BRUCKNER E MINOR MASS

Carlos Kalmar Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Christopher Bell Chorus Director

Friday, July 23, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 24, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. Jay Pritzker Pavilion

DVOŘÁK NEW WORLD SYMPHONY

Grant Park Orchestra Eun Sun Kim, conductor Natasha Paremski, piano David Gordon, trumpet

Texu Kim

Blow, Fly, Pop!!

Dmitri Shostakovich

Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Minor, op. 35 Allegro moderato Lento Moderato Allegro brio

NATASHA PAREMSKI DAVID GORDON

Antonín Dvořák

Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, op. 95, From the New World Adagio - Allegro molto Largo Molto vivace Allegro con fuoco

This concert is generously sponsored by David Whitney and Juliana Chyu, and William Blair, our 2021 Diverse American Voices Series Sponsor.

Major support for our Guest Conductor Series is provided by Walter E. Heller Foundation with a grant given in memory of Alyce DeCosta.

Following “a company debut of astonishing vibrancy and assurance” (San Francisco Chronicle) in Rusalka, Korean conductor Eun Sun Kim has been named the Caroline H. Hume Music Director Designate of San Francisco Opera. Her presence in North America was first established with performances of Verdi’s Requiem with the Cincinnati Symphony and La traviata with Houston Grand Opera, with the latter earning her an appointment as the company’s first Principal Guest Conductor in twenty-five years. Ms. Kim has enjoyed recent successes with orchestras and opera companies across North American and Europe. Ms. Kim studied composition and conducting in her hometown of Seoul, South Korea, before continuing her studies in Stuttgart.

With her consistently striking and dynamic performances, pianist Natasha Paremski reveals astounding virtuosity and voracious interpretive abilities. She continues to generate excitement from all corners as she wins over audiences with her musical sensibility and powerful, flawless technique. Natasha is a regular return guest of many major orchestras around the United States and abroad. A passionate chamber musician, she is a regular recital partner of Grammy winning cellist Zuill Bailey with whom she has recorded a number of CDs. She has been a guest of many chamber music festivals and has toured extensively across the United States, Europe, Asia and South America.

David Gordon, whose playing has been described as “spectacular” by The Chicago Tribune, is Principal Trumpet of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Opera and the Grant Park Orchestra. As a guest artist, he has played Principal Trumpet for the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and more, and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician around the world. A committed educator, David is a faculty member at the University of Washington, and regularly presents master classes nationwide.

Texu Kim (b. 1980)

Blow, Fly, Pop!! (2016)

Scored for: two flutes, oboes, and clarinets, one bassoon, two horns, trumpet, timpani, percussion, piano, and strings Performance time: 8 minutes

First Grant Park Orchestra performance

Blow, Fly, Pop!!’s orchestration is unlike any other; beyond strings, winds, brass, and percussion, a group prepared to play this piece must have balloons, a gym ball, glasses of water with straws, pencil boards, and a bubble gun at the ready. Inspired by blowing bubbles, Texu Kim’s unconventional use of everyday objects as instruments brings the experience of this children’s pastime to life in a new way. Kim chooses to write music inspired by children’s games and common experiences to “invite a wider audience to contemporary music. These topics are universal...contemporary, and down to earth, and tied to positive images and pleasant memories, which goes well with my own personality and my goal as a composer: writing music that is FUN.”