Chicago Sinfonietta Concludes 25th Season With 'City-Scapes' Including 'Shards of Serenity' of Jonathan Bailey Holland June 8 & 9, 2013

Jonathan Bailey Holland
www.jonathanbaileyholland.com/newsite 

Sunday, June 9 at 3pm

City-Scapes

Symphony Center, Chicago, IL

Shards of Serenity
(part of ChiScape) (world premiere)

Chicago Sinfonietta, Mei-Ann Chen, conductor

Saturday, June 8 at 8pm

City-Scapes

Wentz Concert Hall, Naperville, IL

Shards of Serenity
(part of ChiScape) (world premiere)

Chicago Sinfonietta, Mei-Ann Chen, conductor

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The “Sound” of a City…

Chicago Sinfonietta concludes 25^th Season with Urban Themed Concert featuring a World Premiere inspired by Four Pieces of Chicago Architecture in

City-Scapes

Wentz Concert Hall, Naperville, June 8

Symphony Center, Chicago, June 9

CHICAGO (May 1, 2013) – The Chicago Sinfonietta, led by Music Director Mei-Ann Chen, partners with the Chicago Architecture Foundation for City-Scapes, the final concert of the 25^th Anniversary Season, celebrating the character of American cities through music.  The centerpiece of the City-Scapes program is the World Premiere of ChiScape, a salute to the international influence of Chicago’s architecture.  The Sinfonietta presents City-Scapes in two performances only at Wentz Concert Hall of North Central College, 171 E. Chicago Avenue in Naperville, Saturday, June 8 at 8 p.m. and at Orchestra Hall of Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago, Sunday, June 9 at 3 p.m. 

The City-Scapes program begins by taking a step outside the city with a salute to the countryside in Johann Strauss II’s Tales from the Vienna Wood, a charming work that recalls the folk music that led to the popularity of the Viennese Waltz. 

In the new piece ChiScape, next on the bill, noted composer Jennifer Higdon curates a four-movement work where each movement has been inspired by a different iconic Chicago building.  Four different composers each contribute one of the movements, creating a multi-textured rendering of Chicago’s diverse skyline through sound.  Each composer has been mesmerized by these contemporary buildings that defy the traditional idea of “the box.”  They are structures that convey a sense of motion, either by their design or their reflection of the surrounding environment, and in ChiScape they are rendered from three-dimensional landmarks into temporal, emotional pieces of rhythm and harmony.  The composers and their architectural muses include:

• Armando Bayolo: the Modern Wing of the Art Institute Chicago, designed by Renzo Piano
• Vivian Fung (winner of the 2013 Juno® Award for “Classical Composition of the Year”): the Aqua building designed by Jeanne Gang
• Jonathan Bailey Holland: S. R. Crown Hall, designed by Ludwig Mies van de Rohe
• Chris Rogerson: Jay Pritzker Pavilion of Millennium Park, designed by Frank Gehry

“The Chicago Architecture Foundation is really excited about this partnership, as it allows us to see architecture expressed in the beauty of music.  We look at Chicago's architecture every day through our tours and programs, but this gives everyone a chance to see how composers are inspired by the spaces in a different way – different then maybe even the architects intended us to see them,” said Barbara Gordon, Vice President of Program Operations at the Chicago Architecture Foundation.  “Our choice of buildings gives a sampling of Chicago's current modern architectural story – Crown Hall, Pritzker Pavilion, the Aqua Building and the Modern Wing of the Art Institute.”

The concert continues with the darkly humorous Red Cape Tango, the final movement of Grammy® Award-winner Michael Daugherty’s Superman-inspired Metropolis Symphony.  Next comes Higdon’s own composition, river sings a song to trees, the second movement of her piece City Scape, an ode to the city park as a respite from the sometimes harsh landscape of urban life. 

