ONE H U N DR ED T HI RT Y-T H IR D S EAS ON
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
RICCARDO MUTI Music Director Emeritus for Life
Friday, February 16, 2024, at 7:00 Apostolic Church of God
Paavo Järvi Conductor Sheku Kanneh-Mason Cello BEETHOVEN
Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b
ELGAR
Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 Adagio—Moderato Lento—Allegro molto Adagio Allegro, ma non troppo
SHEKU K ANNEH-MASON
SMETANA
The Moldau from Má vlast
There will be no intermission.
This performance receives generous support from the Shebik Community Engagement Programs Fund. United Airlines is the Official Airline of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association is deeply grateful to Apostolic Church of God for hosting this evening’s concert, which marks the CSO’s fourth appearance at the church since 2011.
This performance receives generous support from the
Shebik Community Engagement Programs Fund.
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COMMENTS by Phillip Huscher LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Born December 16; 1770, Bonn, Germany Died March 26, 1827; Vienna, Austria
Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b Of the four overtures Beethoven wrote for his opera Leonore—later renamed Fidelio— only the one called Leonore no. 3 has gained favor both in the concert hall, where it is much loved, and in the opera house, where it is often played, inappropriately, just before the finale. That it is an intruder in the opera house, where it can too easily overshadow all but the greatest performances of Fidelio, is something Beethoven himself easily could have told us. The Leonore Overture no. 3 is as dramatic as any music Beethoven wrote, and that is part of the problem. Placed before the curtain rises, it overshadows much of what follows. Playing it just before the final scene—a convention never sanctioned by Beethoven, but one loved by many conductors, including Mahler and Toscanini—is problematic because it first delays and then gives away the ending. Despite its number, Leonore no. 3 is Beethoven’s second version of the overture. Although it is more concise and less symphonic than his first effort (the work we call Leonore no. 2), it does not avoid the dilemma of telling us everything about the opera, in music of unforgettable substance and power, before the curtain goes up. Beethoven ultimately understood the situation well and wrote his fourth and final overture to Fidelio—less powerful music, but better stagecraft. (Leonore no. 1 was written in 1807 for a production in Prague that never took place; the score was discovered after Beethoven’s death, mistaken for his earliest effort, and assigned the number one.)
COMPOSED
1804–06
FIRST PERFORMANCE
November 20, 1805, Vienna (the opera Leonore) March 29, 1806, Vienna (Leonore Overture no. 3) I N S T R U M E N TAT I O N
two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, strings, offstage trumpet A P P R OX I M AT E PERFORMANCE TIME
14 minutes
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n the concert hall, where it has ultimately retired, the Leonore Overture no. 3 is a miracle of dramatic music, as compelling as any symphonic poem in the literature. The overture tells, or at least distills, the essence of the story. Beethoven begins in the darkness of the prison cell where Florestan has been unjustly sent. Florestan remembers brighter days, and the music, ignited by his hope, is filled with fire and action. The a b o v e : Ludwig van Beethoven, portrait, oil on ivory, by Danish artist Christian Horneman (1765–1844), 1803. Beethoven Haus, Bonn, Germany
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distant trumpet call of the tower guard, announcing Florestan’s reprieve, brings silence and then guarded optimism, but the trumpet sounds again, and freedom seems certain. At the news,
the flute cannot contain its rapture. Beethoven then treats us to a full-scale, symphonic, utterly heroic recapitulation.
