Grant Park Music Festival One Night Membership Passes Go On Sale Tomorrow

Summer in Chicago begins in less than seven weeks with opening night of the Grant Park Music Festival on Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Carlos Kalmar and Chorus Director Christopher Bell will lead the award-winning Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus in a ten-week season that runs through August 19. Most concerts are Wednesdays and Fridays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. (exceptions include Tuesday, July 4 at 6:30 p.m. and no concert in Millennium Park on Wednesday, July 5 when the Grant Park Orchestra appears at the South Shore Cultural Center). The calendar for June is below.

One Night Membership Passes, starting at $25, will go on sale Tuesday, May 2 at 10 a.m. Patrons can call 312.742.7647 or go online at gpmf.org and select their own seat down front in the member section of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

Season memberships to the Grant Park Music Festival 2017 season are still available, and include reserved seats to every concert, along with exclusive benefits like access to concert receptions and discounts on parking and restaurants.

Patrons can also choose to create their own membership series of four, eight or twelve Festival concerts. A Choose Your Own four-concert membership package begins at $96, and is available by calling 312.742.7647 or visiting gpmf.org.

Membership support helps to keep the Festival free for all. For every Grant Park Music Festival concert, there are seats that are free and open to the public in the Seating Bowl and on the Great Lawn, available on a first-come, first-served basis.

On opening night, Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra will be joined by soloist Vadim Gluzman for Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. The program also includes Alfvén's Festival Overture and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture (June 14). The Grant Park Chorus joins the Orchestra, along with guest soloists Sara Jakubiak and David John Pike, for Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony in a weekend program that also includes Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes: Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia (June 16 and 17).

Audiences will hear Beethoven's Symphony No. 4, along with acclaimed soprano Susanna Phillips making her Festival debut in Aaron Copland's Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson (June 21). On Friday and Saturday, Kalmar pairs Stravinsky's complete ballet score of The Firebird with Khachaturian's Piano Concerto featuring Conrad Tao as soloist (June 23 and 24).

The month concludes with Roberto Sierra's Latin-infused Missa Latina, guest conducted by Festival favorite Miguel Harth-Bedoya and featuring the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus with soprano Jessica Rivera and baritone Takaoki Onishi (June 28 and 30).

The Festival continues to provide educational experiences for people of all ages that encourage the audience to learn more about the music. Its free popular Pre-Concert Lecture series returns with exclusive conversations between guest artists and expert music commentators including WFMT's Relevant Tones host Seth Boustead, CSO's Sounds and Stories contributor Laura Sauer and WFMT host Dennis Moore. June special guests include Vadim Gluzman (June 14); Conrad Tao (June 23) and Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Takaoki Onishi (June 28 and 30). Lectures take place in Millennium Park's Family Fun Tent, on the walkway to the west of the Pavilion, one hour before each concert.

Open lunchtime rehearsals of the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus return June 13 ? August 18 and typically take place Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. ? 1 p.m. Audiences are welcome to sit in the Pavilion Seating Bowl during rehearsals, and Festival docents will be on site to talk about the week's concerts during rehearsal breaks. A special Brown Bag Lunch talkback with Chorus Director Christopher Bell will take place on Wednesday, June 28 at approximately 12 Noon.

Ten of this summer's concerts, including June 14 (Opening Night), June 23 and June 28, will be broadcast on 98.7WFMT, Chicago's classical and fine arts radio station, and also online at wfmt.com/streaming.

For more information about the Grant Park Music Festival including membership, One Night Passes and group seating, visit gpmf.org or call 312.742.7647. For additional information, visit the Grant Park Music Festival Facebook page or follow the Festival on Twitter @gpmf.

Grant Park Music Festival

For more than 80 years, the Grant Park Music Festival has been Chicago's summer musical sensation, demonstrating that classical music, performed by a world-class orchestra and chorus can have a transformative impact on the city. Showcased in the city's most spectacular setting, the Festival continues to be the summer gathering place for all of Chicago. The Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park is the official home of the Grant Park Music Festival, with free seats available for every concert.

