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September 25, 2017
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MUSIC DIRECTOR RICCARDO MUTI TO BRING CHICAGO SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA TO LANE TECH COLLEGE PREP HIGH SCHOOL
FOR COMMUNITY CONCERT IN NOVEMBER
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Program Includes Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony
and Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 Wednesday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m. |
CHICAGO—Music Director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) travel to Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood to Lane Tech College Prep High School (2501 W. Addison) for a free Community Concert onWednesday, November 15, at 7:30 p.m. The program launches Muti’s November 2017 CSO residency activities and includes Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished ) and Brahms’s Symphony No. 2, two works that he and the Orchestra will perform during the October 2017 tour to Kansas City and the West Coast. In advance of the concert, CSOmusicians will participate in educational activities with band and orchestra students at the school.
This performance represents a return to Lane Tech College Prep High School for the CSO and a debut at the venue for Riccardo Muti. The Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the premier training Orchestra affiliated with the CSO, has also performed at the school with CSO Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant Yo-Yo Ma in January 2015.
This year’s Community Concert marks the eighth event of its kind since the beginning of Muti’s tenure as music director in 2010, when he led a concert at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park for an audience of more than 25,000. Muti’s commitment to connect all Chicagoans with the CSO has led to return performances in Millennium Park, as well as in neighborhood venues such as Morton East High School in Cicero and the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood.
In addition to the Community Concert, other free concerts presented by the CSOA this season include chamber music concerts featuring CSO musicians. These performances are part of the annual All-Access Chamber Music series and take place at Symphony Center and in three locations on Chicago’s South Side (Kenwood Academy, the Logan Center for the Performing Arts and the South Shore Cultural Center). New this year, the All-Access Chamber Music concerts at Symphony Center, will be presented in Orchestra Hall. The All-Access Chamber Music series opens on October 29 with a concert at the Logan Center for the Arts and continues on November 29 with concert in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center. While admission to All-Access Chamber Music concerts is free, tickets are required. Across Chicago and around the world, the Negaunee Music Institute connects individuals and communities to the extraordinary musical resources of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, reaching more than 200,000 individuals annually. Under the visionary leadership of the CSO’s Music Director Riccardo Muti and Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant Yo-Yo Ma, the Institute’s programs focus on artistic excellence, broad access, deep and enduring impact, as well as mentorship and responsiveness. The CSO’s music director position is endowed in perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation.
Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The CSO’s Community Concert is supported in part by the Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO in partnership with Lane Tech College Prep High School.
The All-Access Chamber Music Series is generously sponsored by an anonymous benefactor.
Artists, programs and prices are subject to change.
Tickets for all CSOA-presented concerts are available 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.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti, born in Naples, Italy, 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. In 2017, Muti led the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale in performances that were part of the historic G-7 Culture Summit which explored the use of culture as an instrument of dialogue among different peoples and nations.
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 now forty-five consecutive 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. 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.
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.
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, and the gold medal from Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his promotion of Italian culture abroad. In March 2017, the Italian government recognized Muti with its prestigious Presidente della Repubblica award, presented to Muti for his exceptional contribution to Italian culture in the field of music. 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, including Chinese.
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.
http://www.riccardomutimusic.
About Lane Tech College PrepLane Tech College Prep, Chicago's first selective enrollment high school, was established in 1908 and has upheld a tradition of excellence for 110 years. Located on Chicago's north side, Lane sits on 33 beautiful acres and currently enrolls over 4,500 students in grades 7-12, making it the largest high school in Chicago. Students come from Chicago's diverse neighborhoods to form a community of learners. Lane's 250 faculty and staff collaborate with parents and the school community to provide a challenging and rigorous college prep curriculum, focusing on both STEM programming as well as fine arts. In addition, Lane Tech is known as the "School of Champions" for its powerful athletics programs and records.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra: www.cso.org and www.csosoundsandstories.org Founded by Theodore Thomas 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 60 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 eight 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. 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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