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Music Director Georg Solti and Principal Guest Conductor Carlo Maria Giulini shared conducting duties during the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first overseas tour to Europe in 1971.

The Orchestra was on the road for nearly six weeks, leaving Chicago on August 26 and not returning until October 6, and the tour included twenty-five concerts in fifteen venues in nine countries, with sixteen different works performed. No other CSO international tour since has included more concerts or a wider variety of programming.

Reviews from the tour were numerous, and a small sample are linked here, from Edinburgh, Brussels, Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna, Milan, and Paris.

The concert schedule was as follows:

September 4, 1971 – Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland
Georg Solti, conductor
MENDELSSOHN Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21
CARTER Variations for Orchestra
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68

September 5, 1971 – Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland
Georg Solti, conductor
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466
Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano
MAHLER Symphony No. 5

September 6, 1971 – Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor
BERLIOZ Excerpts from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 17
MOZART Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird

September 7, 1971 – Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor
BRAHMS Tragic Overture, Op. 81
PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 16
Rafael Orozco, piano
HAYDN Symphony No. 94 in G Major (Surprise)
RAVEL Rapsodie espagnole

September 9, 1971 – Opera House, Ghent, Belgium
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor
MOZART Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543
MAHLER Symphony No. 1 in D Major

September 10, 1971 – Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Georg Solti, conductor
CARTER Variations for Orchestra
MAHLER Symphony No. 5

September 13, 1971 – Kulttuuritalo, Helsinki, Finland
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor
HAYDN Symphony No. 94 in G Major (Surprise)
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird
MAHLER Symphony No. 1 in D Major

September 14, 1971 – Konserthuset, Göteborg, Sweden
Georg Solti, conductor
MENDELSSOHN Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21
CARTER Variations for Orchestra
MAHLER Symphony No. 5

September 15, 1971 – Folkets Hus, Stockholm, Sweden
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor
MOZART Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92

September 16, 1971 – Folkets Hus, Stockholm, Sweden
Georg Solti, conductor
MENDELSSOHN Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21
BARTÓK Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68

When the musicians returned to Chicago at the end of the tour they received a hero’s welcome with a tickertape parade down State and LaSalle streets on October 14, 1971

September 18, 1971 – Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
September 22, 1971 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
Georg Solti, conductor
MENDELSSOHN Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21
BARTÓK Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 (Pathétique)

September 19, 1971 – Kuppelsaal der Stadthalle, Hannover, Germany
September 25, 1971 – Grosser Musikvereinsaal, Vienna, Austria
Georg Solti, conductor
BARTÓK Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
MAHLER Symphony No. 5

September 21, 1971 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor
MOZART Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92

September 23, 1971 – Grosse Musikhalle, Hamburg, Germany
September 27, 28, and 29, 1971 – La Scala, Milan, Italy
October 1, 1971 – Kongress-Hall im Deutschen Museum, Munich, Germany
October 2, 1971 – Palais de Chaillot, Paris, France
October 4, 1971 – Royal Festival Hall, London, England
Georg Solti, conductor
MENDELSSOHN Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68

September 26, 1971 – Grosser Musikvereinsaal, Vienna, Austria
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor
BERLIOZ Excerpts from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 17
HAYDN Symphony No. 94 in G Major (Surprise)
STRAVINSKY Suite from The Firebird

October 3, 1971 – Palais de Chaillot, Paris, France
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor
HAYDN Symphony No. 94 in G Major (Surprise)
BRAHMS Tragic Overture, Op. 81
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92

October 5, 1971 – Royal Festival Hall, London, England
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor
MOZART Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543
RAVEL Rapsodie espagnole
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92

NOTE: post updated on August 22 to clean up link to concert reviews.

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