Tickets now available for September 12, 2021 concert at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, featuring pieces by Copland, Mozart, Norris and Still;
Back by popular demand, young violin virtuoso
Njioma Grevious returns to perform
GLORY by Marcus Norris, winner of inaugural
Donna Milanovich Composer in Residence competition
CHICAGO (August 18, 2021) –The Chicago Philharmonic Society proudly announces the launch of its 32nd Season with the concert Out of the Silence on September 12, 2021 at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts (9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie). Led by Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Scott Speck, named 2021 Conductor of the Year by Illinois Council of Orchestras, Out of Silence marks Chicago Philharmonic’s triumphant return to live performances. Single tickets ranging from $10-$75 are now available at chicagophilharmonic.org.
"The Chicago Philharmonic and I can't wait to play for live audiences again, and we've saved up some beautiful experiences!” said Speck. “I'm thrilled to be presenting four world premieres and an American premiere all within the same season,” said Maestro Speck. “Out of the Silence is the perfect concert to celebrate our return to the stage and will showcase the incredible solo talents of our very own Sergey Gutorov as well as Njioma Grevious who is truly a rising star. Join us!”
Out of the Silence spotlights two pieces from iconic 20th century American composers: one of the most important works in American classical music, Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, as well as William Grant Still’s meditative Out of the Silence, from which program gets its name. Out of the Silence also features Chicago Philharmonic musician member Sergey Gutorov in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622. Concluding the program in spectacular fashion is GLORY, performed by young violin virtuoso Njioma Grievous. The violin concerto is composed by Marcus Norris, who was recently selected as one of three winners of Chicago Philharmonic’s first-time Donna Milanovich Composer in Residence program. GLORY made its Chicago debut virtually on June 29 via Chicago Philharmonic’s virtual Redemption concert, which closes August 27 via Harris Theatre’s HT Virtual Stage.
The Composer in Residence program, named after recently retired Executive Director Milanovich, is a three-year residency that includes live performances of newly composed works for orchestra and chamber ensembles, a $2,500 award per composer, a seat on Chicago Philharmonic’s Artistic Committee, and development opportunities with Maestro Speck.
For the safety of patrons and musicians, all audience and staff members at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts will be required to wear a face mask, regardless of vaccination status.
ABOUT NJIOMA GREVIOUS
Violinist Njioma Grevious of Washington, DC, is an avid chamber, studio, and orchestral musician, who recently graduated from The Juilliard School after studying with Ronald Copes. She won a Keston-Max Fellowship to study and perform with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2022. In 2018, she won First Prizes for Performance and Interpretation in the Prix Ravel chamber music competition in France. In 2019, along with her colleagues in the Abeo Quartet, she won the Silver Medal in the Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition, and appeared on WQXR Midday Masterpieces and WETA Classical Radio as well as in performances at Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center, in Montreal, and Oslo, Norway. Grevious is a Jupiter Symphony chamber player and a member of the Montclair Orchestra. She has been invited to participate in numerous summer festivals including the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Montreal International String Quartet Academy, Meadowmount, Fontainebleau Schools and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Grevious has been a concertmaster with the Juilliard Wind Orchestra and has performed on tour in Germany, the Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Spain, Argentina and more as a member of the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. For many years Grevious was a scholarship recipient through Boston’s Project STEP string training program for youth. She fondly remembers the special privilege of performing in a quartet for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at a prestigious White House State Dinner. Throughout her life Grevious has regularly shared her love of music as a frequent performer in nursing homes and assisted living residences. She continues her outreach as a Juilliard Gluck fellow, performing in a variety of hospital settings for veterans and others suffering physically and mentally. Grevious also loves teaching composition and collaboration to elementary and middle school students, most from underserved and underrepresented communities, through the Opportunity Music Project in NYC.
ABOUT SERGEY GUTOROV
Sergey Gutorov began studying the clarinet at the age 9 with his father in Kursk, Russia. He is a musician member of the Chicago Philharmonic and currently holds the positions of Principal Clarinet of the Green Bay Symphony and Associate Principal/E-flat clarinet in the South Bend Symphony. In 2009, he completed a Diploma in Orchestral Studies at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. While there, he was the winner of the concerto competition and a finalist in the Barnett Family Foundation Competition. From 2008-2010, Gutorov was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and was one of the featured soloists in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Prior to his studies in the US, he held positions in both the Ministry of Defense Orchestra of the Russian Federation and The Moscow Symphony Orchestra, under its principal conductor Vladimir Ziva. He holds diplomas from the Moscow State Wind College and the State Classical Academy Maimonides. His principal teachers include Sergey Gutorov Sr., Vladimir Sokolov, Evgeny Petrov, Ivan Butirsky, and John Bruce Yeh.
ABOUT MARCUS NORRIS
Marcus Norris, 29, is a current UCLA PhD candidate with strong connections to Chicago, having received his Bachelor of Music in Composition at Columbia College Chicago. Norris’ first foray into making music came in the form of producing rap beats on pirated software, installed on a Windows 98 computer that he Macgyvered together from spare parts while lying on the floor of his childhood bedroom. Though he came to composing concert music later, he transferred that same imagination and ingenuity to writing music of all kinds. Norris achievements include being awarded the prestigious Cota-Robles fellowship for pursuing his PhD at UCLA, being chosen for the LA Philharmonic’s National Composers Intensive (2020), and winning 1st prize in the Southeastern Composers League Competition (2017). His violin concerto GLORY opened to three sold-out performances when premiered by the Jackson Symphony Orchestra in 2019, and then was subsequently performed in Guangzhou, China later that year. His Dance Suite I Tried So Hard for You premiered in Havana in 2018, closely following the Russian String Orchestra premiere of My Idols Are Dead in Moscow. In 2020 he founded South Side Symphony – the only orchestra that would perform Back That Thang Up in the same concert as Beethoven. For more information on Norris and his music visit www.marcusnorris.com.
ABOUT THE CHICAGO PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY
The Chicago Philharmonic Society is a collaboration of nearly 200 of the highest-level classical musicians performing in the Chicago metropolitan area. Governed under a groundbreaking structure of musician leadership, the Society presents concerts at venues throughout the Chicago area that cover the full spectrum of symphonic music. The Society’s orchestra, known simply as the Chicago Philharmonic, has been called one of the country’s finest symphonic orchestras, and its unique chamber music ensembles, which perform as Chicago Phil Chamber, draw from its vast pool of versatile musicians. The Society’s community engagement programs connect Chicago-area youth to classical music by providing access to symphonic concerts, mentorship from Chicago Philharmonic musicians, and performance opportunities. Founded 32 years ago, the Chicago Philharmonic is known for providing symphonic support to international and national touring companies in all music genres and served as the official orchestra of the Joffrey Ballet for eight years. The Chicago Philharmonic also continues its nearly 30-year association with Ravinia Festival, is a resident company of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, and performs at all the great concert halls of the Chicago and North Shore area, including Auditorium Theatre and Symphony Center. The Illinois Council of Orchestras has awarded the Chicago Philharmonic “Orchestra of the Year'' (2018), “Programming of the Year” (2019), “Community Relations of the Year” (2019), “Executive Director of the Year” (2020), and “Conductor of the Year” (2021). More information can be found at chicagophilharmonic.org.
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