CHICAGO, Sept. 20 /CHICAGOPRESSRELEASE.COM/ — Last night, an estimated number of more than 25,000 (including 12,000 at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and Great Lawn, and at least 13,000 in the surrounding areas of Millennium Park) came out to celebrate the launch of Riccardo Muti’s tenure as the tenth music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a historic event that marks a new era in the cultural life of Chicago.

The day of musical festivities in downtown Chicago’s Millennium Park culminated in a free evening concert led by Maestro Muti—his first as music director—featuring crowd-pleasing masterpieces by Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Verdi and Respighi.

Skyscrapers surrounding Millennium Park lit their windows to spell out “MUTI” and “CSO” for the occasion, and the concert was capped off with an exciting burst of fireworks around the pavilion. Prior to the concert, young musicians from Chicago-area music programs, schools and partners of the CSO performed throughout the park as a part of this day of celebrations.

Riccardo Muti has expressed his deep commitment to engaging with the Chicago community and taking the CSO to reach as broad an audience as possible, as well as advocating for music education and encouraging young musicians to pursue their talents. The Chicago Symphony’s historic 2010/11 season at its home, Symphony Center, gets underway Thursday night.

SOURCE Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association

http://www.cso.org

Riccardo Muti Leads Chicago Symphony Orchestra in His First Concert as Music Director | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

Russian conductor Alexander Polianichko returns to the CSO podium to conduct the all-Tchaikovsky programs, which also include selections from The Snow Maiden, narrated by actor Alex Balestrieri.

Tchaikovsky’s rarely heard overture The Storm—which the CSO has performed only once, in 1899—opens the concerts on Dec. 17-19.

Known for their enormous and spectacular live productions, Redmoon Theater and artistic director Frank Maugeri have constructed a unique addition to the standard concert-hall experience, to be staged in synchronization with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s performance of music from Swan Lake.

Redmoon’s specially created dramatization showcases an array of handcrafted shadow puppets, meticulous live puppetry and larger-than-life video projections, bringing to life the tragic story of a princess, who is turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer’s curse, and the prince who falls in love with her.

The program also includes Tchaikovsky’s incidental music to The Snow Maiden, featuring actor Alex Balestrieri reciting a new adaptation from Aleksandr Ostrovsky’s play.

Gerard McBurney, CSO artistic programming advisor and an authority on Russian music, has retailored key scenes from Ostrovsky’s original text, telling the poetic story of an ice goddess whose heart is warmed when she falls in love with a mortal.

Redmoon Theater was founded in 1990 to promote a unique brand of performance committed to the highest quality artistic product, to civic well-being and to creating unexpected theater in unexpected locations.

Drawing on both contemporary art forms and ancient theatrical traditions, Redmoon has forged a performance style that is equal parts pageantry, gadgetry, acrobatics and ephemera.

Over the past decade, Redmoon has garnered international attention for its theatrical productions and site-specific performances, which have been seen everywhere in Chicago from the Jackson Park Lagoon to the façade of Museum of Contemporary Art.

In addition, Redmoon has expanding projects in Holland, Ireland, France and Australia; in October 2009, Redmoon was selected to perform as part of the White House’s exclusive Halloween festivities.

Redmoon Theater Partners with Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Four Performances Dec. 16-19 | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

Newest Beyond the Score Video Download of Dvořák’s New World Symphony Available at beyondthescore.org

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra kicks off the 2009-2010 Beyond the Score series with two performances exploring Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, on Friday, Dec. 4, at 1:30pm and Sunday, Dec. 6, at 3pm.

This unique program—entitled “Heaven or Earth?”—provides a fascinating investigation into the world of Mahler’s symphony, as told by Gerard McBurney, creative director of the series, who is joined by actors William Brown and Laura T. Fisher and pianist Elizabeth Buccheri.

Markus Stenz conducts the Orchestra with soprano soloist Nicole Cabell in musical excerpts, followed by a complete performance of the work after intermission.

Mahler’s Fourth Symphony is one of his most appealing and accessible works. Completed in 1901, it beautifully intertwines folk tunes, klezmer music, waltzes, marches and children’s songs in a passionate, dreamlike composition.

This Beyond the Score program explores the art and culture of late 19th-century Vienna, at the close of the decadent Habsburg Empire.

McBurney delves into the symphony’s final movement, which takes as its foundation Mahler’s song “Das himmlische Leben” (Heavenly life) from the earlier cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a childlike vision of the life in heaven that greets those who have suffered on this earth.

To complement these December programs, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has released a new free Beyond the Score video download at www.beyondthescore.org: Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 (From the New World), recorded live during the CSO’s Dvořák Festival in June 2009 under conductor Sir Mark Elder and led by Gerard McBurney.

The video spotlights Dvořák’s excited discovery of the expansiveness of North America and its cultures during his historic stay in the 1890s; it examines his absorption of African-American spirituals and Native American music into his own Czech-inspired musical language.

Three previous Beyond the Score presentations also are available online: Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin, conducted by CSO Conductor Emeritus Pierre Boulez; Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27, with Jeffrey Kahane conducting from the keyboard; and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, conducted by Alexander Polianichko.

In addition, the CSO’s Grammy Award-winning recording of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony with Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink, on the CSO Resound label, includes a bonus DVD video of the gripping Beyond the Score production examining Shostakovich’s controversial and powerful work.

The downloads feature the first half of the probing Beyond the Score programs with Gerard McBurney, recorded live in concert at Symphony Center.

The Beyond the Score Sunday matinees have proven so popular in the series’ first four seasons that this year Friday matinee performances of the three programs have been added as well.

Beyond the Score continues when Creative Director Gerard McBurney uncovers the mysteries of Rachmaninov’s The Isle of the Dead on March 26 and 28, 2010; the final concert of the series examines Debussy’s brilliant masterpiece La mer on May 7 and 9.

Designed not only for classical music aficionados, but also for newcomers looking to delve deeper into the world of classical music, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Beyond the Score concerts offer a live multimedia documentary of one selected score to illuminate the stories found “inside” the music—its context in history, how it fits into the composer’s output of works and the details of a composer’s life that influenced its creation.

In the first half of the program, Gerard McBurney brings the work to life, employing narration, imagery, video, actors and soloists, while live musical examples by the Orchestra are called upon to illustrate the structure of each composition.

After an intermission, concertgoers return to the hall with newly discovered knowledge to hear a performance of the score played in its entirety.

Owing to the tremendous success of Beyond the Score in Chicago, the CSO has licensed Beyond the Score presentations to orchestras around the world as part of their own audience-development efforts, including the New York Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada, Cleveland Orchestra, Sinfonia Gulf Coast, Symphony Silicon Valley, Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra and Toronto Symphony.

For more information on Beyond the Score and to find video downloads, visit beyondthescore.org.

Complete program information follows.

Beyond the Score Friday, Dec. 4, 2009, 1:30 p.m.

• Chicago Symphony Orchestra Sunday, December 6, 2009, 3 p.m.
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• Markus Stenz, conductor
• Nicole Cabell, soprano
• Gerard McBurney, creative director and narrator
• William Brown, actor
• Laura T. Fisher, actor
• Elizabeth Buccheri, piano
• “Heaven or Earth?”
• MAHLER Symphony No. 4 in G Major
• Tickets: $22-$92

Major support for Beyond the Score is provided by a grant from The Davee Foundation.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Examines Mahler’s Fourth Symphony in “Beyond the Score” Program Dec. 4 and 6 | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

Having previously recorded Mahler’s First, Third and Sixth symphonies, Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink and the CSO continue to showcase their unique collaboration with Mahler’s Second Symphony.

Mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn sings the touching “Urlicht” solo, and soprano Miah Persson and the Chicago Symphony Chorus, under the direction of Duain Wolfe, are featured as well.

The two-disc album will be released in the United States on Tuesday, Nov. 17, and worldwide on November 30. It can be downloaded exclusively through iTunes for one month starting Nov. 17 and through other major digital music services beginning Dec. 17, including Amazon, Rhapsody, eMusic and HDtracks. Listeners can purchase the album in CD, hybrid SACD or digital download formats.

