from the british isles oct 21 - chicago symphony orchestra...concerto for colin currie, which was...

from the british isles O C T 2 1

C I V I C O R C H E S T R A O F C H I C A G O

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2 ONE HUNDR ED FIRST SE A S ON

The 2019–20 Civic Orchestra of Chicago season is generously sponsored by

The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.

C S O.ORG/IN STIT U TE 3

ONE HUNDRED FIRST SEASON CIVIC ORCHESTRA OF CHICAGOKEN-DAVID MASUR Principal Conductor

Monday, October 21, 2019, at 8:00

Ken-David Masur Conductor

grime Near MidnightUnited States premiere

britten Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33aDawn: Lento e tranquilloSunday Morning: Allegro spiritosoMoonlight: Andante comodo e rubatoStorm: Presto con fuoco

intermission

mendelssohn Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56 (Scottish)Andante con moto—Allegro un poco agitato—Vivace non troppo—Adagio—Allegro vivacissimo—Allegro maestoso assai

The 2019–20 Civic Orchestra of Chicago season is generously sponsored by The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.The Centennial Campaign for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concerts for Young People are supported by a generous lead gift from the Julian Family Foundation.This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.


comments by phillip huscher

helen grimeBorn 1981; York, England

Near Midnight

c o m p o s e d2012

f i r s t p e r f o r m a n c eMay 23, 2013, Hallé Orchestra. Sir Mark Elder conducting

i n s t r u m e n tat i o nthree flutes, piccolo, two oboes and english horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabas-soon, four horns, three trumpets, four trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, celesta, strings

a p p r ox i m at e p e r f o r m a n c e t i m e12 minutes

United States premiere

Helen Grime is a Scottish composer whose work has been commissioned by such prestigious ensembles and organizations as the BBC Proms, London Symphony Orchestra, Aldeburgh Festival, Hallé, Tanglewood Music Center, and Wigmore Hall; and for such notable occasions as the seventy-fifth anniversary of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the sixtieth

birthday of conductor Oliver Knussen, and the fortieth anniver-sary of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

Helen Grime studied oboe with John Anderson and compo-sition with Julian Anderson and Edwin Roxburgh at the Royal College of Music (RCM). In 2003, she won a British Composer Award for her Oboe Concerto, and was awarded the inter-collegiate Theodore Holland Composition Prize in 2003 as well as all the major composition prizes in the RCM. In 2008, she was awarded a Leonard Bernstein Fellowship to study at the Tanglewood Music Center where she studied with John Harbison, Michael Gandolfi, Shulamit Ran, and Augusta Read Thomas. Grime was a Legal and General Junior Fellow at the RCM from 2007 to 2009.

Grime has had works commissioned by ensembles and insti-tutions including the London Symphony Orchestra, Barbican Centre, Aldeburgh Music, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Conductors who have performed her work include Sir Simon Rattle, Pierre Boulez, Daniel Harding, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Oliver Knussen, and Sir Mark Elder.

Between 2011 and 2015, Grime was associate composer to the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England. This fruitful period resulted in a series of new works and a recording of her orches-tral works released by NMC Recordings. The disc was awarded Editors Choice by Gramophone magazine on its release and was nominated in the Contemporary category of the 2015 Gramophone Awards. In 2016, her Two Eardley Pictures were premiered at the BBC Proms and in Glasgow, winning the prize for large-scale composition in the Scottish Awards for New Music and a nomination in the British Composer Awards the following year.

P H OTO BY A M Y B A RTO N


COMMENTS

Grime was composer-in-residence at the Wigmore Hall for the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons. Highlights of this period include the premieres of her piano concerto for Huw Watkins and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group conducted by Oliver Knussen and a song cycle, Bright Travellers, with soprano Ruby Hughes and accompanist Joseph Middleton.

Recent works include Woven Space, which was commissioned by the Barbican for Sir Simon Rattle’s inaugural season as music director of the London Symphony Orchestra, and a Percussion Concerto for Colin Currie, which was given premiere performances in January 2019 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, both conducted by Marin Alsop.

Helen Grime on Near Midnight

N ear Midnight [was] the first piece that I [wrote] for the Hallé as associate com-poser. I wanted to write a piece that played

to the many strengths of the orchestra. There are moments of great virtuosity for individual orchestral sections, as well as music designed to exploit the very special, lyrical quality, which is so characteristic of [the] orchestra.

It is the second piece I have written recently that has a nocturnal quality; however, in the case of Near Midnight these nighttime references are less overt and more personal. The solitary, sometimes melancholy, hours as one day moves into the next can be a time of reflection and unrest. When first sketching ideas for the piece, I came across

a poem by D.H. Lawrence called “Week-night Service.” Its melancholic undertones, images of tolling bells, high-spun moon, and the indiffer-ence of night immediately struck a chord with me. Throughout the piece, fanfare-like brass passages act almost like the tolling of bells; sometimes distant, but often insistent and clangorous, these episodes act as important markers in the structure of the piece.

Although continuous, the piece falls into four main sections. Beginning in the orchestra’s deep-est register, with double basses and low brass, the music abruptly erupts into horn-led fanfares. The first section is full of surging rising scales throughout the whole orchestra.

The second section is heralded by a fast, rhyth-mic duet for two trumpets punctuated by stabbing chords in the orchestra. Here the brass-led fan-fares of the opening become more rapid outbursts in tuned percussion, upper woodwind and celesta.

Extended melody in the violins predominates in the third section forming the essentially melodic core of the work. Bright flourishes in woodwind, celesta and harp gradually take on a more signif-icant role before becoming the central focus. The bell-like fanfares of the earlier sections begin to assert themselves once again before fragments of the restless, surging scales of the opening lead to the work’s main climax.

The final section is much quieter and reflective in nature, including solos for oboe, muted trum-pet, clarinet, and bassoon.

Biography and note reprinted courtesy of Chester Music Ltd.


COMMENTS

benjamin brittenBorn November 22, 1913; Lowestoft, Sussex, EnglandDied December 4, 1976; Aldeburgh, England

Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a

c o m p o s e d1944–45

f i r s t p e r f o r m a n c eJune 7, 1945; London, England

i n s t r u m e n tat i o ntwo flutes and two piccolos, two oboes, two clarinets and E-flat clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, side drum, cymbals, gong, tambourine, xylophone, tubular bells, harp, celesta, strings

a p p rox i m at e p e r f o r m a n c e t i m e16 minutes

Britten set Peter Grimes, his first major opera, in a small fishing village that could easily be the seaside town of Aldeburgh in Suffolk, which he helped to make famous. Britten was born some twenty miles up the coast from Aldeburgh, and he eventually established his own music festival there. The sea is a powerful presence in Peter Grimes—it dominates Britten’s characters, just as it

has controlled life in Aldeburgh (of the five streets that once ran parallel to the coastline, two are now submerged). As the final curtain falls, even the individual tragedy of Peter Grimes is washed away by the great, ceaseless tide.

In the orchestral interludes which divide the scenes of Peter Grimes, Britten has painted the sea in all its “terrific splen-dour”—the phrase of George Crabbe, the Aldeburgh poet whose The Borough was the inspiration for Britten’s opera. The inter-ludes depict more than scenery; in them we sense the plight of an outsider in an unsympathetic society—“he lived from all man-kind apart,” Crabbe writes of Grimes—and the painful alienation that lies at the heart of all Britten’s work.

Here’s the synopsis of the opera Britten provided for the opening-night audience:

In the life of his Suffolk fishing-town Peter Grimes fits uneas-ily. He lives alone—visionary, ambitious, impetuous, poaching and fishing without caution or care for consequences, and with only one friend in town—the widowed schoolmistress, Ellen Orford. He is determined to make enough money to ask her to marry him, though too proud to ask her till he has lived down his unpopularity and remedied his poverty.

He fishes with the aid of an apprentice, bought, according to the custom of the time, from the workhouse. In the prologue, he is chief witness in an inquest on his first apprentice and the verdict is accidental death. In act 1 he is boycotted but obtains a second apprentice, whom Ellen goes to fetch for him and promises to care for. In act 2 she discovers he has been using the boy cruelly. Led by the rector, the men of the borough go to investigate his hut. Frightened, Peter takes the boy down

l e f t to r i g h tBritten, ca. 1945, outside the Old Mill at Snape, Suffolk, his home from 1937 to 1947

George Crabbe, the Aldeburgh poet whose The Borough was the inspiration for Britten’s opera


COMMENTS

the scar of a recent landslide under which he moors his boat, and the boy falls down the cliff. When it is discov-ered that the boy is dead, a hue-and-cry from the bor-ough sets out to find Peter, who commits suicide by scut-tling his boat just out of sight of the town. This is in the small hours of the morning. The borough wakes up and goes on with its life as usual.

B ritten’s interludes are dis-tinct from the rest of the opera (they are to be played with the curtain down), yet they’re indispensable to its meaning and impact—in that sense, they’re like the prose poems with which Virginia Woolf introduces each section of her novel The Waves. After the triumphant premiere of Peter Grimes on June 7, 1945, Britten realized that the interludes could stand alone as evocative sea pictures, and he selected four to be played as a suite.

The first interlude, Dawn, links the prologue and the first scene of act 1, which opens on a street by the sea. Britten’s music is both beautiful and terrifying—it suggests the powerful paintings by J.M.W. Turner, the great English artist of the nineteenth century who bought several houses so that he could watch the sun rise over the sea from different vantage points. The interlude opens with a clear, high theme—like the fine line dividing the water and the sky at dawn. Clarinet and harp arpeggios suggest the spray of the waves, while quiet chords in the brass and low strings hint of a terrible undercurrent, even in the warming glow of dawn. This music returns at the opera’s end, to start another day, oblivious to Grimes’s suicide.

Aldeburgh is in Constable country, and, in the second interlude, Sunday Morning, it’s easy to picture a lone church steeple against the wide sky. This is the music that opens act 2: villagers hurry

through town on their way to church; the sea sparkles in the sun. Four horns in pairs sound the ringing of the bells (they’re later joined by actual bells). Soon the streets are empty—a cloud seems to have covered the sun.

The final act of the opera opens in the calm of night, with the moon shining over still waters. Moonlight, the third interlude, depicts not only the sea’s repose (and, in the harp and flutes, the glimmer of the moon on the waves), but also its underlying menace. The fourth interlude, Storm, links the two scenes of act 1. Alone, watching fierce clouds approach over the sea, Peter sings:

What harbor shelters peace,Away from tidal waves, away from storms?What harbor can embraceTerrors and tragedies?With her there’ll be no quarrels,With her the mood will stay.Her breast is harbor too,Where night is turned to day.

The storm breaks and the music rises to a ter-rible climax. It finally subsides, in slow phrases of eerie calm, but Grimes’s equilibrium is upset, and he soon comes to realize that his dreams are beyond his reach.

a b ov eLong Ship’s Lighthouse, Land’s End by J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851), ca. 1834–35


COMMENTS

felix mendelssohnBorn February 3, 1809; Hamburg, GermanyDied November 4, 1847; Leipzig, Germany

Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56 (Scottish)

c o m p o s e d1829–1831; 1842

f i r s t p e r f o r m a n c eMarch 3, 1842, Leipzig. The composer conducting

i n s t r u m e n tat i o ntwo flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings

a p p rox i m at e p e r f o r m a n c e t i m e43 minutes

Among Mendelssohn’s earliest teachers was Johann Gottlob Samuel Rösel, a landscape painter who thought his bright young pupil might make his living painting and drawing rather than writing and performing music. From an early age, Mendelssohn displayed many talents: he wrote poetry, sketched madly, and, as we more readily remember, began composing early enough to write two

enduring masterpieces as a teenager (the Octet and the Overture to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Mendelssohn did not lose his fondness for landscape painting once his musical talent began to overshadow his other gifts, although he drew his most famous pictures in music.

Travel always ignited Mendelssohn’s inspiration. In 1823, after a family vacation in Switzerland, the fourteen-year-old composer used Swiss folk songs in two string symphonies. He made his first important solo journey in 1829 at his parents’ urging, and it too produced musical benefits.

Mendelssohn left Berlin on April 10, 1829, to join his friend Karl Klingemann in England. While in London, Mendelssohn found time to play four concerts before the two set off for Edinburgh. In Scotland, he met Sir Walter Scott—Mendelssohn had read all his novels—and enjoyed a bagpipe competition. On July 30, 1829, the first idea for this Scottish Symphony came to him. He and Klingemann had gone to Holyrood, the obligatory tourist attraction where Mary, Queen of Scots supposedly fell in love with the poor Italian lutenist David Rizzio, who subse-quently was murdered by the queen’s husband. Mendelssohn wrote home:

We went, in the deep twilight, to the palace where Queen Mary lived and loved. There is a little room to be seen there, with a winding staircase leading up to it. That is where they went up and found Rizzio in the little room, dragged him out, and three chambers away is a dark corner where they killed him. The adjoining chapel is now roofless; grass and ivy grow abundantly in it; and before the ruined altar Mary was crowned queen of Scotland. Everything around is bro-ken and moldering, and the bright sky shines in. I believe I

c lo c kw i s e f r o m to pFelix Mendelssohn, 1829 portrait by James Warren Childe (1780–1862)

Karl Klingemann, Mendelssohn’s friend and traveling companion on his visit to Scotland. Drawing by Wilhelm Hensel.

Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847), pianist and composer, sister of Felix


COMMENTS

found the beginning of my Scotch symphony there today.

Where tourists today take photos with their mobile phones, Mendelssohn jotted down the melody that would preserve this moment for his symphonic scrapbook.

Felix and Karl were quickly off to see other sites, including Fingal’s Cave in the Hebrides, where he wrote out another famous melody as it came to him. In a letter dated later that year, he said, “The ‘Scotch’ symphony and all the Hebrides matter is building itself up step by step.” In 1830, after a short visit back home in Berlin, Mendelssohn made another trip, this time to Italy (at the sug-gestion of Goethe, whom he had befriended when he was twelve and the great poet seventy-two), where he was sidetracked by the beginning of an Italian symphony. From Rome he wrote that two symphonies were “haunting his brain,” as he put it, and later that they had begun to assume more definite shape. (He managed to find time to com-plete The Hebrides Overture while in Rome.)

Work on the Italian Symphony progressed rapidly and it was the first to be finished. “The Scottish symphony alone is not yet quite to my liking,” he wrote to his sister Fanny in February 1831. “If any brilliant idea occurs to me, I will seize it at once, quickly write it down, and finish it at last.” Either Mendelssohn ran out of bril-liant ideas, which seems unlikely given his track record, or else life intervened, because it was another ten years before he picked up the unfin-ished score and swiftly brought it to a conclusion. It was the last symphonic work he completed. By then, this symphony meant more to him than scenery, and by the time of the first performance in March 1842, Mendelssohn had dropped its Scottish nickname. Indeed, to unsuspecting audi-ences, there is nothing overtly “Scottish” about the music. (In his review, Robert Schumann mistakenly believed this was Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony and wrote how its beauty made him regret that he had never gone to Italy!) Mendelssohn had sworn off nationalistic music ever since visiting Wales, where he was driven mad by harps and hurdy-gurdies at every turn,

incessantly playing Welsh melodies—“vulgar, out-of-tune trash.”

We are probably safe in detecting the mists of the Scottish highlands in Mendelssohn’s haunted opening measures, for this is the music conceived in the deep twilight at Holyrood. Mendelssohn cautioned against dramatic readings, but how many listeners still find bagpipes, Gaelic melodies, and highland flings in this symphony? There are four movements, played without pause. A snatch of the slow introduction returns at the end of the first movement to lead us toward the high gym-nastics of the scherzo that follows. Only a flicker of light separates that movement from the first doleful chords of the Adagio; later the finale also breaks in without warning.

There are many exquisite touches. The open-ing introduction, with its swelling wind chords, colored at first only by the sound of violas, con-tains some of Mendelssohn’s most expressive and profound music. The body of the movement, in sonata form, sustains the sense of urgency and drama. Near the end of the development section, the cellos begin a broad new melody, accompa-nied only by a scattering of chords, that car-ries into the recapitulation, adding a wonderful counterpoint to the main theme. The scherzo is a model of lightness and grace at lightning speed, even when the entire orchestra joins the dance, fortissimo. The slow movement, one of Mendelssohn’s many songs without words, is interrupted several times by fierce martial music suggesting that the finale is assembled and wait-ing on the horizon. Even Mendelssohn admitted that his A minor finale is warlike. Although two themes do battle each other, the contest through-out remains civilized and ultimately fades to a peaceful truce. The grand conclusion comes unan-nounced, with a switch to A major and 6/8 time, and a majestic, affirmative new theme waving the flag of victory.

Phillip Huscher is the program annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.


negaunee music institute at the cso

Negaunee Music Institute programs celebrate 100th anniversaries

R eaching over 200,000 people annually, the programs of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Negaunee Music Institute provide broad access to the CSO, educate young

listeners, train young musicians, and serve the city and the world through music. All concerts and events are offered to the public free of charge, or at a nominal fee, and aim to dissolve barriers to participation and diversify the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association’s audiences.

The 2019–20 season marks the 100th anniversaries of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the CSO’s concert series for children. Established in 1919 by the CSO’s second music director, Frederick Stock, these programs are today the foundation of the Orchestra’s educational activities.

To honor the milestone anniversary, this season includes a benefit gala on March 1, 2020, featuring world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma as soloist, under the direction of newly appointed Civic Orchestra Principal Conductor Ken-David Masur.

The centennial anniversary of the CSO’s concert series for chil-dren is pleased to provide free admission and school bus transpor-tation to the performances for Chicago Public Schools students. Concert programs, focusing on the season’s theme of Leading Voices, encourage audiences to examine how a composer’s perspective, experience, and identity are expressed through music.

March 26–28, 2020, the CSO School and Family Concerts will feature the world premiere and CSO co-commission of Mason Bates’s Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the Orchestra. The piece is a virtuosic concerto for orchestra and animated film that zooms inside musical instruments to discover how sound is made and brings the ensemble together for a spectacular, pulsing finale.

