Chicago Symphony Orchestra To Embark On Sixth European Tour, 1/13-27
By: Molly Tracy Jan. 10, 2017
Music Director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) embark on their sixth trip to Europe together in January 2017, marking the Orchestra's 33rd tour to Europe and the 60th international tour in its distinguished history. The tour takes place during the CSO's 126th season in 2016/17 and includes 11 concerts from January 13-27, 2017, in seven cities-Paris; Hamburg; Aalborg, Denmark; Milan; Vienna; Baden-Baden, and Frankfurt.
Highlights of Muti and the CSO's 2017 European Tour include the CSO's first-ever performances at the new Philharmonie de Paris, on January 13; concerts at the state-of-the art Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg which are part of the grand opening week of programs for Europe's newest concert hall and will be the first performances in the venue by a foreign orchestra, on January 14 and 15; the CSO's debut at the Musikkens Hus in Aalborg, on January 16 and 17; performances at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan which represent the first CSO tour appearances there since 1981 and the Orchestra's first performances at the venue with Music Director Riccardo Muti, on January 20 and 21; a highly-anticipated return to the Musikverein in Vienna, on January 23 and 24; and the first CSO appearances since the 1990s at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, on January 25 and at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, on January 27.
Featured tour repertoire for Muti and CSO includes Hindemith's Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass, Elgar's In the South (Alassio), Mussorgsky's A Night on Bald Mountain, and Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures from an Exhibition, Richard Strauss' Don Juan and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, as well as Catalani's Contemplazione, which received its first performances by the CSO in subscription concerts led by Muti in September 2016.
Music Director Riccardo Muti and musicians of the CSO are also scheduled to participate in engagement and educational activities supported by the Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO during the 2017 European Tour. These activities begin in Paris on January 11 with a master class led by CSO Principal Clarinet Steve Williamson at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse. Activities in Paris continue on January 13, with a visit to Hôpital Armand Trousseau by CSO musicians Yuan-Qing Yu (violin) and Kenneth Olsen (cello) who perform in patient rooms that afternoon. Additional master classes for students at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse take place January 13 and are led by CSO musicians including Concertmaster Robert Chen, Principal Bass Alex Hanna, Principal Flute Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, Principal Trombone Jay Friedman and Principal Percussion Cynthia Yeh.
On January 17, in Aalborg, Denmark, CSO musicians including Concertmaster Robert Chen, Brant Taylor (cello), Bill Buchman (bassoon), John Hagstrom (trumpet), Oto Carillo (horn), Michael Mulcahy (tombone) and Cynthia Yeh (percussion) lead coaching sessions with members of the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. CSO musicians Cynthia Yeh (percussion) and Gene Pokorny (tuba) also lead master classes in Aalborg for percussion and tuba and low brass students from the Royal Academy of Music.
Community engagement and educational tour activities continue in Vienna with a January 23 CSO open rehearsal led by Riccardo Muti for more than 300 music students ages 15-19 from partner schools from the Musikverein's Amiddeus School Projects. A Q&A with select CSO musicians immediately follows the open rehearsal. In addition, a CSO ensemble is scheduled to share an interactive performance at a local elementary school, Akademisches Gymnasium Wien, on January 24. Participating musicians include Gina DiBello and Yuan-Qing Yu, violins; Diane Mues, viola; and Kenneth Olsen, cello.
Other special events and activities during the CSO's European Tour include a post-concert CD signing with Music Director Riccardo Muti following the January 15 performance at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Recordings available for purchase and signature at this special event include the 2016 CSO Resound release featuring Riccardo Muti and the CSO-Schoenberg: Kol Nidre and Shostakovich: Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti-as well as recordings from the entire CSO Resound catalog of recordings featuring Muti and the CSO and additional recordings provided by Riccardo Muti Music.
On January 16, CSOA senior administrative staff including President Jeff Alexander, VP of Orchestra and Building Operations Vanessa Moss and VP of Artistic Planning Cristina Rocca meet with fellow arts managers and professionals in Aalborg, Denmark to discuss best practices in orchestra management.
Riccardo Muti's first European tour with the CSO took place in 2007. Muti, who had not made an appearance in Chicago for 32 years, returned in 2007 for month-long residency that included subscription concerts at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, followed by a tour to Europe, with stops in England, France, Germany, and finally to Italy, where the Orchestra had not performed in more than 25 years.
Since becoming music director in 2010, Muti has embraced the Orchestra's rich legacy of international touring, having led European tours in 2011, in 2012-also including performances in Russia-and in 2014, which included the CSO's debut in Spain's Canary Islands, both in Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria, and in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as part of the opening program for the 30th annual Canary Islands Music Festival. Muti and the CSO also performed in the Mexican cities of Guanajuato and Mexico City as a part of a 2012 tour that also took Muti and the Orchestra to New York's Carnegie Hall.