Beginning with this release, CSO Resound initiates a new distribution agreement with Naxos of America. The agreement encompasses the distribution of physical CDs and hybrid SACDs in the United States and Canada, as well as digital distribution worldwide.

Previously, CSO Resound had been distributed in the U.S. by Harmonia Mundi USA, in Canada by Harmonia Mundi France and digitally by the International Online Distribution Alliance (IODA). Harmonia Mundi France will continue to distribute CSO Resound products outside of North America.

Amsterdam-born Bernard Haitink is one of today’s most celebrated conductors, with an international conducting career that has spanned more than five decades.

Appointed principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2006, he has established a remarkable rapport with the Orchestra, demonstrated by unsurpassed music making in Chicago, New York, Europe and Asia.

His distinguished 25-year tenure as music director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, with which he has been associated since 1956, brought worldwide praise for his development of the ensemble and his interpretations of the music of Mahler and Bruckner.

He now serves as conductor laureate of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and is conductor emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, having been principal conductor there for nine years.

He has received many international awards in recognition of his services to music, including both an honorary knighthood and the Companion of Honour in the United Kingdom and the House Order of Orange-Nassau in the Netherlands. Haitink was named Musical America’s 2007 Musician of the Year.

Swedish soprano Miah Persson is in great demand with the major opera houses and orchestras of the world. She has appeared at the Salzburg Festival, Royal Opera, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Barcelona Liceu, Netherlands Opera, San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Frankfurt Opera, Wiener Staatsoper and Paris Opera.

In concert, she has appeared at the BBC Proms and with the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Musiciens du Louvre, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic.

She has given recitals at Wigmore Hall and Frankfurt Opera. Conductors with whom she has performed include Sir Charles Mackerras, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Iván Fischer, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Semyon Bychkov, René Jacobs, and Marc Minkowski.

Christianne Stotijn earned her solo diploma for violin in 2000 at the Amsterdam Conservatoire. She has worked extensively with Bernard Haitink, who is one of the most influential figures in her career, having appeared with him and the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Boston, BBC Proms, Concertgebouw and Radio France.

She also has collaborated with conductors René Jacobs, Gustavo Dudamel, Marc Minkowski and Iván Fischer, and she has performed with the Czech Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra and La Scala Philharmonic.

An impassioned performer of song recitals, she has appeared at Wigmore Hall, Vienna Musikverein and Carnegie Hall. Christianne Stotijn is the recipient of the ECHO Rising Stars Award, Borletti Buitoni Award and Dutch Music Prize and was a BBC New Generation Artist.

A musical force in Chicago and around the world, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been consistently hailed as one of the finest international orchestras since its founding in 1891. At its helm are three of the greatest conductors of our time: Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink, Conductor Emeritus Pierre Boulez and Music Director Designate Riccardo Muti, who becomes the Orchestra’s 10th music director in September 2010.

The Orchestra’s expansive catalog of more than 900 recordings has earned 60 Grammy Awards—more than any other orchestra in the world. In 2007, in order to significantly broaden the reach of the world-class music making of the Orchestra, the CSO launched its own record label, CSO Resound.

All CSO Resound releases are selected from live recordings of CSO concerts in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, documenting and extending a unique concert experience.

Previous CSO Resound releases include Mahler’s Third Symphony, with Michelle DeYoung and the Chicago Symphony Chorus; Mahler’s First and Sixth symphonies; Poulenc’s Gloria with Jessica Rivera and Ravel’s complete Daphnis et Chloé; and Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, all conducted by Bernard Haitink; Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago, with Yo-Yo Ma, Wu Man, the Silk Road Ensemble and conductors Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Alan Gilbert (2008 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Classical); and a download-only recording of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony under Myung-Whun Chung.

A two-disc CD/DVD set of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4 conducted by Bernard Haitink (2008 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance), with video of the CSO’s Beyond the Score exploration of the work, was released in August 2008. CSO Resound is underwritten by a generous gift from Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Smykal.

