NOVEMBER 2019-FEBRUARY 2020 - Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Page created by Danny Lane
 
CONTINUE READING
NOVEMBER 2019-FEBRUARY 2020 - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020
NOVEMBER 2019-FEBRUARY 2020 - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Our clients get a banking partnership
   that makes the right connections.
   At CIBC, we believe every client is one of a kind.
   With an experienced commercial banking team
   and 150 years of putting clients first, we deliver
   on your financial goals by developing a business
   partnership that’s built for you.

Member FDIC. The CIBC Logo is a registered trademark of CIBC, used under license.
©2019 CIBC Bank USA. Products and services offered by CIBC Bank USA.                cibc.com/US
NOVEMBER 2019-FEBRUARY 2020 - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
contents

                                          		    NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020

25 Program                                 2	
                                             A Note from the Board Chair and President
                                          	A welcoming message from Board of Trustees Chair
I nformation about the                      Helen Zell and Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association
 program and the performers                  President Jeff Alexander
 for this concert
                                           4 A Perfect Ten—Maestro’s Milestones
                                          	A presentation of highlights from Riccardo Muti’s tenure in
                                             honor of his tenth season as music director of the CSO
c hicago symphony orchestra
association                               10	 Beethoven250 Rosenthal Archives
Program Book Production                   	Highlighting materials from the collections of the CSO’s
Frances Atkins Content Director
Phillip Huscher Scholar-in-Residence &        Rosenthal Archives
 Program Annotator

                                          14 	Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago
Gerald Virgil Senior Content Editor
Kristin Tobin Designer &
 Print Production Manager
Landon Hegedus Editor & Copywriter          Symphony Orchestra
                                          	A new work by Mason Bates blends music and digital
Bryan Dowling Advertising Sales
708-434-5869                                animation in honor of the 100th anniversary of the founding
bryan@media8midwest.com                     of the CSO’s concert series for children.
P H OTOG R A PHY BY TO DD RO S E N BERG

© 2019 Chicago Symphony Orchestra
                                          20Volunteer and Support Opportunities
All rights reserved.                      	Recognition of our generous donors and volunteers

                                          41	Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association
                                                Board of Trustees

                                          42	Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association
                                                Governing Members

                                          44    Our Donors and Volunteers

on th e cov e r : Illustration by
Tom Herzberg (tomherzberg.com), 1994

rig h t: Chinese New Year Celebration,
February 10, 2019
Symphony Center Presents celebrates
the Chinese New Year with a special
concert on January 26, 2020.

P H OTO BY TO DD RO S E NB E RG                                      NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020          1
NOVEMBER 2019-FEBRUARY 2020 - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
a note from the chair and the president

                                  DEAR FRIENDS,
                              We are pleased to welcome you to Symphony Center
                              during this festive time of year, and delighted that so many
                              choose to celebrate the season with music. The Chicago
                              Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Civic Orchestra of
                              Chicago, and artists on the Symphony Center Presents
                              series give us the gift of music performed at the highest
                              level year round, and for this we are truly grateful.
                                 In early January, Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti
                              leads the Orchestra on its sixty-second international
                              tour, this time to Cologne, Vienna, Luxembourg, Paris,
                              Naples, Florence, Milan, and Lugano to present works by
                              Mendelssohn, Dvořák, Prokofiev, and Hindemith. The
                              tour also includes two performances of Verdi’s Requiem
                              at the Musikverein in Vienna as part of a series of special
                              concerts honoring that venerable hall’s 150th anniversary.
                              It is a great pleasure to see our beloved orchestra greeted
                              with enthusiasm at home and abroad.
         Thanks to the support of over 10,000 donors who contribute to the Chicago
       Symphony Orchestra Association each season, the CSO continues to serve as a
       cultural ambassador for the city of Chicago. We very much hope that you consider
       supporting the CSOA by making a gift to the Annual Fund, enabling you to
       become an integral part of our ongoing pursuit of artistic excellence, the devel-
       opment of new audiences, innovative education and community programs, and
       sharing music with audiences in Chicago and around the world. Your support also
       ensures that the important work of the CSOA continues for generations to come.
         On behalf of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Chorus,
       Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Negaunee Music Institute, our trustees, volunteers,
       administration, and above all, the many people whose lives are enriched each year
       through music, we thank you for your support.
         We send our warmest wishes for a music-filled, happy, and healthy new year
       and look forward to seeing you at Symphony Center soon.

       Helen Zell Chair, Chicago Symphony        Jeff Alexander President, Chicago Symphony
       Orchestra Association Board of Trustees   Orchestra Association

       To make a gift, visit cso.org/makeagift or call 312-294-3100.

2 CSO.ORG                                                                       PHOTOS BY TODD ROS EN BERG
NOVEMBER 2019-FEBRUARY 2020 - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Best Investments Are
The Ones We All Appreciate.

Northern Trust is proud to support the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
For 130 years, we’ve been meeting our clients’ financial needs while
nurturing a culture of caring and a commitment to invest in the
communities we serve. Our goal is to help you find perfect harmony.

TO LEARN MORE VISIT

northerntrust.com

WEALTH PLANNING | BANKING | TRUST & ESTATE SERVICES | INVESTING | FAMILY OFFICE
NOVEMBER 2019-FEBRUARY 2020 - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
10  a perfect

 Bernard Rands’s Danza
 Petrificada received its world
 premiere on May 5, 2011. Muti
 and the Orchestra took the
 work on tour to Europe, to cities
                                     a continuation of a series of
                                     highlight s from riccardo mu ti’s
                                     tenure in honor of his tenth
                                     se a s on a s music director of the
                                     chicago symphony orchestr a

                                     No. 2: World Premieres
                                     Introducing new music to CSO audiences has been
                                     an important part of Riccardo Muti’s artistic legacy
                                     as music director. With the Chicago Symphony
                                     Orchestra, he has conducted twelve world premieres
 including Lucerne, Salzburg,
 Luxembourg, Paris, and Vienna,      to date by CSO Mead Composers-in-Residence and
 the following summer.               distinguished American and international composers.
                                     He will conduct two new CSO commissions during
                                     the spring of 2020. Many of these commissions have
                                     been concertos featuring members of the Orchestra,
                                     reflecting Muti’s great confidence in their abilities
                                                               as soloists. Having studied
                                                               composition himself for ten
                                                               years, Muti has the utmost
                                                               respect for composers:
                                                               “I approach music of the
                                                               classical period—baroque,
                                                               modern, romantic,
                                                               contemporary—always in
                                                               the same way, with the same
                                                               seriousness,” he says. “The
                                                               moment of truth comes
                                                               when what the composer
                                                               has sought is coming to life in
                                                               the performance.”
                                                 The CSO’s music director position is endowed
                                                 in perpetuity by a generous gift from the
                                                 Zell Family Foundation.
                                                 The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is grateful to
                                                 Bank of America for its generous support as the
                                                 Maestro Residency Presenter.

