The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2018-2019 catalog arrived, along with a letter suggesting that due to my attendance habits I would benefit financially from a subscription.  When I received the same catalogue last year, I considered subscribing for this current season, but in the end didn’t.  That reluctance caused me to miss out on this past Sunday’s matinee at Symphony Center, the single show all season that I would have most liked to see, an epic trio: Emmanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and YoYo Ma playing all three Brahms Piano Trios. Sadly, by the time single tickets were available and I got around to buying some last fall the show was sold out.  Check out this rehearsal tidbit for a taste of what I missed:

My pennywise/pound foolish non-subscription also caused me to miss out on getting tickets for Itzhak Perlman in duet with pianist Martha Argerich.  I really don’t want to make the same mistake next season, so I’m shopping the catalog for the shows I want to see. Subscribers decide between various curated series and then are also able to get special pricing for add-on concerts of their choice.  For non-subscribers, tickets don’t go on sale until August 10.

I’m considering the four concert chamber music series, which for next season is a violin lover’s dream: 1) Midori, 2) Ann-Sophie Mutter, 3) Itzhak Perlman, 4) Pinchus Zukerman.  I’m having some trouble choosing the symphony shows to add on, but the three I’m leaning toward are 1) Hilary Hahn playing the Sibelius concerto and the CSO playing Rachmaninoff’s second symphony, 2) Daniil Trifonov playing a Prokofiev piano concerto and the CSO playing Copland, 3) Muti conducting the CSO along with wonderful voices all performing (not staging) Verdi’s Aida.

But there are so many to choose from it’s extremely hard to pick.  I need to decide quickly, lest I lose out again.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan