In 2014, the Grant Park Music Festival formalized its commitment to an expanded repertoire by bringing the commissioning of new works into its long-range plan. The Festival's list of world premieres has been growing ever since.
John Corigliano Midsummer Fanfare (2004)
Michael Torke Plans (2009)
Michael Gandolfi Only Converge: An Exaltation of Place (2012)
Sebastian Currier Sleepers and Dreamers (2012)
Christopher Theofanidis The Legend of the Northern Lights (2014)
William Bolcom: Millennium: A Concerto-Fantasia for Orchestra (2014)
Kenji Bunch Symphony No. 3 (2015)
Michael Gandolfi The Cosmic Garden in Bloom (2016)
Aaron Jay Kernis Legacy (2017)
Ēriks Ešenvalds The Pleiades (2018)
Kareem Roustom Turn to the World: A Whitman Cantata (2019)
Stacy Garrop Shiva Dances (2019)
Lori Laitman Hands (2019)
Joel Thompson In Response to the Madness (2019)
Mischa Zupko Blue Matter* (June 17, 2022)
Billy Childs Violin Concerto No. 2* (commissioned in 2020)
Jessie Montgomery L.E.S. Characters* (commissioned in 2021)
Carl Vine Zofomorphis (August 17, 2022)
Billy Childs Variation on a Rondo (July 17, 2022)
John Harbison Mark the Date (August 7, 2022)
Tebogo Monnakgotla It is the Lark that Sings . . . (August 7, 2022)
Christopher Theofanidis Flute Concerto (August 10, 2022)
Xavier Foley Midnight Sonata (July 16, 2023)
Xavier Foley Underground Railroad (July 18, 2023)
*Performances of these Grant Park Orchestra commissions were rescheduled due to the pandemic.
Put together imaginative programs that mix standard and unusual symphonic and choral fare... and you have a classical operation several cuts above anything to be found across the crowded U.S. festival landscape.”
—John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune