Check Out IPO @ MPL

Here's how it works: 
• Present your MPL library card in person to staff at the Library's Help desk to receive your pass. 
• Each pass is valid for 2 tickets (student and/or adult). 
• Each household may reserve passes once per season.
• Present pass at the box office window on concert night to claim tickets. 
• Box office opens 90 minutes before concert time.

All concerts are held at: Ozinga Chapel at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, IL

ILLINOIS PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA 2025/26 Concert List

The 2025/26 season presents a sterling mix of popular favorites, classical masterpieces, and seven IPO Premieres for its 48^th season

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 & Violin Concerto: OCTOBER 25^th, 2025 5:30pm

Stilian Kirov, Conductor
Ade Williams, Violin

• Beethoven Prometheus Overture
• Beethoven Violin concerto
• Beethoven Symphony 5

The 48^th IPO season opens in thundering fashion at 5:30pm October 25^th, 2025, with a resounding performance of one of music’s most celebrated and well-known works,
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The evening leads off with his Prometheus Overture as well as one of the world’s best-known and most regularly performed violin concertos, performed by Sphinx artist and Chicago native, Ade Williams. Act II, IPO’s annual Opening Night post-concert celebration event including dinner and a “mix and mingle” with Maestro Kirov and IPO musicians, will take place directly after the concert.

 

No Passes Available– NIGHT MOVES: The Planets, E.T. and Star Trek: NOVEMBER 22^nd, 2025 3:00pm

Stilian Kirov, Conductor

• Williams T. Adventures on Earth
• Star Trek Through The Years (arr. Calvin Custer) IPO Premiere
• Holst The Planets (Visuals by Adrian Wyard)

The nighttime sky will never look the same after our November 22^nd, 2025, NIGHT MOVES concert! Climb aboard our audio version of the U.S.S. Enterprise as IPO takes you on an auditory adventure with Star Trek Through the Years (arranged by Calvin Custer), a compilation of some of the series’ most notable musical pieces. John Williams’ E.T.

Adventures on Earth contributes to this out of this world evening, as does the closing work, Gustav Holst’s The Planets which takes the audience on a journey throughout all the known planets of the Solar System seen from Earth at the time of its writing, and their corresponding astrological character. A video accompaniment with visuals by Adrian Wyard accentuates this other worldly experience.

This celestial concert features a matinee start time of 3pm and takes place at the Center for Performing Arts at Governors State University in University Park, IL.
 

IPO HOLIDAY FESTIVAL: A Celebration of Voice & Music: DECEMBER 20^th, 2025 3:00pm

Stilian Kirov, Conductor

• Chicago Community Chorus

IPO’s traditional holiday celebration returns with this family-friendly matinee program featuring a POPS laden program accentuated by our longtime performance partners, the Chicago Community Chorus.

 

VALENTINE’S DAY with IPO: FEBRUARY 14^th, 2026 7:30pm

Stilian Kirov, Conductor

Anastaysia Poff, Piano

• Mendelssohn Overture in C major IPO Premiere
• Schumann Piano concerto IPO Premiere
• Schumann Symphony No. 4

In an evening custom built for Valentine’s Day, world renowned pianist Anastaysia Poff, wife of IPO Gibb Music Director Stilian Kirov, takes center stage to lead this romantically tinged program. The performance includes Fanny Mendelssohn’s Overture in C major along

with Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto and her husband Richard Schumann’s Symphony No. 4.

 

VIVALDI: The Four Seasons: MARCH 14^th, 2026 7:30pm

Stilian Kirov, Conductor

• Vivaldi The Four Seasons IPO Premiere
• Dvořák Serenade in E major 22 IPO Premiere

Welcome spring with one of classical music’s most recognizable works, Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Antonín Dvořák’s cheerful and melodic piece for string orchestra, Serenade in E. major op. 22 is known for its light, graceful character, often described as idyllic and peaceful.

LEGENDARY MUSIC OF THE MOVIES: APRIL 18^th, 2026 7:30pm

Stilian Kirov, Conductor

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• Theme from Jurassic Park
• Jaws suite
• Theme from Schindler’s List
• Superman march
• Flight to Neverland
• Raiders March from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Theme from Star Wars

They call it Tinsel Town for a reason! Hollywood has inspired some of classical music’s most beloved compositions and IPO brings them to life this evening. Some of the silver screen’s most precious gems are in line for this bombastic night.

AMERICA TURNS 250: MAY 16^th, 2026 7:30pm

Stilian Kirov, Conductor

• Tower Fanfare 1
• Montgomery Coincident Dances IPO Premiere
• Sousa Liberty Bell March
• Sousa Washington Post March
• Sousa Stars and Stripes Forever
• Copland Billy The Kid suite IPO Premiere
• Copland Lincoln Portrait

IPO lowers the curtain on our 48^th season by celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This Semiquincentennial celebration features music by Joan Tower, Jessie Montgomery, John Philip Sousa and concludes with Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait.

Programs and artists subject to change.

ABOUT ILLINOIS PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

The 2025/26 concert season marks the 48^th for Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra. Under the leadership of Gibb Music Director Stilian Kirov and Executive Director Christina Salerno, the mission of IPO is to utilize the universal expression of music to create profound, inspiring, and personal connections between the people and communities of Chicago’s Southland.

Whoever you are, IPO welcomes you to be inspired by what you hear and see, meet others who share your interest or love of music, and find your own joy in the shared experiences of live symphonic music.

During the 2025/26 season, IPO will perform several classical concerts at their home venue, the state-of-the-art, 1,100 seat Ozinga Chapel at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, IL, while building a new partnership with the Center for Performing Arts at Governors State University for one concert. In addition to live orchestral concerts, IPO presents a myriad of educational youth offerings each year via its educational arm – The Marilynn Tannebaum Youth Music Education Institute. IPO also performs an annual summer chamber series, IPO Summer @ Olympia Fields Country Club.

From its community orchestra roots in Park Forest, the 69-member orchestra has grown into a critically acclaimed professional regional orchestra. Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council, the Center for Performing Arts at Governors State University, Ozinga Foundation, Gerhard Manufacturing and Design, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Michuda Construction. For more information, visit ipomusic.org.

Media Inquiries:

Ken Churilla – IPO Marketing & Communications Director kchurilla@ipomusic.org | 708.481.7774