Negaunee Music Institute
The Chicago Symphony Negaunee Music Institute produces transformative education and community programs that nurture lifelong engagement with music. Through its inspirational activities, the Negaunee Music Institute enables Chicago Symphony to create lasting impact by building future audiences, cultivating the next generation of musicians and empowering people of all backgrounds, across Chicago and around the world.
Explore the pages below to discover countless ways to participate.
Learn about Chicago Symphony’s training programs for young instrumentalists.
Explore more
Discover how the CSO engages with communities across Chicago and around the world.
Explore more
Concerts
Share your love of music with the next generation through this series of engaging, kid-friendly programs performed by musicians from the CSO.
Explore more
Free and low-cost concerts at Chicago Symphony Center and in neighborhoods across the city.
Explore more
Inside the Music
CSO for Kids
Nonesuch Records will release Natalie Merchant’s “Cabinet of Wonder,” a digital collection of 17 songs and accompanying videos that reimagine Mother Goose rhymes for a new generation, on Aug. 21.
Explore more
Negaunee Music Institute
How NMI's Mother Goose & the Cabinet of Wonder acts as a powerful teaching tool designed to harness music to stimulate early cognitive, social and emotional development.
Explore more
Negaunee Music Institute
Four Chicago area string players participated in the finals of the 2026 Crain Maling Foundation CSO Young Artist Competition on January 17, 2026 with violinist Cecilia O'Malley winning this year's competition. O'Malley will perform in CSO Youth concerts in March 2027.
Explore more
CSO for Kids
The CSO for Kids program Which Instrument Should I Play? aims to help parents and guardians steer their musically inclined children toward instruments that are suitable for each individual child,
Explore more
Musician training
CSO Principal Viola Teng Li performs and discusses excerpts from Richard Strauss' Don Juan in this Orchestral Excerpt Insights video.
Explore more
Musician training
Now in its 30th year, the CSOA's Percussion Scholarship Program has provided weekly lessons for about 300 students across Chicago. Says one alumnus of the program, it has "totally transformed so many lives.”
Explore more