Mei-Ann Chen
Adé Williams
(Gapers Block)
William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com,
which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de
Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com
Chicago Sinfonietta
Season highlights include:
Three World Premieres by
Jessie Montgomery,
Reena Esmail
and
Clarice Assad
as part of first-ever
Commissions by Women Composers Project;
Five Chicago Premieres including
Laura Karpman’s Grammy-nominated Ask Your Mama;
First-ever evening-length program dedicated
to female composers;
Plus collaborations with Grammy Award-winning
Harlem Quartet, Mucca Pazza, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, NewMoon Chicago,
Northern Illinois University Steelband
and more!
CHICAGO
– Chicago Sinfonietta, the nation’s most diverse orchestra dedicated to pushing
artistic boundaries, announces an epic 30th anniversary season in
2017-2018
showcasing a full spectrum of voices and identities expressed through
the universal language of music honoring Chicago Sinfonietta’s past,
present and future. Under the leadership
of Music Director Mei-Ann Chen, the orchestra’s season includes
five subscription concerts that move beyond the pure classical cannon
and encompass music styles from around the world and across the eras
including Hispanic, gospel, Caribbean, jazz, tango,
Middle Eastern and opera with works from Mozart, Prokofiev, Still,
Bernstein, Higdon and more accompanied by film, dance, spoken word and
world renowned guest artists.
Highlights of the 2017-2018 season include, for the first time, a season-long
Commissions by Women Composers Project presenting new works by female artists including three
World Premieres by Jessie Montgomery,
Reena Esmail
and
Clarice Assad
as well as a
Chicago Premiere by Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon;
a special 30th anniversary MLK Tribute concert featuring the
Chicago Premiere of three-time Grammy-nominated multi-media work Ask Your Mama featuring poetry by Langston Hughes by Emmy Award-winning composer
Laura Karpman; an entire evening-length program presenting works by
leading female composers
and a free
30th Anniversary Battle of the Bands concert at Millennium Park featuring punk marching band
Mucca Pazza.
Featured artists throughout the season also include jazz great
Nnenna Freelon, soprano Janai Brugger, guest conductor
Hector Guzman, Music Director of Plano Symphony Orchestra and performances from Grammy Award-winning
Harlem Quartet, Chicago’s Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, Mexican folkloric group Cuerdas Clasicas, spectacle art specialists
NewMoon Chicago, the
Northern Illinois University Steelband,
the Apostolic Church God Sanctuary Choir and more.
Created
as a response to the lack of women composers featured on classical
programs across the country, Chicago Sinfonietta presents
the Commissions by Women Composers Project to
close
that gender equality gap and promote diversity and inclusion in the
field of classical music. The season long project will commission,
perform, and record works by four diverse women
composers as well as perform and record Florence Price’s “Dances in the
Canebrakes”. The album will be recorded and distributed with Cedille
records and will be available in the Fall of 2018.
"As
we embrace an important milestone in the history of the Chicago
Sinfonietta - 30 years! - this coming 2017-18 season, I am honored and
privileged to be a part of this magnificent organization
and to continue this much-treasured partnership with this incredible
ensemble," stated
Music Director Mei-Ann Chen. "This season we celebrate the
versatility, talent, and bold history of Chicago Sinfonietta, and the
vision of its late founder, Paul Freeman, as we look forward to the
future. Dynamism, diversity, creativity and collaboration
of the highest caliber - they are all on display this season.”
The
Sinfonietta performs its five subscription concerts in the western
suburbs as well as in Chicago. The Sinfonietta’s suburban home is the
Wentz Concert Hall of North Central College, 171 E. Chicago
Avenue in Naperville while downtown Chicago concerts take place in
Orchestra Hall of Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Avenue. This year’s
annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Concert will be presented in
Pfeiffer Hall of North Central College instead of Wentz Concert Hall.
Chicago Sinfonietta’s 30th Anniversary Concert will take place at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park,
201 E Randolph St, Chicago, IL.
Before
each show and at intermission, Chicago Sinfonietta audience members
will have the opportunity to participate in interactive activities in
conjunction with each concert’s
theme.