4 CSO.ORG
NOVEMBER 2019-FEBRUARY 2020 - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
On January 30, 2014,
                                                                          Riccardo Muti conducted
                                                                          Giovanni Sollima’s
                                                                          Antidotum Tarantulae XXI,
                                                                          Concerto for Two Cellos
                                                                          and Orchestra, with the
                                                                          then Judson and Joyce
                                                                          Green Creative Consultant
                                                                          Yo-Yo Ma and the composer
                                                                          as soloists. The idea for the
                                                                          commission came from
                                                                          both Muti and Ma. Muti
                                                                          was already familiar with
                                           Sollima’s music, having commissioned and premiered
 Pulitzer Prize–winning composer           two earlier works by the composer: Tempeste e ritratti at
 Jennifer Higdon recalled Muti’s con-      the Teatro alla Scala in 2001, and Passiuni at the Ravenna
 cise advice to her when she received      Festival in 2008.
 her commission for the CSO’s low
 brass section: “ ‘Write these guys
 a good concerto.’ I said, ‘Yes, sir!’ ”
 Muti conducted the premiere of
 Higdon’s Low Brass Concerto on
 February 1, 2018, and then took the
 work on tour, performing it in New
 York at Carnegie Hall; in Naples
 and West Palm Beach, Florida; and
 Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

                                           CSO Viola Max Raimi’s score, composed at the request of
                                           Riccardo Muti, was specifically written for his colleagues
                                           in the Orchestra. Raimi was acutely aware, as he was
                                           composing the pages of his Three Lisel Mueller Settings,
                                           of creating music for the people who sit around him day
                                           after day in rehearsal and in concerts. Each movement
                                           featured a different colleague, including Principal Clarinet
                                           Stephen Williamson, Principal Bassoon Keith Bunke,
                                           and Principal Bass Alexander Hanna. Muti conducted
                                           the premiere with the CSO and mezzo-soprano soloist
                                           Elizabeth DeShong on March 22, 2018.

P H OTOS BY TO DD RO S E NB E RG                                 NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020              5
NOVEMBER 2019-FEBRUARY 2020 - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
10 a perfect

 Two CSO Resound releases
 feature CSO-commissioned
                                     mead composers-in-residence
                                     In October 2009, Riccardo Muti, then music director
                                     designate, outlined several initiatives for his tenure.
                                     One of them was to appoint CSO Mead Composers-
                                     in-Residence who would act as advocates within the
                                     Chicago community to further the understanding
                                     and appreciation of all music. He named Mason Bates
 works by Mead Composers-in-
 Residence Anna Clyne and            and Anna Clyne to two-year terms beginning in 2010,
 Mason Bates conducted by            which were later extended through the 2014–15
 Muti and performed live by the      season. In 2015, he appointed Samuel Adams and
 CSO. The first includes Bates’s     Elizabeth Ogonek to three-year residencies. During
 Alternative Energy and Clyne’s
 Night Ferry. The second record-     their time with the CSO, each of the composers had
 ing is of Bates’s Anthology of      multiple works conducted by Muti, including CSO
 Fantastic Zoology, which was        commissions, bringing these emerging composers
 dedicated to Muti at the conclu-    to international attention. In 2018, Muti appointed
 sion of the composer’s residency.
                                     Missy Mazzoli, whose CSO-commissioned work
                                     Orpheus Undone receives its world premiere with Muti
                                     and the Orchestra in April 2020.

                                      Samuel Adams shakes the hand of Riccardo Muti following
                                      the February 10, 2018, performance of his CSO-commissioned
                                      work, many words of love, at Carnegie Hall. Muti and Principal
                                      Bass Alexander Hanna congratulate Elizabeth Ogonek back-
                                      stage following the October 11, 2017, performance of her CSO-
                                      commissioned work, All These Lighted Things, at the Kauffman
                                      Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City. Muti has often
                                      chosen to feature CSO-commissioned works on tour to rein-
                                      force the Orchestra’s commitment to contemporary music and
                                      living composers.

 In addition to writing her CSO commission, Missy Mazzoli curates the CSO’s MusicNOW series. She
 is seen here performing her arrangement of music by Meredith Monk, entitled Passage, What Does It
 Mean?, with CSO musicians at the May 20, 2019, MusicNOW concert.

6 CSO.ORG                                                                    PHOTOS BY TODD ROS EN BERG
NOVEMBER 2019-FEBRUARY 2020 - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
NOVEMBER 2019-FEBRUARY 2020 - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
10 a perfect
                                    No. 3: Concertos with Orchestra Members
                                    Riccardo Muti has an exceptional bond with the
                                    Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In an interview
                                    with Scholar-in-Residence and Program Annotator
                                    Phillip Huscher last season, Muti noted that when he
                                    returned to conduct the CSO in 2007, “the way they
                                    responded to my musical ideas and the sense of family
                                    that we immediately created together pushed me to
                                    accept this very prestigious commitment.” One way
                                    of showing his great respect for their talents has been
                                    to invite members of the Orchestra to perform con-
                                    certos at Orchestra Hall and on tour. Moreover, as was
                                    noted earlier, many of these concertos have been CSO
                                    commissions. Here are some highlights from the nearly
                                    twenty works featuring CSO members as soloists that
                                    Muti has conducted during his tenure.
                                      “We’re the luckiest musicians on the planet to be
                                    in the CSO and to have him as the music director.
                                    There’s nothing like it anywhere; there’s nothing like
                                    him anywhere. With this unit, everything is at the
 Concertmaster Robert Chen          highest possible level. I’m confident that, with him, this
 performed Hindemith’s Violin       piece is going to be a hit,” said CSO Bass Trombone
 Concerto with Muti and the         Charles Vernon in preparation for the world premiere of
 CSO on October 11, 2013.
                                    Higdon’s Low Brass Concerto on February 1, 2018.

 Muti conducted Principal Cello John Sharp        Principal Clarinet Stephen Williamson per-
 in Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor on          formed Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major
 March 26, 2014.                                  on the CSO’s West Coast Tour and is pic-
                                                  tured here at Zellerbach Hall at University of
                                                  California, Berkeley, on October 14, 2017.

8 CSO.ORG                                                                 PHOTOS BY TODD ROS EN BERG
Jennifer Gunn performed the CSO premiere of Ken Benshoof ’s Concerto in Three Movements for
 Piccolo and Orchestra and Vivaldi’s Piccolo Concerto in C major, RV 444, with Muti and the CSO
 on June 13, 2019. On the same program, Charles Vernon gave the world-premiere performance of
 James Stephenson’s Bass Trombone Concerto.

 Muti conducted Associate Concertmaster                                  Muti congratulated Principal Harp
 Stephanie Jeong and Assistant Principal Cello                           Sarah Bullen after her performance of
 Kenneth Olsen in Brahms’s Double Concerto,                              Debussy’s Sacred and Profane Dances on
 pictured here on November 7, 2019.                                      April 19, 2018.

                                                                                    Riccardo Muti joined CSO
                                                                                    soloists backstage following the
                                                                                    premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s
                                                                                    Low Brass Concerto on
                                                                                    February 1, 2018. (From left)
                                                                                    Principal Tuba Gene Pokorny,
                                                                                    Riccardo Muti, Trombone
                                                                                    Michael Mulcahy, Bass
                                                                                    Trombone Charles Vernon,
                                                                                    and Principal Trombone
                                                                                    Jay Friedman

P H OTOS BY TO DD RO S E NB E RG, ANN E RYAN (P H OTO AT C ENTER LEFT)         NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020             9
Commemorating
                                                                                                    the 250th anniversary
                                                                                                    of the birth of
                                                                                                    Ludwig van Beethoven

         HI G HL I G H T IN G M AT ER I A L S FR O M T HE C O L L E CT I O N S O F T HE
    RO S E N T H A L A RC H I V E S O F T H E C H I CAG O SY M P H O N Y O RC H E S T R A

                                                          PHOTO BY M ATZ EN E C HI CAGO

                                                                                          During the 1926–27 season, second
                                                                                          music director Frederick Stock
                                                                                          led the Chicago Symphony
                                                                                          Orchestra’s first season-long survey
                                                                                          of Beethoven’s nine symphonies,
                                                                                          in addition to the Coriolan, The
                                                                                          Creatures of Prometheus, Egmont,
                                                                                          and Leonore no. 3 overtures. He also
                                                                                          led the Third Piano Concerto with
                                                                                          Mischa Levitzki, the Fourth with
                                                                                          Alfred Cortot, and the Fifth with both
                                                                                          Harold Samuel and Elly Ney; the Violin
                                                                                          Concerto with both Joseph Szigeti
                                                                                          and Albert Spalding; as well as
                                                                                          the Triple Concerto with pianist
                                                                                          Alfred Blumen, Concertmaster
                                                                                          Jacques Gordon, and Principal Cello
                                                                                          Alfred Wallenstein.

10 CSO.ORG
PHOTO BY JIM STEER E

Third music director Désiré
Defauw led all nine of
Beethoven’s symphonies
during the 1944–45 season,
                                                           Ninth music director Daniel Barenboim curated a festival
along with the Coriolan, Fidelio,
                                                           of the composer’s works during the 1997–98 season that
Leonore no. 3, and Ruins of
                                                           included the Orchestra and Chorus in the nine sympho-
Athens overtures; the Third
                                                           nies (no. 2 was led by assistant conductor William Eddins).
and Fourth piano concertos
                                                           Barenboim also conducted a fully staged Fidelio with
with Alexander Brailowsky and
                                                           Waltraud Meier as Leonora, Ah! perfido with Jane Eaglen, and
Rudolf Serkin; and the Violin
                                                           the five piano concertos from the keyboard. Guest conductor
Concerto with Yehudi Menuhin.
                                                           Michael Gielen also led Leonore overtures nos. 2 and 3, and
                                                           Pinchas Zukerman was soloist and conductor in the two violin
                                                           romances along with Mahler’s arrangement of the Serioso
                                                           String Quartet in F minor.
                                                                                P H OTO BY TOD D ROSE N BE RG

                                                                                                                In June 2010, Bernard
                                                                                                                Haitink—in his final season
                                                                                                                as principal conductor—led
                                                                                                                all nine symphonies, along
                                                                                                                with the Fidelio and Leonore
                                                                                                                nos. 2 and 3 overtures. With
                                                                                                                the Orchestra and Chorus, he
                                                                                                                concluded his tenure and the
                                                                                                                119th season with Calm Sea
                                                                                                                and Prosperous Voyage and
                                                                                                                the Ninth Symphony, fea-
                                                                                                                turing soloists Jessica Rivera,
                                                                                                                Kelley O’Connor, Clifton
                                                                                                                Forbis, and Eric Owens.
2019-2020 SEASON: FAMILY              30 years
                         HOLIDAYS: MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO + ORCHESTRA
                         Scott Speck conducts the Chicago Philharmonic
                         Featuring Marcus Roberts Trio
                         Sunday December 8, 3pm • Harris Theater, Chicago

                         PROMISE: MOZART, PÄRT, BACEWICZ, DVOŘÁK
                         Scott Speck conducts the Chicago Philharmonic
                         Featuring Visceral Dance Chicago
                         Sunday March 1, 3pm • North Shore Center, Skokie

                         UNITY: AMJAD ALI KHAN, SHOSTAKOVICH
                         Lidiya Yankovskaya conducts the Chicago Philharmonic
                         With Amjad Ali Khan and family of sarod musicians
                         Sunday April 5, 3pm • Harris Theater, Chicago

                         HOME: BRAHMS 3
                         Scott Speck conducts the Chicago Philharmonic
                         With violin soloist Phillippe Quint
                         Sunday May 10, 3pm • Pick-Staiger Hall, Evanston

                         ARETHA: A TRIBUTE
                         Scott Speck conducts the Chicago Philharmonic
                         Featuring the vocal artistry of Capathia Jenkins
                         and Ryan Shaw
                         Saturday May 23, 7:30pm • Harris Theater, Chicago

    Enjoy live, classical music throughout Chicago and the North Shore starting at $25.
Discounts available for seniors and students with symphonic subscriptions for as low as $44.

                        chicagophilharmonic.org | 312.957.0000
CELEBRATE BEETHOVEN’S 250TH
BIRTHDAY AT SYMPHONY CENTER!
During the 2019/20 season celebration, Riccardo Muti
conducts Beethoven’s nine symphonies with the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and celebrated virtuosos
perform a cycle of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas on
the Symphony Center Presents Piano series.

Join us for these remaining performances:

RICCARDO MUTI
CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN
feb 20–23       Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5
apr 30–may 3 Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7
jun 11–13       Symphonies Nos. 6 & 8,
                Overture to The Ruins of Athens
jun 18–21       Symphony No. 9

THE PIANO SONATAS
mar 29 & 31     Sir András Schiff
apr 5           Mitsuko Uchida
may 10          Evgeny Kissin
may 20          Igor Levit
may 24          Maurizio Pollini

See all of Beethoven’s works
being performed in 2019/20 at
CSO.ORG/BEETHOVEN
negaunee music institute at the cso

World Premiere by Mason Bates Blends Music and
Digital Animation

I
   t has been more than twenty years since the        animator Jim Capobianco. This program will run
   Chicago Symphony Orchestra teamed up               as part of the CSO School and Family Concerts
   with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and the gang          series, March 26–28, 2020, under the direction
to provide the soundtrack to Walt Disney’s            of Edwin Outwater.
Fantasia 2000, for which the CSO earned a                The commission is in celebration of the 100th
Grammy Award nomination. The CSO will                 anniversary of the founding of the CSO’s series
again cross paths with cutting-edge technology        for children that began during the 1919–20
in the world premiere and CSO co-commission           season, established by the Orchestra’s second
of Mason Bates’s Philharmonia Fantastique: The        music director, Frederick Stock. This program-
Making of the Orchestra. Bates, the CSO’s Mead        ming continues today along with other exten-
Composer-in-Residence from 2010 to 2015,              sive educational and community-engagement
cocreated the piece with award-winning writer         programming produced by the Negaunee
and director Gary Rydstrom and story artist and       Music Institute.

                                         c loc kw i s e from lef t: Images from a live-action photo shoot for the
                                         forthcoming Philharmonia Fantastique. Left to right: composer Mason Bates,
                                         writer and director Gary Rydstrom, story artist and animator Jim Capobianco
                                         Photos by Marko Bajzer

14 CSO.ORG
19/20

                                                                                                          Photo by Chris Chistodoulou
Sir John Eliot Gardiner +
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
The Complete Beethoven Symphonies

February 27, 2020 / 7:30PM                            Symphonies 8 + 9
February 28, 2020 / 7:30PM                            Symphony 1, Prometheus + Leonore Excerpts
February 29, 2020 / 7:30PM                            Symphonies 2 + 3
March 2, 2020 / 7:30PM                                Symphonies 4 + 5
March 3, 2020 / 7:30PM                                Symphonies 6 + 7

312.334.7777 | harristheaterchicago.org | 205 East Randolph Drive

Alexandra C. and
John D. Nichols
Sir John Eliot Gardiner               Harris Theater Presents Mainstage      Corporate Opening Night Sponsor
   Lead Benefactor                       Music Presenting Sponsor

                Corporate Closing Night Sponsor                           Season Sponsor
NEGAUNEE MUSIC INSTITUTE AT THE CSO