To learn more about the CSO’s Negaunee Music Institute and all of its programs, visit cso.org/institute.

to p to b ot to mCivic timpani Sarah Christianson poses onstage before a performance conducted by CSO Principal Trombone and Civic alumnus Jay Friedman. October 1, 2018

CSO Piccolo Jennifer Gunn presents her flute to a young patron after her performance in Once Upon a Symphony’s The Ugly Duckling. November 17, 2018

Maestro Sharps’nflats, aka Dan Kerr-Hobert from The Second City, attempts to steal the spotlight from the CSO musicians and (actual) conductor Edwin Outwater during a December 2018 Family Matinee performance.

Civic violin Maria Arrua works with a young musician from The People’s Music School during the February 2019 Chicago Youth in Music Festival.

Principal Conductor Ken-David Masur leads the Civic Orchestra in Schumann’s Symphony no. 1 (Spring) during a May 2019 concert in Orchestra Hall.

A L L P H OTO S BY TO D D R O S E N B E R G

CSO_Wrap2_Nov19-Feb20_Civic1_assets.indd 19 10/15/19 10:23 AM


profiles

Ken-David Masur Conductor

Ken-David Masur begins his appointment as the new music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in the 2019–20 season.

He began the 2018–19 season making his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in two all-Tchaikovsky programs, then returned to Tanglewood to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra in works by Glinka, Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with Kirill Gerstein, and Stravinsky’s The Firebird. At summer’s end, he conducted workshops and a concert celebrat-ing the tenth anniversary of the Mendelssohn Foundation in Tokyo.

Last fall, he led a subscription week with the BSO, where he continues as associate conductor. His guest engagements last season included weeks with the Louisville Orchestra and the Detroit and Milwaukee symphonies in addition to con-certs abroad with the National Philharmonic of Russia, Collegium Musicum Basel, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Scandinavia, and the Mulhouse Symphony Orchestra in France.

Other recent guest engagements include weeks with the Milwaukee, Colorado, and Portland

(Maine) symphonies, and returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; the Munich Symphony, where he is principal guest conductor; and to the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Japan. He led the Orchestre National de France in Paris in a program with Anne-Sophie Mutter, and regularly conducts in Germany, Korea, and Moscow. As a sought-after leader and educator of younger players, Masur frequently conducts the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and the New England Conservatory and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras.

Ken-David Masur and his wife, pianist Melinda Lee Masur, are founders and artistic directors of the Chelsea Music Festival, an annual two-week multimedia production of music, art, and cuisine.

Masur has recently made recordings with the English Chamber Orchestra and violinist Fanny Clamagirand, and with the Stavanger Symphony. As founding music director of the Bach Society Orchestra and Chorus at Columbia University, he toured Germany and released a critically acclaimed album of symphonies and cantatas by W.F. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, and J.S. Bach. WQXR named Masur’s recording of Gisle Kverndokk’s Symphonic Dances with the Stavanger Symphony one of the Best New Classical Releases of July 2018. Masur received a Grammy nomination from the Latin Recording Academy in the Best Classical Album of the Year category for his work as a pro-ducer of the album Salon Buenos Aires.

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Civic Orchestra of Chicago

Since 1919, young artists have sought member-ship in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago to develop their talents and to further prepare for careers as professional musicians. Founded by Frederick Stock, second music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra is the only training orchestra of its kind affiliated with a major American orchestra.

The Civic Orchestra offers emerging profes-sional musicians unique access to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) through immer-sive experiences with the musicians of the CSO and some of today’s most sought-after conduc-tors, including world-renowned CSO Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti. From 2010 to June 2019, Yo-Yo Ma was a leading mentor to Civic musi-cians and staff in his role as CSO Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant and the programs, and initiatives he established are integral to the Civic Orchestra curriculum today. Civic Orchestra musicians develop as exceptional orchestral play-ers and engaged artists, cultivating their ability to succeed in the rapidly evolving world of music in the twenty-first century.

The importance of the Civic Orchestra’s role in Greater Chicago is underscored by its commit-ment to present concerts of the highest quality at no charge to the public. In addition to the critically acclaimed live concerts at Symphony Center, Civic Orchestra performances can be heard locally on WFMT (98.7 FM).

Civic musicians also expand their creative, professional, and artistic boundaries and reach diverse audiences through educational per-formances at Chicago Public Schools and a series of chamber concerts at various locations throughout the city including Chicago Park District field houses and the National Museum of Mexican Art.

To further expand its musician training, the Civic Orchestra launched the Civic Fellowship program in the 2013–14 season. Now engaging fourteen members of the Civic Orchestra, Fellows participate in a rigorous curriculum above and beyond their orchestral activities that is designed to build and to diversify their creative and professional skills.

The Civic Orchestra’s long history of pre-senting full orchestra performances without charge includes concerts at the South Shore Cultural Center (in partnership with the South Shore Advisory Council), the Apostolic Church of God, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, and the New Regal Theater, as well as numerous Chicago Public Schools.

The Civic Orchestra is a signature program of the Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which offers a wide range of education and community programs that engage more than 200,000 people of diverse ages, incomes, and backgrounds each year, in Chicago and around the world. For more information on the Institute and its programs, please visit cso.org/institute.

PROFILES


Civic Orchestra of ChicagoKen-David Masur Principal Conductor

PROFILES

** Civic Fellow + Civic Alumni

v i o l i n sJohn Heffernan**

ConcertmasterJamie Andrusyak

Assistant ConcertmasterJoy Vucekovich PrincipalElliot Lee** Assistant PrincipalMiguel Aguirre+Fahad AwanJoshua BurcaHannah CartwrightLilian Chou+Hannah Christiansen**Joe DeAngeloDiego DiazAlexandria HillAkane HinamotoMunjung Jung+Pauline KempfLuke LentiniMarianne MartinoliTabitha Oh**Maki OmoriAnna PiotrowskiOwen RuffArianna SchickelNaomi SchrankKristen SetoGenevieve SmelserBrent TaghapYu XinNanao YamadaTong Yu

v i o l a sBenjamin Wagner PrincipalHanna Pederson

Assistant PrincipalElizabeth BellisarioRebecca Boelzner+Ye Jin GooRachel MostekSofia NikasEnrique OlveraBethany Pereboom**Taisiya SokolovaChloé ThominetSeth Van Embden