EDWARD ELGAR Born June 2, 1857; Broadheath, England Died February 23, 1934; Worcester, England
Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 This is the last major work Elgar wrote. Alice Elgar was at her husband’s side at the first performance, in October 1919. But her health was not good, and when she died the following April, part of Elgar’s creative spark died with her. During the remaining fourteen years of his life, he wrote no music of consequence, despite intermittent attempts and sporadic frustration. Edward also was ill at this time. He had been suffering from serious throat problems, and in March 1918 he had a septic tonsil removed; the day he left the nursing home, he asked for pencil and paper and wrote down the opening theme of this cello concerto. Most of the work on the concerto was done during the summer of 1919, in Brinkwells, the little oak-beamed cottage the Elgars rented in Sussex. There was a studio in the garden where he could work uninterrupted, except by his own walks in the woods and by the unexpected delight of chopping firewood. Alice, meanwhile, grew “mysteriously smaller and more fragile,” Elgar remembered. “She seemed to be fading away before one’s very eyes.” It was their last summer together. Elgar asked Felix Salmond to give the first performance of the new concerto, and he invited him to Brinkwells that summer so they could work together. Elgar delivered the finished score to his publisher on August 8. The premiere was scheduled at once, with Elgar conducting, but it proved to be somewhat of a disappointment. The concerto was insufficiently rehearsed, not because its demands were excessive, but because the
t h i s pa g e : Sir Edward Elgar, portrait by William Rothenstein (1872–1945), 1919, from Music & Letters, January 1920 | o p p o s i t e pa g e : Autographed photo of Felix Salmond (1888–1952), 1920, soloist in the premiere of Elgar’s Cello Concerto on October 26, 1919
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COMPOSED
March 23, 1918–August 3, 1919 FIRST PERFORMANCE
October 26, 1919; London, England. Felix Salmond as soloist, the composer conducting I N S T R U M E N TAT I O N
solo cello, two flutes with piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, strings A P P R OX I M AT E PERFORMANCE TIME
26 minutes
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conductor of the balance of the concert, Albert Coates, openly preferred the other work on the program, Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy, and used all the rehearsal time for it. The response to Elgar’s concerto was downright chilly; the audience was caught off guard by music so private and poignant, particularly in a virtuoso concerto.
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lgar’s cello concerto is a rich and noble work. Designed as two pairs of movements, it opens boldly, with a short and volatile recitative for the solo cello. The violas then introduce an elegiac theme, long and flowing, which the cello cannot resist. The balance of the movement is broad and lyrical. The second movement is a quicksilver scherzo; the cello introduces a new theme, hesitantly at first, and then takes off, carrying the rest of the movement with it. The passionate, expansive Adagio is the heart of the piece. The orchestra is pared down, so that the solo cello can sing freely above it, and it does so in all but one measure. The finale is large and varied. It begins, like the concerto itself, with a recitative for the cello. Though much of what follows is spirited, there is still an underlying tone of sadness, and, near the end, when Elgar is tying things up, the cello recalls a single heartbreaking phrase from the Adagio that casts a long shadow over the remaining pages. Finally, the cello
interjects its very first phrase, and the orchestra sweeps to a conclusion.
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n August 5, 1920, only months after Alice’s death and little more than a year after the premiere of the Cello Concerto, Elgar wrote: “I am lonely now & do not see music in the old way & cannot believe I shall complete any new work—sketches I still make but there is no inducement to finish anything;—ambition I have none . . . .” He did make a few transcriptions, for full orchestra, of music by Bach, Handel, and Chopin, and wrote a handful of occasional pieces over the years—a fanfare, music for a carillon. But the important music that still occupied him off and on he left unfinished: The Spanish Lady, an opera taken from Ben Jonson’s The Devil Is an Ass; a piano concerto; and a third symphony commissioned by the BBC. All were left in sketches. Shortly before his death, he asked that his third symphony be left alone—incomplete and unplayable. Elgar had never taken composition pupils, and, despite the magnitude of his success, he had not fostered a new school of composition. When he died in February 1934, he left behind a daughter, Carice; but in the larger historical sense, there were no immediate survivors.
