Articles & Reviews
Submitted by redear on Wed, 10/04/2006 - 3:34pm.
The Chicago Sinfonietta kicked off its twentieth anniversary Orchestra Hall season on October 2 with a concert that vividly illustrated many of the characteristics that have made the orchestra unique and successful: the orchestra and Maestro Freeman are willing to take chances; they showcase young talents; they are not just diverse themselves but present music from a diverse group of composers and performers; and they do it all with a high level of professionalism.
What was perhaps the most publicized item on the concert was presented last: David Baker’s Concertino for Cellular Phones and Symphony Orchestra. Who knew that 21st century aleatory music could be such fun? With the audience an enthusiastic and willing participant, the much-anticipated concertino turned out to be a delightful bit of fluff that was a welcome if not-too-filling dessert for the evening.
David Baker had talked before the concert about being inspired by the contrasts between order and chaos that emerge from new technologies. While these ideas were evident during performance, I found it more rewarding to just enjoy the controlled chaos rather than search for a deeper meaning. Needless to say, almost everyone thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to “please turn on your cell phone,” including the several soloists in the orchestra.
Maestro Freeman took a chance with the opening of the concert by programming a piece by the Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas that was probably new to most of the audience. Suite from Redes was taken from the score to the film Redes. It is interesting music and was performed very well. But while it has intellectual appeal, I found it a less exciting opening to the concert than I had expected.
The showcase of new talent began with Alexander Kobrin, gold medalist at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2005, playing the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Franz Liszt. Mr. Kobrin played with the exquisite technique you would expect from a gold medalist. His flowing, fluid style effectively made the Yamaha piano a true partner rather than an adversary, even in the most percussive passages. The quality of his playing was rewarded by an enthusiastic audience and an even more enthusiastic group of musicians on stage. We all saw real talent on display and appreciated it.
The show of extraordinary talent continued with violinist Melissa White, winner of the Fourth Annual Division Sphinx Organization Competition in 2001, playing Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1. I found myself hearing it in a new way as her singing tone brought out the lyricism of the piece—a quality too often lost by violinists who attack it more aggressively. All in all it was a very satisfying performance. Yes, she played to Maestro Freeman rather than the audience; and yes, she needs training in how to walk and work in a gown. But greater independence and stage presence will come as she continues to build on a very solid musical ability.
At the start of the evening, before the music began, the Sinfonietta presented a short video describing the history of the organization, a bit of Maestro Freeman’s background, and the support it is receiving by the community. It is supposed to be up on the Chicago Sinfonietta Web site Real Soon Now. Definitely worth taking a look.
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Submitted by navy59 on Mon, 07/10/2006 - 4:07pm.
Who would have thought that I or anyone would enjoy watching a 1925 black-and-white silent movie in today’s world of color high-definition and surround sound? Well, think again!
It was a beautiful warm night under a clear sky on Friday, July 7, when I returned to Chicago and the Grant Park Music Festival for a different experience -- viewing Battleship Potemkin.
A huge screen was set up in Pritzker Pavilion right over the center of the huge Grant Park Symphony Orchestra on the stage. At 9 p.m., the orchestra played the Shostakovich score created in 1975-1976 for the restored version of this milestone film, which was shown from beginning to end on the big screen.
The effect was amazing! We did have surround sound with the fabulous Pritzker Pavilion sound system carrying the remarkable playing of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra to the far corners of the lawn.
I have never seen this film from beginning to end before but in this setting with this music in the background it was wonderful!
The Grant Park Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Alasdair Neale, who is the Music Director of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony. In his 11 years with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, he has propelled this festival to become the largest privately funded free admission symphony in America.
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Submitted by erikaw1572 on Thu, 06/22/2006 - 7:01pm.
Two years ago the Ravinia Festival premiered the first ever-Zulu opera, Princess Magogo to critics acclaim. On June 8 and 9 they did it again with uShaka, the “epic story of music and praise poetry” about the military leader King Shaka. The 90-minute opera tells the story of the nation builder, whose military strength provoked many African tribes to unity before he was assassinated by his half brother.
The Chicago Sinfonietta orchestra vigorously performed the enormous score, as composed by Magogo writer Mzilikazi Khumalo. The 70-member Gauteng Chorister choir billowed out the climatic lyrics “We are the conquerors, we are the invincible ones” indicative of King Shaka’s militaristic power.
The black and white stage picture and costumes neutralized the concert space as the eyelike projection screen, dramatically hung center stage, looming as if an omnipotent presence.
Untraditional to the western opera style, the CS orchestra was seated upstage center and a Zulu narrator commentated on the action. Keenly drawn graphic projections moved the story forward through pictures and English subtitles.
South African artists have long interpreted the country's struggles on stage. This production of uShaka seemed to wander away from a triumphant ending as the African tribes begged for pardon over Shaka's grave, imploring him to lift the curse he has set over the country. Out of the story context, the production finale celebrated the new South Africa as the cast performed South African songs to the audience’s clapping ovation.
Erika L. Walton is an arts administrator with the Chicago Sinfonietta, currently studying non-profit management at Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies. ewalton@chicagosinfonietta.org
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Submitted by redear on Wed, 05/17/2006 - 12:28pm.