c e l lo sPhilip Bergman** PrincipalEva María Barbado Gutiérrez

Assistant PrincipalJames CooperNoémie GolubovicJordan GunnJacob HaneganJingjing HuVictor HulsMiles LinkMartin Meyer

b a s s e sLindsey Orcutt PrincipalIsaac Polinsky

Assistant PrincipalNick DeLaurentisVincent Galvan+Gregory Heintz+Emmett JacksonWesley JonesMaggie Lin

f l u t e sEvan FojtikAlexandria Hoffman**Eric Leise

o b o e sSamuel WaringLillia WoolschlagerLaura Yawney**

c l a r i n e t sNicolas ChonaAlejandro DergalJuan Gabriel Olivares**Alessandro Tenorio-Bucci

b a s s o o n sChia-Yu HsuNicholas RitterBen Roidl-Ward

h o r n sFiona ChisholmStephanie Diebel+Kara MillerKatherine SeyboldKelsey Williams

t r u m p e t sDavid NakazonoDaniel PriceMichael Terrasi

t ro m b o n e sIgnacio del ReyRubén Darío Tovar CarrascoMatthew Flanagan

b a s s t ro m b o n eRobinson Schulze

t u b aJarrett McCourt

t i m pa n iJason Yoder

p e rc u s s i o nJoseph BrickerTaylor HamptonGeorge Tantchev

h a r pEleanor Kirk

k e y b oa r dPei-yeh Tsai**

i n t e r i m l i b r a r i a nElizabeth Bellisario


meet the musicians

Akane Hinamoto Violin

Hometown: Osaka, Japan

What is your most memorable musical moment?One musical experience that really moved me was performing in a string quar-tet at an outreach program

for children with disabilities in Japan. During our performance, a seven-year-old boy, who was never able to sit still for any period of time before, sat quietly in his seat and appeared to thoroughly enjoy our performance. When I think back to that moment, it makes me happy to be a musician and to have been a part of something that helped brighten someone’s day.

Who is your favorite composer and/or what is your favorite piece?My favorite composer is Mahler. I like the fourth movement of his Ninth Symphony most of all. When I was seventeen, I played Mahler’s Second Symphony for the first time, and it made me want to become an orchestral musician.

If I weren’t a professional musician, I would be . . .I love watching Blue Impulse, which is an aero-batic team that belongs to Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force. If I didn’t get motion sickness, I would love to be an aerobatic pilot.

What inspired you to choose your instrument?I don’t remember starting the violin. My mother gave me a little violin as a gift for my third birthday.

What are your interests and/or hobbies outside of music?I love all kinds of food. I love eating various dishes from around the world. I love cooking meals, experimenting with different ingredients, and cre-ating original recipes.

Lindsey Orcutt Bass

Hometown: Ellicott City, Maryland

What is your most memorable musical moment?In 2018, I had the opportu-nity to play for Kristen Bruya (Principal Bass, Minnesota

Orchestra) in a masterclass and then to see her perform with the Minnesota Orchestra at Symphony Center. It was the first time I had ever seen a fellow female bass player leading a section in a professional orchestra. It seems like a small thing but having the opportunity to work with her and see that same energy expressed on stage helped me realize that the orchestra can be my home, too.

Who is your favorite composer and/or what is your favorite piece?Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is a piece that always reminds me why I love playing in an orchestra. The first time I ever played the piece was at Interlochen Arts Camp in high school and it is one of the experiences that made me realize I wanted to be a professional musician. It is a piece that always reminds me how much fun I can have on stage.

If I weren’t a professional musician, I would be . . .The person who comes up with the technical chal-lenges for The Great British Bake Off.

What inspired you to choose your instrument?My older sister is a trumpet player, and when I was in elementary school, she convinced me to start playing the double bass so that we could play in jazz band together. While we never had a chance to play in school jazz bands together, we still found time to play movie duets. Jurassic Park was our favorite.


MEET THE MUSICIANS

Ignacio del Rey Trombone

Hometown: Salamanca, Spain

What is your most memorable musical moment?The first time I subbed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra—if someone had

ever told me before that that was going to happen someday, I would never have believed them. It was absolutely a dream come true.

Who is your favorite composer and what is your favorite piece?My favorite composer is Tchaikovsky because of his notorious ability to create the most beau-tiful melodies. However, my favorite piece is Mahler’s Second Symphony, whose ending is sim-ply stunning.

If I weren’t a professional musician, I would be . . .I also studied computer engineering, which means I would have probably followed that path.

What inspired you to choose your instrument?I was eleven years old when I auditioned to enroll in the Elementary Conservatory of Music in my home town. When I had to choose an instrument, they mentioned the word “trombone” among other instruments. I remember it sounded really interesting in my head. I immediately asked my father, who was sitting down close to me, what a trombone was like. He motioned the slide moving gesture for me and I said, “That one!”

What are your interests and/or hobbies outside of music?Chicago is my favorite place in the world, so I love to spend time exploring every part of the city through running, biking, and of course eating.

Joseph Bricker Percussion

Hometown: Evanston, Illinois

What is your most memorable musical moment?I think my most memorable musical moment came this past summer, performing

Mahler’s Second Symphony, Resurrection, in the Swiss Alps. While it’s not Austria, it’s hard to look outside at the mountains in summer and hear the Swiss cowbells clanging and the church bells ring-ing and not feel closer to Mahler’s world. Towards the end of the symphony as the chorus began singing, I let myself become “lost” in the music—when I came to, I realized that I had missed nearly two lines of my triangle part. That’s the power of music I suppose.

Who is your favorite composer and/or what is your favorite piece?My favorite composer changes all the time depending on what music I feel closest to at that moment.

If I weren’t a professional musician, I would be . . .A baker, maybe. I really value the combination of precision and personality that anyone can put into a loaf.