Founded in 1957, the Chicago Symphony Chorus, currently under the leadership of Director and Conductor Duain Wolfe, has earned admiration and acclaim as one of the world’s superior symphonic choruses.

The Chicago Symphony Chorus has performed and recorded virtually all the major works in the choral symphonic repertoire, including important world premieres, and has been a key part of the CSO’s history.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra recordings featuring the Chorus have won nine Grammy Awards for best choral performance, including Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Bach’s B minor Mass and two recordings of Brahms’ A German Requiem.

CSO Resound Releases Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Persson and Stotijn | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

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.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Offers Wide Array of Concerts for Families in 2009-2010 | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

Single tickets are only $20 (students, $10) and can be purchased online at cso.org, by calling 312-294-3000 or at the box office.

MusicNOW Principal Conductor Cliff Colnot leads the concert at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park. Mezzo-soprano Barbara Rearick, in her series debut, sings Twice Through the Heart, a chilling dramatic scena for soloist and 16 players by Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Based on a poem sequence by Scottish poet Jackie Kay, the 30-minute work tells the painful story of a woman imprisoned for the murder of her violently abusive husband. Turnage’s compassionate and visceral score incorporates alluring vocal lines with his trademark jazz-inspired harmonies, transforming from intimate to despondent in reflection of the suffering of the main character.

The program opens with Jazz Calendar, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett’s musical interpretation of the nursery rhyme “Monday’s Child Is Fair of Face.” Bennett, a native Briton and longtime New Yorker, studied at the Royal Academy of Music and with Pierre Boulez in Paris during the late 1950s.

He acquired an early reputation through his substantial vocal and instrumental scores, notably operas (The Ledge, The Mines), which made effective use of a progressive, expressionistic style. Also an accomplished jazz pianist, Bennett is equally at ease with all 20th-century musical styles, with a prolific output including avant-garde, jazz and large-scale, lush film scores (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Far from the Madding Crowd, Nicholas and Alexandra).

The concert is hosted by Mark-Anthony Turnage, who will introduce each piece from the stage with anecdotes and descriptions of the compositions. Following the performance, MusicNOW fans are invited to stay and socialize at a free reception with complimentary pizza and beer.

Offering audiences a unique chance to mingle with composers and musicians, the MusicNOW receptions have become a highlight of these events at the modern-chic Harris Theater.

A champion of 20th-century music, American mezzo-soprano Barbara Rearick achieved international acclaim for her interpretation of the title role in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the Aldeburgh Festival. This success led to her becoming a founding member of the prestigious Britten-Pears Ensemble.

Rearick has performed at major venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Brooklyn Academy of Music; her orchestral performances this season include Messiah with the Indianapolis and Helena symphonies, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Colorado and Syracuse symphonies, Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Eugene Symphony, and Falla’s El amor brujo and excerpts from Carmen with the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England.

In an ongoing collaboration with Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, she has performed with the composer-pianist in arrangements of Gershwin songs and Bennett’s A History of the Thé Dansant, a cycle written especially for Rearick, at London’s Wigmore Hall and at festivals throughout the U.K.

In the past decade, Cliff Colnot has emerged as a distinguished conductor and a musician of uncommon range. He has been the principal conductor of the MusicNOW series since its inception, and in 2005 he also was named principal conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, an orchestra he has conducted since 1994.

Having worked extensively with Daniel Barenboim and with Pierre Boulez, he regularly conducts the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and he collaborates with the acclaimed ensemble eighth blackbird. Colnot also conducts Contempo at the University of Chicago, the DePaul University Symphony Orchestra and orchestras at Indiana University.

He has appeared as a guest conductor with the American Composers Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Utah Symphony.

In addition, Colnot is a master arranger and has composed music for film as well as for top rock-and-roll, pop and jazz artists. The Chicago Tribune named Cliff Colnot a Chicagoan of the Year in music in 2001 and again recognized his multifaceted work in 2007.