Chicago Sinfonietta’s 2017-2018 Season
Chicago Sinfonietta 30th Anniversary Concert: A Birthday Battle of the Bands!
August 23, 2017 – 7:00pm – Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park
Chicago Sinfonietta;
Mei-Ann Chen, Music Director and Conductor; Adé Williams, violinist;
Liz Carroll, violinist; James Sanders, violinist; Mucca Pazza, marching band.
|
Mendelssohn
|
Symphony No. 4, Italian
|
|
Brubeck
|
Interplay for Three Violins
|
|
Sarasate
|
Zigeunerweisen
|
|
Still
|
Humor
|
|
Deitrich
|
War of Amusements
|
|
Prokofiev
|
Romeo and Juliet Suite
|
|
Various
|
Ending of all Endings
|
Chicago Sinfonietta kicks off its anniversary season with a birthday celebration at Millennium Park honoring
artists and works from the orchestra’s 30-year history. Led by Mei-Ann Chen, this eclectic program begins with
Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4,
Italian, the first work the Sinfonietta ever performed as an orchestra in 1987 followed by
Christopher Brubeck’s
Interplay for Three Violins performed by famed Celtic violinist
Liz Carroll, Chicago Sinfonietta violinist James Sanders and award
winning young violinist Adé Williams. The first half continues with
Pablo de Sarasate’s
Zigeunerweisen also featuring Adé Williams and concludes with William Grant Still’s
Humor. The orchestra switches gears for the second half as
punk marching band Mucca Pazza joins for Andy Deitrich’s
War of Amusements followed by an epic battle of the bands between the orchestra and Mucca Pazza to the tune of Prokofiev’s
Romeo and Juliet Suite. The celebration concludes with not one but four grand finales in a compilation featuring classical music’s most epic endings: Jacques Offenbach’s
Can Can, Edvard Grieg’s
In the Hall of the Mountain King, Gioachino Rossini’s
William Tell Overture and Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome.
Concert 1: Trademark ™
Saturday, September 16, 2017 – 8:00pm - Wentz Concert Hall
Monday, September 18, 2017 – 7:30pm - Symphony Center
Chicago Sinfonietta;
Mei-Ann Chen, Music Director and Conductor; Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre;
Northern Illinois University Steelband
|
Montgomery
|
Coincedent Dances
|
|
Mozart
|
Rondo all Turca
|
|
Seeman
|
Fayed to Blue
|
|
Kitchener
|
Pan in A-minor
|
|
Assad
|
Sin Fronteras
|
|
Respighi
|
Pines of Rome
|
Chicago Sinfonietta opens its anniversary season with an unexpected and adventurous concert experience, a trademark
of the orchestra’s programming for three decades, featuring two World Premieres as part of Sinfonietta’s
Commissions by Women Composers Project. The concert begins with the
World Premiere of emerging composer
and violinist Jessie Montgomery’s
Coincedent Dances
and continues with one of Mozart’s best known piano works
Rondo all Turca featuring the 10-piece Northern Illinois University Steelband
who then joins Sinfonietta’s principal harpist
Faye Seeman on her original solo composition Fayed to Blue before switching to the Caribbean sound of
Lord
Kitchener’s upbeat Pan in A-minor. The second half opens with the
World Premiere of Grammy Award-nominated composer Clarice Assad’s
Sin Fronteras featuring Chicago’s Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre and concludes with Respighi’s monumental symphonic poem
Pines of Rome.
