Program Book - CSO for Kids: In Pursuit of Dreams

CSO for Kids: School Concerts

February 10, 2023, 10:15 & 12:00

CSO for Kids: Family Matinees

February 11, 2023, 11:00 & 12:45

To work toward that which one most desires or hopes to do, have or accomplish in life — like playing the violin on stage at Orchestra Hall. Dreaming can also be communal — like when orchestra musicians perform together, collectively creating dreams.

How will you set out in pursuit of your dreams? This concert will take you on a journey that explores the dreams of several composers, including CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Jessie Montgomery and shows that we all have the potential to find our own way.

PERFORMERS

Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Tania Miller conductor

Kearston Gonzales violin

PROGRAM INCLUDES

SELECTIONS FROM

MONTGOMERY Rhapsody No. 1 for Solo Violin

MONTGOMERY Strum

DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9 (From the New World)

GERSHWIN An American in Paris

MONTGOMERY Records from a Vanishing City

OESTERLE Home from New World

PRICE Symphony No. 3

WILLIAMS Main Title from Star Wars

MONTGOMERY Banner

COPLAND Variations on a Shaker

Melody from Appalachian Spring

MONTGOMERY Rhapsody No. 1 for Solo Violin

Our dreams can be influenced by the places we visit.

While she was growing up, one of Jessie Montgomery’s favorite composers was Antonín Dvořák. In 1892, he traveled to America from Bohemia. During his time here, he was influenced by all that he saw in this new world, which inspired him to write Symphony No. 9, popularly known as the New World Symphony.

ancestors

Rhapsody No. 1 for Solo Violin is a piece Jessie Montgomery wrote for herself to play and pays tribute to the traditions of J.S. Bach.

Our dreams can be built on the dreams of those who have come before us.

“Music is my connection to the world. It guides me to understand my place in relation to others and challenges me to make clear the things I do not understand.”

– jessie montgomery

What feelings do you have when you hear this piece?

Pursuit of Dreams

Our dreams can be supported by those around us.

friends

Strum by Jessie Montgomery was written with specific musicians in mind. Later, she rewrote and made additions to the piece for a different group of musicians. These musicians were also her friends and supported her dreams as a composer.

What do you see in your mind’s eye when you hear this piece of music? Is it a place you would like to visit?

Who are the people in your life supporting your dreams?

Strum uses a special technique called pizzicato, which is Italian for “pinched.” It means to pluck, instead of bow, the strings of an instrument.

Our dreams can be shaped by others doing the thing we want to do.

What do you hear in this music that makes you think of a busy city?

Jessie Montgomery’s father had a recording studio where she heard lots of musicians performing jazz, which shaped and inspired her own music. George Gershwin was also influenced by jazz, and his piece An American in Paris was informed by a trip he took to the French capital with his family.

All the music that Jessie heard at her father’s studio and in her neighborhood (Latin jazz, alternative rock, Western classical, avant-garde jazz, poetry and Caribbean dance music) lived inside her and was inspiration for the piece she composed entitled Records of a Vanishing City.

Our dreams can take us on adventures.

By embracing our dreams, we take off on an adventure that helps us have confidence and learn about ourselves.

Home by Michael Oesterle feels like we’re going on a fun adventure full of surprising and sometimes even scary characters, but ultimately, we find our way on the path to our dream.

Our dreams can be a struggle.

Sometimes, it’s a struggle to realize your dream.

Composer Florence Price was born in the South and was part of the Great Migration to Chicago. She composed over 300 works between the 1920s and 1950s. Sadly, not many people paid attention to her music during her life. She never knew of her influence on the orchestra world, but today her music is being played around the globe.

What kind of adventure will your dream take you on?

How do you think Price felt not having her dreams recognized during her lifetime?

paris home

Our dreams take courage.

Composer John Williams moved from New York City to L.A. when he was a teenager. It was tough for him and a bit scary because he didn’t know anyone when he arrived. Williams loved the movies and dreamed of composing music for them one day. Since movies are made in L.A., having the courage to move made his dream come true.

John Williams has written music for many movies including Star Wars. In the movie, Luke Skywalker fights against the evil Darth Vader. What do you hear in the music that sounds like courage?

Our dreams take us on a journey.

You never know where you will go if you listen to your inner voice and follow your heart. In the piece called Banner by Jessie Montgomery, we’re reminded that each of us, and our dreams, are an important part of the future and fabric of America.

Our dreams are a gift.

Composer Aaron Copland used the melody of “Simple Gifts” for the score to Martha Graham’s ballet Appalachian Spring. As the words to this song tell us, we’ve been given the gift to follow our dreams — to find ourselves in the place just right. What is your journey? Where will your dreams take you? Keep these questions in mind as you explore your dreams, seek out adventure, ask for help from others, learn from those who have done the thing you want to do, have courage for the struggle ahead and keep pursuing your dreams.

gifts

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free, ‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be And when we find ourselves in the place just right, ‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight

Listen carefully to the music and see if you can hear “Oh, say, can you see…” from the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

Meet the Conductor

Tania Miller

Tania Miller is music director emerita of the Victoria Symphony in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and was recently named interim principal conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra.

Tania has appeared as a guest conductor in Canada, the United States and Europe with such orchestras as the Toronto Symphony, Seattle Symphony and Bern Symphony Orchestra (Switzerland), among many others.

Raised in Saskatchewan, Canada, Tania began studying piano and organ at age 8. She became the organist and choir conductor at her church when she was 13.

As associate conductor of the Victoria Symphony, Tania was the first woman appointed to lead such an orchestra.

