Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras (CYSO) performers travel to Spain for a 10-day tour June 14 - 24, 2012. Chicago area symphonic music lovers will have the chance to preview some of the tour program selections in a free tour departure concert, June 3 from 6:30 - 8 p.m. at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. No reservations are required. Visit www.cyso.org for more information.
Works to be performed in the June 3 concert will include the following:

“Blow It Up, Start Again”
Composed by Jonathan Newman (b. 1972 - )

This new work, commissioned by Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, had its world premiere at the May 13, 2012 concert at Chicago’s Symphony Center.

“Don Juan,” op. 20
Composed by Richard Strauss (1864 -1949)

Don Juan is the work that launched German composer Strauss’ career. Using the genre of symphonic poem (a type of work, coined by Franz Liszt, that musically represents something non-musical, like a place or a story) Strauss uses broad colorful strokes to depict the dashing Don Juan: his dynamic personality full of romance and vigor, his tender persuasion of women and his daring fights with their men, and finally his pitiful demise.

Polovtsian Dances from “Prince Igor,” arranged by Carl Simpson
Alexander Borodin (1833 -1887)

The opera “Prince Igor” represents over a decade of work – a piece Borodin continually put aside. It remained incomplete at the time of his death but was completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov. Segments of the work were performed during his lifetime, however, including the Polovtsian Dances from Act II, which have become a concert work for which Borodin is most widely known.

Symphony no. 5 in E minor, op. 64
Composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 -1893)

One of Tchaikovsky’s most famous works, the composer considered it a failure, deciding after the second performance that the ending was crude and detrimental to the work as a whole. During the Siege of Leningrad, the Leningrad Radio Symphony Orchestra performed the 5th at the city's Philharmonic Hall. As the second movement began, bombs started to fall nearby, but the orchestra continued playing until the final note.

Stops on the CYSO summer 2012 tour include Madrid, Cuenca, Valencia and Barcelona. During their visit to Cuenca, the CYSO musicians will have the opportunity to spend a day rehearsing with and exploring the culture of their Spanish counterparts in the Joven Orquesta de la Mancha before participating in a joint concert on June 19. For more information about CYSO and the tour, visit www.cyso.org.