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COMMENTS
BEDŘICH SMETANA Born March 2, 1824; Leitomischl, Bohemia Died May 12, 1884; Prague, Bohemia
The Moldau from Má vlast Although his name came to symbolize the Czech music spirit, Bedřich Smetana spent most of his early career outside his native country. In 1860, however, after returning to Prague for a vacation, he wrote: “It is sad that I am forced to seek my living in foreign lands, far from my home which I love so dearly and where I would so gladly live. . . . My heart is heavy as I take leave of these places. Be happy, my homeland, which I love above all, my beautiful, my great, my only homeland . . . your soil is sacred to me.” The following year, Smetana moved to Prague for good. With The Bartered Bride, the opera he began in 1862, Smetana revealed that his patriotic feelings went far beyond mere homesickness. Still incensed by the offhand remark made by the second-rate conductor Johannes von Herbeck that Czechs made good performers but were not capable of writing significant music, Smetana was determined to create a national style of composition. Má vlast (My Country), a cycle of six orchestral tone poems, is the ultimate fruit of Smetana’s mission, testament to his intense national pride and the brilliant success he achieved. “I am the creator of the Czech style in the dramatic as well as the symphonic field,” he wrote in 1882, the year the complete My Country was performed for the first time, and by then few could argue with him. In October 1874, just four weeks after Smetana began concentrated work on the first tone poem in My Country, he became completely deaf (he had begun to have trouble with his hearing that summer). Like Beethoven before him, he now wrote music constantly, almost defiantly. In November 1877 he remarked that “in these three years of deafness I have
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COMPOSED
November–December 1874 FIRST PERFORMANCE
April 4, 1875, Prague
I N S T R U M E N TAT I O N
two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, harp, strings A P P R OX I M AT E PERFORMANCE TIME
11 minutes
t h i s pa g e , f r o m t o p : Bedřich Smetana, ca. 1878, Library of Congress, George Grantham Bain Collection, Prints and Photographs Division The River Moldau flowing through Prague, photo by Brian Boulton (1937–2019), 2001. English Wikipedia
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completed more music than I had otherwise done in ten.” The bounty included the first four parts of My Country, an opera, and the string quartet he called From My Life—a chilling personal record of his difficulties. The second tone poem of My Country, Vltava (The Moldau), has always been the most popular of the six pieces, and it is one of music’s greatest landscape paintings. Smetana’s friend, the conductor Mori Anger, said the music came to the composer one day when the two of them went out into the countryside, looking for the spot where two rivers join: “within him sounded the first chords of the two motifs which intertwine and increase and later grow and swell into a mighty melodic stream.” Later Smetana explained how that idea blossomed into a detailed, full-color portrait of the Moldau:
The composition depicts the course of the river, from its beginning where two brooks, one cold, the other warm, join a stream, running through forests and meadows and a lovely countryside where merry feasts are celebrated; water sprites dance in the moonlight; on nearby rocks can be seen the outline of ruined castles, proudly soaring into the sky. Vltava swirls through the Saint John Rapids and flows in a broad stream toward Prague. It passes Vyšehrad and disappears majestically into the distance, where it joins the Labe.
Phillip Huscher has been the program annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1987.
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PROFILES Paavo Järvi Conductor FIRST CSO PERFORMANCES
October 7, 8, and 9, 2004, Orchestra Hall. Debussy’s Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun, Bartók’s Violin Concerto no. 2 with Christian Tetzlaff, and Nielsen’s Symphony no. 5 MOST RECENT CSO PERFORMANCES
March 4, 5, and 8, 2022, Orchestra Hall. Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture and Symphonie fantastique and Chopin’s Piano Concerto no. 2 with Benjamin Grosvenor
Estonian Grammy Award– winning conductor Paavo Järvi is widely recognized as one of today’s most eminent conductors, enjoying close partnerships with the finest orchestras around the world. He serves as chief conductor of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, artistic director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen since 2004, and as both founder and artistic director of the Estonian Festival Orchestra. Following a tour to the BBC Proms, Beethovenfest Bonn, George Enescu, and Prague Dvořák festivals, Järvi opened his fifth season with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and a continuation of his cycle of works by Bruckner, including three performances of Symphony no. 9 at the Grosse Tonhalle and a release of Symphony no. 8 on Alpha Classics. Additional highlights this season include the beginning of a cycle of music by Mahler and a tour to South Korea and Japan. In 2024 Paavo Järvi celebrates his twentieth anniversary as artistic director of Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the ensemble with which he has recorded benchmark performances of all the orchestral works of Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms. With their most recent project dedicated to Haydn’s London Symphonies, they played in residency at the Wiener Konzerthaus and on tour in Cologne, Hamburg, and Dublin in December, before embarking on a new in-depth focus of Schubert’s symphonies.
