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Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
National
Kyle MacMillan - For the Sun-Times

Chicago Symphony Orchestra librarians know the score

Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s librarian Carole Keller (from left), principal librarian Peter Conover and librarian Mark Swanson are photographed amid the music stands — each with its corresponding instrument music folder — on stage at Symphony Center. The trio precisely distributes each folder for a performance and removes them afterward for return to the orchestra’s library. (Pat Nabong / Sun-Times)
Shortly before each Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert is set to begin, someone discreetly walks onstage to place a score on the conductor’s music stand, then returns to retrieve it when that first piece is over — a process repeated for each selection on the program.

Those brief, easy-to-ignore trips across the stage are the only times that audiences get a glimpse at the three staff members who work in one of the CSO’s most important if little-known behind-the-scenes departments — its library.

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