Meet the Guest Artist

Kearston Gonzales

Violinist Kearston Gonzales made her orchestral debut at the age of 9 and most recently appeared as soloist with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2019 as the winner of the Rondo Vanguard Competition. She was also a Sphinx Competition Junior Division semi-finalist twice.

Kearston has attended MusicAlp International Music Academy, Heifetz International Music Institute, Center Stage Strings and is a 2022 graduate of the Manhattan School of Music Precollege program. She currently performs virtually each week for hospitalized elderly patients through the Hospital Elder Life Program with Hackensack Meridian Health.

Kearston is a first-year student at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, studying with Soovin Kim.

Inspired by

Jessie Montgomery

Jessie Montgomery is a composer, violinist and educator. In 2021 she became the CSO’s Mead Composer-in-Residence.

Jessie is the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and her works are performed frequently around the world by leading musicians and ensembles.

Jessie was born and raised on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 1980s during a time when artists gravitated to the neighborhood. Jessie regularly participated in the artistic activities with the artists who gathered there. It is from this unique experience that Jessie has created a life that merges composing, performance, education and advocacy.

CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • RICCARDO MUTI zell music director

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

Alison Dalton §

Gina DiBello

Kozue Funakoshi

Russell Hershow

Qing Hou

Matous Michal

Simon Michal

Blair Milton

Sando Shia

Susan Synnestvedt

Rong-Yan Tang ‡

Baird Dodge Principal

Lei Hou

Ni Mei

Hermine Gagné

Rachel Goldstein

Mihaela Ionescu

Sylvia Kim Kilcullen

Melanie Kupchynsky

Wendy Koons Meir

Aiko Noda §

Joyce Noh

Nancy Park

Ronald Satkiewicz

Florence Schwartz

violas

Li-Kuo Chang Assistant Principal ‡

Catherine Brubaker

Beatrice Chen

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

David Sanders

Gary Stucka

Brant Taylor

basses

Alexander Hanna Principal

The David and Mary Winton

Green Principal Bass Chair

Daniel Armstrong

Daniel Carson

Robert Kassinger ‡

Mark Kraemer

Stephen Lester

Bradley Opland

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

piccolo

Jennifer Gunn

The Dora and John Aalbregtse

Piccolo Chair

oboes

William Welter Principal

The Nancy and Larry Fuller

Principal Oboe Chair

Lora Schaefer

Scott Hostetler

english horn

Scott Hostetler

clarinets

Stephen Williamson Principal

John Bruce Yeh Assistant Principal

Gregory Smith

e-flat clarinet

John Bruce Yeh

bassoons

Keith Buncke Principal

William Buchman Assistant Principal

Miles Maner

contrabassoon

Miles Maner horns

David Cooper Principal

Daniel Gingrich Associate Principal

James Smelser

David Griffin

Oto Carrillo

Susanna Gaunt

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

trombones

Jay Friedman Principal

The Lisa and Paul Wiggin

Principal Trombone Chair

Michael Mulcahy

Charles Vernon

bass trombone

Charles Vernon

tuba

Gene Pokorny Principal

The Arnold Jacobs Principal Tuba Chair, endowed by Christine Querfeld

timpani

David Herbert Principal

The Clinton Family Fund Chair

Vadim Karpinos Assistant Principal

percussion

Cynthia Yeh Principal

Patricia Dash

Vadim Karpinos

James Ross

librarians

Peter Conover Principal

Carole Keller

Mark Swanson

cso fellow

Gabriela Lara Violin

orchestra personnel

John Deverman Director

Anne MacQuarrie Manager, CSO Auditions and Orchestra Personnel

stage technicians

Christopher Lewis Stage Manager

Blair Carlson

Paul Christopher

Ryan Hartge

Peter Landry

Todd Snick

* Assistant concertmasters are listed by seniority. ‡ On sabbatical § On leave

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.

INSTRUMENTS OF THE ORCHESTRA

THE STRING FAMILY includes violin, viola, cello, bass and harp. These instruments are made of wood and strings and are played by vibrating the strings using a bow, or plucking or striking the strings with the fingers.

THE WOODWIND FAMILY includes flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone. These instruments all have the same basic shape: a long tube with a mouthpiece at one end. The flute is played by blowing across a mouthpiece to create a vibration. Oboe, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone are all played by blowing air into a single or double reed attached to the mouthpiece, creating a vibration that results in sound.

THE BRASS FAMILY includes horn, trumpet, trombone, euphonium and tuba. Brass instruments make a sound when the players vibrate their lips inside a mouthpiece, which is fitted into the instrument. The players can change pitch on a trumpet, horn or tuba by pressing on valves. Trombone players change pitch by moving the slide back and forth.

THE PERCUSSION FAMILY includes snare drum, bass drum, gong, triangle, xylophone, timpani and piano, among many others. Percussion instruments are struck, scraped or shaken.

Support for Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association programming for children and families is provided by Abbott Fund, Archer Daniels Midland Company, John Hart and Carol Prins, Kinder Morgan, PNC, Megan and Steve Shebik, Michael and Linda Simon, the Walter and Caroline Sueske Charitable Trust and an anonymous family foundation.

Allstate Insurance Company is the CSOA Youth Education Program Sponsor.

Kidsbook© is a publication of the Negaunee Music Institute. For more information, call 312-294-3410 or email institute@cso.org

Content for Kidsbook was created by Katy Clusen with graphic design by Shawn Sheehy.

Violin

Flute

Timpani

Snare Drum

Xylophone Cymbal

Bassoon

Saxophone

Tuba Horn

Viola Cello

Piano

The CSO’s music director position is endowed in perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation.