Editorial: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra made Canadians weep

It’s hardly unusual for the international tours of the great Chicago Symphony Orchestra to attract large audiences and rapturous reviews. Still, the reaction to the CSO’s performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7″ and Sergei Prokofiev’s “Symphony No. 5,” in Toronto on Feb. 1 caught our attention. Our social media channels contained reports of audiences “openly weeping in the aisles.”

We don’t generally find national stereotypes to be helpful, but it’s surely reasonable to observe that Canadians are not known for emotional outbursts. But this is indeed what happened under the baton of maestro Riccardo Muti. “I was there ... and can attest,” said Joshua Chong, who was covering the concert for the Toronto Star, “audience members weeping at intermission.”

Way to go, CSO. Perhaps this was partly because this was the orchestra’s first concert in Toronto in more than a century, or maybe the intimacy of this particular concert venue, Koerner Hall, or maybe that post-pandemic relief at the return of first-class tours of live classical music. But it surely was mostly due to the artistry of Muti and his orchestra.

We will merely add that Chicago has no better international ambassador than this world class orchestra, now virtually alone in representing this city’s cultural accomplishments beyond U.S. boundaries. Other countries hear plenty of rough things about Chicago that are enough to make anyone cry. In Toronto they were weeping at the overwhelming beauty of art made in our town. Next time, whomever is our next mayor should be in the front row.

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