Saturday, August 31, 2019

SFCV.org: Anthony Parnther Finds Inspiration Everywhere

Anthony Parnther
(Konstantin Golochinsky)


By Victoria Looseleaf

August 31, 2019

A prolific conductor of film, television, and video game scores, Anthony Parnther may be one of Southern California’s best kept musical secrets. An American conductor of West Indian and Samoan descent, Parnther was recently appointed music director of the San Bernardino Symphony, whose 91st season begins Sept. 14 with the maestro leading the orchestra in a program that includes Orff’s Carmina Burana.

Also a bassoonist with the Hollywood Studio Symphony, Parnther, who was born in Norfolk, Virginia, earned a master’s degree in conducting from Yale University, having studied the art form at Northwestern University and education at East Tennessee State University. He is a leading authority on orchestral works by minority and women composers and has, to date, restored and performed works by Florence Price, Zenobia Powell Perry, William Grant Still, and Duke Ellington, among others.


In addition, the 2019–2020 season will see Parnther taking the podium for his 10th year as music director of the Southeast Symphony in Los Angeles. A primarily African-American orchestra that was founded in 1948, the symphony continues to perform a wide range of works, from spirituals and civil rights’ anthems to Handel’s Messiah. In April of last year, Parnther led a program dedicated to the works of composer/flutist James Newton that also featured musical luminaries such as pianist Gloria Cheng.

Garnering praise for his conducting prowess throughout the world, Parnther has made appearances on five continents, and in such locales as the United Kingdom, South Korea, and throughout the United States. Indeed, Parnther was one of only two conductors to have opened the refurbished Queen Elizabeth’s Hall (the other was Benjamin Britten in 1968), when he conducted Europe’s first symphony orchestra made up entirely of black and minority ethnic professional musicians, the Chineke! Orchestra. Of that performance, the Guardian’s Tim Ashley wrote, “The finale [of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony] was edge-of-your-seat stuff, blending rhythmic precision and energy with heady elation.”

And talk about heady elation, Parnther is the go-to guy for conducting Riot Games’ international e-sport juggernaut, League of Legends (LOL). Chalking up a staggering 120 million active users, LOL is the most-played video game on the planet, with Parnther having served as principal conductor for both scoring sessions and live concerts since 2013.

Helming megaconcerts globally, including at venues such as Seoul’s World Cup Stadium, Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi, and at home in Los Angeles at the Staples Center, Parnther was delighted to talk about this 21st-century phenomenon, as well as his myriad activities, in a phone conversation that covered the musical waterfront.

What prompted your interest in music — and why the bassoon?
My entry into music was mostly because I wanted to go on field trips. I’d be stuck in some class and would hear on the loudspeaker, “Would all the members of the middle school report to the band room for their trip to Disney World,” or [something] like that. And I wanted to go on all of these fabulous trips. My friends would come back and say how fun this was, so my plot was to join the band. I opened the dictionary and in the “A” section I saw an accordion — I remember seeing it on The Lawrence Welk Show. When I got to the “B” section I decided I would play the bassoon because I thought it was a fascinating contraption. I took it to the band director to join, but, unfortunately, the band did not go on any trips the next year.

Friday, August 30, 2019

BroadwayWorld.com: TREEMONISHA, Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre


Broadway World UK


Treemonisha is educated and smart and is a threat to the conjurers who sell their good luck charms to the poor black folks scraping a living off the land in the heat of Arkansas. These ex-slaves have been freed for a generation, but when the slaveowners quit, they left little behind them of economic value and life is hard.

There is joy and there is culture too, the songs and dances finding inspiration both in African roots and in American churches. But everywhere the weight of generations of oppression and fear hangs in the air, the stasis imposed by an unseen overlord every bit as present as it was when imposed at the end of a whip.

Treemonisha, a foundling clandestinely educated by a white woman, is captured by the conjurers, but swiftly rescued and returns to her community where she realises that she has a choice to make and a destiny to follow. She doesn't quite say it in as many words and it's hardly on the same scale, but we all know that She Has A Dream.

Sedona.biz: Clarinet Quintet of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor at Sedona, AZ 3 PM Sept. 8

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

Sedona.biz

Sedona AZ (August 30, 2019) – The Red Rocks Music Festival is proud to partner with the Sedona International Film Festival to present a special concert at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 3 p.m.

The concert — “From Mozart to Gershwin and More” — will include selections by Mozart, Coleridge-Taylor, Gershwin and Webern.