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Each season concludes with a week of performances and master classes in Estonia at the Pärnu Music Festival, which Järvi founded in 2011. The success of both the festival and its resident ensemble, the Estonian Festival Orchestra, has led to high-profile invitations from the Philharmonie Berlin, Wiener Konzerthaus, BBC Proms, and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. In January 2024 Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra reunited for their third European tour, with concerts in Tallinn, Dortmund, Stuttgart, Zurich, Vienna, and Munich. Alpha Classics recently released their fourth album, KRATT, featuring works by Tubin, Lutosławski, and Bacewicz. In addition to his permanent posts, Järvi is much in demand as a guest conductor, regularly appearing with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Philharmonia Orchestra in London, and the New York Philharmonic. This season, he conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He also continues to enjoy close relationships with many of the orchestras he formerly led as music director, including Orchestre de Paris, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo. Paavo Järvi was named Opus Klassik’s Conductor of the Year and received the Rheingau Music Prize in 2019. Other prizes and honors include a Grammy Award for his recording of Sibelius’s cantatas with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and being named artist of the year by both Gramophone (UK) and Diapason (France) magazines in 2015 and Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. Also in 2015, he was presented with the Sibelius Medal in recognition of his work in bringing the Finnish composer’s music to a wider public. As a dedicated supporter of Estonian culture, he was honored with the Order of the White Star by the president of Estonia in 2013. In 2012 Järvi received the Hindemith Prize for Art and Humanity. P H OTO BY K A U P O K I K K A S
P ROF I L ES
Sheku Kanneh-Mason Cello These concerts mark Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Cellist Sheku KannehMason’s career and appearances span the globe. Whether performing for children in a school hall, at an underground club, or in the world’s leading concert venues, his mission is to make music accessible to all. He won the BBC Young Musician Competition in 2016, and his performance at the wedding of the duke and duchess of Sussex at Windsor Castle in 2018 was watched by two billion people worldwide. Highlights of the 2023–24 season have included the Last Night of the Proms with the BBC Symphony and Marin Alsop, performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Orquesta Nacional de España in Madrid, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Oslo Philharmonic, Gävle Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, London’s Royal Philharmonic on tour in Germany, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony. With his sister Isata, the Leonard Bernstein Award–winning pianist, he appears in recital in Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, in addition to an extensive European recital
P H OTO BY O L L I E A L I
tour. Kanneh-Mason also performs a series of duo recitals with guitarist Plínio Fernandes as well as continues his solo cello recital tour in the United States and Canada. He returns to Antigua, where he has family connections, as an ambassador for the Antigua and Barbuda Youth Symphony Orchestra. Since his debut in 2017, he has appeared each summer at the BBC Proms, including in 2020 when he gave a recital with Isata to an empty auditorium due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sheku Kanneh-Mason is a Decca Classics recording artist. His 2022 album, Song, showcases his innately lyrical playing in a variety of arrangements and collaborations, and his 2020 release, Elgar, reached no. 8 in the overall Official UK Albums Chart, making him the firstever cellist to reach the UK Top-10. Sheet music collections of his repertoire, along with his own arrangements and compositions, are published by Faber Music. Sheku Kanneh-Mason is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied with Hannah Roberts and was appointed the first Menuhin Visiting Professor of Performance Mentoring in May 2022. He also is an ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Future Talent, and Music Masters. He was appointed a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year’s Honors List. He plays a cello made by Matteo Goffriller from 1700, which is on indefinite loan to him. shekukannehmason.com