The Chicago Sinfonietta concluded its 19th season at Orchestra Hall Monday evening with two spectacular and unusual collaborations of the sort you rarely see, and which they do so well. The highlight of the evening was a performance of Holst’s The Planets with an accompanying video assembled with great care and attention by Adler astronomer and artist José Francisco Salgado. It was — dare I say it — a marriage made in heaven.
Unlike the CSO’s disappointing recent pairing of Pictures at an Exhibition with an interesting but unrelated collection of photographs of Chicago, Monday night’s production of The Planets produced a whole that was greater than the sum of its parts. The video connected in a deep way with the intellectual and emotional connotations most of us experience with this music. The result was a moving experience that went by all too quickly. I immediately wanted to experience it again. The Sinfonietta, the Chicago Children’s Choir, and the Adler staff all performed brilliantly.
In this day of atomic clocks and attention to milliseconds one could certainly complain that the synchronization of the music and the video was not always spot on. But it did not matter. This is a production that deserves a wider audience.
The evening began with Voodoo Violin Concerto No. 1 by performer-composer Daniel Bernard Roumain, who goes by the appellation “DBR”. This was not your parents’ violin concerto by any means. After creating a new indoor record for time to tune his instrument, DBR slipped almost without pause into his violin concerto, which surely challenged the structural integrity of his violin.
I always enjoy the unusual and interesting new sounds that contemporary composers frequently achieve with the symphony orchestra. Too often, at least in my experience, the sounds do not coalesce into a coherent whole that I am interested in hearing again. Not so with DBR and his electric violin. While the piece may not be everyone’s cup of tea, I thought it was fun, engaging and worth hearing again. And listening to the talk during intermission it was clear that the piece resonated with many in the audience, particularly the young people we all would like to see filling Orchestra Hall.
The performance suffered from the Sinfonietta’s perennial problem in Orchestra Hall of poor balance of amplified and unamplified sound. Does anyone with healthy hearing manage the sound technicians? The amplified violin too often overpowered the other instruments and occasionally produced sounds that were distorted and even painful.
It was a pleasure to see the members of the Sinfonietta who participated in the Voodoo ensemble, first-rate symphonic musicians all, really get “into” the piece. Almost all of them were moving with the music and it showed in the quality of the performance, including many really sparkling improvisations. This was a performance that deserved a better technical production but also deserves a wider audience.
The Sinfonietta’s quality of performance and quality of programming is a true delight. I look forward to the 20th anniversary season.
**********
Phil Engel is the retired president of the Chicago-based CNA Insurance
Companies, one of the leading insurance groups in the United States. A
member of numerous boards, his interests also include family, music,
theater, opera, travel, photography and personal computing.
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Submitted by navy59 on Wed, 05/17/2006 - 9:42am.
I heartily enjoy all the opera companies in the Chicago area: Lyric Opera; Chicago Opera Theater; Chamber Opera Chicago; Dupage Opera; da Corneto Opera; Light Opera Works and L’Opera Piccola. I have attended productions at all of these.
On Tuesday, April 11, I jumped in my car and drove north to St. Paul, MN. My destination was St. Paul Hotel.
At 6:00 PM I walked from the hotel across a city square to the Ordway Center. This is a new and beautiful center with a 1900 seat opera house. It also has delightful glassed in lobbies with a view of the square, my hotel and all the other neighboring buildings. I sat down in the lobby for a pre-opera lecture. Since the opera being performed was in its U.S. premiere it was an event! People from all over came to see it. The gentleman sitting next to me was from San Francisco. The lecture was given by Dale Johnson, Artistic Director, Minnesota Opera.
The opera Johnson was discussing is the Minnesota Opera production of Orazi & Curiazi which is the U.S. premiere of this opera first performed in Naples, Italy, in 1846. The composer was Saverio Mercadante and the librettist was Salvadore Cammarano. No one hears of this opera or this composer today. It was creative for this opera company to mount this production. The Minnesota audience must be very adventurous for this opera to be staged there.
The opera turned out to be interesting, fun, and creative. It had amazing music that was tuneful but totally new to me. The composer was a contemporary of Bellini and Donizetti. Verdi was younger and borrowed ideas and tunes from Mercandante. The story of this opera described families that were friendly and intermarried from neighboring towns. They got caught up in wartime rivalries between the two towns and sons from both families were picked to battle each other in the battle. Since this story reminds us of the American Civil War, Minnesota Opera used Civil War costumes and staging in this opera. It worked well. The story had a tragic and surprise ending.
The first opera I ever saw in my young life was in Teatro San Carlo, the very theater where this opera was premiered. So, this performance was even more exciting for me.
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Submitted by erikaw1572 on Wed, 04/12/2006 - 4:53pm.
I have never felt the “dance spirit” hit me while sitting in a classical concert hall, but the other night I did, as the rock club was brought to Northwestern’s Pick-Staiger Hall.
Vibrantly, fine, dreadlocked, African-American composer, performer and bandleader Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) wiped the stage with his blend of funk, rock, hip-hop and contemporary classical music in 24 Bits: Hip Hop Studies And Etudes, Book 1.
You have never heard a violin plucked quite like this one. He and his band, The Mission, blended strings, synthesizer, piano and drums, with vocal samplings, laptop and the beat boxing DJ Scientific to boot.
The concert, stimulating and exciting, felt almost physical, as the violin became a key player, a personified character in the musical storytelling. Each movement was another layer, as if eating a rich piece of cake, or something gritty and spicy, like biting into something juicy running down your chin into your lap.
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