Closing the concert, and the Sinfonietta’s 25^th season, is Duke Ellington’s jazzy, energetic and uniquely American Harlem.  This 1950 composition, full of swing and blues rhythms, is a tour of the friendly, hip and vibrant New York City neighborhood where Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington rose to stardom.

Audiences at both concerts are invited to attend a pre-concert moderated discussion with the artists.  The four composers of ChiScape will discuss the inspiration and creative process behind their respective works.  The pre-concert discussion at Wentz Concert Hall begins at 7 p.m. on stage and the discussion at Symphony Center begins at 1:45 p.m. in Grainger Hall.   

Tickets

Single tickets range from $40-$50 for concerts at Wentz Concert Hall and $26-$50 for concerts at Symphony Center, with special $10 pricing available for students.  Tickets can be purchased by calling the Chicago Sinfonietta at 312-236-3681 ext. 2 or online at www.chicagosinfonietta.org.

About the Chicago Sinfonietta

For 25 years, the Chicago Sinfonietta has pushed artistic and social boundaries to provide an alternative way of hearing, seeing and thinking about a symphony orchestra.  Each concert experience fuses inventive new works from a diverse array of voices with classical masterworks to entertain, transform and inspire.

The Chicago Sinfonietta has a proud history of having enriched the cultural, educational and social quality of life in Chicago.  Under the guidance of Founding Music Director Paul Freeman, the orchestra has performed at the highest artistic level since 1987.  Mei-Ann Chen succeeded Paul Freeman as the Chicago Sinfonietta’s Music Director beginning with the 2011-12 season.  The Chicago Sinfonietta musicians truly represent the city’s rich cultural landscape and continue to fulfill the orchestra’s mission of Musical Excellence through Diversity^™. 

The Sinfonietta was recently honored with two national awards for excellence from the League of American Orchestras, one for adventurous programming and one recognizing Maestro Chen with the Helen M. Thompson Award for an Emerging Music Director. 

Mei-Ann Chen, also Music Director of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, has appeared with symphonies all over the country and the world, include the symphonies of Alabama, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Edmonton (Canada), Florida, Fort Worth, Honolulu, National (Washington, D.C.), Oregon, Pacific, Phoenix, Princeton, Seattle, Toronto, and the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra.  The first woman to win the Malko Competition (2005), Chen has served as Assistant Conductor of the Oregon Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony.  Born in Taiwan, Chen has lived in the United States since 1989.  She was the first student in New England Conservatory’s history to receive master’s degrees simultaneously in both violin and conducting. 

City-Scapes is a co-presentation of the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Chicago Architecture Foundation.  The Chicago Sinfonietta also thanks Season Sponsor Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Lead West Suburban Sponsor BP, and Lead Media Sponsor Chicago Sun-Times Media.  Support for Wentz Concert Hall performances provided Naperville’s Special Events and Cultural Amenities Fund.  Additional media support provided by Chicago Magazine, ABC-7 Chicago, WBEZ, WDCB, Arte y Vida Chicago, Today’s Chicago Woman, Naperville Sun and Naperville Magazine.  Southwest Airlines is the Official Airline of the Chicago Sinfonietta.  Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park and Hotel Arista in Naperville are the Official Hotels of the Chicago Sinfonietta.

Complete Program Information

Saturday, June 8 at 8 p.m., Wentz Concert Hall, Naperville

Sunday, June 9 at 3 p.m., Symphony Center, Chicago

Chicago Sinfonietta

Mei-Ann Chen, conductor

Jennifer Higdon, ChiScape curator

STRAUSS                    Tales from the Vienna Woods

Various                         ChiScape (World Premiere)

DAUGHERTY               Metropolis Symphony (final movement)

HIGDON                       City Scape (second movement)

ELLINGTON                 Harlem

            (arr. Maurice Peress)

Tickets: $40–$50 (Wentz Concert Hall); $26–$50 (Symphony Center)

For more information on the Chicago Sinfonietta, please visit www.chicagosinfonietta.org.  

[Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington is featured at AfriClassical.com]