Jan 14, 2014 ... Ennio Morricone's Voices from the Silence, written to commemorate the events of
September. 11, 2001, and first performed in the U.S. at the ...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 14, 2014
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Press Contacts:
[email protected] Celeste Wroblewski, 312-294-3093 Rachelle Roe, 312-294-3090 Michael Mason, 312-294-3089
MUSIC DIRECTOR RICCARDO MUTI RETURNS TO CHICAGO FOR TWO-WEEK WINTER RESIDENCY WITH CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Maestro Muti Conducts World Premiere of Giovanni Sollima’s Antidotum Tarantulae Concerto for Two Cellos and Orchestra CHICAGO—Riccardo Muti, the preeminent conductor and the music director of the worldrenowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra, returns to Chicago in late January for two weeks of CSO subscription programs. Concerts with Maestro Muti begin on Thursday, January 30 at 8 p.m. and continue on January 31 and February 1. This program—on which Muti and the CSO are joined by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and composer and cellist Giovanni Sollima—includes Schubert’s Symphonies No. 3 and 4 along with the world premiere of a commissioned work for two cellos and orchestra by Giovanni Sollima. Maestro Muti’s association with Sollima goes back over a decade, and includes previous performances together, as well as two prior world premieres: from Teatro alla Scala, which resulted in Sollima’s Tempesta e Ritratti, premiered by Maestro Muti in 2001, and from Ravenna, for which Sollima composed Passiuni, premiered by Muti and the Cherubini Orchestra in 2008. On February 6, 7, and 8, Maestro Muti leads a program that features Schubert’s Mass No. 5 in A-flat Major and the CSO’s first-ever performance of Schubert’s Overture in the Italian Style in C Major. Another piece receives its first CSO performance on this program: Italian composer Ennio Morricone’s Voices from the Silence, written to commemorate the events of September 11, 2001, and first performed in the U.S. at the United Nations in 2007, conducted by the composer. Maestro Muti led the 2002 world premiere of the piece at the Ravenna Festival, which commissioned the work. Muti has said of Morricone, ‟I know him well. I had the pleasure of conducting the premiere of his Voci Dal Silenzio. He is one of the world's best contemporary composers.” Both Muti and Morricone are McKim Medal recipients. Morricone attended Muti’s 2012 McKim award ceremony.
Throughout the CSO’s 2013/14 season, Maestro Muti and the CSO traverse the complete Schubert symphonies, as well as several more of the composer’s works, all as part of the CSO’s season-long celebration of Schubert. ‟An orchestra must reach deeply when playing the music of Schubert. It is pure music…there is great intimacy and great reflection. When you experience a Schubert symphony, you come out of the hall enriched,” says Riccardo Muti. As part of his ongoing commitment to bring classical music to the broadest possible audience, Maestro Muti leads two open rehearsals with the CSO during this residency, on Thursday, January 30, and Thursday, February 6, both at Symphony Center. The first open rehearsal includes an audience of seniors and various community groups. The second open rehearsal includes a smaller audience from the CSO donor community. Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of the CSO. Sponsorship of the Music Director for performances on January 30 and 31 and February 1, 6, 7 and 8 is provided in part by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation. ### Program and Ticket Details Tickets for all CSO concerts can be purchased by phone at 800-223-7114 or 312-294-3000; online at cso.org, or at the Symphony Center box office: 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60604. Discounted student tickets for select concerts can be purchased, subject to availability, online in advance or at the box office on the day of the concert. For group rates, please call 312-2943040. Artists, programs and prices are subject to change. Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Thursday, January 30, 2014, 8 p.m. Friday, January 31, 2014, 1:30 p.m. Saturday, February 1, 2014, 8:00 p.m. Chicago Symphony Orchestra Riccardo Muti, conductor Yo-Yo Ma, cello Giovanni Sollima, cello SCHUBERT Symphony No. 3 in D Major, D. 200 SOLLIMA Antidotum Tarantulae Concerto for Two Cellos and Orchestra [CSO Commission, World Premiere] SCHUBERT Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, D. 417 (Tragic) Tickets: $45–$280
