Cso Audio Program Notes

Carl Orff’s choral celebration of love, lust and youthful excess in medieval times is as iconic as ever — at once gloriously bawdy and touchingly beautiful. Rautavaara’s ethereal “concerto for birds and orchestra” features bird calls recorded in arctic Finland. Banner, by CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery, is a vibrant rhapsody on The Star-Spangled Banner. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/carmina-burana

Eminent Swedish American conductor Herbert Blomstedt leads two Dvořák landmarks — the restless, bucolic Eighth Symphony and the impassioned Cello Concerto — each imbued with the composer’s hallmark warmth and Bohemian charm. Joining the CSO is the young Romanian Andrei Ioniţă, “one of the most exciting cellists to have emerged for a decade” (The Times of London). Explore the music in the free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets are needed. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/blomstedt-conducts-dvorak-8

Tchaikovsky’s turbulent Manfred Symphony takes its inspiration from Lord Byron’s dramatic poem about a world-weary traveler who wanders the Alps and is bewitched by supernatural forces. German violinist Julia Fischer, acclaimed for her “pure and fine-spun tone” (Chicago Tribune), joins Riccardo Muti and the CSO for Schumann’s poetic and autumnal Violin Concerto. Explore the music in the free preconcert conversation featuring Daniel Schlosberg in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets are needed. Classic Encounter Thursday, February 23: Preconcert lecture hosted by Chicago’s favorite radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmert, with co-host John Yeh, CSO assistant principal clarinet and E-flat clarinet. You will have the opportunity to add Classic Encounter to your order after selecting your seats for the concert. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-fischer-and-tchaikovsky-manfred

In his Fifth Symphony, Mahler embraces all aspects of life. After a tumultuous funeral march, the work’s five movements include folk-inspired dances, a tender love song and a boisterous finale. Noted for his "great affinity with Mahler" (Le Monde), Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä pairs the composer’s Fifth Symphony with the U.S. premiere of Aino by Peruvian American composer Jimmy López Bellido. Explore the music in the free preconcert conversation featuring Steve Rings in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets are needed. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/makela-conducts-lopez-and-mahler-5

In a program celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninov’s birth, Lahav Shani conducts the composer’s Symphonic Dances, which marries diabolical, jazzy melodies with plush, old-world grandeur. Italian pianist Beatrice Rana is soloist in Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody, a set of 24 variations that crackle with wit and furious energy. Prokofiev’s delightful Classical Symphony opens the program. Explore the music in the free preconcert conversation featuring Kyle Dzapo in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets are needed. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/shani-conducts-rachmaninov-symphonic-dances

Conductor Marin Alsop leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in three pivotal works by 21st-century women composers. This Midnight Hour, a single-movement orchestral composition by former Mead Composer-in-Residence Anna Clyne, evokes a visual journey for the listener. Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds, commissioned for and performed by pianist Awadagin Pratt, is inspired by the constancy, rhythms and duality of life that impact all living things. Closing the program is Her Story, a CSO co-commission by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe that captures the passion and perseverance of women who have led the fight for representation and gender equality. A 40-minute theatrical experience for orchestra and women’s vocal ensemble, the piece is the latest in a series of compositions by Wolfe that highlights monumental and turbulent moments in American history. Explore the music in the free preconcert conversation featuring Max Raimi in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The

Iconoclastic organist Cameron Carpenter, “one of the rare musicians who changes the game of his instrument” (Los Angeles Times), takes on Poulenc’s sparkling, Baroque-infused concerto, followed by the elegance and floor-shaking grandeur of Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Classic Encounter December 15: Preconcert lecture hosted by Chicago’s favorite radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmert, with co-host Miles Maner, CSO bassoon and contrabassoon. You will have the opportunity to add Classic Encounter to your order after selecting your seats for the concert. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/the-sorcerers-apprentice-and-saint-saens-organ-symphony

Dalia Stasevska leads the CSO in Bartók’s glittering late masterpiece — which shows off every section of the orchestra — and the scampering, playful sounds of Tarrodi’s Birds of Paradise II. CSO Artist-in-Residence Hilary Hahn joins the Orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s thrilling and tender Violin Concerto. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/hilary-hahn-tchaikovsky-and-bartok

Sibelius’ intense love of nature is mirrored in his Second Symphony, which inhabits a world of rugged, windswept beauty. In his kaleidoscopic choral masterpiece, Stravinsky creates an otherworldly aura. Beethoven’s ebullient concerto features pianist Francesco Piemontesi in his CSO debut. “Piemontesi made a wonderful impression… [He] drew out the reflective undercurrents even while playing with grace and élan” (The New York Times). Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Max Raimi in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/stravinsky-beethoven-and-sibelius-2

A journey from brooding despair to rousing triumph, Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony rescued him from the grips of official Soviet disfavor. But to many listeners, it’s a more subversive critique of life under Stalin. This program, led by Manfred Honeck, also showcases the U.S. premiere of Lera Auerbach’s Diary of a Madman, composed for and performed by Gautier Capuçon. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Laura Sauer-Shah in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/honeck-capucon-and-shostakovich-5