Featured artists and musicians are:
  • David Ehrlich, violin — Fine Arts Outreach Fellow, VA Tech
  • Yibin Li, violin — Faculty at Julliard & Mannes Music Schools
  • Christopher Mckay, principal viola — The Phoenix Symphony
  • Jan Simiz, assist. principal cello — The Phoenix Symphony
  • Alex Laing, principal clarinet — the Phoenix Symphony
The program will include selections from Mozart Clarinet quintet, K. 581, written in 1789 and is one of the earliest and best known works written for the clarinet and a string quartet.

The clarinet quintet by English composer Samuel Coleridge Taylor was written in 1895 as a challenge not to write a clarinet quintet modeling after the Brahms clarinet quintet. This enchanted work is rarely performed and to our knowledge, it will be performed for the first time in Sedona.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

TheGuardian.com: Treemonisha...Tin Pan Alley meets Wagner in rare Scott Joplin

Economical … Devon Harrison, Caroline Modiba, Deborah Aloba, Andrew Clarke, Aivale Cole and Grace Nyandoro in Treemonisha. Photograph: Robert Workman


August 28, 2019

Flora Wilson

The year 1911 was a vintage one for opera. Bartók composed Bluebeard’s Castle, Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier and Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole made their debuts. All three are now repertory fixtures. The same can’t be said for Treemonisha, another work that premiered in 1911 and one of the rarities at this year’s ever-resourceful Grimeborn, a musical theatre and opera festival in east London.

This three-acter is by Scott Joplin, the self-styled king of ragtime, and it was his second attempt in the genre. He called his first a ragtime opera, and its score is sadly lost, but in Treemonisha Joplin wanted to show his credentials as a serious composer in a European vein, even writing his own libretto in a gesture to Richard Wagner.

Treemonisha is a long way from Bayreuth. Its touches of Wagnerian harmony mingle with middle-period Verdi, perhaps a dash of Schubert, plenty of Tin Pan Alley and, inevitably, explosions of ragtime. In the Spectra Ensemble’s reduction for Grimeborn, we get none of the symphonic heft Joplin was so keen to exploit. But there were excellent performances by the six musicians, led by flautist and music director Matthew Lynch. Berginald Rash’s clarinet playing was especially stylish.

The singing was mixed. Joplin’s solo lines are surprisingly angular and, aside from a few strophic numbers, often bitty – hard to pull off without more luxurious orchestral support. Nevertheless, Grace Nyandoro as Treemonisha was a sweetly reluctant heroine, all hand-wringing and lip-pursing, her soprano metallic and hyper-focused, as she survives abduction to demonstrate the value of education.

Lara Downes Releases Album Celebrating Clara Schumann on Her 200th Birthday

Lara Downes

For Love of You
Clara & Robert Schumann
Lara Downes
San Francisco Ballet Orchestra
Martin West, Conductor
Available on September 13 on Amazon, Apple Music, Spotify, and most streaming services.  Distributed by Naxos of America.

Lara Downes continues her celebration of phenomenal women in music with For Love of You, a tribute to Clara Schumann, both pianist and composer, in celebration of the 200th anniversary of her birth (9/13/1819). The solo piano works on this recording date from the last three tumultuous and decisive years of Clara and Robert’s courtship, before their marriage in 1840. These imaginative and emotionally profound pieces – Robert’s Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 and Clara’s Romances, Op. 11 – illustrate the passion and creative synergies that brought two great artists together, despite obstacles and struggles, into a union that produced some of the greatest works of the Romantic era. Robert’s Piano Concerto, was written at Clara’s incessant urging and under her guidance, intended as a vehicle for her pianistic brilliance. Downes performs the concerto here in tribute to the  remarkable woman who coaxed this music into existence and brought it to life under her hands – a lasting testimony to Robert’s love for his Clara.

John Malveaux: NPR.org: Listening For Marian Anderson In The Past And Present

Marian Anderson is known more for two events than for the talents that made them possible. But there is more to be told, and so she asks us to listen again for who and what we know her to be.
© Yousuf Karsh/http://karsh.org

John Malveaux of 
writes:

More about Marian Anderson 


August 29, 2019

Shana L. Redmond

I learned relatively early the importance of paying attention to silence. Long pauses and refusals to answer were forms of evidence at home as well as school. What I didn't hear or wouldn't say was often as laden with meaning as what I was told or said, and it's in part the conversations shared between sound and silence that led me to study music. I came to the decision honestly, though not easily. As a college student I struggled to commit to the major, delaying my declaration on multiple occasions because I rarely saw or heard anyone who looked or sounded like me in my music classes. Eventually I stopped expecting others to give me what I could find on my own. I began to search, read and listen for those beyond the looming canon of dead white men. It sometimes was a lonely effort and always far from romantic, but I did eventually recognize that, whether welcomed or not, my presence in those vibrating halls was no accident.