MusicNOW, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s nationally recognized and critically acclaimed new-music series, was created in 1998. The series provides a rare opportunity to experience concert programs completely dedicated to new music, offering works by some of today’s most prominent living composers, including Mark-Anthony Turnage, Osvaldo Golijov, Oliver Knussen, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philip Glass and more.

Each program is performed by musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra alongside guest artists. Many of the composers whose works are presented attend the concert make remarks to the audience and mingle with concertgoers at receptions, with free pizza provided by Edwardo’s and Matilda from Goose Island.

The 2009-2010 MusicNOW season continues with a celebratory tribute to Pierre Boulez at 85, featuring works by Boulez and premieres by Dai Fujikura and Johannes Boris Borowski, with soloists Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Tamara Stefanovich, John Sharp and Nathan Cole, taking place at Symphony Center on Sunday, Jan. 24, at 3pm (there is no reception following this performance).

The series finishes with a program of music by John Luther Adams, Osvaldo Golijov and hyper-accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman at the Harris Theater on Monday, March 15, at 8pm.

Complete program details follow:

• DATE: Monday, Nov. 23, 2009, 8 p.m.
• LOCATION: Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph Dr.
• WHO: Musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• CONDUCTOR: Cliff Colnot
• Tickets: $20

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.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW Series Continues with Dramatic, Jazzy Performance Nov. 23 | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

Since his appointment in May 2008, Maestro Muti and the CSO have been developing meaningful ways to deepen the Orchestra’s engagement with the Chicago community, to nurture the legacy of the CSO and symphonic music while supporting a new generation of musicians and patrons, and to collaborate with visionary partners who will bring unparalleled musical experiences to the CSO’s audiences while sustaining the distinguished artistic profile of the Orchestra.

In September 2010, when he assumes his post, Maestro Muti and the CSO will begin to realize his vision through new initiatives, artistic partnerships and collaborations in and around Chicago, with an emphasis on providing expanded opportunities for access to the CSO.

Among these new initiatives are:

• the appointments of Mason Bates and Anna Clyne as new CSO Mead Composers-in-Residence
• the development of special programs intended to benefit juvenile offenders and youth at risk
• the creation of the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition and Apprenticeship

Complementing these initiatives and furthering Maestro Muti’s vision of expanding the reach of the CSO into the Chicago community, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, along with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, will join with partners in the Mexican-American community to offer performances in celebration of two historic milestones: the 200th anniversary of Mexican Independence and the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution.

Programs that celebrate the culture and history of the city’s Mexican-American residents will be offered at community venues throughout Chicago from September through November 2010.

Additionally, and most notably, Maestro Muti announced at the CSO Association’s annual meeting the continuation of the important relationships with conductors Bernard Haitink and Pierre Boulez in future seasons. Programming for the 2010-2011 season will be announced in February 2010.

“I am very happy to be here in Chicago, sharing many of the exciting plans for the future of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,” said Riccardo Muti, CSO music director designate. “While making great music is at the heart of what we do, preserving the legacy of symphonic music and providing opportunities for all to have access to the art form are of equal importance.”

“Today is a very exciting day for the CSO and the Chicago community,” commented Deborah F. Rutter, president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association.

“The initiatives and appointments announced today are a testament to Maestro Muti’s wide-reaching vision for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, and they clearly define his dedication to serving the Chicago community and his commitment to preserving and deepening the legacy of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.”

“We are all truly energized and inspired by what has been outlined,” said William A. Osborn, chairman of the CSO Association Board of Trustees. “The dynamic partnership between the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Muti will take the institution to new heights and solidify Chicago’s standing as one of the world’s most important cultural capitals.

The human element of his vision will bring to the forefront the importance of cultural exchange in our society and raise awareness of the need for supporting the legacy of the arts for future generations.”

“The musicians are extremely pleased that Maestro Muti has made such important and far reaching plans for the Orchestra,” commented Stephen Lester, chairman of the CSO Members Committee.

“These plans show not only a deep commitment to the highest artistic standards, but a keen awareness of our community here in Chicago. Maestro Muti believes, as we do, that the music we perform has the power to change lives and communities. We look forward to working with him and making great music.”