Muti and the CSO's most recent tour to Europe in the fall of 2014 was marked by successful debuts in both Geneva, Switzerland, and Warsaw, Poland. The concerts in Warsaw included performances of Andrzej Panufnik's Concerto in modo antico in honor of the Polish composer's centennial in 2014. The CSO also performed a week of sold-out concerts at the Musikverein in Vienna, with the final two concerts featuring triumphant performances of Verdi's Requiem.
In January 2016, Muti took the CSO on their first tour to Asia together-the Orchestra's eighth-for an extensive trip that included sold-out concerts in Taiwan, Japan, China, and South Korea.
Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been touring-domestically and internationally-since the beginning of its history. First traveling to Canada in 1892, the Orchestra has since embarked on 59 international tours, performing in 29 countries on five continents.
Bank of America is the International Tour Sponsor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the 2016/17 season.
Tour Itinerary
Philharmonie de Paris
Paris, France
Friday, January 13, 2017, 8:30 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass
ELGAR In the South (Alassio)
MUSSORGSKY A Night on Bald Mountain
MUSSORGSKY, Pictures from an Exhibition
ORCH. RAVEL
Elbphilharmonie
Hamburg, Germany
Saturday, January 14, 2017, 8:00 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass
ELGAR In the South (Alassio)
MUSSORGSKY A Night on Bald Mountain
MUSSORGSKY, Pictures from an Exhibition
ORCH. RAVEL
Elbphilharmonie
Hamburg, Germany
Sunday, January 15, 2017, 8:00 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
CATALANI Contemplazione
STRAUSS, R. Don Juan
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4
Musikkens Hus
Aalborg, Denmark
Monday, January 16, 2017, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass
ELGAR In the South (Alassio)
MUSSORGSKY A Night on Bald Mountain
MUSSORGSKY, Pictures from an Exhibition
ORCH. RAVEL
Musikkens Hus
Aalborg, Denmark
Tuesday, January 17, 2017, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
CATALANI Contemplazione
STRAUSS, R. Don Juan
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4
Teatro alla Scala
Milan, Italy
Friday, January 20, 2017, 8:00 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
CATALANI Contemplazione
STRAUSS, R. Don Juan
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4
Teatro alla Scala
Milan, Italy
Saturday, January 21, 2017, 8:00 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass
ELGAR In the South (Alassio)
MUSSORGSKY A Night on Bald Mountain
MUSSORGSKY, Pictures from an Exhibition
ORCH. RAVEL
Musikverein
Vienna, Austria
Monday, January 23, 2017, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass
ELGAR In the South (Alassio)
MUSSORGSKY A Night on Bald Mountain
MUSSORGSKY, Pictures from an Exhibition
ORCH. RAVEL
Musikverein
Vienna, Austria
Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
CATALANI Contemplazione
STRAUSS, R. Don Juan
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4
Festspielhaus
Baden-Baden, Germany
Wednesday, January 25, 2017, 7:00 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass
ELGAR In the South (Alassio)
MUSSORGSKY A Night on Bald Mountain
MUSSORGSKY, Pictures from an Exhibition
ORCH. RAVEL
Alte Oper
Frankfurt, Germany
Friday, January 27, 2017, 8:00 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
CATALANI Contemplazione
STRAUSS, R. Don Juan
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4
Riccardo Muti ( riccardomutimusic.com)
Born in Naples, Italy, Riccardo Muti is one of the preeminent conductors of our day. In 2010, when he became the tenth music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), he already had more than forty years of experience at the helm of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Philharmonia Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Teatro alla Scala. He is a guest conductor for orchestras and opera houses all over the world: the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera, and many others.
Muti studied piano under Vincenzo Vitale at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella in his hometown of Naples, graduating with distinction. He subsequently received a diploma in composition and conducting from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, also graduating with distinction. His principal teachers were Bruno Bettinelli and Antonino Votto, principal assistant to Arturo Toscanini at La Scala. After he won the Guido Cantelli Conducting Competition-by unanimous vote of the jury-in Milan in 1967, Muti's career developed quickly. In 1968, he became principal conductor of Florence's Maggio Musicale, a position that he held until 1980.
Herbert von Karajan invited him to conduct at the Salzburg Festival in Austria in 1971, and Muti has maintained a close relationship with the summer festival and with its great orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, for more than forty-five years. When he conducted the philharmonic's 150th anniversary concert in 1992, he was presented with the Golden Ring, a special sign of esteem and affection, and in 2001, his outstanding artistic contributions to the orchestra were further recognized with the Otto Nicolai Gold Medal. He is also a recipient of a silver medal from the Salzburg Mozarteum for his contribution to the music of W.A. Mozart. He is an honorary member of Vienna's Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of the Friends of Music), the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Vienna State Opera.
