Conductor Riccardo Muti takes over as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with a free concert in Millennium Park (Sept. 19; cso.org), then a Berlioz double bill (Sept. 23–28).
Barbara Gaines, founder of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, stages Verdi’s Macbeth at the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Oct. 1–30; lyricopera.org).
Director Robert Lepage opens the Metropolitan Opera season with Das Rheingold, the first opera of Wagner’s Ring cycle (Sept. 27– Oct. 9).
At the New York City Opera, Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place, about the failure of the American dream, has its overdue New York premiere (Oct. 27–Nov. 21; nycopera.com).
Theater legend Peter Brook offers a new version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Nov. 9–Dec. 31; festival-automne.com) at the Bouffes du Nord theater.