My effort led to knowledges that I carry still: genealogies of creation and the names of those creators, including that of a woman who has quietly occupied my thinking and listening for years. Though many decades removed from my experience, Marian Anderson too wanted a life in music, but lived in a world in which her race and ambitions were structured in opposition to one another. Turned away from an elite school of music for being black, she pursued studies outside of the classroom and within a few years was singing with the New York Philharmonic. She made a spectacular way from no way and has continued to do so well after her lifetime, revealing that she is still with us and more capacious than many acknowledge. She is known more for two particular events than for the talents that made either possible. Each is significant — historic, in fact: the Lincoln Memorial concert in 1939 in which she sung for the nation in defiance of the Daughters of the American Revolution's racist refusal to host her at Washington, D.C.'s Constitution Hall, and her role in Un Ballo in Maschera that broke the color barrier at The Metropolitan Opera in 1955. But those are part of a 40-year career. There is more to be told, and so she asks us to listen again for who and what we know her to be.        

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Announcing recipients of 2020 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and $50k career grant


The Sphinx Medal of Excellence is the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization, annually awarded to three classical artists of color who demonstrate artistic excellence, outstanding work ethic, a spirit of determination, and an ongoing commitment to leadership.
Congratulations to the 2020 Medalists!



The 9th annual Sphinx Medals of Excellence 
will be bestowed at a private luncheon 
hosted by the The Kennedy Center and The 
Aspen Institute, and honorees will be 
celebrated at a black-tie private dinner in Washington, D.C.

Sphinx Organization

Sergio Mims: Duo MemDi plays Bartok Sonata on WHPK-FM Tuesday, Sept 10


Sergio A. Mims writes:


I wanted you and your readers to know that on my WHPK-FM Chicago classical music program on Tuesday Sept. 10 I will playing the recent Albany recording of Bartok's Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 1 performed by  Duo MemDi who are pianist Rochelle Sennet and violinist Igor Kalnin  both of whom have established international careers to much acclaim.  

Also on the program will be Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Pierre Boulez  The radio show can be heard locally in the Chicago area on 88.5 FM and worldwide on the station's website at whpk.org on Tuesdays 12-3 PM (U.S. Central Daylight Time). 

Sergio Mims: Warner Classics: Jeanine De Bique in "Rodelinda" on DVD Oct. 25


Sergio A. Mims writes:

Erato Records has announced that they will be releasing on Oct. 25 on DVD and Blu-ray the acclaimed Opera de Lille production of Handel's opera Rodelinda starring soprano Jeanine De Bique.

Warner Classics

Jeanine De Bique
Jakub Jozef Orlinski
Tim Mead
Benjamin Hulett
Avery Amereau
Andrea Mastroni
Jean Bellorini, dirctor/producer
Le Concert d'Astree
Emmanuelle Haim conductor

With this DVD and Blu-ray of Rodelinda, one of Handel’s most emotionally complex operas, conductor Emmanuelle Haïm adds to her impressive catalogue of the composer’s works. The imaginative production, by Jean Bellorini, was seen at the Opéra de Lille in Autumn 2018, and the cast features soprano Jeanine De Bique in the title role, countertenor Tim Mead as her husband Bertarido and another countertenor, Erato’s rising star Jakub Józef Orliński as Unulfo. 

Reviewing the production, Le Monde noted Emmanuelle Haïm’s “intimate connection with this music, which she knows how to unleash in all its violence, passion and heart-wrenching expressivity.”

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

947TheWave.Radio.com: Thomas Wilkins & Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Sept. 13-14


Thomas Wilkins

94.7 The Wave

Earth, Wind, & Fire returns to the Hollywood Bowl, September 13th and 14th! Get funkified with one of the most celebrated bands of all time!

Together with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Thomas Wilkins – plus a sky full of fireworks – Earth, Wind & Fire will make this "September" one to remember forever. The party-starting hitmakers have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and are the recipients of nine Grammys – including the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award.


