Chicago Symphony Orchestra Offers Wide Array of Concerts for Families in 2009-2010

Kraft Foods Family Matinee Series Explores “Story Time with the Symphony” with Featured Guest Artists Magic Circle Mime Company and Joffrey Ballet

Additional Family-Friendly Programs Include Welcome Yule!, Vienna Boys Choir, The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, CSO with Redmoon Theater

Symphony Center‟s 2009-2010 season provides a wealth of family-friendly programming throughout the year, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra‟s three-concert Kraft Foods Family Matinee Series with special theatrical guests, festive concerts during the holidays, favorite movie music and more.

CSO Kraft Foods Family Matinee Series

The Kraft Foods Family Matinee Series features programs specifically designed to introduce children to orchestral music in an entertaining and educational way. This year, the CSO—with special guests Magic Circle Mime Company, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and dynamic conductors and soloists—celebrates “Story Time with the Symphony,” exploring fantastic musical stories by some of the world‟s greatest composers.

Families will discover musical fairy tales of Ravel and Tchaikovsky, experience real-life adventures of the precocious young Mozart and explore Stravinsky‟s beautiful ballet The Firebird. The Saturday matinee concerts take place twice daily on Nov. 21, 2009, Feb. 27, 2010, and May 1, 2010, at 11 a.m. and 12:45pm.

In addition, starting one hour before each performance, Symphony Center hosts free, hands-on family activities led by The Art Institute of Chicago and other community arts and music organizations.

Kicking off the CSO‟s family series on Saturday, Nov. 21, is “Mother Goose and More!” Ravel‟s beloved Mother Goose ballet borrows stories from such classic tales as “Sleeping Beauty,” “Tom Thumb” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

Young conductor David Afkham leads members of the CSO in Ravel‟s adventuresome work, as well as bewitching music from Humperdinck‟s Hansel and Gretel, enchanting excerpts from Tchaikovsky‟s Sleeping Beauty, Rimsky-Korsakov‟s famous Flight of the Bumble-Bee and more.

Joining the Orchestra onstage will be narrators Gerard McBurney and Laura T. Fisher, weaving these tales together with the music in an original script penned by McBurney, who is highly praised for his enthralling CSO Beyond the Score explorations of orchestral masterworks.

A frequent guest on CSO kids‟ concerts, Magic Circle Mime Company returns on Saturday, Feb. 27, to present “The Mozart Experience” with members of the CSO under the direction of David Amado.

With excerpts from some of Mozart‟s most popular and exciting music—including Eine kleine Nachtmusik, The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni and the Jupiter Symphony—the program tells the story of a mischievous street musician suddenly and magically thrust into the role of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, himself notorious for his precociousness and playful nature.

Orchestra, mimes and baritone Michael Cavalieri lead the audience through whimsical adventures like those faced by the great composer in his own lifetime.

Finally, the dramatic season closes on Saturday, May 1, as dancers from Chicago‟s own Joffrey Ballet join the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conductor Edwin Outwater for Stravinsky‟s Suite from The Firebird, the breakthrough ballet score that launched the composer to international fame overnight.

In the ancient Russian folktale of good versus evil, Prince Ivan captures and then befriends the magnificent, mythical Firebird. The Firebird gives Ivan one of her brilliant golden feathers to protect the young man from evil, promising to come to his rescue if he is ever in danger.

Ivan then meets a beautiful princess being held captive by an evil sorcerer, and as he attempts to free her, he is caught. The sorcerer will turn him to stone, but Ivan remembers the magic feather and calls upon the Firebird to save him and the princess.

Then, with the aid of powers found within a mysterious egg, good conquers evil, the sorcerer vanishes, and the kingdom celebrates in joy.

A learning program of The Institute for Learning, Access and Training at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Kraft Foods Family Matinee Series is recommended for children ages 5 and up and is generously sponsored by Kraft Foods.

These programs are also presented twice under the banner of Very Special Promenades for school groups comprised of students in kindergarten through third grade and students of all ages with special needs.