What inspired you to choose your instrument?In fourth grade, when choosing instruments to play in the beginner band, I originally chose the saxophone. When the director gave me a mouth-piece to try, I couldn’t figure out how to make a sound, so he gave me a pair of drumsticks. As I continued playing I fell in love with the oppor-tunities that I have as a percussionist. No other instrument does what a triangle does.


negaunee music institute at the cso

t h e b oa r d o f t h e n e gau n e e m u s i c i n s t i t u t e

Liisa Thomas ChairLori Julian Vice ChairBenjamin Wise Secretary

John AalbregtseJames BorkmanLeslie Henner BurnsRichard ColburnCharles EmmonsJudy FeldmanMary Winton GreenJudith W. McCueRumi MoralesMimi MurleyÁlvaro R. ObregónGerald PaulingMohan RaoEarl J. Rusnak, Jr.Steven E. ShebikPenny Van HornPaul Wiggin

Ex-officio MembersJeff AlexanderStephen LesterJonathan McCormickVanessa MossJames Smelser

c i v i c o rc h e s t r a a rt i s t i c l e a d e r s h i p

Coaches from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Robert Chen ConcertmasterThe Louis C. Sudler Chair, endowed by an anonymous benefactor

Baird Dodge Principal Second ViolinLi-Kuo Chang Acting Principal Viola

The Louise H. Benton Wagner ChairJohn Sharp Principal Cello

The Eloise W. Martin ChairRichard Hirschl CelloDaniel Katz CelloBrant Taylor CelloAlexander Hanna Principal Bass

The David and Mary Winton Green Principal Bass Chair

Sarah Bullen Principal HarpEmma Gerstein FluteJennifer Gunn Flute and PiccoloScott Hostetler Oboe and English HornStephen Williamson Principal ClarinetWilliam Buchman Assistant

Principal BassoonDaniel Gingrich Associate Principal HornMark Ridenour Assistant

Principal TrumpetJay Friedman Principal Trombone

The Lisa and Paul Wiggin Principal Trombone Chair

Charles Vernon Bass TromboneGene Pokorny Principal Tuba

The Arnold Jacobs Principal Tuba Chair, endowed by Christine Querfeld

David Herbert Principal Timpani The Clinton Family Fund Chair

Vadim Karpinos Assistant Principal Timpani, Percussion

Cynthia Yeh Principal PercussionMary Sauer Former Principal KeyboardPeter Conover Principal Librarian

n e gau n e e m u s i c i n s t i t u t e at t h e c s o

Jonathan McCormick Director, Education & Negaunee Music Institute

Jon Weber Director, School & Family Programs

Molly Walker Orchestra Manager, Civic Orchestra of Chicago

Nicolas Gonzalez Manager, Civic Orchestra Fellowship Program

Katy Clusen Manager, School & Family Programs

Benjamin Wise Manager, Communications & Programs Assistant

Sarah Vander Ploeg Coordinator, School & Community Partnerships

Robert Curl Operations Coordinator, Civic Orchestra of Chicago

Frances Atkins Content DirectorKristin Tobin Designer & Print

Production Manager


honor roll of donors

† DeceasedItalics indicate individual or family involvement as part of the Trustees or Governing Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association.Gifts listed as of August 14, 2019

Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony OrchestraThe Negaunee Music Institute connects individuals and communities to the extraordinary musical resources of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The following donors are gratefully acknowledged for making a gift in support of these education and engagement programs. To make a gift, contact CSOA Development at 312-294-3100. To learn more, please contact Dakota Williams, Associate Director, Education and Community Engagement Giving, at [email protected] or 312-294-3156.

$ 1 5 0, 0 0 0 A N D A B O V EAnonymousThe Elizabeth F. Cheney FoundationJudson and Joyce GreenThe Julian Family FoundationThe Negaunee Foundation

$ 1 0 0, 0 0 0 – $ 1 4 9, 9 9 9Allstate Insurance CompanyMegan and Steve ShebikShure Charitable Trust

$ 7 5 , 0 0 0 – $ 9 9, 9 9 9John Hart and Carol PrinsJudy and Scott McCue

$ 5 0, 0 0 0 – $ 74 , 9 9 9Anonymous (2)Robert and Joanne Crown Income

Charitable FundLloyd A. Fry FoundationEllen and Paul GignilliatNancy Lauter McDougal and

Alfred L. † McDougalNational Endowment for the ArtsPolk Bros. FoundationRhoades Foundation at The Chicago

Community FoundationBarbara and Barre Seid FoundationMichael and Linda Simon

$ 3 5 , 0 0 0 – $ 4 9, 9 9 9Bowman C. Lingle TrustMichael G. Woll Fund at

The Pauls Foundation

$ 2 5 , 0 0 0 – $ 3 4 , 9 9 9AnonymousAbbott FundBarker Welfare FoundationLeslie Fund, Inc.Wintrust Financial Corp.Helen and Sam Zell

$ 2 0, 0 0 0 – $ 2 4 , 9 9 9AnonymousIllinois Arts Council AgencyRichard P. and Susan Kiphart FamilyCharles and M. R. Shapiro FoundationThe George L. Shields Foundation

$ 1 5 , 0 0 0 – $ 1 9, 9 9 9Bruce and Martha Clinton for The Clinton

Family FundSue and Jim CollettiJohn and Fran EdwardsonRobert Kohl and Clark PellettSandra and Earl Rusnak, Jr.Dr. Marylou Witz

$ 7, 5 0 0 – $ 1 4 , 9 9 9Robert and Isabelle Bass Foundation, Inc.Robert H. Baum and MaryBeth KretzThe Buchanan Family FoundationMr. Lawrence CorryMr. Jerry J. CritserMr. † & Mrs. David A. DonovanMr. & Mrs. Joseph B. GlossbergRichard and Alice GodfreyChet Gougis and Shelley OchabThe League of the Chicago Symphony

Orchestra AssociationMs. Susan NorvichGerald † and Mona PennerMrs. John Shedd Reed †Robert E. † and Cynthia M. SargentSiragusa Family FoundationMs. Liisa M. Thomas and

Mr. Stephen L. PrattPenny and John Van Horn

$ 4 , 5 0 0 – $ 7, 4 9 9AnonymousMs. Marion A. CameronAnn and Richard CarrMari Hatzenbuehler CravenDr. Alexia GordonMr. James Kastenholz and

