Chicago has always been a great music town. But the last 40 years have expanded the depth and breadth of classical Chicago. “Seed money from the National Endowment for the Arts (founded in 1965) and other granting institutions created fertile ground for new performing arts groups in the late ’60s and throughout the ’70s and ’80s. And many of those groups sustained their growth through the new practice of subscription ticket sales, which in turn fanned individual giving. As a result, the city now pulses with dozens of music ensembles made up of local professionals, almost all of them founded since 1967.”