Muti succeeded Otto Klemperer as chief conductor and music director of London's Philharmonia Orchestra in 1973, holding that position until 1982. From 1980 to 1992, he was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and in 1986, he became music director of Milan's Teatro alla Scala. During his nineteen-year tenure, in addition to directing major projects such as the Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy and Wagner Ring cycle, Muti conducted operatic and symphonic repertoire ranging from the baroque to the contemporary, also leading hundreds of concerts with the Filarmonica della Scala and touring the world with both the opera company and the orchestra. His tenure as music director, the longest of any in La Scala's history, culminated in the triumphant reopening of the restored opera house with Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta, originally commissioned for La Scala's inaugural performance in 1778.
Throughout his career, Muti has dedicated much time and effort to training young musicians. In 2004, he founded the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini (Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra), based in his native Italy. He regularly tours with the ensemble to prestigious concert halls and opera houses all over the world. In 2015, he founded the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy in Ravenna, Italy, to train young conductors, répétiteurs, and singers in the Italian opera repertoire.
Since 1997, as part of Le vie dell'Amicizia (The paths of friendship), a project of the Ravenna Festival in Italy, Muti has annually conducted large-scale concerts in war-torn and poverty-stricken areas around the world, using music to bring hope, unity, and attention to present day social, cultural, and humanitarian issues.
Muti has received innumerable international honors. He is a Cavaliere di Gran Croce of the Italian Republic, Officer of the French Legion of Honor, and a recipient of the German Verdienstkreuz. Queen Elizabeth II bestowed on him the title of honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded him the Order of Friendship, and Pope Benedict XVI made him a Knight of the Grand Cross First Class of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great-the highest papal honor. Muti also has received Israel's Wolf Prize for the arts, Sweden's prestigious Birgit Nilsson Prize, Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, Japan's Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star decoration and the gold medal from Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his promotion of Italian culture abroad. He has received more than twenty honorary degrees from universities around the world.
Considered one of the greatest interpreters of Verdi in our time, Muti wrote a book on the composer, Verdi, l'italiano, published in Italian, German, and Japanese. His first book, Riccardo Muti: An Autobiography: First the Music, Then the Words, also has been published in several languages.
Riccardo Muti's vast catalog of recordings, numbering in the hundreds, ranges from the traditional symphonic and operatic repertoires to contemporary works. His debut recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of Verdi's Messa da Requiem, released in 2010 by CSO Resound, won two Grammy awards. His second recording with the CSO and Chorus, Verdi's Otello, released in 2013 by CSO Resound, won the 2014 International Opera Award for the Best Complete Opera.
During his time with the CSO, Muti has won over audiences in greater Chicago and across the globe through his music making as well as his demonstrated commitment to sharing classical music. His annual free concerts for the city of Chicago attract tens of thousands of people. He regularly invites subscribers, students, seniors, and people of low incomes to attend, at no charge, his CSO rehearsals. Muti's commitment to artistic excellence and to creating a strong bond between an orchestra and its communities continues to bring the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to ever higher levels of achievement and renown.
www.riccardomutimusic.com
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra: www.cso.org and www.csosoundsandstories.org/
Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the greatest orchestras in the world. Since 2010, the preeminent conductor Riccardo Muti has served as its 10th music director. Yo-Yo Ma is the CSO's Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, and Samuel Adams and Elizabeth Ogonek are its Mead Composers-in-Residence.
From baroque through contemporary music, the CSO commands a vast repertoire. Its renowned musicians annually perform more than 150 concerts, most at Symphony Center in Chicago and, each summer, at the suburban Ravinia Festival. They regularly tour nationally and internationally. Since 1892, the CSO has made 59 international tours, performing in 29 countries on five continents.
People around the globe listen to weekly radio broadcasts of CSO concerts and recordings on the WFMT radio network and online at cso.org/radio. Recordings by the CSO have earned 62 Grammy Awards, including two in 2011 for Muti's recording with the CSO and Chorus of Verdi's Messa da Requiem (Muti's first of seven releases with the CSO to date). Find details on these and many other CSO recordings at www.cso.org/resound.
The CSO is part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, which also includes the Chicago Symphony Chorus (Duain Wolfe, Director and Conductor) and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a training ensemble for emerging professionals. Through its prestigious Symphony Center Presents series, the CSOA presents guest artists and ensembles from a variety of genres-classical, jazz, world, and contemporary.
The Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO offers community and education programs that annually engage more than 200,000 people of diverse ages and backgrounds. Through the Institute and other activities, including a free annual concert led by Muti, the CSO is committed to using the power of music to create connections and build community.
The CSO is supported by thousands of patrons, volunteers and institutional and individual donors. Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of the CSO. The CSO's music director position is endowed in perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation. The Negaunee Foundation provides generous support in perpetuity for the work of the Negaunee Music Institute.
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