For Immediate Release:
February 23, 2016
Press Contacts:
Eileen Chambers, 312-294-3092
Photos Available By Request
[email protected]
SIR MARK ELDER LEADS CSO IN THREE UNIQUE PROGRAMS
DURING MARCH RESIDENCY
Elder’s Opening Program Features Works by British Masters
Elgar and Vaughan Williams
Jeremy Denk Joins Elder and CSO as Soloist in Bartόk’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on
Program with Additional Works by Dvořák and Janáček
Beyond the Score® Program Explores Life and Work of Composer Leoš Janáček
March 3-15
CHICAGO—Internationally-celebrated opera and orchestral conductor Sir Mark Elder returns to
lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) in three unique programs in March. Elder opens
his series of CSO performances with a program featuring works by British composers Sir
Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams on March 3 and 5. Elder and the CSO go on to
explore works by three Eastern European composers – Dvořák, Bartόk and Janáček with
pianist Jeremy Denk as the featured soloist in Bartόk’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in subscription
concerts March 10, 12 and 15. Elder also leads a Beyond the Score® program highlighting the
life and work of Czech composer Leoš Janáček on March 11 and 13. Elder, who is currently
music director of The Hallé orchestra in Manchester, has made regular appearances with the
CSO since his subscription debut in 1983.
On Thursday, March 3 at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday, March 5 at 8:00 p.m. Elder leads the CSO in
a program which pays homage to two of England’s greatest composers, Ralph Vaughan
Williams and Sir Edward Elgar. Two works by Vaughan Williams open the program and include
the Overture to The Wasps and Five Variants of “Dives and Lazarus”, a setting of an English
folk tune based on the biblical parable. Completing the program is Elgar’s celebrated Symphony
No. 1, a work dedicated to his friend Hans Richter, the German-born, American artist and
filmmaker, who called the work “the greatest symphony of modern times, written by the greatest
modern composer…”
Elder leads the CSO in works by Dvořák, Bartόk and Janáček in subscription concerts on
Thursday, March 10 at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, March 12 at 8:00 p.m., and Tuesday, March 15 at
7:30 p.m. Works include Dvořák’s Scherzo capriccioso, as well as Janáček’s Suite from The
Cunning Little Vixen and the tumultuous orchestral rhapsody Taras Bulba. Completing this
program is Bartόk’s Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring Jeremy Denk as soloist. Denk, who has
received the 2013 MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, the 2014 Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical
America’s 2014 Instrumentalist of the Year award, has become one of today’s most sought-after
concert pianists.
The Thursday, March 10 concert is part of CSO’s Classic Encounter series that includes a lively
preconcert scene complete with food and drinks, as well as a multimedia presentation and
conversation with a CSO musician hosted by WXRT and Radio Hall of Fame DJ Terri Hemmert.
For the March 10 Classic Encounter, Hemmert welcomes CSO Violist Max Raimi for the
preconcert conversation. Single tickets for the Classic Encounter preconcert reception can be
added to any concert ticket order for March 10. More information is here. Four-concert, Classic
Encounter series ticket packages include concert tickets and access to preconcert receptions
and start at $140. More information is available at cso.org/classicencounter.
The 2015/16 season of Beyond the Score® continues with its second presentation focused on
Czech composer Leoš Janáček—Fire and Freedom: Janáček in Life and Music—on Friday,
March 11 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 13 at 3:00 p.m. Regarded as one of the most unique
and innovative composers of his time, the program includes performances of the Suite from his
opera The Cunning Little Vixen, and his epic orchestral work Taras Bulba. Steppenwolf Theatre
ensemble member Francis Guinan portrays Janáček in this presentation developed by the
Beyond The Score® Creative Director Gerard McBurney.
Tickets for all CSOA-presented concerts can be purchased by phone at 800-223-7114 or 312294-3000; 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.
CSO Tuesday series concerts are sponsored by United Airlines.
Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of the CSO.
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Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Thursday, March 3, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 5, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Sir Mark Elder, conductor
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Overture to The Wasps
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Five Variants of “Dives and Lazarus”
ELGAR
Symphony No. 1 in A-flat Major, Op. 55
Tickets: $30-$217
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Thursday, March 10, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 12, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Sir Mark Elder, conductor
Jeremy Denk, piano
DVOŘÁK
Scherzo capriccioso, Op. 66
BARTÓK
Piano Concerto No. 2
JANÁČEK
Suite from The Cunning Little Vixen
ED. MACKERRAS
JANÁČEK
Taras Bulba
Tickets: $30-$217
Classic Encounter
Preconcert Reception
Thursday, March 10, 2016, 6:30 p.m.
Terri Hemmert, guest speaker
Max Raimi, viola
Tickets: $15
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Beyond The Score
Friday, March 11, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 13, 2016, 3:00 p.m.
Sir Mark Elder, conductor
Francis Guinan, actor
Fire and Freedom: Janáček in Life and Music
JANÁČEK
Suite from The Cunning Little Vixen
ED. MACKERRAS
JANÁČEK
Taras Bulba
Tickets: $32-$144
Featured Conductor and Soloist
Sir Mark Elder
Jeremy Denk
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 58 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 four 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 with Muti and the CSO, 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.