Subscriptions for the three-concert Kraft Foods Family Matinee Series range in price from $18 to $87 and may be purchased by phone at 312-294-3000 or 800-223-7114, online at www.cso.org, or by visiting the Symphony Center box office; single tickets are $6 to $35.

In advance of the concerts, subscribers will receive Kidsbook, a free full-color preparatory guide filled with information about each program as well as fun musical games and activities for the whole family.

Patrons also are invited to the preconcert activities beginning one hour before each performance and featuring arts, crafts and interactive musical games and workshops led by teaching artists.

Special Holiday Concerts for Families

An annual Thanksgiving-weekend delight in Chicago, the Vienna Boys Choir returns to Symphony Center for a joyful performance on Saturday, November 28, at 3 p.m., featuring holiday favorites both sacred and secular, folk songs and popular numbers.

Founded more than 500 years ago, the beloved choir has worked with such musical luminaries as Mozart, Gluck and Bruckner, and it once counted Franz Schubert as one of its boy singers.

Today‟s ensemble consists of 100 choristers between the ages of 10 and 14, divided into four touring choirs that travel throughout Europe, Asia and North America and perform more than 300 concerts in front of nearly half a million people each year.

Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus once again ring in the spirit of the holiday season with eight Welcome Yule! performances, December 18-23, led by chorus director and conductor Duain Wolfe.

These full-length musical productions—replete with favorite carols, dazzling spectacle and Christmas surprises—feature dancers, children‟s chorus and appearances by holiday characters, including the fat man in the red suit, in what has become a beloved holiday tradition unique to Chicago.

Movie Music and Stunning Spectacles

Hollywood‟s leading composer-conductor, John Williams leads the CSO in movie-music favorites on Friday, Nov. 27, at 8 p.m. (Friday Night at the Movies); Saturday, Nov. 28, at 8 p.m.; and a matinee on Sunday, Nov. 29, at 3 p.m.

The well-loved Harry Potter films are highlighted on the program, with Emmy-nominated actress Holland Taylor (Two and a Half Men, The Practice) weaving together with narration selections from Williams‟ magical, award-winning scores in “A Grand Suite from Harry Potter,” while movie clips are shown on the big screen above the orchestra.

Williams also is joined by renowned actor Michael York, who will narrate a tribute to director Sir David Lean, showing excerpts from his films The Bridge on the River Kwai, Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and others.

In a newly formed partnership, Chicago‟s Redmoon Theater will join the Chicago Symphony Orchestra onstage to perform a world-premiere shadow-puppetry spectacle accompanying a suite from Tchaikovsky‟s fairy-tale ballet Swan Lake.

Known for dynamic productions that challenge boundaries and transform perceptions, Redmoon celebrates our common humanity, speaking a universal, visual language accessible to all.

On this program, conductor Alexander Polianichko also leads the CSO in a suite from Tchaikovsky‟s The Snow Maiden; the concert is presented on the Afterwork Masterworks series on Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 6:30 p.m. with no intermission, as well as Thursday, Dec. 17, at 8 p.m.; a matinee on Friday, Dec. 18, at 1:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Dec. 20, at 8 p.m.

On Friday, May 28, at 8 p.m., the CSO presents a concert performance of one of the greatest movies of all time, The Wizard of Oz, on the Friday Night at the Movies series. Richard Kaufman conducts the complete score including songs by Arlen and Harburg, with unforgettable performances by Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Frank Morgan, Margaret Hamilton and Billie Burke.

With the full-length film shown on the big screen and new transcriptions of lost scores performed by the CSO, the movie musical masterpiece will come to life in Orchestra Hall—a treasured delight for the whole family.

TICKETS for all 2009-2010 Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Center Presents and Civic Orchestra of Chicago concerts can be purchased by calling CSO ticketing services at 312-294-3000 or 800-223-7114, online at cso.org, or by visiting the Symphony Center box office at 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60604.

Discounted student tickets can be purchased, subject to availability, online in advance or at the box office on the day of the concert. For group rates, please call 312-294-3040. Artists, programs and ticket prices are subject to change.