   Philharmonia Fantastique is a concerto for
orchestra and animation with kinetic, cutting-
edge, multimedia work that integrates film and
prerecorded sound with live performance. The
collaboration between the piece’s creators—
innovators in the worlds of music, storytelling,
and animation, respectively—similarly demon-
strates this groundbreaking intersection of artistic
disciplines. Bates’s work “flies inside musical
instruments to explore the age-old connection
of creativity and technology,” said the composer,
“and the centennial of the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra’s education programs is the perfect
launching point for this multimedia work.”
   In the new piece, an energetic, colorful sprite
leads the audience on a tour through the music,
taking listeners inside the instruments of the
orchestra, exploring how individual instruments
produce a sound, and how they work together in
an ensemble. The story unfolds through music
and visuals alone, creating a piece free of language
barriers, accessible, and entertaining for audi-       top to bot to m : A trio of students gets ready to enter
                                                       Orchestra Hall for a CSO School Concert. Maestro
ences of all ages.                                     Prestissimo B. Sharpenflat, aka Dan Kerr-Hobert from The
   “The CSOA is very pleased to continue our           Second City, attempts to steal the spotlight from the CSO
relationship with Mason Bates through this             musicians and (actual) conductor Edwin Outwater during a
                                                       Family Matinee performance. Photos by Todd Rosenberg
new commission,” said CSOA President Jeff
Alexander. “Mason is one of the most singular            Mason Bates currently serves as the first
and creative voices in orchestral music today, and       composer-in-residence of the Kennedy Center for
he is gifted with a collaborative spirit and a pas-      the Performing Arts. His opera The (R)evolution of
sion for education and innovation. Philharmonia          Steve Jobs premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in 2017;
Fantastique presents a wonderful opportunity to          the live recording of that production was recognized
                                                         with Best Opera Recording at the 2019 Grammy
welcome a new generation of listeners into the           Awards telecast.
inspiring world of orchestral music, and we look
                                                         Writer and director Gary Rydstrom has been nomi-
forward to sharing this music with our audiences.”       nated for eighteen Academy awards, winning seven
   “Discovering the music of Mason Bates during          for his work in sound and sound editing in films,
his time with the CSO was so joyful,” said Helen         including Jurassic Park, Titanic, and Saving Private
Zell, CSOA Board Chair and sponsor of the CSO            Ryan. Story artist and animator Jim Capobianco has
commission. “His music takes audiences on jour-          worked on many major animated films, including The
                                                         Lion King, Fantasia 2000, Finding Nemo, and Inside
neys of the imagination, and I look forward to the       Out. He received an Academy Award nomination for
ways that his new work will engage listeners.”           Best Original Screenplay for Ratatouille.
                                                         CSO School and Family Concerts, presented by the
Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the              Negaunee Music Institute, engage approximately
Orchestra is co-commissioned by the Chicago              40,000 audience members each season. These
Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony,              affordable and age-appropriate concerts feature the
Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony           extraordinary musicians of the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra.              Orchestra to inspire the next generation of audience
The CSO commission is made possible through the          members and music lovers.
generous support of Helen Zell.

16 CSO.ORG
event spotlight

CSOA’s Annual Symphony Ball                                                                Presented by the
September 21, 2019                                                                         Women’s Board of the

O
                                                                                           Chicago Symphony
         n the evening of September 21, Zell Music Director                                Orchestra Association
         Riccardo Muti conducted the Chicago Symphony
         Orchestra’s annual Symphony Ball concert. The program,                            SYMPHONY BAL L CO - CHAIR S
                                                                                           WOME N’S BOARD
supported by presenting sponsor Northern Trust, included a                                 BOARD OF TRU STE E S
rousing program featuring music by Verdi and Suppé, as well                                Mimi Murley
as Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy-Overture after                                  Leslie Henner Burns
Shakespeare. “A pianist of magisterial elegance, power and
                                                                                           SYMPHONY BAL L CO - CHAIR
insight” (The New York Times), Leif Ove Andsnes performed
                                                                                           BOARD OF TRU STE E S
Grieg’s magnificent Piano Concerto in A minor.                                             Terrence J. Truax
  Gala patrons enjoyed a bustling preconcert reception, with full
bar and hors d’oeuvres in Buntrock Hall. Red-carpet experience,                            WOME N’S BOARD PRE SIDE NT
photo wall, and performances by members of the Civic Orchestra                             Elizabeth A. Parker
of Chicago were presented on Michigan Avenue to welcome all                                PRE SE NTING SPONSOR
concert attendees to Orchestra Hall.                                                       Northern Trust
  The Women’s Board of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
                                                                                           OFFICIAL AIRL INE
Association proudly presented this year’s ball, “An Evening of
                                                                                           United Airlines
Romance, Revelry, and Artistry,” utilizing the style of the Italian
Renaissance. The event, co-chaired by Mimi Murley and Leslie                               ME DIA SPONSOR S
Henner Burns and Trustee co-chair Terrence Truax, raised nearly                            WBBM Newsradio 780
$1.5 million for the organization.                                                          and 105.9 FM
                                                                                           Chicago Magazine
below, l e f t to r ig h t : Co-chairs Mimi Murley and Leslie Henner Burns
celebrate at the Four Seasons with Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti. Photo by
Todd Rosenberg
Herald trumpets welcome guests to the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago. Photo by Anne Ryan
op p os i te pag e , c lo c kw is e from top : Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes performed Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16. Photo by
Todd Rosenberg
A brass quintet of musicians from the Civic Orchestra of Chicago welcomed arriving guests on Michigan Avenue. Photo by
Todd Rosenberg
l e f t t o r i g h t: CSOA Trustee Keith Crow, Women’s Board President Elizabeth Parker, Women’s Board member Mia Martich, and
Zoren Lazarevic. Photo by Bob Carl
l e f t t o r i g h t: Women’s Board members Kim Shepherd and Shelley Ochab, CSOA Life Trustee Cindy Sargent, Women’s Board
member Cheryl Sturm, and CSOA Life Trustee Mary Lou Gorno. Photo by Bob Carl

18 CSO.ORG
EVENT SPOTLIGHT

NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020   19
volunteer and support opportunities

The programs of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association are made possible
each season thanks in part to our dedicated volunteers and donors. Support the music
you love by getting involved in the following ways.

GOVERNING MEMBERS are business, cultural, and civic leaders            GOVERNING MEMBERS
                                                                       EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
who serve as essential advocates for the CSO, both in Chicago          Michael Perlstein Chair & Vice Chair of
and around the world, and participate in many significant activi-       Nominations & Membership
                                                                       Jared Kaplan Immediate Past Chair
ties at Symphony Center. Email governingmembers@cso.org for            Charles Emmons, Jr. Vice Chair of the
more information.                                                       Annual Fund
                                                                       Sally Feder Vice Chair of
                                                                        Member Engagement
The LE AGUE works on fundraising events, educational pro-
grams, and social activities to support the CSO while building
                                                                       LEAGUE EXECUTIVE COMMIT TEE
camaraderie with fellow members. Email wardw@cso.org for               Sue Bridge President
                                                                       William Ward Vice President
further information.                                                    of Administration
                                                                       Kathy Solaro Vice President of Areas
The WOMEN’S BOARD promotes the CSO’s artistic excellence               Nancy Friedman Vice President
                                                                        of Education
and exemplary educational programming by engaging women                Marcia Lewis Vice President of Events
                                                                       Earle Cromer III Vice President of Finance
leaders in advocacy and fundraising efforts, including the CSO’s       Eileen Conaghan Vice President
annual Symphony Ball. Email Kim Duffy at duffyk@cso.org for             of Fundraising
                                                                       Jessica Erickson Vice President
further information.                                                    of Membership
                                                                       Bonnie McGrath Secretary
                                                                       Denise Stauder Strategic Planning Chair
The OVERTURE COUNCIL is a dynamic group of Chicago                     Fred Garzon, Lee Ori Members-at-Large
young professionals aged 21–45 who have a love of music and
a desire to learn more about how to support the CSO. Email             WOMEN’S BOARD
overturecouncil@cso.org for more information.                          Elizabeth A. Parker President
                                                                       Elisabeth Adams Immediate Past President
                                                                       Jennifer Luby, Claudine Tambuatco
AUXILIARY VOLUNTEERS provide invaluable administrative                  Communications/Governance Chairs
                                                                       Juli Crabtree Community
support in a variety of ways and work in the administrative offices.    Engagement Chair
Email Ariana Strahl at strahla@cso.org for further information.        Katie Barber Membership Chair

