Graham School FALL Saturday Seminar
The Great Concertos from Mozart to Rachmaninov
Sat 10:00 am—04:00 pm, November 1, 2025
Deadline to register online: October 29 at 5:00 PM CT
Location: IN PERSON at University of Chicago Gleacher Center
Download Syllabus
The concerto tradition, with its exuberance, color, and great virtuosos is the most purely entertaining repertory in Classical music. This all-day seminar, through analysis, cd, and especially video (the visual is a major part of the concerto experience), examines works from Mozart and Beethoven, Liszt, Chopin, and Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Rachmaninov. Naturally, great performers such as Horowitz and Kissen, Heifetz and Menuhin, et al. are discussed as well.
Graham School FALL 8-Week Classes
Revolutionary Romanticism: Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt
Tuesdays 10:00 am—12:30 pm, September 30 - November 18, 2025
Deadline to register online: September 23 at 5PM CT
Location: ONLINE
Download Syllabus (PDF)
From fragmentary piano character sketches to massive oratorios, this course will analyze and contextualize the most dramatic era of change in western music history. Four composers, born at the outset of the 19th century, will lead us on this musical hero’s journey; the grandiose, ambitious, eccentric Berlioz; the poignantly intimate Schumann; the subtle and perfect Chopin; and the superhumanly energetic Liszt: pianist, composer, conductor, and promoter.
Great Performers: Tradition and Interpretation
Thursdays 10:00 am—12:30 pm, October 9 - December 4, 2025
Deadline to register online: September 23, 2025 at 5PM CT
Location: IN PERSON at the Gleacher Center, Downtown Chicago
Download Syllabus (PDF)
Why does the same piece of music sound so different when played by different performers? Why and how do Toscanini and Karajan, or Rubinstein and Horowitz project such different worlds of emotion and color? This class explores these issues in a roughly historical fashion from very early recordings up to the the present day. What sort of choices a performer makes, sociological trends, national characteristics will all be considered. Head to head comparisons will be offered, and participants will gain deeper understanding of what is meant by style and the thousands of choices a performer must make in any given piece. The ability to read notes is NOT required, just careful listening.
Too Late to Register Online? Please call 773-702-7249 to register. If space is available, you’ll be able to sign up!
Graham School COVID-19 policies:
For up-to-date guidance including vaccine requirements, please visit goforward.uchicago.edu/education-planning/.
Blog
“On December 22, 1808, Beethoven himself rented a hall in Vienna and promoted the concert to end all concerts: the debut, over four hours, of three of his greatest works .. And yes, it was a fiasco. But imagine: It was as if Orson Welles premiered Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, and Touch of Evil on the same night — with The Lady from Shanghai thrown in for good measure.” (Greg Mitchell)