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Civic Orchestra of Chicago
Civic Plays Beethoven 5 at Senn High School
Oct 26, 2025 — 2:00 PM
Overview
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony encompasses one of the most gripping journeys in all orchestral music, from its fateful four-note opening to the triumphant coda. Ken-David Masur opens the program with Iman Habibi’s Every Tree Speaks — a powerful, Beethoven-inspired response to the current environmental crisis — and Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis, which brings the 19th-century sounds of Weber into the modern age.
Note Location: Senn High School, 5900 N. Glenwood Ave.
Parking: Limited free parking is available in the west lot next to the school building. Entrance to the parking lot is available on W. Thorndale Ave. Additional limited free parking is available in the surrounding residential areas.
Tickets are free; reservations are required.
Program
Habibi
Every Tree Speaks
Hindemith
Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber
Beethoven
Symphony No. 5
Performers
Principal Conductor, Civic Orchestra of Chicago
The Robert Kohl and Clark Pellett Principal Conductor Chair
Extras
Treat and Meet
Starting at 1:15 p.m. outside the Senn High School auditorium, you can “Treat and Meet” with representatives from the Friends of the Edgewater Library and Edgewater Village Chicago. Enjoy some Halloween candy while learning more about these Edgewater-based organizations.
Sponsors & Partners
The 2025/26 Civic Orchestra season is generously sponsored by Lori Julian for the Julian Family Foundation, which also provides major funding for the Civic Fellowship program.
The Civic Orchestra of Chicago acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.
Discover more on Experience CSO
Ken-David Masur emphasizes he learns something new each time he performs Beethoven's Fifth: "You understand something new about life, something that so powerful that Beethoven wants us to know about what connects all of us as human beings.”
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Iman Habibi calls his 'Every Tree Speaks' “an unsettling rhapsodic reflection on the climate catastrophe, written in dialogue with Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth symphonies."
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This season, Civic will perform seven full-orchestra concerts in venues across Chicago’s neighborhoods and suburbs — a total that has steadily increased in recent years, in alignment with the ensemble’s strategic goals.
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