Concert II:
Regresar / Return: A Día de los Muertos Celebration
Saturday, November 4, 2017 – 8:00pm - Wentz Concert Hall
Monday, November 6, 2017 – 7:30pm - Symphony Center
Hector Guzman, Guest
Conductor; Roosevelt University Conservatory Choirs and Alumni Chorus;
Cuerdas Clasicas;
NewMoon Chicago
|
Revueltas
|
Sensemaya
|
|
Piazzolla
|
Libertango
|
|
Mozart
|
Requiem
Introit/Kyrie
Dies Irae
Rex Tremendae
Confustatti/La Crimosa
Lux Eterna-Cumsanctis
|
|
Zyman
|
|
|
Cortés
|
Marila
Un Cielo Para Ti
Jalisco de Mis Amores
|
|
Chavez
|
Sinfonia India
|
Chicago Sinfonietta celebrates the past with its annual
Día de los Muertos concert inspired by the Mexican holiday “Day of the Dead” featuring recreations
of the audience’s favorite moments from past seasons.
Led by guest conductor Hector Guzman, Music Director of Plano Symphony Orchestra, the
concert begins with Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas’ most famous masterpiece
Sensemayá based on Nicolás Guillén’s poem of the same name followed by Argentine composer and creator of the tango nuevo movement Astor
Piazzolla’s Libertango. The first half concludes with an entrancing theatrical performance of excerpts from Mozart’s
Requiem featuring NewMoon Chicago who will bring the music to life through
spectacular visual accompaniments
along with Roosevelt University Conservatory Choirs and Alumni Chorus.
The second half opens with Samuel Zyman’s thrilling
Fantasia Mexicana packed with Mexican folklorist expressions followed by three works by
Gori Cortés:
Marila, Un Cielo Para Ti
and Jalisco de Mis Amores
featuring the 12-piece Mexican folkloric group Cuerdas Clasicas. The concert concludes with Carlos Chávez's
most popular composition, Sinfonia India based on three melodies originating from native-American tribes of northern Mexico.
Concert III: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Concert: Ask Your Mama
Sunday, January 14, 2018 - 3:00pm - Pfeiffer Hall
Monday, January 15, 2018 - 7:30pm - Symphony Center
Chicago Sinfonietta;
Mei-Ann Chen, Music Director and Conductor; Janai Brugger, soprano;
Nnenna Freelon, jazz vocalist, and artists TBA.
|
Karpman
|
Ask Your Mama**
|
For its 30th anniversary MLK Tribute concert, the Sinfonietta will present the
Chicago Premiere of Emmy Award-winning composer Laura Karpman’s Ask Your Mama, a three-time Grammy nominated multi-media jazz and symphonic setting of Langston Hughes’
epic 1961 poem, “Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz”.
Ask Your Mama journeys through time, place, and
verbal expression to trace the currents of cultural diasporas and is
presented as a single composition featuring a vivid mix of opera, hot
jazz, German lieder, cha-cha, patriotic songs, post-
bop, Middle Eastern music and Afro-Caribbean drumming. Hughes’ words will be also be amplified by
spoken word, archival audio, video and special guest performances by
renowned opera soprano Janai Brugger and six-time Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist
Nnenna Freelon.
Ask Your Mama made its World Premiere in 2009 as part of Carnegie Hall’s
Honor! Festival showcasing the cultural legacy of African-American musicians.
Concert IV:
Hear Me Roar
Sunday, March 11, 2018 - 3:00pm - Wentz Concert Hall
Monday, March 12, 2018 – 7:30pm - Symphony Center
Chicago Sinfonietta;
Mei-Ann Chen, Music Director and Conductor; Anima Singers, children’s choir
|
Price
|
Dances in the Canebrakes
|
|
Higdon
|
Dance Card
|
|
Kouyoumdjian
|
Become Who I Am
|
|
Esmail
|
Avaaz
|
|
Pejačević
|
Symphony in Fm
|
|
Clyne
|
Masquerade
|
For
its penultimate concert of the season, Chicago Sinfonietta places the
work of leading female composers center
stage with an evening-length program featuring artists from all over
the word with compositions spanning nearly a century. The concert opens
with the indigenous African rhythms of
Price Dances in the Canebrakes by Florence Beatrice Price, the first African-American woman to have a composition played by a major orchestra, followed by the
Chicago Premiere of Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s Dance Card. The first half concludes with the
Chicago Premiere of Armenian-American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian’s Become Who I Am, an exploration of gender roles and inequality featuring internationally
recognized youth choir
Anima Singers. The second half opens with the World Premiere of Indian-American composer Reena Esmail’s Avaaz
followed by the Chicago Premiere of Dora Pejačević’s Symphony in Fm. The program ends with Grammy Award-winning composer Anna Clyne’s
Masquerade, inspired by original mid-18th century promenade concerts.
