Classical music was heard in Chicago at least from the time of its incorporation and city charter in the 1830s. Early settlers such as Mark Beaubien (fiddle), John Kinzie (violin), and Jean-Baptiste Beaubien (piano) owned instruments and played for dances at the Sauganash Tavern. A Miss Wythe opened the first school of music in July 1834; Samuel Lewis opened a second the following year, and a shipment of pianos arrived in 1835. Short-lived amateur performing groups began with the Old Settlers' Harmonic Society (1835–36, also called the Chicago Harmonic Society) and soon included the Chicago Sacred Musical Society (1842), the Chicago Choral Union (1846–48), and the Mozart Society (1849). In 1847, Frank Lumbard was appointed vocal teacher in the public schools, a move that placed music education at the core of the civic enterprise.
As Chicago expanded, its growing audiences could attract touring artists. Musicians visited intermittently, offering recitals that mixed classical and popular music with virtuoso feats. In 1848 the pianist Richard Hoffman arrived. Soprano prodigy Adelina Patti performed with violinist Ole Bull in 1853, '54, and '57, and with her family troupe in 1860. Pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk visited several times in the 1860s. The Germania Orchestra visited in 1853, giving the city its first complete symphony (Beethoven's Second), while Theodore Thomas's orchestra began giving almost annual concerts in 1869. The city's first music venues included Rice's Theatre (opened 1847), Tremont Music Hall (opened 1850), McVicker's Theatre (1857–71, reopened 1872), and Central Music Hall (1879–1900). When Crosby's Opera House was dedicated in 1865, Chicago boasted a first-class hall. Its 3,000 seats further helped to attract touring musicians with promises of large receipts. Yet in a fickle cultural marketplace, theater owners hedged their investments by combining stages with retail, office, or hotel space to enhance profits.
“Classical Music”, Encyclopedia of Chicago, http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/295.html

Carl Bergman engaged as conductor of Chicago Philharmonic Society
[Dwight’s Journal, V, 24  (16 September 1854) p. ]


Chicago: The people of the Lake City are enjoying a series of afternoon concerts modeled upon those of the late Germania Society in Boston …
[Dwight’s Journal, X, 13  (27 December 1856) p. 101]