James Conlon to replace Bernard Haitink in CSO concerts

Former Ravinia Festival music director and CSO guest conductor James Conlon will lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in concerts March 30-31 and April 1, replacing the ailing Bernard Haitink, it was announced Friday.

Haitink, also the former CSO principal conductor, is suffering from a stomach virus, according to the announcement.

The program for the Symphony Center concerts remains unchanged: Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D. 759 (Unfinished) and Mahler’s symphonic song cycle Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) featuring mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly in her CSO debut and tenor Stephen Gould in his first CSO appearance since his 2005 CSO debut.