The CBA Symphony Orchestra is designed for all CBA members who are interested in participating in an orchestra or in smaller chamber ensembles. Rehearsals are held at the CBA and public performances are scheduled from September through May. Orchestra members must be CBA members in good standing with the Association. Annual dues to help defray costs are $50 Student, $100 Member and $150 Supporting Members (minimum).
Auditions are not required, but openings in some sections may be limited due to musical staffing requirements. In general, the Orchestra can usually accept additional string players and low brass players. Openings for other instruments are very limited (please inquire). Please direct all inquiries via email to
cbaso.cochairs@gmail.com.
For further information about the CBA Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, visit
www.cbasymphonyandchorus.blogspot.com.
Rehearsals: Wednesdays at 6:00-8:15 p.m. at the CBA Building
The CBA Symphony Orchestra is in need of 4 double basses and principal trombone. Contact Michael Poulos for details.
History of the Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra is Chicagoland's unique orchestra of attorneys, judges and law students. Growing from just a handful of musicians at its first rehearsal in 1986, the CBASO now regularly fields an orchestra of 75 musicians or more, virtually all affiliated with Chicago's legal community.
The musical momentum initiated by a small group of lawyers has grown into today's CBASO, a musical group collaborating to present exciting and increasingly challenging musical works each season. For thirty-eight years under the direction of professional conductor David Katz, who retired as Founding Music Director Laureate in 2024, the CBASO has performed in venues ranging from Daley Center courtrooms to Chicago's Symphony Center.
The orchestra performs at many public events for the Chicago Bar Association, its prime sponsor, including annual Law Day celebrations on Daley Plaza. Other notable performances have included the Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration at Navy Pier with famed author Doris Kearns Goodwin, and a 2010 gala for retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. The orchestra is also noted for having presented the very first performances of Gilbert and Sullivan's courtroom operetta, Trial By Jury, in a working courtroom, with a cast, orchestra and chorus made up entirely of legal professionals.
To mark its 20th anniversary in 2006, the CBASO performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 at Navy Pier on the final evening of the convention of World Bar Associations. In 2011 the CBASO, CBA Chorus and guest choirs, nearly 300 musicians in all, performed Carl Orff's Carmina Burana at Symphony Center to a sell-out crowd to celebrate the Orchestra's 25th anniversary. The chorus and orchestra returned to Symphony Center in 2015 to present "Something Wonderful!", an evening of music by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and “Ode to Joy” in 2019, a concert featuring the choral finale of the Beethoven 9th Symphony and music by Lowry (premiere), Schumann, Mozart and Saint-Saens.
Following a nationwide search during the 2023-24 season, Jennifer Huang was appointed music director of The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra in summer 2024.
Chamber Music Recital
Members and friends of the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform a chamber music concert. Solos, duets, trios, quartets, quintets, pieces with voice (or voices) up to a small chamber orchestra are welcome. Selections are limited to one movement. The 2025 Chamber Concert will be held at PianoForte Studios, 1335 S Michigan Ave, on Sunday, January 26, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. For more information please contact
Emily Chen.
Law Day
In conjunction with the YLS Law Week Program either the Barristers Big Band, the Chorus, or Symphony Orchestra will perform at the annual noon-time celebration at Daley Plaza the first week of May.
Wonderful Counsellor
Be sure to join our mailing list to get advanced information about Wonderful Counsellor, the much-anticipated pictorial history of the CBA Symphony, CBA Chorus and Barristers Big Band, written by David Katz, founding music director of The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra, being published this fall by DelGatto Press.
Sign up here to receive more information.
The Symphony Orchestra is on YouTube! Click here to check us out!
From CARMINA BURANA. David Katz conducting the CBASO, CBA Chorus, Guest Choirs and Soloists
From "SOMETHING WONDERFUL," with the CBASO, CBA Chorus, Guest Choirs and Soloists
From "SOMETHING WONDERFUL," with the CBASO, CBA Chorus, Guest Choirs and Soloists
The HALLELUJAH CHORUS (from "ODE to JOY"): new arrangement by Jamie Whitmarsh with the CBASO, CBA Chorus, Guest Choirs and Soloists