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Chicago · Venue

Symphony Center

A 2,522-seat Chicago concert hall where a 1904 Orchestra Hall anchors an expansive, carefully curated music complex.

Upcoming shows
196
Address
220 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60604
Phone
(312) 294-3000
Next show
Thu, 1 Oct 2026
Official siteDirections
Symphony Center in Chicago

About Symphony Center

Symphony Center in Chicago centers on 2,522-seat Orchestra Hall, the 1904 home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Its concrete distinction is a Daniel Burnham-designed concert hall that became the core of a larger Symphony Center complex in 1997; Orchestra Hall earned National Historic Landmark status in 1994. The result is formal concert seating and a century-old façade marked with composers’ names, paired with a multi-venue music center.

A hall built for Thomas, remade for 1997

Before the hall, the Chicago Orchestra played at the Auditorium Theatre for almost 14 years. Theodore Thomas, its founder and first music director, pushed for a dedicated room; trustees and public donors assembled the money, and Burnham supplied the design without fee. Construction began May 1, 1904, on the site of Leroy Payne’s livery stable. On December 14, Thomas conducted the dedication with the Apollo Musical and Mendelssohn clubs; he died in January 1905, three weeks later.

The second hinge came in June 1993, when trustees approved an expansion and renovation. Work began in summer 1995, and the $120 million project opened October 4, 1997, as Symphony Center. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Kirkegaard Associates widened the surrounding operation while recalibrating the hall: a higher roofline for reverberation, a deeper stage, terrace seats behind it, and an acoustic canopy.

The listening setup

Programming is curated by the CSO and Symphony Center Presents, whose subscription series focus on touring ensembles, chamber music, piano recitals, and jazz, alongside special non-subscription concerts. Classical music drives the calendar; jazz and visiting cross-genre artists sit within the same presenting structure. In Orchestra Hall, the main floor has a slight rake, staggered seats, and a lobby bar for preconcert and intermission drinks. The rear main floor falls beneath an overhang, while the lower balcony wraps around the room and box seats hold three to eight patrons.

Sources

  1. Symphony Center — Wikipedia
  2. Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center — Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  3. Orchestra Hall National Historic Landmark documentation — National Park Service
  4. Symphony Center Presents — Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  5. Explore Orchestra Hall — Chicago Symphony Orchestra

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