Ms. Jennifer SteansKinder MorganDr. June KoizumiMs. Barbara Lieber †The Navarre Law FirmDavid and Dolores NelsonMr. & Mrs. William J. O’NeillD. Elizabeth PriceMs. Cecelia SamansSegal ConsultingTheodore and Elisabeth Wachs

$ 2 , 5 0 0 – $ 4 , 4 9 9Ms. Patti AcurioArts Midwest Touring FundDaniel and Michele Becker

Charles H. and Bertha L. Boothroyd Foundation

Mr. James BorkmanMr. Douglas BraganAlfredo and Ada Capitanini FoundationMr. & Mrs. Donald and Linda CassilDr. Edward A. Cole and

Dr. Christine A. RydelMrs. Carol Evans, in memory of

Henry EvansMs. Irene FoxCamillo and Arlene GhironWilliam B. HinchliffDr. Ronald L. HullingerEsther G. KlatzAnne E. Leibowitz FundMr. Russ LymanMr. Edward MackDr. Leo and Catherine MiserendinoMr. Carl and Maria MooreMr. & Mrs. Stephen MoralesMrs. Frank MorrisseyMr. & Mrs. Thomas D. PhilipsbornMary and Joseph PlauchéAl and Lynn ReichleBenjamin J. Rosenthal FoundationJessie Shih and Johnson HoMr. Larry SimpsonLaurence and Caryn StrausWalter and Caroline Sueske

Charitable TrustDan and Paula Wise

$ 1 , 0 0 0 – $ 2 , 4 9 9Anonymous (7)Mr. Edward Amrein, Jr. and

Mrs. Sara Jones-AmreinJack S. AtenAthena FundCatherine Baker and Timothy KentJon W. and Diane BalkeMr. & Mrs. John BarnesMs. Barbara BarzanskyHoward and Donna BassMichael and Gail BauerPatti and Nebil BenaissaMr. & Mrs. William E. BibleMs. Ludmila BidwellMr. & Mrs. Andrew BlockAdam BossovMr. Donald BousemanMyrna R. BromleyMr. Lee M. Brown, Mr. John B. Newman

and Ms. Pixie NewmanMr. & Mrs. Samuel BuchsbaumJohn D. and Leslie Henner BurnsMr. & Mrs. Kenneth J. Burns, Jr.Mr. & Mrs. Candelario CelioJayson and Elizabeth CheeverPatricia A. ClickenerMr. Daniel Corrigan


† DeceasedItalics indicate individual or family involvement as part of the Trustees or Governing Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association.Gifts listed as of August 14, 2019

HONOR ROLL OF DONORS

Mr. & Mrs. Bill CottleConstance CwiokMelissa and Gordon DavisLinda and Peter DiDonatoMs. Joan D. DonovanMr. & Mrs. Bernard DunkelGary and Deborah EdidinNancy EibeckElk Grove GraphicsMs. Paula ElliottCharles and Carol EmmonsMrs. Walter D. FacklerTarek and Ann FadelJudith E. FeldmanJoy FettDr. & Mrs. Sanford Finkel, in honor of the

Civic Horn SectionEvelyn T. FitzpatrickMs. Lola FlammMrs. Roslyn K. FlegelBeth Healy and Mike FordneyJerry Freedman and Elizabeth SacksMr. M. FrenkelHalasmani/Davis FamilyMr. & Mrs. John HalesMs. Agnes HamosMrs. Valerie HeintzMs. Dawn E. HelwigMr. Thomas C. HennigerJames and Megan HinchsliffDr. & Mrs. James HollandMichael and Leigh HustonThomas and Reseda KalowskiMr. & Mrs. † Algimantas KezelisMr. Howard KiddMs. Ruby LawMr. & Mrs. Stewart LiechtiDr. Herbert and Francine LippitzMs. Alma LizcanoLuluMr. Glen J. Madeja and Ms. Janet SteidlRobert and Doretta MarwinDr. & Mrs. Daniel MassMs. Catherine MastersRosa and Peter McCullaghJim and Ginger MeyerWayne L. Mory and Marcia SnyderAllison MoultonEdward and Gayla NieminenMarjory OlikerMr. Bruce OltmanDianne M. and Robert J. Patterson, Jr.Eugene and Lois PavalonMs. Ana Luz Perez DuranDr. Dorit Raviv

Dr. Hilda RichardsMary K. RingMr. David SandfortMr. Laurence SaviersMrs. Rebecca ScheweMr. & Mrs. Steve SchuetteGerald and Barbara SchultzMr. & Mrs. Thomas ScorzaStephen A. and Marilyn ScottDr. Rita Simó and Mr. Tomás BissonnetteMs. Triste SmithDr. Sabine SobekDr. & Mrs. R. SolaroMr. Alexander SozdatelevMs. Denise StauderMr. Frederick Sturm and

Ms. Deborah GillaspieSharon SwansonMrs. Florence and Ron TestaMs. Corina TsangMr. Peter ValeMs. Darla VollrathAbby and Glen WeisbergM.L. WinburnMark and Randi WoodworthDavid and Eileen ZampaIrene Ziaya and Paul Chaitkin

E N D O W E D F U N D SAnonymous (3)Cyrus H. Adams Memorial Youth

Concert FundDr. † & Mrs. † Bernard H. AdelsonMarjorie Blum-Kovler Youth Concert FundCNAKelli Gardner Youth Education

Endowment FundMary Winton GreenWilliam Randolph Hearst Foundation

Fund for Community EngagementRichard A. HeisePeter Paul Herbert Endowment FundThe Kapnick FamilyLester B. Knight Charitable TrustThe Malott Family Very Special

Promenades FundThe Eloise W. Martin Endowed

Fund in support of the Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Negaunee FoundationNancy Ranney and Family and FriendsToyota Endowed FundThe Wallace FoundationZell Family Foundation

C E N T E N N I A L S E A S O N S P O N S O R SThe Centennial Campaign for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert series for children is supported with a generous lead gift from The Julian Family Foundation.

The 2019–20 Civic Centennial season is sponsored by The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.