CSO Mead Composers-in-Residence: Mason Bates and Anna Clyne

Riccardo Muti has named composers Mason Bates and Anna Clyne as the new CSO Mead Composers-in-Residence.

Both Bates and Clyne share Muti’s deep interest in reaching and establishing roots and partnerships in the Chicago community, and they have committed to extending their art of composition to be inclusive of other art forms such as film, dance and the visual arts.

Their term will begin in September 2010 and will last for two years. In their roles as CSO Mead Composers-in-Residence, both Bates and Clyne will curate the CSO’s contemporary music series, MusicNOW, and act as advocates within the Chicago community to further the understanding and appreciation of all music.

“Both Mason Bates and Anna Clyne are artists who write from the heart, who defy categorization and who reach across all barriers and boundaries” commented CSO Music Director Designate Riccardo Muti.

“Their compositions are meant to be played by great musicians and listened to by enthusiastic audiences no matter what their background. I know that we will do very important work, not only by deepening a connection to those who already know the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, but by bringing music to those who have not had many opportunities to experience it firsthand.”

The Mead Composers-in-Residence are generously supported by Cindy Sargent and the late Sally Hands.

Programs for Juvenile Offenders and Youth at Risk

Maestro Muti and the CSO share a strong belief that music can transform lives, enact social change and transcend cultural divides.

Acting on this belief, Maestro Muti and the CSO’s Institute for Learning, Access and Training are designing programming that will touch an often overlooked segment of society—juvenile offenders and youth at risk.

Currently, the CSO Association and Maestro Muti are developing innovative programming that will provide juvenile offenders and youth at risk with the opportunity to participate in music—as students, performers, composers and audience members.

These experiences will offer outlets for self-expression and creativity and will contribute to the development of positive self-image.

By providing incarcerated youth with opportunities to work together, develop musical skills and showcase these skills in the presence of friends and family members, it is intended that they will leave detention facilities with a sense of empowerment that will help counteract any stigma of having been there.

In partnership with several organizations in the Chicago area currently offering programs that serve incarcerated youth through the arts, the CSO will help to address the great need for this kind of programming.

Through the extraordinarily diverse musical resources of the CSO and the Institute—including the musicians of the CSO, Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Civic Orchestra, as well as the CSO’s Percussion Scholarship Group, CSO Mead Composers-in-Residence, and Maestro Muti—the CSO Association will develop a compelling program that includes role modeling, hands-on instruction and training, youth-generated compositions and inspirational music making.

Further details associated with the programs for juvenile offenders and youth at risk will be announced at a later date.

The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition and Apprenticeship

Building on its great tradition of training young musicians, and as a vital investment in the future of the art form, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Muti, in collaboration with Lady Valerie Solti, have developed the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition and Apprenticeship.

The program is so named not only because of the deep and long connection Solti had with the CSO, but in honor of his commitment to connecting with young musicians in the same way that he himself developed as a conductor through his work as a repetiteur in the opera house.

This new program will offer a conductor at the start of his or her career the opportunity to come to Chicago to study and train with Riccardo Muti and with other distinguished CSO guest conductors. The selection of an apprentice will be held through a competitive process.

After a preliminary and objective review of applicants, finalists will be invited for a round of auditions, after which a winner will be selected. The apprentice will receive direct financial support annually for two years. Full details and application forms will be available after Jan. 1, 2010 at cso.org.

“Maestro Muti’s immense talent, experience and wisdom will ensure that the traditions, standards and innovations of this renowned ensemble continue,” said Lady Valerie Solti.

“I am very touched that Maestro Muti expressed his wishes to name the project after my husband, Sir Georg Solti, whose belief was that experienced musicians should pass their expertise to future generations. There could be no finer example of that than the musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who have traditionally been outstanding music educators and builders of the future.”

Funding for the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition and Apprenticeship is provided by a grant from The Claire Rosen & Samuel Edes Foundation.

The foundation’s deep commitment to education and the arts in America will provide a promising young artist the financial means to focus exclusively on their work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Muti and the rare opportunities it presents.