Dancers from Chicago’s world-renowned Joffrey Ballet invigorate the Symphony Center stage with two newly commissioned choreographies set to Siegfried Idyll, Wagner’s glowing birthday gift to his wife, and Rameau’s vivid ballet, composed for a royal wedding at the Palace of Versailles. Ravel evokes Baroque dance in Le tombeau de Couperin, with each movement becoming a touching tribute to friends who died in World War I. The program opens with the beguiling elegance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 34. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Stephen Alltop in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/cso-and-the-joffrey-ballet

As Great Britain endured the Blitz in 1943, the 71-year-old Vaughan Williams produced his Fifth Symphony. To celebrate 150 years since the composer's birth, Edward Gardner conducts this work of warmth and gentle contemplation. Christian Tetzlaff, “a meticulous and refined virtuoso” (The New York Times), presents Bartók’s rhapsodic Second Violin Concerto. Wagner’s serene and somber prelude to Act 3 of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg opens the program. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Steve Rings in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Classic Encounter Thursday, November 3: Preconcert lecture hosted by Chicago’s favorite radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmert, with co-host and CSO viola Max Raimi. You will have the opportunity to add Classic Encounter to your order after selecting your seats for the concert. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/wagner-bartok-and-va

Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony was a risky undertaking in post-World War II Russia: a personal meditation on suffering and loss that he described as agitated, lyrical and austere. Pianist Simon Trpčeski animates the romantic flourishes of Grieg’s Piano Concerto while Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s Primal Message is a fantasia inspired by the 1974 Aricebo interstellar radio transmission. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation Daniel Schlosberg in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/grieg-piano-concerto-and-prokofiev-6

Bruckner’s last completed symphony is a majestic statement in which every theme feels like a sacred offering. Bruckner signed the score "Hallelujah,” and eagerly declared, “The finale is the most important movement of my life.” Christian Thielemann, “the most admired of today’s German conductors” (Los Angeles Times), leads the CSO on this sweeping journey. Classic Encounter October 20: Preconcert lecture hosted by Chicago’s favorite radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmert, with co-host John Hagstrom, CSO trumpet (Pritzker Military Museum and Library Chair) You will have the opportunity to add Classic Encounter to your order after selecting your seats for the concert. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Max Raimi in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/thielemann-conducts-bruckner-8

Mussorgsky, shaken by the passing of his friend, the artist Victor Hartmann, turned his grief into music, composing his lavishly evocative 10-movement suite inspired by Hartmann’s sketches. Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Ravel’s iconic orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition. 2018 Leeds International Piano Competition winner Eric Lu joins the CSO in Mozart’s dark-hued final piano concerto. The program opens with Franck’s supernatural thriller The Accursed Huntsman. Pianist Maurizio Pollini has withdrawn from this engagement; a statement from his management notes that “Maurizio Pollini is very disappointed to announce that for medical reasons, he is required to cancel his upcoming American tour.” Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classic

The 2022/23 season will mark 70 years since Sergei Prokofiev’s death. Riccardo Muti conducts Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony, composed in 1944, which ranks among his greatest achievements. Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 has grandeur and intensity that foreshadows the mature symphonies of Beethoven. The overture to Rossini’s Journey to Reims gathers several of the composer’s buoyant and picturesque themes. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Daniel Schlosberg in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-conducts-mozart-and-prokofiev

A new season begins as dazzling pianist Yefim Bronfman joins Riccardo Muti and the CSO in Brahms’ unabashedly vigorous and stirring First Piano Concerto. Tchaikovsky’s joyful Second Symphony quotes folk melodies from Ukraine. The program opens with the U.S. premiere of a long-lost and recently discovered score by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a British composer of African descent. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Johann Buis in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/muti-and-bronfman

History supplied Verdi with the subject matter for this gripping drama. It is based on the true story of King Gustav III of Sweden, who was assassinated during a masked ball in 1792. Combining political intrigue, a love triangle and a fortune teller’s mysterious prophecy, the opera also contains radiant choral writing and richly scored dance music. Riccardo Muti leads a concert performance featuring a spectacular cast of international singers and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Derek Matson in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Cast Francesco Meli tenor (Riccardo) Joyce El-Khoury soprano (Amelia) Luca Salsi baritone (Renato) Yulia Matochkina mezzo-soprano (Ulrica) Damiana Mizzi soprano (Oscar) Alfred Walker bass-baritone (Samuel) Kevin Short bass-baritone (Tom) Ricardo José Rivera baritone (Silvano) Lunga Eric Hallam tenor (A Ju

By turns majestic, lyrical and iconoclastic, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto has been a signature work for Anne-Sophie Mutter ever since it propelled her to fame as a teenager. Riccardo Muti presents it alongside Brahms’ First Symphony, another 19th century landmark whose moods come in vast waves, from brooding, restless melancholy to ecstatic joy. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-mutter-beethoven-violin-concerto

James Gaffigan leads a program etched in vivid colors, including Tchaikovsky’s seductive portrait of Shakespeare’s immortal lovers, Mussorgsky’s windswept Night on Bald Mountain and Saint-Saëns’ riotous Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Stephen Yaness in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn about Soundpost, a preconcert discussion about how technology is being used as a tool to push sound by producing not only novel sounds but also innovative works of music. Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/tchaikovsky-romeo-juliet