Monday, August 26, 2019

NAACP Announces New Chief Financial Officer

Arlis M. Whalum

The NAACP is pleased to announce that Arlis Whalum will serve as its new Chief Financial Officer. Whalum will oversee all accounting and finance functions, while providing strategic recommendations that ensures all financial solutions, positively support the NAACP’s evolving strategy, vision and mission.

Arlis M. Whalum, CPA, is experienced in leading financial strategies and has extensive experience transforming financial and business practices that align to achieve strategies and growth. She has an established reputation for innovative financial solutions to business practices, internal controls and team alignment. 

"We are thrilled to welcome Arlis Whalum to our team," said NAACP President and CEO, Derrick Johnson. "The addition of her as CFO will contribute greatly to the direction of the organization as a whole."

Whalum has served several multi-entity associations as the lead financial executive. She has traveled from Chicago to Maryland, dedicated to the mission, values and enhancement of the NAACP. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with honors from Roosevelt University, and has an MBA in non-profit management and Doctor of Ministry in non-profit leadership from the Graduate Theological Foundation.


She enjoys training leaders in the area of leadership development and currently volunteers for a church related association that provides leadership training to local church pastors and their ministry leaders. In addition, she serves on the Board of a church as their treasurer providing financial presentations to the membership.

John Malveaux: USAToday.com: The founding family you’ve never heard of


John Malveaux of 
writes:


USA Today

August 26, 2019

HAMPTON, Va. – As Walter Jones walks his family’s ancient cemetery, shovel in hand, he wonders about those who rest there.

The gravestones date back as far as the 1800s. Some bear the names of folks Walter knew; some have faded to illegibility; some are in pieces. And, under the brush he’s cleared away and the ground he’s leveled, there are burial sites unmarked by any stone.

The cemetery means so much to Walter because his extended family – the Tuckers of Tidewater, Virginia – believe they are as much an American founding family as any from the Mayflower.

They have a widely recognized but possibly unprovable claim: that they are directly descended from the first identified African American people born on the mainland of English America, an infant baptized “William” around 1624.

It’s been 400 years this August since William’s parents arrived in the Virginia colony. The Tuckers, like many African Americans, struggle to trace their roots. They have no genealogical or DNA evidence linking them to those first Africans, but they have oral history and family lore.

And they have the cemetery, a repository of what unites them and what baffles them.

This graveyard, Walter says, is “the only thing you can actually put your hands on, put your eyes on.’’ 
He’s thinking of that July day two years ago. He was leveling earth when the blade of his shovel hit something solid.

He looked down. A round, gray object seemed to have emerged from the dirt. He dug under it a little and lifted it up. It looked like a section of a bowl.
He moved more dirt and spotted something else round and gray. He brushed it off and held it against the first object to see if they fit together.

He didn’t realize it at first, but he was holding a human skull.

Researchers would conclude that it belonged to an African American woman who was about 60 when she died – roughly Walter's age. But they couldn’t say when.

That night, the woman was all Walter could think about. She embodied every question, every possibility, about his family’s origins. And he’d held her in his bare hands.


AaronAsk: Weekly mentoring for a creative life: Let My People Go!


Aaron P. Dworkin writes:

Greetings and welcome to this week's episode of AaronAsk, your weekly mentoring session to live a fulfilling creative life!  This week's episode is titled, Let My People Go!  Enjoy, we wish you a creative day and see you for next week's session!
Comment by email:

Thanks so much and hope all is well!  [Aaron P. Dworkin]

Sunday, August 25, 2019

VictoriaAdvocate.com: Victoria woman gives gift of piano music to church for 6 decades

Linda Ross
(Shelby Miller samiller@vicad.com)

Victoria Advocate

[Victoria, Texas]

Linda Grant Ross was a little girl in the 1950s when she first set eyes on a piano.

At the time, her mother was a cook for Myrtle Braman, who lived at 206 W. Stayton St., which is today a historic Victoria home. Ross’ father also worked for the Bramans as a chauffeur, and the couple occasionally brought their children to the home.

“We lived in the country and Mom and Dad would go to work in town, so it was a real treat to go with them,” Ross, 69, remembered.


One of reasons she enjoyed visiting the Braman home, from which she can still recall the sweet pungency of magnolias, was the opportunity to play the old piano.                     
“Mrs. Braman didn’t fuss,” Ross recalled, remembering the first time she banged loudly on the upright’s keys as a curious 5-year-old. “She was happy I was playing because it was just sitting there.”

