SYMPHONY CENTER PRESENTS 22 23 PIANO UPSUBSCRIBEANDSAVETO30%!
Sunday, May 14 | 3:00 Renée Fleming soprano Evgeny Kissin piano A Symphony Center Presents and Lyric Opera of Chicago Collaboration Songs by SCHUBERT, RACHMANINOV, LISZT and DUPARC, as well as selected solo piano works by RACHMANINOV and LISZT Legendary soprano Renée Fleming and world-renowned pianist Evgeny Kissin join forces for an extraordinary event. Fleming’s sumptuous voice and Kissin’s virtuosity shine in a program featuring songs by Rachmaninov. Experience this dream pairing of megastars at Symphony Center! SYMPHONY CENTER PIANOPRESENTS 8 concerts | Sundays at 3:00 Subscribe and receive: • A 15% year-long savings on additional concert tickets • Flexible FREE ticket exchanges • Exclusive parking rates at the Grant Park South Garage • Exclusive offers at area restaurants Save 15% when you add this concert to your series Combine Piano A and B for the complete 8-concert PIANO E package and save 30%. Packages start at $216! Order now at cso.org/subscribe, scan this QR code or call 312-294-3000 for personalized service.
SUNDAYS AT 3:00
João Pires
SCHUMANN Arabeske, Op. 18
Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires has been hailed as “an elegant technician and probing interpreter” (The New York Times), whose playing is “modest in scale, gloriously immodest in its beauty” (Financial Times). Acclaimed for her recordings of music by Mozart, Chopin and Schubert, Pires makes a rare Chicago recital appearance. A 4-concert series — save 20% | CSO.ORG/SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIPTIONS START AT $124
BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110 DVOŘÁK Poetic Tone Pictures
JANUARY 29
Leif Ove Andsnes, “one of the most eloquent and incisive keyboardists of our time” (Chicago Sun-Times), frames Beethoven’s transcendent Op. 110 sonata with two jewels of the Czech repertoire. Dvořák’s 13-part cycle ranges in mood from the dreamlike to cheerfully folkloric, while Janáček’s sonata pays tribute to a worker who was killed during a protest in 1905.
LISZT Vallée d’Obermann from Années de pèlerinage, Première année, Suisse LISZT Au lac de Wallenstadt from Années de pèlerinage, Première année, Suisse SCHUBERT Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960
Ólafsson MOZART & CONTEMPORARIES
DEBUSSY Pour le piano
PIANO
APRIL Emanuel2 Ax
SCHUMANN Carnival Scenes from Vienna
MAY Víkingur7
Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, “an arresting artist who in concert creates unique aural landscapes” (Los Angeles Times), in his Symphony Center Presents debut, intersperses Mozart’s keyboard works with music by four contemporaries: C.P.E. Bach, Cimarosa, Galuppi and Haydn. The program includes Liszt’s sublime transcription of Mozart’s Ave verum corpus. MAY Maria28
SCHUBERT TRANS. LISZT Four Selected Songs
An audience favorite since winning the Arthur Rubinstein Competition in 1974, Emanuel Ax brings his signature eloquence and insight to a program of early Romantic repertory. The Guardian said of Ax, “every phrase [was] perfectly conceived and balanced, his warm, velvety tone never threatening to become strident.”
Leif Ove Andsnes
Including works by GALUPPI, C.P.E. BACH, CIMAROSA and HAYDN
BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111
SCHUBERT Sonata in A Major, D. 664
JANÁČEK Sonata (From the Street, October 1, 1905)
VUSTIN Lamento
NOVEMBER 6
The intrepid Marc-André Hamelin offers a characteristically fascinating program, pairing Beethoven’s olympian Hammerklavier Sonata with Dukas’ monumental sonata of 1901. The Guardian calls Dukas’ work “one of the underappreciated masterpieces of the French piano repertoire” and “a perfect showcase for Hamelin’s extraordinary keyboard talent.”
Chicago welcomes back Evgeny Kissin, “the master of the fiery grand gesture” (The New York Times), whose recitals are inevitably major events “filled with probing musical insights and beautiful tonal finish” (Chicago Tribune). The epoch-spanning program begins with J.S. Bach and ends with four selections to mark Rachmaninov’s 150th birthday in April 2023. MAY Seong-Jin21 Cho
Three Piano Pieces, D. 946
SCHUBERT Wanderer Fantasy
HANDEL Suite in E Major GUBAIDULINA Chaconne
BACH Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903 MOZART Sonata in D Major, K. 311
SCHUMANN Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 Seong-Jin Cho, making his Symphony Center Presents debut, brings “world-class technique, polished to a high sheen of expression” (Los Angeles Times) to a wideranging program pairing Handel’s E Major Suite with Brahms’ Handel Variations. The afternoon culminates in Schumann’s mercurial Symphonic Etudes. B 4-concert series — save 20% | CSO.ORG/SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIPTIONS START AT $120
APRIL Evgeny16 Kissin
BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106 (Hammerklavier)
BRAHMS Handel Variations | Capriccio in F-sharp Minor, Op. 76, No. 1 | Capriccio in B Minor, Op. 76, No. 2 |
David SCHUBERT Fray
DEBUSSY Estampes RACHMANINOV Lilacs, Op. 21, No. 5 | Prelude in A Minor, Op. 32, No. 8
Intermezzo in B-flat Major, Op. 76, No. 4 | Capriccio in C-sharp Minor, Op. 76, No. 5
PIANO
FEBRUARY Marc-André26 Hamelin
Prelude in G-flat Major, Op. 23, No. 10 | Etudes-tableaux, Op. 33
LISZT Four selections from Années de pèlerinage French pianist David Fray, whose 2016 Symphony Center recital was “as intelligently selected as it was expressively played” (Chicago Tribune), returns with another illuminating program. Pieces from Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) — colorful evocations of Italian art and poetry — are juxtaposed with two exhilarating works by Schubert, including his Wanderer Fantasy.
DUKAS Sonata in E-flat Minor
Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Chicago SymphonyOrchestra 4-concert packages start at just $120. Subscribe today! CSO.ORG/SUBSCRIBE | 312-294-3000 AN UNPARALLELED LINEUP OF EXCITING DEBUTS AND LEGENDARY PIANO ICONS! SYMPHONY CENTER 220 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60604 HOME OF THE CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LEIF OVE MARIAVÍKINGUREVGENYMARC-ANDRÉDAVIDSEONG-JINEMANUELANDSNESAXCHOFRAYHAMELINKISSINÓLAFSSONJOÃOPIRES artists, prices and programs subject to change. Follow @chicagosymphony In appreciation of their generous support for the SEMPRE ALWAYS campaign, the CSO recognizes Randall Kroszner and David Nelson as sponsors of the Víkingur Ólafsson recital. SCAN TO SUBSCRIBE