The CSO L ATINO ALLIANCE encourages individuals and their              OVERTURE COUNCIL
families to discover and experience timeless music with other          EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
                                                                       John Dunson President
enthusiasts in concerts, receptions, and educational events. To        Hank Bell Cultural Outreach Chair
learn more, please visit cso.org/latinoalliance or connect with us     Kathryn Davies Activities Chair
                                                                       Amy Fallon Communications Chair
on Facebook and LinkedIn.                                              David Greene Social Media Chair
                                                                       Michelle Kittleson Audience
                                                                        Development Chair
The CSO AFRICAN AMERICAN NET WORK’ s mission is to                     Ben Levy, Taylor Poulin Soundpost
engage Chicago’s culturally rich African American community             Co-chairs
                                                                       Nick McWilliams Secretary
through the sharing and exchanging of unforgettable classical
music experiences while building relationships for generations to
                                                                       L AT I N O A L L I A N C E L E A D E R S H I P
come. To learn more and join the Network, please call Sheila Jones     Ramiro J. Atristaín-Carrión, Rina Magarici
at 312-294-3045, email africanamericannetwork@cso.org, or               Co-chairs

visit cso.org/AAN.
                                                                       THEODORE THOMAS SOCIETY
                                                                       Mary Lou Gorno Chair
The THEODORE THOMAS SOCIET Y recognizes those who
make financial plans, usually through a will, trust or gift annu-
ity, to benefit the CSO in the future. Email Al Andreychuk at          The Volunteer Programs office is located at
andreychuka@cso.org for more information.                              67 East Adams, 6th floor. 312-294-3160

20 CSO.ORG
sponsors

           The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association
           is grateful for the generous support of this
           season’s major corporate sponsors.

           ma e st ro res i den c y p res en t er

                                                    offi cia l a irline o f the cso

                                                                  NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020   21
executive spotlight
r e né e metca l f, ma rket ex ecu t i ve,                o s ca r m u n oz , c h i e f e xe c u t i v e o f f i c e r
i llinois glo ba l co mmerci a l ba n ki n g              United Airlines
Bank of America Merrill Lynch                                                 United is pleased to serve
                     Bank of America is proud to                              the CSO as its official airline
                     continue its long-standing                               and proudly supports its
                     support of the Chicago                                   remarkable contributions to
                     Symphony Orchestra.                                      the performing arts commu-
                     Our partnership not only                                 nity here in Chicago and
                     delivers artistic quality                                beyond. With the CSO, we
                     but also helps to create                                 celebrate the energy that
                     meaningful connections               performers and audiences alike bring to our
with a diverse audience base in Chicago and               hometown and to the global stage.
around the world.
               mae st ro r e s i den c y p r es en t er

st e ve shebik , v ice cha i r                            e. s c ot t s a n t i , c h a i rm a n a n d
The Allstate Corporation                                  ch i e f e xe c u t i v e o f f i c e r

                  Allstate applauds the CSO              ITW
                   for its commitment to enrich                                        I TW is proud to support
                   community and educational                                            the Chicago Symphony
                   programs in our hometown                                             Orchestra and its long
                   of Chicago. We are a proud                                           tradition of excellence in
                   supporter of the Negaunee                                            providing extraordinary
                   Music Institute at the CSO,                                          classical music perfor-
                   as we believe that good                                              mances for audiences here
                   starts young.                                                        in Chicago and around
                                                                                        the world.

ch r is c ra ne, presiden t a n d ceo                     s cot t c . swa n s o n , p re s i d e n t
Exelon                                                    PNC Bank Illinois
                     At Exelon, we believe that                                 At PNC, we recognize the
                     creativity inspires us all.                                importance of the arts in
                     We are proud to serve as                                   contributing to a dynamic,
                     sponsor of the SCP Jazz                                    vibrant, and successful
                     series. Exelon has a strong                                community. We applaud
                     tradition of committing                                    the Chicago Symphony
                     our energy and resources to                                Orchestra’s achievements
                     the communities we serve.                                  as a cornerstone of our
Through our corporate citizenship program,                local arts community, and look forward to another
Exelon creates collaborations with community-             exciting year of world-class performances.
based nonprofits to deliver cutting-edge ideas
that achieve meaningful
and measurable change
for the better.

22 CSO.ORG
EXECUTIVE SPOTLIGHT

ch ar le s w. dougl a s, pa rt n er                   ch ri sto p h e r l . c u l p, m a n ag i n g d i re c to r
Sidley Austin LLP                                     Financial Economics Consulting, Inc.
                     From one Chicago tradition                                The CSO commands
                     to another, Sidley Austin                                 respect both locally and
                     LLP congratulates the                                     worldwide and is an
                     Chicago Symphony                                          important ambassador of
                     Orchestra on a successful                                 our city to the rest of the
                     2019–20 season. We are                                    world. We are proud to
                     proud to support an                                       support this amazing and
                     organization that has                                     unparalleled symphony
contributed so much to the rich heritage of our       in all of its pursuits at home and abroad.
city. May the music continue to transform and
inspire us all.

davi d r . ca sper, u.s. c eo                         t er r e n c e j . t rua x , m a n ag i n g pa rt n e r
BMO Financial Group                                   Jenner & Block LLP
                       The Chicago Symphony                                 Jenner & Block is proud to
                       Orchestra commands the                               share the CSO’s passion for
                       admiration of music lovers                           creativity, innovation, and
                       worldwide. Its reputation                            the pursuit of excellence. As
                       across the world brings                              a longtime CSO supporter,
                       acclaim to our great city,                           the firm looks forward to
                       and its programming and                              continuing to participate in
                       outreach connect audiences                           the symphony’s rich tradi-
through the bond of music. As a proud admirer         tion of musical excitement and unfolding artistry
and supporter, BMO is pleased to help play a role     in Chicago and the many communities it touches
in strengthening the CSO,                             in the United States and around the world.
one of our city’s greatest
cultural legacies.

ji m kol ar, centra l mar ket                         ed w e h m e r, p re s i d e n t & c e o
manag i n g pa rtner                                  Wintrust Financial
PwC                                                                          Chicago has become a
                      PwC is proud to support                                cultural touchstone for some
                      the Chicago Symphony                                   of the most celebrated
                      Orchestra, a vital and                                 musical acts in the world.
                      world-class artistic institu-                          As Chicago’s Bank, we’re
                      tion that has enhanced                                 honored to support the
                      Chicago’s cultural commu-                              Chicago Symphony
                      nity since 1891. The CSO’s                             Orchestra and its dedication
                      long-standing tradition of      to inspiring musicians in our community with
excellence is legendary, and we applaud its efforts   educational programs that instill hard work,
during another exciting season.                       discipline, and creativity and through the power
                                                      of music. Their work demonstrates that we can
                                                      all play a unique part to
                                                      produce something magical.

