Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Chicago Sinfonietta Taps Into “Primal Instincts” For Fiery Program With Cristina Pato on Gaita and Soprano Kimberly Jones in Naperville March 21 & Chicago March 23



Midwest Premiere for Bagpipes, Piano and Orchestra, featuring Spanish bagpiper Cristina Pato

Wentz Concert Hall, Naperville, March 21
Symphony Center, Chicago, March 23

CHICAGO (February 17, 2015) – CHICAGO – The scintillating gypsy Carmen, the wildly bohemian sounds of the gaita (Spanish bagpipes) and the perils of gluttony and lust all come together as inspiration for the Chicago Sinfonietta’s spring concert, “Primal Instincts.”  Sinfonietta Music Director Mei-Ann Chen with special guest artists including renowned Spanish gaita player Cristina Pato and singers from Roosevelt University CCPA Conservatory Chorus and the Glen Ellyn children’s chorus Anima, lead a concert inspired by artistic expressions of passion, fate, gluttony and love. The Chicago Sinfonietta performs “Primal Instincts” twice: first, in the western suburbs at Wentz Concert Hall of North Central College, Naperville, Saturday, March 21 at 8 pm, and then again in its downtown Chicago home venue of Symphony Center, Monday, March 23 at 7:30 pm

“One of the wonderful things about music is that it can take us on a journey. In this concert, entitled Primal Instincts, music becomes an intense, visceral experience, and through it we can explore the full gamut of human emotions and desires,” said Chen. “The three remarkable works we will perform, with their connecting, interweaving themes of romance, passion, and human vices, combine to bring us on an incredible excursion.”

The “Primal Instincts” program opens with selections from Carmen Suites No.1 and No.2, orchestral works drawn from Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen and arranged by Ernest Guiraud, inspired by the fictional Spanish gypsy Carmen and her seduction of the soldier Don José. Then, Pato joins the orchestra for the U.S. Premiere of Emilio Solla’s A Galician Voyage: Concerto for Bagpipes, Piano & Orchestra, a fiery jazz-tango inspired work commissioned by Pato and premiered in Barcelona, Spain in the fall of 2014.  As a bagpiper, pianist and composer, Pato has had an active professional career devoted to Galician popular and classical music and jazz; her careers have led to performances on major stages throughout the United States, Europe, India, Africa and China. In 1999, she became the first female Gaita player to release a solo album.

The orchestra delivers the final primordial blow with one of the most overpowering works of all time, Carl Orff’s scenic cantata Carmina Burana, inspired by medieval texts about the fickleness of fortune and the dangers of gluttony and lust (among other topics), with guest choral singers and vocal soloists.

Tickets
Single tickets range from $16-$99 for concerts at Symphony Center and $46-$58 for concerts at Wentz Concert Hall, with special $10 pricing available for students at both concerts.  Tickets can be purchased by calling the Chicago Sinfonietta at 312-236-3681 ext. 2 or online at www.chicagosinfonietta.org.



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