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CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The Chicago Symphony Orchestra—consistently hailed as one of the world’s best—marks its 133rd season in 2023–24. The history of the ensemble began in 1889, when Theodore Thomas, the leading conductor in America and a recognized music pioneer, was invited by Chicago businessman Charles Norman Fay to establish a symphony orchestra. Thomas’s aim to build a permanent orchestra of the highest quality was realized at the first concerts in October 1891 in the Auditorium Theatre. Thomas served as music director until his death in January 1905, just three weeks after the dedication of Orchestra Hall, the Orchestra’s permanent home designed by Daniel Burnham. Frederick Stock, recruited by Thomas to the viola section in 1895, became assistant conductor in 1899 and succeeded the Orchestra’s founder. His tenure lasted thirty-seven years, from 1905 to 1942—the longest of the Orchestra’s music directors. Dynamic and innovative, the Stock years saw the founding of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago— the first training orchestra in the United States affiliated with a major symphony orchestra—in 1919. Stock also established youth auditions, organized the first subscription concerts especially for children, and began a series of popular concerts. Three conductors headed the Orchestra during the following decade: Désiré Defauw was music director from 1943 to 1947, Artur Rodzinski in 1947–48, and Rafael Kubelík from 1950 to 1953. The next ten years belonged to Fritz Reiner, whose recordings with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra are still considered hallmarks. Reiner invited Margaret Hillis to form the Chicago Symphony Chorus in 1957. For five seasons from 1963 to 1968, Jean Martinon held the position of music director. Sir Georg Solti, the Orchestra’s eighth music director, served from 1969 until 1991. His arrival launched one of the most successful musical partnerships of our time. The CSO made its first overseas tour to Europe in 1971 under his direction and released numerous award-winning recordings. Beginning in 1991, Solti held the title of music director laureate and returned to conduct the Orchestra each season until his death in September 1997. Daniel Barenboim became the Orchestra’s ninth music director in 1991, a position he held until 2006. His tenure was distinguished by the opening
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of Symphony Center in 1997, appearances with the Orchestra in the dual role of pianist and conductor, and twenty-one international tours. Appointed by Barenboim in 1994 as the Chorus’s second director, Duain Wolfe served until his retirement in 2022. Pierre Boulez’s long-standing relationship with the Orchestra led to his appointment as principal guest conductor in 1995. He was named Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus in 2006, a position he held until his death in January 2016. Only two others have served as principal guest conductor: Carlo Maria Giulini was named to the post in 1969, serving until 1972; Claudio Abbado held the position from 1982 to 1985. From 2006 to 2010, Bernard Haitink was the Orchestra’s first principal conductor. In 2010, Riccardo Muti became the Orchestra’s tenth music director. During his tenure, the Orchestra deepened its engagement with the Chicago community, nurtured its legacy while supporting a new generation of musicians and composers, and collaborated with visionary artists. In September 2023, Muti became music director emeritus for life. Jessie Montgomery was appointed Mead Composer-in-Residence in 2021. She follows ten highly regarded composers in this role, including John Corigliano and Shulamit Ran—both winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Music. In addition to composing works for the CSO, Montgomery curates the contemporary MusicNOW series. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma served as the CSO’s Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant from 2010 to 2019. Violinist Hilary Hahn became the CSO’s first Artist-in-Residence in 2021. The Orchestra first performed at Ravinia Park in 1905 and appeared frequently through August 1931, after which the park was closed for most of the Great Depression. In August 1936, the Orchestra helped to inaugurate the first season of the Ravinia Festival, and it has been in residence nearly every summer since. Since 1916, recording has been a significant part of the Orchestra’s activities. Recordings by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus— including recent releases on CSO Resound, the Orchestra’s independent recording label launched in 2007—have earned sixty-five Grammy awards from the Recording Academy.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti Music Director Emeritus for Life
Jessie Montgomery Mead Composer-in-Residence Hilary Hahn Artist-in-Residence VIOLINS
