Program Information
CARLOS SIMON | Motherboxx Connection
H. HANSON | Symphony No. 2, “Romantic”
GERSHWIN | Concerto in F
Chad Goodman, conductor
Orion Weiss, piano
Ticket Information
Prices: Gold $68 / Red $42 / Green $20
Student tickets $10
Call and ask about our Free Youth Tickets for children ages 17 and under
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Since becoming Music Director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra in 2023, Chad Goodman has been praised for taking the orchestra to new artistic heights and dramatically expanding its impact in the community. In his first two seasons he led the ESO premieres of more than a dozen works, increased community engagement through run-out concerts and engaging presentations in Elgin and neighboring cities, and spearheaded the orchestra’s first ever Día de los Muertos concert, uniting the symphony with folkloric dance and vocals in a city-wide cultural celebration.
Named Conductor of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras in 2025, Goodman has led orchestras including the Minnesota Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de Puebla (OSEP).
From 2023 to 2025, Goodman served as Artistic Director of IlluminArts, a Miami-based arts organization dedicated to the synthesis of music with visual art, poetry, and dance through bold, interdisciplinary collaborations. His programming created immersive experiences that transcended traditional boundaries, bringing audiences together to engage and connect in vibrant cultural dialogue.
From 2019 to 2023, Goodman was the Conducting Fellow of the New World Symphony and Assistant Conductor to Michael Tilson Thomas. In addition to leading the orchestra in more than fi fty performances, he collaborated with sound engineers, videographers, animators, and light designers to push the boundaries of how classical music can be presented.
Goodman has also served as an Assistant Conductor to the San Francisco Symphony, working alongside Esa-Pekka Salonen, Herbert Blomstedt, Michael Tilson Thomas, Elim Chan, Manfred Honeck, Daniel Harding and Simone Young, among others.
Goodman additionally leads workshops that teach young musicians the business skills needed to successfully navigate the music world. Forbes praised the conductor’s bold strides both on and off stage and hailed him as “An entrepreneur bringing innovation to classical music.” In 2022 he published the book You Earned a Music Degree. Now What?
Goodman holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music degree from San Francisco State University. His mentors include Michael Tilson Thomas and Alasdair Neale.
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One of the most sought-after soloists and chamber music collaborators of his generation, Orion Weiss is a “brilliant pianist” (The New York Times) with “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post). He has dazzled audiences worldwide with his “head-spinning range of colors” (Chicago Tribune) and has performed with all the major orchestras of North America, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic.
In 2024, Weiss will release Arc III, the final album in his Arc recital trilogy, on First Hand Records. His live performance schedule includes engagements with violinist James Ehnes, who joins Weiss for his return to London’s Wigmore Hall as well as for performances in Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Seattle, Bloomington, Indiana and Bergen, Norway. Among numerous engagements with U.S. orchestras, Weiss makes his David Geffen Hall debut with the American Symphony Orchestra. He is featured in recitals at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Italy’s Teatro Marrucino Biglietteria and Washington University in St. Louis, as well as on a tour with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and an appearance at LaMusica Chamber Music Festival in Sarasota, Florida. Over the last year, he made his return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, led by Michael Tilson Thomas; debuted with the National Symphony; gave multiple performances with violinist Augustin Hadelich in North America and Asia; and appeared at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall.
Known for his affinity for chamber music, Weiss performs regularly with violinists Augustin Hadelich, William Hagen and James Ehnes; pianists Michael Brown and Shai Wosner; and the Ariel, Parker and Pacifica Quartets. He has appeared across the United States at venues and festivals including the Ravinia Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, The Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg), The Edinburgh International Festival, Seattle and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festivals and more.
Weiss can be heard on the Naxos, Telos, Bridge, First Hand, Yarlung and Artek labels. His discography includes a recording of Christopher Rouse’s Seeing; the two previous installments in his Arc trilogy; a recording of Korngold’s Left Hand concerto, plus other works with The Orchestra Now; and recordings of Gershwin’s complete works for piano and orchestra with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and JoAnn Falletta. He is also featured in recordings such as The Piano Protagonists with The Orchestra Now led by Leon Botstein; Scarlatti’s Complete Keyboard Sonatas; a solo recital disc of Bartók, Dvorák, and Prokofiev; Brahms Sonatas with violinist Arnaud Sussmann; a solo album of J.S. Bach, Scriabin, Mozart, and Carter; and a recital disc with cellist Julie Albers.
His career honors include the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year, Gilmore Young Artist Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Gina Bachauer Scholarship at The Juilliard School and the Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship.
A native of Ohio, Weiss attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and made his Cleveland Orchestra debut performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1999. The next month, with less than 24 hours’ notice, Weiss stepped in to replace André Watts for a performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and was immediately invited to return later that year. In 2000, he graduated from the Young Artist Highschool program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Paul Schenly, Daniel Shapiro and Sergei Babayan. In 2004, he graduated from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax and Jerome Lowenthal. In 2005, he toured Israel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Itzhak Perlman. That same year, he made his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall, and his European debut in a recital at the Musée du Louvre in Paris.
Learn more www.orionweiss.com.