About the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA is consistently hailed as one of today’s leading orchestras. Live performances by the CSO are much in demand at home and in the most prestigious musical venues around the world.

In collaboration with preeminent conductors and guest artists on the international music scene, the CSO performs well over 150 concerts each year at its downtown home, Symphony Center, and at the Ravinia Festival on Chicago’s North Shore, where it is in residence each summer.

With the launch of its Institute for Learning, Access and Training, the CSO engages more than 150,000 Chicago-area residents annually.

Music lovers outside Chicago enjoy the sounds of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra not only through its BP Chicago Symphony Orchestra Radio Broadcast Series and best-selling recordings on its highly acclaimed record label CSO Resound, but also through frequent sold-out tour performances in the United States and around the globe.

Since 1971, the CSO has undertaken 36 overseas tours: 27 to Europe, six to the Far East, as well as one each to Russia, Australia and South America.

For more information about the CSO, visit cso.org.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association and Maestro Muti Announce Major CSO Initiatives for 2010 | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

The legendary Mexican-American five-piece ensemble Los Lobos is an instantly identifiable band that has assembled a diverse and captivating body of work—drawing equally on rock, country, Tex-Mex, folk, R&B, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music—over the course of 36 years together.

With three Grammy Awards to its name so far, Los Lobos is currently at work on its highly anticipated 18th album, a follow-up to The Town and The City.  The new disc will be the group’s first release on the Shout! Factory label since joining its roster in June 2009.

Perhaps best known for the double-platinum record “La Bamba,” featured the 1987 Ritchie Valens biopic of the same name, Los Lobos came together in East Los Angeles in 1973 when multitalented singer-instrumentalists David Hidalgo, Louie Perez, Cesar Rosas and Conrad Lozano were still in high school and playing souped-up Mexican folk music at parties.

Saxophonist Steve Berlin joined the group later, and they went on to redefine how and rock music could sound—Rolling Stone named the band Artist of the Year in 1984 (along with Bruce Springsteen).

Since then Los Lobos has released such groundbreaking records as the 1992 masterpiece Kiko, 1996’s Colossal Head and 2006’s The Town and The City, which London’s Daily Mirror called “an epic voyage through exotic Americana, sly funk and raw blues.”

On Los Lobos’ creative process, band member Steve Berlin comments, “With each project, we try to make our songwriting an artistic statement, where the stories we’re telling and the arrangements we’re composing get our point across.  But to a certain extent, we make our songs opaque, serious.  We leave it up to the listener to interpret … That’s the highest purpose of artists.”  For this Chicago appearance on its 2009 tour, the band has traded their plugged instruments for guitarrones, jaranas and bajo sextos, providing a stunning set list full of acoustic verve.

The Duhks, a rootsy acoustic quintet of fiddle, guitar, banjo, percussion and vocals, based in Winnipeg, Ontario, has been making a name for itself in the past six years with their sharp ensemble playing and crisp solos.

With a self-described blended style of “gospel, Celtic, old-time, zydeco, country, Latin, French-Canadian and sheer rock and roll,” The Duhks have earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Vocal Performance and also have become known for their eco-conscious activism.

The group’s 2008 album, Fast-Paced World, shows off the powerhouse vocals of lead singer Sarah Dugas while shifting easily from pop to spirituals to bluegrass to Brazilian.

The Symphony Center Presents series continues its season with additional classical, pop and world-music presentations this fall and winter, including Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán (Oct. 4), “Hallowed Haunts” with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago (Oct. 24), Sweet Honey in the Rock (Nov. 15), Vienna Boys Choir (Nov. 28), Chanticleer (Dec. 7-8), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass (Dec. 17) and An Acoustic Evening with the BoDeans (Jan. 30).

MEDIA CONTACT:

• Raechel Alexander
• Rachelle Roe
• Christopher Slavik

Chicago Symphony Center Presents Rock Icons “Los Lobos” In Special Concert Nov. 1; Special Guests “The Duhks” Make Symphony Center Debut | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.