Program Book - CSO for Kids: Downtown Sounds

kidsbook

SOUNDS DOWNTOWN

CSO for Kids: School Concerts

May 5, 2023 | 10:15 & 12:00

CSO for Kids: Family Matinees

May 6, 2023 | 11:00 & 12:45

DOWNTOWN

Welcome!

What does your neighborhood or town sound like? Many composers have written music about their favorite places, using melodies and rhythms to portray city streets and bustling neighborhoods. Be transported around Chicago without leaving Orchestra Hall in this program featuring music that brings our city to life!

PERFORMERS

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Scott Speck CONDUCTOR

Shermann “Dilla” Thomas CO-HOST

PROGRAM

R. STRAUSS Prelude to Also sprach

Zarathustra

IBERT Le Métro from Suite symphonique (Paris)

ELLINGTON Suite from The River, Meander

TRADITIONAL, ARR. NIE Dance of the Golden Snake

MÁRQUEZ Danzón No. 2

PRICE Symphony No. 1

RESPIGHI Triton Fountain in Early Morning and The Fountain of Trevi at Midday from Fountains of Rome

ELLINGTON Suite from The River, Lake

TCHAIKOVSKY 1812 Overture

SOUNDS

As you head into the city, the majestic Chicago skyline rises up from the horizon. Welcome to the City of Big Shoulders! The music that opens our concert is from Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss. It starts quietly at first but grows louder as the skyline appears. When we finally arrive downtown, the opening fanfare has been repeated three times, conveying the city’s possibility and power.

On the streets of Chicago, it’s busy, busy, busy. Lots of people are quickly walking down the sidewalks on their way to who knows where. The vehicles on the street honk their horns, saying, “Watch out, here I come!”

Let’s get off these busy streets and begin exploring Chicago by riding a train.

“Doors closing.” Hop on board the CTA and take a ride on the L. Le Métro by Jacques Ibert represents our subway ride. It starts with the bell dinging as the train leaves the station. As we pick up speed and head down the tracks, the strings and piano chug away.

Next, we’ll ride a water taxi down the Chicago River. The music for our ride starts smoothly but becomes turbulent from the traffic of all the other boats on the river. Our water taxi music is from a piece called The River by Duke Ellington.

Now it’s time to explore some of Chicago’s exciting neighborhoods. First stop, Chinatown for some yummy noodles and a visit to the round, light-filled public library. As you listen to Dance of the Golden Snake, imagine that you are marching in the Chinese New Year parade!

Let’s head to Pilsen, where we’ll see beautiful artwork on buildings and viaducts. As we stroll through the neighborhood to look at the murals, we can also dance in the streets to the music that streams out of windows.

Mexican composer Arturo Márquez wrote Danzón No. 2, a perfect piece of dance music.

Our last neighborhood is Bronzeville. It’s also known as the “Black Metropolis” and the “Black Belt,” because it is the center of AfricanAmerican history on Chicago’s South Side. This historic area was home to many influential Black figures, such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Richard Wright, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Coleman, Ida B. Wells and composer Florence Price. Did you know she was the first Black woman to have her music played by a major orchestra? Yes, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed her Symphony No. 1 in 1933.

Yay, Millennium Park! The faces in the Crown Fountain have water spurting out of their mouths! We run between the two fountains waiting for the water to rush down onto us.

Next, we head to Buckingham Fountain, where the water erupts toward the sky. Ottorino Respighi’s Triton Fountain and Trevi Fountain from Fountains of Rome musically represent the famous Chicago fountains.

After such a long day in the city, we head to the lake and dip our toes in the water. In Duke Ellington’s Lake, we can imagine the deep dark blue of Lake Michigan, the sun shining on the water like glitter and a gentle breeze cooling our skin.

Our day in the city is almost done, but not before we make one last stop: Navy Pier! It’s dark out now and almost time for the fireworks to begin. In Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, the music builds and builds, until finally it erupts, and the fireworks explode as the percussion crashes and booms to the crowd’s delight!

The lights atop the buildings twinkle goodnight as we leave to go home. The city is still awake, but it’s time to go to sleep. Sweet dreams, “Sweet Home Chicago!”

Meet the Conductor

Scott Speck Meet

Scott Speck was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Yale University. He is the music director of the Joffrey Ballet and the conductor of the Chicago Philharmonic. Scott has made many appearances at the White House as music director of the Washington Ballet. In addition to being fluent in English, German and French, Scott has a diploma in Italian, speaks Spanish and has a reading knowledge of Russian. Scott is the co-author of three of the world’s best-selling books on classical music for a popular audience, Classical Music for Dummies, Opera for Dummies and Ballet for Dummies

the Co-Host

Shermann “Dilla” Thomas

Chicago historian Dilla, as he is affectionately called, is a fascinating blend of modern historian, cultural worker and public employee.

Dilla has become a Chicago social media sensation by going viral on TikTok. His 60-second history videos on everything Chicago have been viewed over 8 million times, and he has amassed a following of 150,000 across all social media platforms.

Dilla has been featured on all manner of Chicago media and has also appeared nationally on both Today and The Kelly Clarkson Show.

Dilla is a proud lifelong resident of Chicago’s South Side. He lives by the saying that everything dope about America comes from Chicago.

Through the power of storytelling, Dilla is helping to change the narrative locally and nationally about Chicago’s value to the world.

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

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 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

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

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

The Pritzker Military Museum & Library Chair

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

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.

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

Support for Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association programming for children and families is provided by Abbott Fund, Archer Daniels Midland Company, John D. and Leslie Henner Burns, 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.

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