Robert Chen Concertmaster The Louis C. Sudler Chair, endowed by an anonymous benefactor Stephanie Jeong Associate Concertmaster The Cathy and Bill Osborn Chair David Taylor* Assistant Concertmaster The Ling Z. and Michael C. Markovitz Chair Yuan-Qing Yu ‡ Assistant Concertmaster So Young Bae Cornelius Chiu Gina DiBello Kozue Funakoshi Russell Hershow Qing Hou Matous Michal Simon Michal Sando Shia Susan Synnestvedt Rong-Yan Tang Baird Dodge Principal Danny Yehun Jin Assistant Principal Lei Hou Ni Mei Hermine Gagné Rachel Goldstein Mihaela Ionescu Sylvia Kim Kilcullen Melanie Kupchynsky Wendy Koons Meir Joyce Noh Nancy Park Ronald Satkiewicz Florence Schwartz VIOLAS
Catherine Brubaker Youming Chen Sunghee Choi Wei-Ting Kuo Danny Lai Weijing Michal Diane Mues Lawrence Neuman Max Raimi
CELLOS
John Sharp Principal The Eloise W. Martin Chair Kenneth Olsen § Assistant Principal The Adele Gidwitz Chair Karen Basrak The Joseph A. and Cecile Renaud Gorno Chair Loren Brown ‡ Richard Hirschl Daniel Katz Katinka Kleijn Brant Taylor BASSES
Alexander Hanna Principal The David and Mary Winton Green Principal Bass Chair Alexander Horton Assistant Principal Daniel Carson Ian Hallas Robert Kassinger Mark Kraemer Stephen Lester Bradley Opland Andrew Sommer HARP
Lynne Turner FLUTES
Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson Principal The Erika and Dietrich M. Gross Principal Flute Chair Yevgeny Faniuk Assistant Principal Emma Gerstein Jennifer Gunn
ENGLISH HORN
Scott Hostetler CLARINETS
Stephen Williamson Principal John Bruce Yeh Assistant Principal Gregory Smith E - F L AT C L A R I N E T
John Bruce Yeh BASSOONS
Keith Buncke Principal William Buchman Assistant Principal Miles Maner HORNS
Mark Almond Principal James Smelser David Griffin Oto Carrillo Susanna Gaunt Daniel Gingrich TRUMPETS
Esteban Batallán Principal The Adolph Herseth Principal Trumpet Chair, endowed by an anonymous benefactor Mark Ridenour ‡ Assistant Principal John Hagstrom The Bleck Family Chair Tage Larsen The Pritzker Military Museum & Library Chair TROMBONES
Jennifer Gunn The Dora and John Aalbregtse Piccolo Chair
Jay Friedman Principal The Lisa and Paul Wiggin Principal Trombone Chair Michael Mulcahy Charles Vernon
OBOES
BASS TROMBONE
PICCOLO
William Welter Principal The Nancy and Larry Fuller Principal Oboe Chair Lora Schaefer Assistant Principal Scott Hostetler
TUBA
Gene Pokorny Principal The Arnold Jacobs Principal Tuba Chair, endowed by Christine Querfeld T I M PA N I
David Herbert Principal The Clinton Family Fund Chair Vadim Karpinos Assistant Principal PERCUSSION
Cynthia Yeh Principal Patricia Dash Vadim Karpinos James Ross LIBRARIANS
Justin Vibbard Principal Carole Keller Mark Swanson CSO FELLOWS
Gabriela Lara Violin The Michael and Kathleen Elliott Fellow Jesús Linárez Violin Olivia Reyes Bass ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL
John Deverman Director Anne MacQuarrie Manager, CSO Auditions and Orchestra Personnel S TA G E T E C H N I C I A N S
Christopher Lewis Stage Manager Blair Carlson Paul Christopher Ryan Hartge Peter Landry Joshua Mondie Todd Snick
Charles Vernon
* Assistant concertmasters are listed by seniority. ‡ On sabbatical § On leave The CSO’s music director position is endowed in perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation. The Paul Hindemith Principal Viola, Gilchrist Foundation, and Louise H. Benton Wagner chairs currently are unoccupied. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra string sections utilize revolving seating. Players behind the first desk (first two desks in the violins) change seats systematically every two weeks and are listed alphabetically. Section percussionists also are listed alphabetically.
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Celebrating Black Excellence in Classical Music and Beyond Be part of the CSO African American Network’s 2023/24 Season, celebrating Black composers, conductors and performers across genres including classical, jazz, new music and gospel. This season, the African American Network hosts parties, artist meet-and-greets and networking events.
Events: OCTOBER 27
Samara Joy DECEMBER 3
Montgomery and the Blacknificent 7 FEBRUARY 2
Christian McBride’s The Movement Revisited
FEBRUARY 15
Sheku Kanneh-Mason Plays Elgar APRIL 19
Gateways Festival Orchestra Featuring Take 6 APRIL 25
CSO x Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
The CSO African American Network aims to engage Chicago’s culturally rich African American community through the sharing and exchanging of unforgettable musical experiences while building relationships for generations to come. The AAN seeks to serve and encourage individuals, families, educators, students, musicians, composers and businesses to discover and experience the timeless beauty of music.
CSO.ORG/AAN Join our Facebook group: @CSOAfricanAmericanNetwork
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