As Ross grew a few years older, the late Braman, who was a retired teacher and blind, paid for the young prodigy to take piano lessons at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, which then cost 75 cents a lesson.

Before Ross was 10 years old, she was playing at Mt. Nebo Baptist Church for Bible study classes, then the worship choir, with many adults realizing she had a gift for the keys.

“She had such a talent, a God-given talent, and it was obvious she was something special,” said Laura Sanders, who was a teenager at Mt. Nebo when she first remembers the 9-year-old Ross performing at the church. “There’s nothing she can’t play.”

Braman’s investment in those childhood lessons were the catalyst of a lifelong love of music and piano performance in the African-American churches in South Texas, where today she’s known as one of the best.

SoundWordSight.com: James P. Johnson's Harlem Symphony, Part Four


Jeffrey James writes:

Kyle Gann's analysis of the fourth movement of James P. Johnson's Harlem Symphony is online at https://www.soundwordsight.com/2019/08/james-p-johnson-harlem-symphony-1932-fourth-movement-baptist-mission-an-analysis-by-kyle-gann/

Saturday, August 24, 2019

3rd Annual HBCU Alumni Black-Tie Gala Friday, September 20, 2019, 7-11 PM

Get Your Tickets Today!
Top: William E. Bennett, Ph.D.; Rosie Allen-Herring; James L. McNeil
Bottom: Iris R. Wagstaff, Ph.D.; Eunique Jones- Gibson; Leah M. Williams

Our Host for the Evening
Independent journalist and 90s BET icon Madelyne Woods is one of the most talkative and talked about media personalities in black pop culture. Her broadcast career spans two decades and has introduced her to some of the world’s most fascinating people. As a television and radio personality, she’s won the respect and admiration of audiences with her candid and insightful analysis of news, politics and entertainment. Madelyne’s down to earth intelligence and instinctive ability to connect with guests grants her an intimacy that prompts newsmakers from the White House to the Real Housewives to relax and talk with uncommon candor. Currently, she’s an on-air personality with Radio One DC flagship station Majic 102.3 & 92.7 FM, where she hosts “The Goods with Madelyne Woods”, an entertainment feature during “The Donnie Simpson Show.” She also hosts and produces the station’s weekly public affairs show “Just Like Us.” In addition, Madelyne is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated “Tom Joyner Morning Show.” Though she’s well known for her celebrity scoops, Madelyne stays top of mind thanks to Phife Dawg of a Tribe Called Quest who rapped, “hun you got the goods, like Madelyne Woods.” Madelyne is a native of Washington, DC where she currently resides. She loves writing, food, exercise, and vacationing with her family.

Our DJ for the Evening
DJ Face has been DJ-ing since the age of 12. Face plays in multiple clubs in the Washington, D.C. area and travels the world performing at venues in London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Germany, Aruba and more. You can hear DJ Face on Majic 102.3/92.7FM, on the Midday “Happy Hour” Mix with Vic Jagger, the five O’clock “Traffic Jam Relief” mix with Donnie Simpson & Tony Perkins, as well as every Saturday night from 7-10pm for the “Bassment Jam” Mix with host, Ric Chill. DJ Face is a member of the True School Corporation, which is an organization of DJ’s founded and run by Grammy Award winning producer and DJ, 9th Wonder. Currently, Face is the tour DJ for The CrossRhodes, a Hiphop/ Soul group led by Raheem DeVaughn and Wes Felton, and Jamla/Roc Nation artist, Rapsody.

Tickets are on sale for the 3rd Annual HBCU Alumni Black Tie Gala Presented by Xfinity.  You don't want to miss this.

Entertainment for the evening is Loose Ends Featuring Jane Eugene!  As you dance the night away, enjoy a complimentary open bar and heavy Hors d'oeuvres.

Sergio Mims: CSOA Announces Programming Details for Annual CSO Community Concert


Sergio A. Mims forwards this release:

CSOA Announces Programming Details for Annual CSO Community Concert and All-Access Chamber Series

Riccardo Muti and Chicago Symphony Orchestra Return to 
Lane Tech College Prep High School with All-Prokofiev Program for 
Community Concert on September 24

All-Access Chamber Series Begins November 3 and features CSO Musicians Performing at Symphony Center and other Community Locations


Free Ticket Reservations for Community Concert and All-Access Concerts 
Available Beginning August 23

CHICAGO—The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA) announces programming details for free public concerts during the 2019/20 season including the annual Community Concert with Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) on September 24, as well as the All-Access Chamber series that opens on November 3. Patrons can reserve free tickets for these performances beginning on August 23.
CSO COMMUNITY CONCERT 

On September 24, at 7:00 p.m., Muti and the CSO return to Lane Tech College Prep High School (2501 W. Addison) for a Community Concert. Muti and the Orchestra first performed together at Lane Tech for a Community Concert in November 2017 with a program featuring the music of Schubert and Brahms. This year’s all-Prokofiev program features a Suite from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Symphony No. 3, a program that will also be performed by Muti and the CSO at New York’s Carnegie Hall on November 16 and in the opening concert of the January 2020 European Tour in Cologne.

