Thursday, August 20, 2020
Paul Freeman's Legacy Continues to Shine Brightly
in Chicago Sinfonietta's 33rd Season, Stories of the People
Highlights of COVID-19 re-imagined 2020-21 season include
new commissions by African American Composers,
an Artist in Residence,
expansion of Project Inclusion Fellowships,
and
continuation of acclaimed Residents Orchestrate community program online
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Chicago, IL - Chief Executive Officer Blake-Anthony Johnson and Music Director Mei-Ann Chen announced the Chicago Sinfonietta's plans for the 2020-21 season today. Adapting to the COVID-19 guidelines put in place by the Governor of Illinois and the CDC for the health and safety of the public, the award-winning orchestra will present a modified but provoking 2020-21 season.
"On behalf of the Chicago Sinfonietta board, the musicians, staff and myself, we are grateful and excited to enter our 33rd season continuing our mission of championing equity, diversity, and inclusion by creating community through bold symphonic experiences," announced Mr. Johnson, who took over the reins of the bar-raising ensemble in early May 2020. "This season will focus on leveraging the rich cultural capital of Chicago Sinfonietta to participate in the rebuilding of our great city during this time of uncertainty within our city and in our country. Thanks to our amazing musicians, staff, and local city officials, we've been able to find safe and responsible ways to stay engaged with our community. My top priority is to protect the health and well-being of our audiences, the Sinfonietta family and the greater Chicago area community from the spread of COVID-19 while remaining engaged as America's 21st century orchestra.
"The current pandemic affords us a unique opportunity to expand our audience and to have the orchestra's artistry become even more accessible via virtual offerings this season. Our first two orchestra concerts will be online offerings, while our third and final concert of the season will be a return to the live concert hall format."
Maestra Chen added, "We have titled our season Stories of the People, as each concert focuses on that which connects us as a people - community, friendship, tradition and respect,and how these connections are presented through the universal language of music. In keeping with this theme, we have selected chamber works to add to the feeling of an intimate, close community, as well as to adhere to social distancing mandates.
"Our season is unique in that we are likely one of the very few orchestras in the country during the 2020-21 season to present a commissioned world premiere on each concert, and all by African American composers. These thought-provoking and memorable commissions are a regular part of our mission of inclusion and equity begun by our late founder, Maestro Paul Freeman, 33 years ago."
An orchestra deeply invested in its community, Chicago Sinfonietta will ensure that its three year-old Residents Orchestrate Project, an orchestra initiative re-imagining the role that an orchestra can play in historically overlooked Chicago neighborhoods, will continue to present its Mixtape Mondays, Melodic Lounge, masterclasses, and more this season via online offerings.
The orchestra will also introduce a new arm of the Project Inclusion program - a Composer Fellowship. "I have always wanted to expand Project Inclusion to include composers," stated Maestra Chen. "It just seemed like the natural next step after the expansion of conductors and administrators, in addition to instrumentalists for which the program was created for in the first place. We are deeply grateful for Fifth Third Bank's sponsorship to make this Composer Fellowship become a reality!"
Also of importance: the introduction of a new Artist in Residence position. Maestra Chen would like to explore a closer relationship with composers of color, especially during the pandemic when new works around the country have been met with countless cancellations. Chicago Sinfonietta's new CEO, Blake-Anthony Johnson, came up with the Artist in Residence model as one of Chicago Sinfonietta's many initiatives to champion important voices. The Sinfonietta's program also focuses on evolving the relationship between audience and artist, as well as within the Sinfonietta community itself (including mentoring the new Freeman Composer Fellow). Composer Kathryn Bostic has been announced as the 2020-21 Artist in Residence. In collaboration with Ms. Bostic, the Chicago Sinfonietta hopes to capture this unprecedented time through creativity and artistic work that could only be achieved via a collaborative and open-minded approach.
The Chicago Sinfonietta's 33rd season will offer three concerts: two online and one in a socially distanced concert hall.