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Thursday, February 6, 2014, 8 p.m. Friday, February 7, 2014, 8 p.m. Saturday, February 8, 2014, 8 p.m. Chicago Symphony Orchestra Riccardo Muti, conductor Michaela Selinger, mezzo-soprano Rosa Feola, soprano Antonio Poli, tenor Riccardo Zanellato, bass Chicago Symphony Chorus Duain Wolfe, chorus director SCHUBERT Overture in the Italian Style in C Major, D.591 MORRICONE Voices from the Silence SCHUBERT Mass No. 5 in A-flat Major, D. 678 Tickets: $32–$214
About Riccardo Muti (www.RiccardoMutiMusic.com) Now in his fourth season as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Riccardo Muti is one of the preeminent conductors of our day. In 2010,when he became the tenth music director of the world-renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), he had more than forty years of experience at the helm of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence (1968-80); the Philharmonia Orchestra in London (1972-82); the Philadelphia Orchestra (1980-1992); and Teatro alla Scala in Milan (1986-2005). He continues to be in demand as a guest conductor for other great orchestras and opera houses: the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, and many others. He is an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic, which gave him its Golden Ring as a special sign of esteem and affection. He also is honorary director for life of the Rome Opera. Muti has received innumerable honors from Italy, the United States, France, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Israel, Spain, Russia, Sweden, and the Vatican as well as more than 20 honorary degrees from universities around the world. Passionate about teaching young musicians, Muti founded the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra in 2004. Through Le vie dell’Amicizia (The Paths of Friendship), a project of the Ravenna Festival in Italy, he has conducted in many of the world’s most troubled areas in order to bring attention to and advocate for civic and social issues. In greater Chicago and around the globe, Muti demonstrates his strong commitment to sharing classical music broadly by regularly offering free concerts and rehearsals to the public and by performing in schools, prisons, and other community venues. Riccardo Muti’s vast catalog of recordings, numbering in the hundreds, ranges from the traditional symphonic and operatic repertoires to contemporary works. He also has written two books, Verdi, l’italiano (published in Italian and German) and Riccardo Muti: An Autobiography: First the Music, Then the Words, which has been published in several languages. About the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (cso.org) The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is consistently hailed as one of the greatest orchestras in the world. Its music director since 2010 is Riccardo Muti, one of the preeminent
conductors of our day. The venerable Pierre Boulez is the CSO’s Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus; celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma is the CSO’s Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant. Composers Mason Bates and Anna Clyne are the CSO’s Mead Composers-inResidence. The renowned musicians of the CSO annually perform more than 150 concerts, most at Symphony Center in downtown Chicago and, in the summer, at the suburban Ravinia Festival. The CSO also appears in other U.S. cities, and frequently tours internationally. Since its founding in 1891, the Orchestra has made 56 international tours, visiting 28 countries on five continents. At home and on tour, tickets are always in high demand and frequently sold out; occasional performances and rehearsals are free. People around the globe enjoy the extraordinary sounds of the Orchestra and the Chorus through CSO Radio broadcasts and webcasts worldwide and through CSO Resound, a bestselling record label. Recordings by the CSO have won 62 Grammy Awards®. Through its Institute for Learning, Access, and Training, the CSO offers a variety of youth, community and education programs, all of which are based on the concept of Citizen Musicianship, using and promoting the power of music to contribute to our culture, our communities, and the lives of others. The parent organization for the CSO is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA). It also includes the acclaimed Chicago Symphony Chorus, conducted by Duain Wolfe, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a training ensemble conducted by Cliff Colnot. Under the banner of a series entitled Symphony Center Presents, the CSOA also presents prestigious guest artists and ensembles from a variety of musical genres—classical, jazz, pop, world, and contemporary. Deborah F. Rutter, a highly regarded arts executive, is president of the CSOA. About the Chicago Symphony Chorus The Chicago Symphony Chorus, under the current leadership of Duain Wolfe, has