CSO Audio Program Notes

Hear how Greek and Roman mythology have captivated composers with tales of betrayal, love and heroism. In Daphnis and Chloe, Ravel uses ravishing orchestral colors and a wordless chorus to depict this pastoral romance. Salonen finds inspiration in the epic struggles of the twin half-brothers Castor and Pollux, depicted in his two-piece orchestral composition, Gemini. Opening the program is Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte, a refreshing blend of traditional harmony and contrasting dissonance inspired by Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 77, No. 2.

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.

Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/salonen-conducts-daphnis-chloe

Esa-Pekka Salonen takes listeners on a voyage through astonishing terrains, from Ravel’s exquisite setting of Perrault’s fairy tales to Stravinsky’s 1940s “war symphony,” with its allusions to marching soldiers and tanks. Completing the program, Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto introduces a 2021 concerto by Bryce Dessner partly inspired by Anne Carson’s essay The Anthropology of Water. It is a re-imagining of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, “an endeavor as old as civilization to set out on a road that is supposed to take you to the very end of things.” (Carson, The Anthropology of Water)

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/21-22/cso-classical/salonen-conducts-ravel-stravinsky

Hear the sounds of bravery, battle and romance in Strauss' exuberant Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), led by Karina Canellakis. Kirill Gerstein performs Schumann’s only piano concerto, a work that brims with joy and melody. Augusta Read Thomas’ Brio is a study in agility and motion, building to a full-throttle, sparkling intensity.

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/ein-heldenleben

Lithuanian-born Julian Rachlin showcases his singular versatility as a violinist, violist and conductor. He joins CSO Associate Concertmaster Stephanie Jeong in Mozart's effervescent Sinfonia concertante before leading a performance of Tchaikovsky's sweetly melancholic Souvenir. Taking to the podium, Rachlin bookends the program by conducting works by Mozart and Beethoven.

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/21-22/cso-classical/beethoven-mozart-tchaikovsky

Riccardo Muti presents two groundbreaking pieces by the first African American composers to have symphonic works performed by major orchestras. William Grant Still’s Mother and Child is a gentle, lilting work inspired by a painting by Sargent Johnson. Florence Price’s expressive Third Symphony gives a powerful voice to the African American experience. The first half includes Beethoven's Fourth Symphony, a work of grace, subtlety and drive, whose smallest gestures have large implications.

Florence Price was a pioneer in the world of classical music: the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer and the first to have her work played by a major orchestra. In honor of these special performances of Price’s Symphony No. 3, arrive early to learn more about this fascinating composer.

The complete experience will include a free preconcert panel discussion in Orchestra Hall 90 minutes before each performance. The event is moderated by Dr. Toni-Marie Montgomery, Dean of the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University, and featuring Florence Price scholars Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle, Distinguished Professor of Music, Miami University, and Dr. Douglas W. Shadle, Associate Professor of Musicology, Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University, as well as special guest Jessie Montgomery, CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence. No additional tickets required.

Following the discussion, enjoy chamber music performances by Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative String Quartets performing works by Price and Montgomery in the Grainger Ballroom and Rotunda at Symphony Center.

Thursday, May 5

6:00-6:45p Panel Discussion

6:45-7:15p Preconcert Chamber Performances

Friday, May 6

12:00-12:45p Panel Discussion

12:45-1:15p Preconcert Chamber Performances

Saturday, May 7

6:30-7:15p Panel Discussion

7:15-7:45p Preconcert Chamber Performances

Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-conducts-beethoven-still-price

Riccardo Muti leads a world premiere by Jessie Montgomery, the CSO’s new Mead Composer-in-Residence. Raised on New York’s Lower East Side, Montgomery writes music that is “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (The Washington Post). CSO Principal Bass Alexander Hanna is the soloist in Bottesini’s bravura concerto before the program ends on a joyous note with Beethoven’s homage to nature, the Pastoral Symphony.

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.

On April 28 the CSO Latino Alliance hosts Noche Alegre a special preconcert networking event. Tickets required. Learn more at CSO Latino Alliance.

Postconcert on Tuesday, May 3, all ticketholders are invited to this free postconcert discussion:

Composer Connection: A Conversation with Renée Baker and Jessie Montgomery

Hosted by the CSO African American Network

Tuesday, May 3

Join Chicago composer, conductor and frequent African American Network guest Renée Baker and CSO Mead-Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery for a special postconcert chat hosted by the AAN. Both known for their contributions to the modern landscape of classical music, Baker and Montgomery come together to share their unique perspectives as female composers of color.

Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/muti-conducts-montgomery-beethoven-pastoral

Steeped in fateful march rhythms, bittersweet lullabies and a series of thunderous hammer blows, Mahler’s Sixth Symphony is an impassioned, searching statement. New York Philharmonic music director Jaap van Zweden returns to lead the CSO, whose “musical DNA is closely intertwined with Mahler” (Chicago Tribune), in this tour de force.

Please note: there will be no late seating for this concert, and the concert will start on time.

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/van-zweden-conducts-mahler-6

In his CSO debut, Klaus Mäkelä leads a journey through two Russian masterworks: Stravinsky’s sumptuous fairy-tale ballet The Firebird, and Prokofiev’s imaginative Second Violin Concerto, featuring Swedish phenom Daniel Lozakovich, also making his first appearance with the CSO. The program opens with Anders Hillborg’s Eleven Gates, a kaleidoscopic score that the Los Angeles Times calls “hugely entertaining, sonically enveloping music.”

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 more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/the-firebird

Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes brings his “effortless command and penetrating clarity” (The New York Times) to Britten’s Piano Concerto, a glittering score composed during the lead-up to World War II. Riccardo Muti frames the program with Richard Strauss’ contemplative “Dreaming by the Fireside,” from his opera Intermezzo, and Schumann’s triumphant Fourth Symphony.

Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Laura Prichard 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-andsnes-britten

Riccardo Muti leads the world premiere of Orpheus Undone by the CSO’s former Mead Composer-in-Residence Missy Mazzoli, whose works are celebrated for their raw emotional authenticity. Also on the program are works by two late-Romantic titans. Bruckner’s awe-inspiring Second Symphony is a perfect companion piece to Mahler’s intimate Rückert-Lieder, sung by Elīna Garanča, whose voice “is one in a million, allying grace and power to a commanding authority” (The Independent).

Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Tim Munro 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-conducts-mazzoli-mahler-with-elina-garanca