CSO and Theodore Thomas, 1897

Thomas died January 4, 1905, just weeks after dedicating the new Orchestra Hall that 8,000 contributors had built at his request. Another German -born maestro, Frederick Stock, succeeded Thomas and continued an illustrious conducting tradition which would later include Désiré Defauw, Artur Rodzinski, Rafael Kubelik, Fritz Reiner, Jean Martinon, Sir Georg Solti, and Daniel Barenboim. In 1919, Stock established the orchestra's first children's concerts and created the Civic Music Student Orchestra (now the Civic Orchestra of Chicago), a unique training ensemble intended to develop native talent that is still operating today. Another function of the orchestra was to help overcome the city's rough-hewn image and place Chicago onto the world's cultural stage. After over 900 recordings (1916–), 56 of which have won Grammy Awards (1960–), regular radio broadcasts, television appearances, numerous domestic and overseas tours, the “ Chicago sound, ” with rich brass sonorities complemented by virtuosic wind and string playing, has indeed elicited worldwide admiration.

Mark Clague