                                                                   NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020                      23
ONE HUNDRED T WENT Y-NINTH SE ASON
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
RICCARDO MUTI Zell Music Director

Friday, November 22, 2019, at 7:30
Edman Memorial Chapel, Wheaton College

Juanjo Mena Conductor
Sally Matthews Soprano
Women of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
 Cheryl Frazes Hill Director

lee iii                             Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula
                                    First Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances

barber                              Two Scenes from Antony and Cleopatra
                                    Give me some music
                                    Give me my robe
                                    First Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances

                                    sally mat the ws

intermission

holst                               The Planets, Op. 32
                                    Mars, the Bringer of War
                                    Venus, the Bringer of Peace
                                    Mercury, the Winged Messenger
                                    Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
                                    Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age
                                    Uranus, the Magician
                                    Neptune, the Mystic
                                    women of the chicago symphony chorus

This performance is generously sponsored by the JCS Arts, Health and Education Fund of the
DuPage Foundation.
Support for this performance is also provided by Megan and Steve Shebik.
The appearance of the Chicago Symphony Chorus is made possible by a generous gift from
Jim and Kay Mabie.
These performances are presented in collaboration with Wheaton College and the Wheaton College
Artist Series.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

                                                                 NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020     25
This performance is generously sponsored by the

          JCS Arts, Health and Education Fund of the
          DuPage Foundation.

26 ONE HUNDRED T WENT Y-NINTH SE ASON
comments by james lee iii | paul thomason | phillip huscher

james lee iii
Born 1975, St. Joseph, Michigan

Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula

                      James Lee III studied at the University of        composed
                      Michigan, where his teachers included             2011
                      Michael Daugherty, William Bolcom, and
                                                                        first performance
                      Bright Sheng. The Tanglewood Music Center         October 15, 2011; New World
                      named Lee a Seiji Ozawa Composition               Symphony, Michael Tilson
                      Fellow in 2002 and the American Academy           Thomas conducting
                      of Arts and Letters granted him the Charles
                                                                        i n s t r u m e n tat i o n
                      Ives Scholarship in 2003 and the Wladimir         two flutes and piccolo, two oboes
                      and Rhoda Lakond Award in 2010. After             and english horn, two clarinets and
completing his doctoral studies in 2005, Lee joined the faculty of      bass clarinet, two bassoons and
Morgan State University in Baltimore. Some of his recent orches-        contrabassoon, four horns, three
tral works include A Different Soldier’s Tale in 2008 for the Detroit   trumpets, three trombones and
                                                                        tuba, timpani, percussion, harp,
Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin; Chuphshah!             piano/celesta, strings
Harriet’s Drive to Canaan in 2011 and Thurgood’s Rhapsody in
2016, both for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra led by Marin            a p p r ox i m at e
Alsop; and Ichabod! The Protest is Over! for the Pasadena               performance time
                                                                        11 minutes
Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Lockington. His new
work, Amer’ican, written for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra,            These are the first
                                                                        Chicago Symphony
receives its premiere on April 2, 2020, conducted by Eric Jacobsen.
                                                                        Orchestra performances.
   Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula received its world premiere by
the New World Symphony—a founding member of the Sphinx
Commissioning Consortium, which commissioned the work—
under Michael Tilson Thomas in Miami Beach in 2011.

James Lee III on Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula

S
        ukkot Through Orion’s Nebula is a festive work for orches-
        tra. Sukkot is a Hebrew word for the Feast of Tabernacles.
        In the biblical days, this holiday was celebrated on the
fifteenth day of the month of Tishrei (late September to late
October). It was the most joyous of the fall festivals that God
mandated the Hebrews to observe. It was also a thanksgiving
celebration for the blessings of the fall harvest. Orion’s Nebula
refers to the Orion constellation in space. The structure of this
nebula forms a roughly spherical cloud that peaks in density near
the core. The cloud displays a range of velocities and turbulence,
particularly around the core region.
   This work is constructed in seven sections:
   1. Reminiscences of the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah)
and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) open the work with
percussive, forceful sounds of the snare and bass drums. This is        a bove: James Lee III

                                                                   NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020           27
COMMENTS

further enhanced by the horns, which imitate the         images of the Messiah coming down out of
calls of the shofar (a ram’s horn, sounded on those      heaven through the Orion constellation, then the
holy days).                                              redeemed saints traveling through the constella-
   2. The full orchestra continues to a cadence          tion, and finally the New Jerusalem coming down
foreshadowing the grand advent of God.                   out of heaven. Violins soar in the higher registers,
   3. The woodwinds follow with joyful flourishes        which tend to have a quality of weightlessness.
and dancelike celebrations, which imitate the            Trills cease among the strings as they continue to
people’s reception of the Messiah. As this music         climb to heights of bliss in paradise.
continues, the motives pass on to the percussion            6. The bass and snare drums provide a reprise of
section, piano, harp, and eventually the strings.        the shofar theme. This continues with orchestral
   4. Previous melodies and motives are developed        exclamations of joy.
and transformed among the orchestra. This sec-              7. There are passages of call-and-response
tion celebrates the Second Coming of God.                among the ensemble in the final celebration,
   5. Orion is the one constellation mentioned           which continues until the work ends with an
specifically in the Old Testament. The muted             explosion of sound.
brass, singing violins, percussion instruments,
and woodwinds are intended to evoke celestial            —James Lee III

samuel barber                                                              composed
Born March 9, 1910; West Chester, Pennsylvania                             1966 (complete opera)
Died January 23, 1981; New York City                                       1968 (scenes)

Two Scenes from Antony and Cleopatra                                       first performance
                                                                           September 16, 1966
                                                                           (complete opera)
                                                                           February 6, 1975 (scenes)
                        “Sam Barber is our Monet,” declared
                        soprano Leontyne Price in a May 14, 1981,          i n s t r u m e n tat i o n
                        interview with Peter Dickinson. “Think of          solo voice, two flutes and alto flute,
                        the blues and red in Monet, particularly the       two oboes and english horn, two
                                                                           clarinets and bass clarinet, two
                        blues. There must be a thousand kinds of           bassoons and contrabassoon,
                        blues in Monet, without the sharp steeliness       four horns, three trumpets, three
                        of a van Gogh but with the lusciousness and        trombones and tuba, timpani,
                        fluidity! That’s what I think of Sam’s             percussion, two harps, piano/
                        music. . . . He wrote out of emotion . . . and     celesta, strings
for a singer that’s a challenge, but the end product is so rewarding       a p p r ox i m at e
and so terribly vocal. . . . It falls intellectually to the mind and       performance time
beautifully on the ear, which is a rare combination.”                      16 minutes
   Leontyne Price’s voice and Samuel Barber’s music were a mar-            These are the first
riage made in heaven. She had first encountered Barber while               Chicago Symphony
she was still a student at the Juilliard School. In 1953, she gave the     Orchestra performances.
world premiere of his Hermit Songs at the Library of Congress
with the composer at the piano, and she often included his music
in her recitals after that. When the Metropolitan Opera agreed to
move Lincoln Center, it was decided that the new theater should            lef t: Samuel Barber, courtesy of
open in September 1966 with the world premiere of an opera                 G. Schirmer, Inc.

