Since the CSO’s resident blogger Charles Grode is on vacation, he asked me to write an entry for this Web site. Let me start by briefly introducing myself: I am Marc van Bree and I am public relations coordinator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a position I started about nine months ago.
On one of the first occasions that I saw the CSO perform at Ravinia, I joined some friends for one of those lovely summer night picnics on the lawn. Last year, right before I got the good news of a job at the CSO and before traveling to my wedding in my home country, the Netherlands, I saw (or rather heard!) the Texan piano legend Van Cliburn with the Orchestra in Grieg’s Piano Concerto.
This year, to celebrate my one year wedding anniversary, I am heading to Ravinia again, and this time for two days of world renowned artists who have come to town to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This Saturday, I will be listening intently to Renée Fleming, who will be singing selected arias and songs with the CSO. I faxed my order in as soon as tickets were available!
On Sunday, I will settle on the lawn for cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Azul for cello and orchestra, written by the CSO’s new Mead Composer-in-Residence Osvaldo Golijov. This composition, commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for its 125th anniversary, will have its world premiere with Yo-Yo Ma at the BSO’s summer home, Tanglewood, this Friday; in other words, it’s hot off the presses! It will be exciting to be among the first people in the world to hear what’s sure to be a fascinating new work.
Talking about hot, I am glad that it will be a bit cooler this weekend. I was wondering what the musicians do when it’s close to 100 degrees outside. Stage manager Kelly Kerins told me that even though the Orchestra plays outdoors, the stage is air-conditioned; on really hot days, they add fans around the stage, but they have to be on low, since the orchestra is amplified for listeners on the lawn. You want to avoid that buzzing sound in the speakers!
If you haven’t made your own trip to Highland Park this year, I would encourage you to check it out. The following weekend, August 11, 12 and 13, will be your last chance to hear the CSO, when they join Patti LuPone for a performance of the musical Gypsy. And I just heard that legendary composer Stephen Sondheim will join Ravinia Festival president Welz Kauffman for a pre-concert discussion on August 11!
Ravinia may be close to wrapping up for the CSO, but the Orchestra’s downtown season is certainly right around the corner. We invite you to tune into WFMT98.7 from 8:00 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday August 12 to hear a preview of the coming season and all the great music in store for us in the coming year. You can expect to hear lots of music featured in the 2006-2007 season and interviews including Yo-Yo Ma, CSO trombonist Charles Vernon, CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Mark Anthony Turnage, CSO Chorus Director Duain Wolfe, and Gerard McBurney, creative director and host of the CSO’s new Sunday afternoon Beyond the Score series, plus much more.
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