Concert V: Rise
Saturday, May 12, 2018 - 8:00pm - Wentz Concert Hall
Monday, May 14, 2018 - 7:30pm - Symphony Center
Chicago Sinfonietta;
Mei-Ann Chen, Music Director and Conductor; Harlem Quartet;
Apostolic Church of God Sanctuary Choir
|
Lee
|
Come Unto Me
|
|
Fleischer
|
West Side Story
|
|
Still
|
Sunday Symphony
|
|
Gospel/Spiritual
|
Chicago Sinfonietta closes its season by exploring how music expresses love, conflict, survival and spirituality
- the unseen forces that inspire us to invent, overcome and transcend. The concert begins with the
Chicago Premiere of James Lee’s Come Unto Me followed by passion and conflict in an original arrangement
of West Side Story for quartet and orchestra by Randall Fleischer featuring the Grammy Award-winning
Harlem Quartet, which the Sinfonietta originally premiered and recorded with Harlem Quartet in 2012. The second half begins with
William Grant Still’s
Sunday Symphony which will take audiences on a journey of
awaking, regeneration and romance before closing the program with a
complication of spiritual and gospel works featuring the
Apostolic Church of God Sanctuary Choir, who have performed with the Sinfonietta for nearly 25 years.
Ticket Information
Season
subscription discount packages are now available and entitle the buyer
to a full range of exclusive membership benefits, including: ticket
exchange or replacement privileges; discounts on
additional single ticket purchases; a “Bring a Friend for Free” pass to
the concert of one’s choice; priority seating; and access to exclusive
subscriber offers from local partners. 2017-2018 Season subscriptions
are on sale now with flexible options to fit
everyone including Pick-3 and Pick-4 packages, multiple price points
and even $50 full season subscriptions for students.
Single
tickets go on sale July 1, 2017 with prices ranging from $20-$99 for
concerts at Symphony Center and $49-$62 for concerts at North Central
College with special $10 pricing available for students
at both concerts. Tickets can be purchased by calling Chicago
Sinfonietta at 312-284-1554 or online at
www.chicagosinfonietta.org.
The
30th Anniversary Concert: A Birthday Battle of the Bands! concert at
Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park is completely free and open to
the public.
About the Sinfonietta
Now in its 30th
season, Chicago Sinfonietta has pushed artistic boundaries to provide
an alternative way of hearing, seeing and thinking about a symphony
orchestra
and is dedicated to promoting diversity, inclusion, racial and cultural
equity in the arts. Each concert experience blends inventive new works
with classical masterworks, each from a diverse array of voices, to
entertain, transform and inspire. In 2016, Chicago
Sinfonietta was the proud recipient of the 2016 Spirit of Innovation Award presented by the Chicago Innovation Awards as well as the
John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s prestigious MacArthur Award
for Creative and Effective Institutions (MACEI). The MacArthur award
recognizes exceptional organizations that are
key contributors in their fields. Learn more at www.chicagosinfonietta.org
Chicago
Sinfonietta is grateful to its sponsors and supporters including: Aon,
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Exelon, Illinois Tool Works, Molex,
PWC, Southwest Airlines, Fairmont, Hotel Indigo,
Macy’s, NBC5 Chicago, Chicago Magazine, Naperville Magazine, SECA Fund,
Joyce Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,
Alphawood
Foundation, Pritzker Foundation, DCASE, Illinois Arts Council,
Naperville Special Events Cultural Amenities Commission, Paul M. Angell
Foundation.
No comments:
Post a Comment