal March, Prelude from The Middle Ages, Violin Concerto with concertmaster Jacques Gordon as soloist, and Sixth Symphony. #OTD

December 19, 1902: At the @AuditoriumChgo, Theodore Thomas leads the @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra in an all-Beethoven program: the First Symphony, Emperor Piano Concerto with Frederic Lamond as soloist, and the Seventh Symphony. #OTD

December 19, 1888: Fritz Reiner—the @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra's sixth music director from 1953 until 1962—is born in Budapest, Hungary. #OTD

December 18, 1971: Carlo Maria Giulini leads the @ChicagoSymphony Orchestra and Chorus in Bach's Mass in B minor with Margaret Price, Josephine Veasey, Luigi Alva, and John Shirley-Quirk as soloists. #OTD