For information about the Grant Park Music Festival, visit gpmf.org or call 312.742.7647. For additional information, visit the Grant Park Music Festival Facebook page or follow the Festival on Twitter @gpmf.

The Festival is led by Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Carlos Kalmar, along with Grant Park Chorus Director Christopher Bell, Grant Park Orchestral Association President and CEO Paul Winberg, and Board Chair Stephen Smith.

The Grant Park Music Festival gratefully acknowledges the generous support from its 2017 sponsors: BMO Harris Bank, Season Sponsor; Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park, Official Hotel; AbelsonTaylor, Presenting Sponsor of "American Accents" and ComEd, Concert Sponsor; with additional support from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Walter E. Heller Foundation and Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.

The Grant Park Music Festival is a key partner in Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Night out in the Parks program. Night Out in the Parks is an initiative featuring more than 2,000 cultural activities annually in Chicago Park District locations citywide in support of the City of Chicago's Cultural Plan.

Carlos Kalmar

Carlos Kalmar has been Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival since 2000, and in 2011 was named Artistic Director and Principal Conductor. Under Kalmar's leadership, the Festival has become one of the world's preeminent classical music festivals, and he has played a central role in shaping its artistic vision.

In addition to his role at the Grant Park Music Festival, Carlos Kalmar is the Music Director of the Oregon Symphony, a position he has held since 2003. He was the Principal Conductor of the Orquestra Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española in Madrid and has served in artistic leadership roles for the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, the Opera House and Philharmonic Orchestra in Dessau, Germany and the Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna, while also traveling the world as a guest conductor appearing with some of the world's most important orchestras. Kalmar has made six recordings with the Grant Park Orchestra.

Christopher Bell

Christopher Bell has served as Chorus Director of the Grant Park Chorus since 2001, and led the Chorus through its 50th anniversary in 2012 with a series of special events, including the release of its first ever a cappella recording entitled Songs of Smaller Creatures and other American Choral Works, available on Cedille Records.

In addition to working with the Grant Park Music Festival, Bell is the Chorus Master of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus, and the Belfast Philharmonic Choir. Largely responsible for the formation of the National Youth Choir of Scotland (NYCoS) in 1996, he has been its Artistic Director ever since. In 2012, Bell was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow for his contributions to music in Scotland. He is the recipient of the 2013 Michael Korn Founders Award given by Chorus America, established in 1978 to honor an individual with a lifetime of significant contributions to the professional choral art. In 2015, Bell was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL

JUNE SCHEDULE
all programs subject to change

TCHAIKOVSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO

Wednesday, June 14, 6:30 PM

Performers: Grant Park Orchestra; Carlos Kalmar, conductor; Vadim Gluzman, violin

Alfvén: Festival Overture

Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto

Gershwin: Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture

A SEA SYMPHONY

Friday, June 16 at 6:30 PM

Saturday, June 17 at 7:30 PM

Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus; Carlos Kalmar, conductor; Christopher Bell, chorus director; Sara Jakubiak, soprano; David John Pike, baritone

Britten: Peter Grimes: Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia

Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony

BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO. 4

Wednesday, June 21 at 6:30 PM

Grant Park Orchestra; Carlos Kalmar, conductor; Susanna Phillips, soprano

Wagner: A Faust Overture

Copland: Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson

Beethoven: Symphony No. 4

STRAVINSKY FIREBIRD

Friday, June 23 at 6:30 PM

Saturday, June 24 at 7:30 PM

Grant Park Orchestra; Carlos Kalmar, conductor; Conrad Tao, piano

Schiff: Infernal

Khachaturian: Piano Concerto

Stravinsky: The Firebird

MISSA LATINA

Wednesday, June 28 at 6:30 PM

Friday, June 30 at 6:30 PM

Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus; Miguel Harth-Bedoya, guest conductor; Christopher Bell, chorus director; Jessica Rivera, soprano; Takaoki Onishi, baritone

Sierra: Missa Latina

Photo credit: Walter Mitchell

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