28 ONE HUNDRED T WENT Y-NINTH SE ASON
COMMENTS

by an American composer.                                                                  for the play was echoed
Barber was the obvious                                                                    by poet W.H. Auden,
choice for many reasons,                                                                  who said, “If we had to
not least of which was the                                                                burn all of Shakespeare’s
success of his Pulitzer Prize–                                                            plays but one—luckily we
winning opera Vanessa                                                                     don’t—I’d chose Antony and
at the Met in 1958. Given                                                                 Cleopatra. . . . [It] gener-
Price’s stunning Met debut                                                                ally contains perhaps more
in January 1961, and her                                                                  first-rate poetry than any
relationship with Barber, it                                                              other play in the canon, but
was logical that she would                                                                not a line of it is detach-
head the cast, giving Barber                                                              able from the context either
another opportunity to write                                                              of the scene in which it
for a voice he knew so well.                                                              occurs or of the play as a
   It took Barber some time                                                               whole.” Barber decided the
to agree to write the new                                                                 libretto would consist of only
opera. In December 1959 the                                                               Shakespeare’s words. The
general manager of the Met, Rudolf Bing, wrote                    lines might be moved around for dramatic effect,
him, “If you are still thinking—as I do—of a new                  and much of the play would have to be cut, but it
opera of yours for the first season of the new                    would be pure Shakespeare.
house, we—that is to say, you—must seriously get                     According to Barber’s biographer Barbara
on with it. . . . I think we have to know whether                 B. Heyman, the composer was writing his own
or not there is any serious prospect of an import-                libretto in 1964 when he found out—second-hand
ant new opera by you.” The problem, as it so often                (apparently from reading the newspaper)—that
is for operatic composers, was finding the right                  Bing had asked Zeffirelli to design and stage
libretto. Barber was an extremely well-read man.                  the new opera as well as write its libretto. That
He discussed the project with numerous poets and                  summer, Barber followed Zeffirelli to Italy and
playwrights. For a while, he toyed with the idea of               they hammered out its outlines. They whittled
Moby Dick, or perhaps something set during the                    Shakespeare’s forty-two scenes down to sixteen,
American Civil War.                                               eliminated fourteen of the characters, and reduced
   The libretto to Vanessa had been written by                    the opera’s locations to only two: Rome and Egypt.
his longtime companion and fellow composer,                          The fundamental flaw in the project was that
Gian Carlo Menotti. When Vanessa was given in                     the two men had very different ideas of what the
Salzburg, the European critics had been scathing                  finished product should be. As Zeffirelli recounts
in their dismissal of the libretto, and Barber was                in his autobiography, “Given the subject and
repeatedly warned by friends not to use Menotti                   the scale of the occasion, I assumed that what
for the new opera. The fact that, eventually,                     [Barber] was planning to compose was something
Franco Zeffirelli wrote the libretto caused “the                  akin to Aida, and I was all set to rise to the occa-
only moment of bitterness that actually existed                   sion with mammoth sets, a vast cast, and sump-
between Sam and me,” Menotti later recalled.                      tuous costumes—the sort of spectacle that would
   Barber finally settled on his favorite play by                 honor such an important event in America’s
Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. His affection                  cultural life. This turned out to be a dangerous

abov e : Seven people involved in the opening opera of the new Metropolitan Opera House, standing on scaffolding of the new stage
before performing Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra. Left to right: the composer; librettist, director, and designer (sets and
costume) Franco Zeffirelli; mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias, Cleopatra’s attendant Charmian; tenor Jess Thomas, Octavius Caesar;
conductor Thomas Schippers; soprano Leontyne Prince, Cleopatra; and bass-baritone Justino Díaz, Antony. May 1, 1966 (Photo by
Duane Michals/Condé Nast via Getty Images)

                                                                              NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020                    29
COMMENTS

assumption. . . . As rehearsals got going, it became       The words for the first aria, “Give me some
increasingly obvious that the grandiose setting         music,” come primarily from Shakespeare’s act 2,
we had devised would be totally at odds with the        scene 5 and act 1, scene 5. The second aria, “Give
music.” Barber, on the other hand, had assured a        me my robe” (Cleopatra’s death scene), comes
friend there was “no danger of a neo-Aida” for the      almost entirely from Shakespeare’s act 5, scene 2.
new opera.                                              Barber used several themes in the score, varying
   Heyman summed up the results bril-                   them slightly, depending on the drama at an indi-
liantly: “The commission that was one of the            vidual moment. One of the main themes expresses
greatest tributes to Barber’s whole career turned       Antony and Cleopatra’s love: it is six notes, con-
out, ironically, to be his nemesis. Antony and          taining three ascending fourths. Since the second
Cleopatra . . . was the monumental misfortune of        and third of these begin down a third from the
Barber’s career.” The reviews were savage. After        previous note, it gives the melody a sinuous, slith-
Barber’s death, his publisher Hans Heinsheimer          ering quality that can be almost playful or over-
said the opera “was a terrible catastrophe from         whelmingly erotic, depending on the occasion.
which he never recovered.” But in hindsight,            In “Give me some music,” it is first heard after the
critics were responding more to the disaster of         opening fanfares, when the music becomes very
Zeffirelli’s massive over-staging than to Barber’s      soft and a single viola plays this theme against
music itself. Years later, critic Peter G. Davis, who   sustained chords in the woodwinds, harp, and
was at both the dress rehearsal and opening night       a single cello. At the beginning of the Death of
on September 16, 1966, remembered, “The recep-          Cleopatra (“Give me my robe”), it is played by a
tion at the end was, if not exactly ecstatic, warm      solo english horn, after which it figures promi-
and welcoming from an audience that seemed              nently in the orchestra, before Cleopatra sings it
more than pleased with the opera, as one can            to the words “Dost thou not see my baby at my
plainly hear from a broadcast transmission that         breast” after taking up the poisonous asps.
preserves the entire occasion.” And he remem-              In both the arias, Cleopatra sings the
bers, “The final pages show Barber at his most          words, “Now I feed myself with most delicious
lyrically eloquent, as Cleopatra expires in what is     poison”: in the first, they are sung softly after she
one of opera’s most moving death scenes . . . that      has been imaging what Antony might be doing in
had some of the audience in tears at the first          Rome; in the second they begin the great climax
performance.” A CD of that opening night also           of the whole scene. After Cleopatra asks, “Why
clearly shows strong and prolonged applause after       should I stay in this vile world?” there are seven
Cleopatra’s act 1 aria, “Give me some music.”           measures of orchestral music as the poison begins

W
                                                        to seep through her, and then she sings, “Now I
            ith Menotti’s help, Barber revised the      feed myself with most delicious poison.” Her vocal
            opera in 1975; that version has been        line begins quietly, but ecstatically, on a harmon-
            given several times since, including        ically unexpected G-flat at the top of the staff,
by the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1991. The two          and it swells to her last two lines. It’s the musi-
arias being performed for the first time at these       cal equivalent of biting into the ripest, juiciest
concerts were taken from the score and arranged         peach imaginable, just at the moment it starts to
for concert performances by Barber in 1968. For         turn, a musical reminder that an orgasm is also
Leontyne Price, they are “the kernel of Cleopatra’s     known as “the little death.” It is a perfect example
music.” They clearly show Barber’s deft handling        of the “lusciousness and fluidity” Leontyne Price
of an enormous orchestra, utilizing the instru-         spoke of when she compared Barber to Monet.
mental colors to convey drama and emotion, and          She was absolutely right.
his skill in writing for the soprano voice, framed
exquisitely by the orchestra.                           —Paul Thomason

30 ONE HUNDRED T WENT Y-NINTH SE ASON
COMMENTS

TWO SCENES FROM ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

   We are in Egypt, in Cleopatra’s palace. Antony has left for Rome,
and there are rumors that he has married. The orchestral introduction
portrays Cleopatra’s fury when she demands the truth from a messenger
and strikes him in her jealousy.
   The music becomes calmer, recalling the tenderness of the lovers’
separation. Bored, Cleopatra calls for music: “moody food of us that
trade in love.” She remembers how they first went fishing together when
he called her “his serpent of old Nile.” Her longing for him increases.