earned critical acclaim as one of the finest symphonic choruses in the world. The Chorus’ history began in September 1957, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced that Margaret Hillis, at Music Director Fritz Reiner’s invitation, would organize and train a symphony chorus. Since then, the Chicago Symphony Chorus has performed and recorded virtually all the major works in the choral symphonic repertoire, given important world premieres, appeared with visiting orchestras and been a part of many noteworthy milestones in the CSO’s history. In June 1994, Duain Wolfe was appointed the second director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, succeeding Hillis, who was named director laureate. Chicago Symphony Orchestra recordings featuring the Chorus have won 10 Grammy Awards for Best Choral Performance from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. The Chorus’ most recent recording with the CSO—Verdi’s Messa da Requiem led by Riccardo Muti—was awarded two Grammy Awards in 2011: Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance, the first Grammy Award for Chorus Director Duain Wolfe. The Chicago Symphony Chorus made its Ravinia Festival debut in July 1960 in a performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony conducted by CSO Associate Conductor and Ravinia Festival Artistic Director Walter Hendl. The Chorus made its Carnegie Hall debut with the CSO in 1967, in Henze’s The Sicilian Muses and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé with Jean Martinon conducting. Internationally, the Chorus first toured with the Orchestra to London and Salzburg in 1989 for performances of Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust with Sir Georg Solti conducting. Ten years
later, the ensemble won critical acclaim for its performances of Schoenberg’s Moses and Aron and Brahms’ A German Requiem with the Orchestra at the Berlin Festtage in April 1999. Members of the Chicago Symphony Chorus are frequently featured in education performances with members of the CSO; perform in community engagement performances at the Illinois Youth Center in Warrenville, Illinois; and, in collaboration with Chicago Public Schools, have appeared at over 40 CPS high schools, presenting programs designed to coordinate with the students’ history and literature curricula. Chorus members also have been seen in numerous performances around the city, including the Great Tree Lighting Ceremony at Macy’s, on ABC 7 and NBC 5, and singing the national anthem for the Chicago Bulls. Rosa Feola came to international attention when she won Second Prize, the Audience Prize and the Zarzuela Prize at the 2010 Plácido Domingo World Opera Competition. Having made her debut in the role of Corinna in Il Viaggio a Reims under Kent Nagano at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia she then sang Serafina, Il Campanello at the 2010 Reate Festival and went on to sing, Adina L’elisir d’amore at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome under Bruno Campanella and Inès in Mercadante’s I due Figaro conducted by Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Festival. In concert this season Rosa will make her debut at the Wigmore Hall, as well as singing Carmina Burana with the Orchestre National de Lyon under Yutak Sado and Santa Ceclilia. Other performances include; Schubert’s Mass with Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Rosa will also give a recital in Tokyo and sing Mahler 4 with the NHK. Yo-Yo Ma was appointed the Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Music Director Riccardo Muti in December 2009. Ma is currently fulfilling his second term in this role by providing musical leadership and guidance for the CSOA’s Institute for Learning, Access and Training and the CSO’s Citizen Musician Initiative, which empowers and encourages musicians and music lovers to generously use and promote the power of music to enhance our culture and the lives of others. Yo-Yo Ma’s multifaceted career is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences and for artistic growth and renewal. In 1998, he established the Silk Road Project to promote the study of the cultural, artistic and intellectual traditions along the ancient Silk Road trade route. His recent recordings include Songs of Joy and Peace; Paris: La Belle Époque with pianist Kathryn Stott; and New Impossibilities, a live album recorded with the Silk Road Ensemble and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His newest album, A Playlist Without Borders, recorded with the Silk Road Ensemble, was released in September 2013. He has received numerous awards, including the Avery Fisher Prize (1978), the Glenn Gould Prize (1999), the National Medal of the Arts (2001), the Dan David Prize (2006) and the Sonning Prize (2006). In February 2010, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Obama. Yo-Yo Ma serves as a UN Messenger of Peace and as a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts & Humanities. He was also recently recognized as a 2011 Kennedy Center Honoree and a 2012 Polar Music Prize Laureate. Antonio Poli has been heard as Fenton at Teatro alla Scala in Milan under Daniel Harding, with La Scala in Tokyo, and at Glyndebourne Festival under Mark Elder, as Nemorino at Staatsoper Berlin and in Graz, as Don Ottavio in Hamburg, Venice and Graz, as Alfredo in Venice, as Cassio under Antonio Pappano in London, as Conte in Mercadantes I due Figaro under Riccardo Muti in Madrid and at the Festivals of Ravenna and Salzburg, as Macduff in Macbeth and as Ismaele in Nabucco under Muti in Rome, as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor in Valencia, as Hirte und Junger Seemann in Tristan und Isolde in Genua unter Gianluigi Gelmetti. Future projects include Don Ottavio in new productions of Don Giovanni in London and Chicago, his
debut in the part of Tamino in Die Zauberflöte in Bari as well as Schubert’s Mass conducted by Riccardo Muti and a song recital at London Wigmore Hall. Antonio Poli has recorded Mercadante’s I due Figaro as well as Verdi’s Nabucco and Macbeth conducted by Riccardo Muti. Michaela Selinger is a permanent guest at Aalto Theatre in Essen, where she has sung Dejanira (Hercules), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), Muse/Nicklausse (Les contes d´Hoffmann), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) and Komponist (Ariadne auf Naxos). In 2013/14 she will sing the title role in Ariodante and Charlotte (Werther). Selinger finished the season 2011/12 with an engagement at the Opera National du Rhin as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss. In 2012/13 she returned at the Opera National de Lyon as Clairon in the new production of Strauss' Capriccio under Bernhard Kontarsky. From 2005–2010 Michaela Selinger was a member of the Vienna State Opera. Michaela Selinger has worked with world-renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Christian Thielemann, Franz Welser-Möst, Philippe Herreweghe, Philippe Jordan and Kirill Petrenko. Giovanni Sollima studied cello with Giovanni Perriera and Antonio Janigro and composition with his father Eliodoro Sollima and Milko Kelemen. He began an international career as cellist, collaborating among others with Claudio Abbado, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Jörg Demus, Martha Argerich, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Bruno Canino, DJ Scanner, Victoria Mullova, Riccardo Muti, Ruggero Raimondi, Patti Smith, Philip Glass and Yo-Yo Ma. He has performed in prestigious places, but also in alternative venues: Carnegie Hall, BAM, Alice Tully Hall, Knitting Factory in New York, Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Musicgebouw in Amsterdam, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Kunstfest in Weimar, La Scala in Milan, Santa Cecilia in Rome, Festivals of Kronberg, Kuopio, Istanbul, Tokyo, Venice, Ravenna, Spoleto, Shanghai (Expo 2010).Sollima composes for acoustic and electric instruments, and others invented by himself or created for him. He teaches at the Romanini Foundation in Brescia and the Accademia of Santa Cecilia in Rome where he was appointed Member of the Academy, the highest honour in Italy for a musician. He plays a cello by Francesco Ruggeri (Cremona, 1679). Riccardo Zanellato studied Voice with Arrigo Pola and specialised with Bonaldo Giaiotti. He won the "Iris Adami Corradetti" and the "A. Belli" competitions, followed by his debut in Gounod's Faust. In 1996, he was awarded the first prize at the "Operalia" competition in Tokyo.He has since appeared on numerous prestigious international stages: Macbeth (Banquo) at the Berlin Staatsoper; Otello (Ludovico) at the Opéra Bastille in Paris; and Rigoletto (Sparafucile) at the Teatro alla Scala; a Verdi Gala with Domingo, Carreras, Raimondi and Nucci under the baton of Zubin Mehta in Parma in 2001; Attila, La Battaglia di Legnano and Pizzetti's Assassinio nella Cattedrale conducted by Bruno Bartoletti at the Teatro Regio in Parma; Guglielmo Tell (Walter Furst) conducted by Alberto Zedda in La Coruña; Iphigénie en Aulide at Teatro dell'Opera in Rome; I Puritani (Sir Giorgio) at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam and in Cagliari; Il Trovatore (Ferrando) at the Théâtre Municipal de Lausanne; and many more. He recently performed Moise et Pharaon (Osiride), Nabucco, Macbeth and Simon Boccanegra under the baton of Riccardo Muti in Rome and Verdi's Requiem in Naples conducted by Riccardo Muti.