Major support for the Centennial season is provided by an Anonymous Family Foundation, Dora J. and R. John Aalbregtse, Mr. and Mrs. William Adams IV, John Hart and Carol Prins, Robert Kohl and Clark Pellett, Judy and Scott McCue, Nancy Lauter McDougal and Alfred L. † McDougal, The Negaunee Foundation, The Osprey Foundation, Megan and Steve Shebik, Michael and Linda Simon, and Penny and John Van Horn.

We are also thankful to the following donors for making a special commitment during our Centennial seasons: Anonymous, Ms. Patti Acurio, Mr. & Mrs. William E. Bible, Mr. James Borkman, Ann and Richard Carr, Tarek and Ann Fadel, Camillo and Arlene Ghiron, Dr. Alexia Gordon, Halasmani/Davis Family, Ms. Ruby Law, Stewart and Susan Liechti, Mrs. Frank Morrissey, Allison Moulton, Mr. & Mrs. Thomas D. Philipsborn, Gerald and Barbara Schultz, Ms. Corina Tsang, and In Memory of Edward Zasadil.

To make your gift in support of the Centennial season, please contact the CSO Development office at [email protected] or 312-294-3100.


† Deceased ** Civic FellowItalics indicate individual or family involvement as part of the Trustees or Governing Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association.Gifts listed as of August 14, 2019

HONOR ROLL OF DONORS

C I V I C O R C H E S T R A O F C H I C A G O S C H O L A R S H I P SMembers of the Civic Orchestra receive an annual stipend to help offset some of their living expenses during their training in Civic. The following donors have generously underwritten a Civic musician(s) for the 2019–20 season.

Ten Civic members participate in the Civic Fellowship program, a rigorous artistic and professional development curriculum that supplements their membership in the full orchestra. Major funding for this program is generously provided by The Julian Family Foundation.

To learn more, please contact Dakota Williams, Associate Director, Education and Community Engagement Giving, at [email protected] or 312-294-3156.

Dr. † & Mrs. † Bernard H. AdelsonRachel Mostek, viola

Robert H. Baum and MaryBeth KretzPei-yeh Tsai,** keyboard

Mr. Lawrence Belles and The Elizabeth F. Cheney FoundationFahad Awan, violin

Sue and Jim CollettiBethany Pereboom,** viola

Lawrence CorryElizabeth Bellisario, viola

Robert and Joanne Crown Income Charitable FundAbigail Black, hornNicolas Chona, clarinetEvan Fojtik, fluteJingjing Hu, celloMartin Meyer, celloSofia Nikas, viola

Mr. † & Mrs. David A. DonovanLindsey Orcutt, double bass

Mr. & Mrs. † Allan Drebin and The Elizabeth F. Cheney FoundationErik Andrusyak, oboe

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Geraghty and The Elizabeth F. Cheney FoundationHannah Cartwright, violin

Mr. & Mrs. Paul C. GignilliatJamie Andrusyak, violinDaniel Price, trumpet

Mr. & Mrs. Joseph B. GlossbergEnrique Olvera, viola

Richard and Alice GodfreyJoy Vucekovich, violin

Chet Gougis and Shelley OchabHanna Pederson, viola

Mary Winton GreenAdam Attard, double bass

Jane Redmond Haliday ChairNoémie Golubovic, cello

The Julian Family FoundationLaura Yawney,** oboe

Lester B. Knight Charitable TrustLaurie Blanchet, clarinetAkane Hinamoto, violinErik Leise, fluteNicholas Ritter, bassoonArianna Schickel, violin

Robert Kohl and Clark PellettJohn Heffernan,** violin

League of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra AssociationAlexandria Hoffman,** flute

Leslie Fund Inc.Tabitha Oh,** violinJuan Gabriel Olivares,** clarinet

Phillip G. LumpkinNajette Abouelhadi, cello

Judy and Scott McCueKristen Seto, violin

Nancy Lauter McDougal and Alfred L. McDougal †Brian Johnston, trombone

Dr. Leo and Catherine MiserendinoChia-Yu Hsu, bassoon

Ms. Susan NorvichEleanor Kirk, harp

Mrs. Mona Penner in memory of Gerald PennerRachel Peters, violin

Sandra and Earl J. Rusnak JrAnna Piotrowski, violin

Barbara and Barre Seid FoundationJoseph Bricker, percussionIgnacio del Rey, trombone

The George L. Shields Foundation Inc.Eva María Barbado Gutiérrez, celloBen Roidl-Ward, bassoonBenjamin Wagner, viola

The David W. and Lucille G. Stotter ChairPauline Kempf, violin

Ruth Miner Swislow Charitable FundBrent Taghap, violin

Lois and James Vrhel Endowment FundEmmett Jackson, double bass

Dr. Marylou WitzHannah Christiansen,** violin

Michael G. † and Laura WollKelsey Williams, horn

Michael G. Woll Fund at The Pauls FoundationYe Jin Goo, violaMichael Terrasi, trumpetSamuel Waring, oboeJason Yoder, timpani

Helen and Sam ZellElliot Lee,** violin

AnonymousPhilip Bergman,** cello

AnonymousRobinson Schulze, bass tromboneMaggie Lin, double bass

To make your gift:

Go online to cso.org/give

Call 312-294-3100

Make a gift during your next ticket purchase

The Civic Orchestra of Chicago empowers its members to realize their potential as creative artists who use music to make connections and build community. One hundred years in the making, the Civic Orchestra continues to grow and thrive alongside the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This rare alliance, propelled by an expansive vision, has enabled the program to prepare generations of musicians for professional lives in music while presenting free concerts to thousands of people at Symphony Center and across Greater Chicago.

The Civic Orchestra and its concerts are made possible thanks to generous donations from friends of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association. Please make a gift today to ensure that Civic Orchestra programs can continue to impact young musicians and our community for many years to come.

During this 100th anniversary season of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the CSO’s concert series for children, consider a gift for these signature Negaunee Music Institute programs as part of a unique centennial sponsorship opportunity. By increasing your support by $1,000 for the current 2019–20 season, you will be recognized as a Centennial Celebration Patron. As a part of this group you will receive unique benefits and recognition this season.

Preparing emerging professional musicians for lives in music

from the british isles oct 21 - chicago symphony orchestra...concerto for colin currie, which was...

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