CSO Audio Program Notes

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Mar 15-17. Riccardo Muti, a superlative interpreter of Classical-era works, conducts a program of compositions by Haydn and Mozart. CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen is featured soloist in Mozart's celebrated Sinfonia concertante. "Chen gave an intense and impassioned performance in a work that is virtuosically demanding, and the result was a powerful experience" (Seen and Heard International).

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Mar 8-11. This colorful program ranges from Shostakovich's haunting First Violin Concerto, performed by Greek virtuoso Leonidas Kavakos, to Debussy's portrait of the sea. "Shostakovich's Violin Concerto brought out the best in Kavakos...an intriguing mixture of fierce energy and fierce self-restraint" (Financial Times). An atmospheric and dramatic entr'acte from Berlioz's epic opera The Trojans portrays Dido and Aeneas' journey through a royal hunt and storm.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Mar 1-3. Eminent conductor Herbert Blomstedt returns to Orchestra Hall in a program that pairs two great works linked by their undeniable power and passion. The driving introduction of Mozart's Symphony No. 39 served as inspiration for the first movement of Beethoven's magnificent, revolutionary Eroica Symphony.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Feb 22-27. French pianist David Fray's Symphony Center recital last spring was called "musical poetry" by the Chicago Tribune. He returns to perform Chopin's tenderly lyrical Second Piano Concerto. Christoph Eschenbach, music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, rounds out a richly romantic program with Carl Maria von Weber's noble overture to his opera Der Freischütz and two of Mendelssohn's most beloved masterpieces.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Feb 1-3. Riccardo Muti conducts a program of expressive works ranging from Stravinsky's brilliantly colorful showpiece Scherzo fantastique to two evocative works inspired by the sea. Witness the spectacular CSO low brass section, distinguished for its purity of sound and clarity of attack, in a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon, whose compositions have been acclaimed as "the most inventive and substantive additions to American music in years" (The Baltimore Sun).

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jan 25-30. Manfred Honeck leads the CSO in Mahler's epic Fifth Symphony. Opening with a lone trumpet call, this spectacular work launched a new chapter in Mahler's music—an instrumental symphonic style filled with an inward-looking dramatic intensity. Till Fellner returns to perform Mozart's grand Piano Concerto No. 25.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jan 18-20. Rafael Payare makes his subscription series debut leading the CSO in Bernstein's much loved Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and Bartók's popular Concerto for Orchestra. CSO Principal Bassoon Keith Buncke showcases his artistry and extraordinary agility in Mozart's lively masterpiece.

Nikolaj Znaider has appeared as a virtuoso soloist of "fine technical control, deep musical understanding and even greater feeling" (Chicago Tribune) and a conductor with "no shortage of fireworks" (Bachtrack). He makes his Orchestra Hall podium debut performing and conducting Beethoven's lyrical Violin Concerto and Shostakovich's landmark Symphony No. 5.

More info and tickets:

https://cso.org/ticketsandevents/production-details-2017-18/chicago-symphony-orchestra/shostakovich5/

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Dec 21-23. Nikolaj Znaider has appeared as a virtuoso soloist of "fine technical control, deep musical understanding and even greater feeling" (Chicago Tribune) and a conductor with "no shortage of fireworks" (Bachtrack). He makes his Orchestra Hall podium debut performing and conducting Beethoven's lyrical Violin Concerto and Shostakovich's landmark Symphony No. 5.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Dec 14-19. Chicago favorite Jaap van Zweden returns to lead the CSO in Tchaikovsky's striking, lyrically poignant Fifth Symphony. Joining him is internationally renowned pianist Denis Kozhukhin, who will take on Rachmaninov's towering Second Concerto. "[Kozhukhin's] dazzling performance must have lifted Orchestra Hall a few feet off its foundation. It was hard, in fact, to imagine any pianist seizing this formidably difficult concerto in a mightier grip than this Russian firebrand. Even in a day when keyboard virtuosos are thick on the ground, Kozhukhin is special" (Chicago Tribune).