Lane Tech College Prep High School is one of seven Chicago Public School (CPS) Instrumental Music Partner schools supported by the Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO. Each year, students and teachers from CPS Instrumental Music Partner schools participate in educational activities with Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Civic Orchestra of Chicago musicians through their orchestra and band programs.

This year’s Community Concert marks the 10th event of its kind since the beginning of Muti’s tenure as music director in 2010, when he led a concert at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park for an audience of more than 25,000 people. Muti’s commitment to connect all Chicagoans with the CSO has led to return performances in Millennium Park, as well as in other community venues such as Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood, Morton East High School in Cicero and the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood.

2019/20 ALL-ACCESS CHAMBER SERIES

Programming for the 2019/20 All-Access Chamber Series has also been announced. This season, the six concerts are presented in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, as well as community venues throughout Chicago including the South Shore Cultural Center (7059 S. South Shore Drive), Beverly Arts Center (2407 W. 111th St.) and Senn High School (5900 N. Glenwood Ave.). All-Access Chamber concerts feature traditional and contemporary chamber music selections performed by the exceptional musicians of the CSO. Program details for the All-Access Chamber series can be accessed here.

All-Access Chamber series concerts are scheduled to take place as follows:

On Sunday, November 3, at 3:00 p.m. at the South Shore Cultural Center, the Wabash Avenue Music Collective (Rong-Yan Tang, violin; Max Raimi, viola; Karen Basrak, cello; Emma Gerstein, flute and Daniel Paul Horn, piano) performs Beethoven’s Serenade for Flute, Violin and Viola in D Major and Mendelssohn’s Piano Quartet No. 3. The group also performs Havenu Sholem Aleichem: Variations and Theme, composed by Max Raimi.

On Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. at Symphony Center, the CSO Chamber Players (Robert Chen, violin; John Sharp, cello; Stephen Williamson, clarinet and Kuang-Hao Huang, piano) perform Bartók’s Contrasts and Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps.
On Tuesday, March 10, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. at Senn High School, The Addison Ensemble (Aiko Noda, violin; Diane Mues, viola; Loren Brown, cello and Andrea Swan, piano) performs Beethoven’s String Trio in D Major, Op. 9, No. 2, as well as Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor.
On Wednesday, April 1, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. at Symphony Center, Chicago Pro Musica (Jennifer Gunn, flute; Michael Henoch, oboe; John Bruce Yeh, clarinet; Oto Carillo, horn and William Buchman, bassoon) performs an all-French program including Ibert’s Trois pièces brèves, Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin, as well as works by Debussy and Pierné.
On Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. at Symphony Center, the Pressenda Trio (David Taylor, violin; Gary Stucka, cello and Andrea Swan, piano) performs Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 1, No. 1 and Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 2.

On Sunday, June 14, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. at the Beverly Arts Center, The Linden Ensemble (Kozue Funakoshi, violin; Daniel Katz, cello; Daniel Gingrich, horn; and Yoko Yamada, piano) performs Beethoven’s Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello in B-flat Major and Brahms’ Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano in E-flat Major.

The All-Access Chamber series is complemented by the annual CSO Chamber Music series at the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as additional chamber music concerts performed in schools and other neighborhood venues across Chicago each year.

Free tickets for the annual CSO Community Concert and the All-Access Chamber series concerts can be reserved beginning August 23 by phone at (800) 223-7114 or (312) 294-3000, online at cso.org, or at the Symphony Center box office: 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60604.

The CSO’s music director position is endowed in perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation.

Bank of America is the Maestro Residency Presenter of the CSO.

United Airlines is the Official Airline of the CSO.
The CSO’s Community Concert is supported in part by the Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO in partnership with Lane Tech College Prep High School.

The All-Access Chamber series is generously sponsored by an anonymous benefactor.


Artists, programs and prices are subject to change.