CLEOPATRA
Give me some music: music, moody food
Of us that trade in love . . . .
The music, ho!
I’ll none now!
Give me my angle, we’ll to the river: there,
My music playing far off, I will betray
Tawny-finned fishes.
And as I draw them up,
I’ll think them every one an Antony,
And say, “Ah, ha! Y’are caught!”
That time—O times!
I laughed him out of patience; and that night
I laughed him into patience.
And the next morn ere the ninth hour
I drunk him to his bed:
Then put my crown and mantles on him,
While I wore his sword Philippan.
My man of men!
Charmian!
Give me to drink mandragora
That I might sleep out this great gap of time
My Antony is away.
My man of men!
O Charmian, where think’st that he is now?
Stands he, or sits he?
Or does he walk?
Or is he on his horse?
O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony!
Do bravely, horse! for know’st thou whom thou movest?
The demi-Atlas of this earth.
He’s speaking now, or murmuring:
“Where’s my serpent of old Nile?”
(For so he calls me.)

(Please turn the page quietly.)

                                               NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020      31
COMMENTS

             Now I feed myself with most delicious poison.
             Think on me,
             That am with Phoebus’ am’rous pinches black,
             And wrinkled deep in time . . .
             Give me some music: music, moody food
             Of us that trade in love.

               Cleopatra has taken refuge in the pyramid after the defeat of her
             armies. Antony, who has stabbed himself, dies at her feet. The orchestra
             plays a funeral march as she decides to die with him. “Give me my robe,
             put on my crown,” she commands, and poisons herself by applying an
             asp, which she has smuggled into the monument.

             CLEOPATRA
             Give me my robe, put on my crown, I have
             Immortal longings in me. Now no more
             The juice of Egypt’s grape shall moist this lip.
             Yare, yare, good Iras; quick. Methinks I hear
             Antony call: I see him rouse himself
             To praise my noble act.
             Husband, I come:
             Now to that name my courage prove my title!
             I am fire, and air; my other elements
             I give to baser life. So, have you done?
             Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.
             Farewell, kind Charmian, Iras, long farewell.
             Have I the aspic on my lips? Dost fall?
             If thou and nature can so gently part,
             The stroke of death is as a lover’s pinch,
             Which hurts, and is desired.
             Come, thou mortal wretch.
             (to an asp, which she applies to her breast)
             With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
             Our life at once untie.
             Peace, peace!
             Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
             That sucks the nurse asleep?
             As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as gentle . . .
             O Antony! Nay, I will take thee, too:
             (applying another asp to her arm)
             Why should I stay . . .
             In this vile world?
             Now I feed myself with most delicious poison
             That I might sleep out this great gap of time.
             My man of men!

             By permission of the publisher G. Schirmer, Inc.

32 ONE HUNDRED T WENT Y-NINTH SE ASON
COMMENTS

gustav holst                                                                        composed
Born September 21, 1874; Cheltenham, England                                        1914–16
Died May 25, 1934; London, England                                                  first performance
                                                                                    November 15, 1920; London,
The Planets, Suite for Large Orchestra,                                             England
Op. 32                                                                              i n s t r u m e n tat i o n
                                                                                    four flutes, two piccolos and bass
                                                                                    flute, three oboes, bass oboe and
                       After World War I, Frederick Stock, the                      english horn, three clarinets and
                       music director of the Chicago Symphony                       bass clarinet, three bassoons and
                       Orchestra, resumed his old habit of taking                   contrabassoon, six horns, four
                       his summer vacations in Europe, where he                     trumpets, two tenor trombones
                                                                                    and bass trombone, tenor tuba and
                       could seek out important new music—                          bass tuba, timpani, triangle, snare
                       attend performances of pieces he didn’t                      drum, tambourine, cymbals, bass
                       know, gather up scores that weren’t available                drum, gong, bells, glockenspiel,
                       in the U.S. “One of the novelties I brought                  xylophone, celesta, two harps,
                       from London,” he wrote to Frances Glessner                   organ, strings, and, in the final
                                                                                    movement only, an offstage choir
in September 1920, “is called The Planets, composed by Gustav                       of women’s voices
(von) Holst, who by the way is a cousin of our mutual friend
Hermann von Holst in Chicago.” John and Frances Glessner,                           a p p r ox i m at e
whose pioneering H.H. Richardson house on Prairie Avenue is                         performance time
                                                                                    51 minutes
now considered one of the landmarks of residential architecture,
had enjoyed unusually close ties to Chicago’s orchestra since it                    first cso performances
was founded in 1891. They were given Box M, the center box,                         December 31, 1920, and January 1,
when Orchestra Hall was built in 1904, and after the death of                       1921, Orchestra Hall. Frederick
Theodore Thomas, the Orchestra’s founder and first music                            Stock conducting (U.S. premiere)
director, the following year, they established a bond with Stock,                   August 11, 1977, Ravinia Festival.
his successor, that transcended a conventional conductor-patron                     Women of the Chicago Symphony
                                                                                    Chorus (Margaret Hillis, director),
relationship. Frances was one of the few Chicagoans Stock felt he                   Lawrence Foster conducting
could talk with candidly about music.
  The Holst that the Glessners and Stock knew was one of                            most recent
Chicago’s leading prairie school architects. In 1905 he had                         cso performances
                                                                                    May 26, 27, 28, 29, and 31,
designed agricultural buildings for the Glessners’ summer place
                                                                                    2016, Orchestra Hall. Women
in New Hampshire; two years later he (along with Stock, John                        of the Chicago Symphony
Glessner, and the Chicago composer John Alden Carpenter) was                        Chorus (Duain Wolfe, director),
one of the founding members of the Cliff Dweller’s Club that                        Cristian Măcelaru conducting
soon settled atop Orchestra Hall; and in 1909 he agreed to over-                    July 13, 2016, Ravinia Festival.
see Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural practice when Wright and                     Women of the Chicago Symphony
his mistress, Mamah Cheney, skipped town for Europe.                                Chorus (Duain Wolfe, director),
                                                                                    Cristian Măcelaru conducting
  When he wrote to Frances Glessner, Stock had not yet heard
The Planets—in fact, the premiere was still two months away (it                     cso recording
had been privately performed in September 1918 in London),                          1989. Women of the Chicago
but he brought the score back to Chicago with him intent on                         Symphony Chorus (Margaret Hillis,
introducing the work to America, which he did on New Year’s                         director), James Levine conducting.
                                                                                    Deutsche Grammophon

abov e : Gustav Holst, photograph by Herbert Lambert (1881–1936), 1921. National
Portrait Gallery, London, England

                                                                              NOVEMBER 2019–FEBRUARY 2020             33
You can also read