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CHICAGO SINFONIETTA
33rd Season Stories of the People
October 17, 2020 Season Opening Concert
"COMMON GROUND: Collective Stories"
ONLINE Concert - Time To Be Announced
Aaron COPLAND
Fanfare for the Common Man
Kathryn BOSTIC
To Be Announced, Chicago Sinfonietta Commission, World Premiere
Enoch Mankayi SONTOGA /
arr. Valerie COLEMAN
N'Kosi Sikeleli' iAfrika' (South African National Anthem)
Florence PRICE
Andante Moderato from String Quartet in G major
Astor PIAZZOLLA / arr. Jeff SCOTT
Libertango, for Woodwind Quintet
Ludwig van BEETHOVEEN / arr. Jeffrey BRIGGS
movements from Pathétique, Sonata for Piano for Strings
During this unique time in the history of our country, and the world, we continue to seek a path to equity and justice through Common Ground. Chicago Sinfonietta presents an online season opening concert that begins with Copland's historic Fanfare for the Common Man, dedicated to the pandemic's heroes that have helped us all to move forward in this extraordinary time. Followed by a Chicago Sinfonietta world premiere commission (title to be announced) to which we can all find meaning in by Kathryn Bostic, the first female African American composer to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and a moving work for string ensemble by Florence Price. Jeff Scott's woodwind quintet arrangement of Piazzolla's rousing and crowd pleasing Libertango reflects our yearning for liberty during these challenging times. Closing the concert is a new string arrangement by American composer Jeffrey Briggs of Beethoven's beloved Pathétique Sonata for piano, which marks the 250th anniversary of the prolific composer's birth.
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January 18, 2021 - Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Concert
ONLINE Time To Be Announced
Florence PRICE / arr. William Grant STILL
Dances in the Canebrakes
Joel THOMPSON
new cello work, Chicago Sinfonietta Commission, World Premiere
Ifetayo Ali-Landing, cellist
Jeff SCOTT
Sinfonietta of Dreams
An annual celebration of diversity and the values of freedom, friendship, and peace, this season friendship is the connecting theme in three fascinating works by a trio of African American composers: Florence Price, Joel Thompson, and Jeff Scott. Florence Price was friends with William Grant Still and asked him to arrange the orchestral arrangement of her fun piano work, Dances in the Canebrakes, now a Chicago Sinfonietta signature, especially with Project W; Joel Thompson is a childhood friend of Chicago Sinfonietta's new CEO, Blake-Anthony Johnson,while the extremely talented Ifetayo Ali-Landing and her mother, Lucinda Ali-Landing (a violinist in the Chicago Sinfonietta), have had long relationships with the Sinfonietta; and Jeff Scott is a new friend of the orchestra. His work, Sinfonietta of Dreams, was written in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We close the online concert with a Chicago Sinfonietta tradition: We Shall Overcome, performed in unison from homes across the country in a spirit of hope and resilience.
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May 3, 2021 - Season Closing Concert
"Fusion: Stronger Together"
Live Concert, Time To Be Announced
Astor PIAZZOLLA / arr. Steven VERHELST
Suite from Maria de Buenos Aires
Gabriella Lena FRANK
Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout for Strings
Valerie COLEMAN
Selections from Portraits of Josephine (for Woodwind Quintet)
Victor WOOTEN
La Lección Tres for Electric Bass & Orchestra
Chicago Sinfonietta Commission, World Premiere
Chicago Sinfonietta closes its 2020-2021 season with a finale that honors the voice of the people in its many forms, tracing the line of stories told across time and place. Merging the present with the past, the orchestra presents a mesmerizing closing season concert. The orchestra welcomes back Grammy award-winning bassist and prized collaborator Victor Wooten for the commissioned world premiere of La Lección Tres, a merging of music and philosophy moved forward in exuberant bass lines. The orchestra marks the centenary of Astor Piazzolla's birth with an arrangement of the catchy Suite from his Tango Opera, Maria de Buenos Aires, followed by Valerie Coleman's musical portrayal of entertainer and activist Josephine Baker's life. Closing the program, and featuring the Sinfonietta Strings , is Gabriela Lena Frank's evocative Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout.
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TICKETS
Chicago Sinfonietta Membership, a new flexible subscription program, is on sale now!
Choose any one, two, or three virtual concerts to attend, and tune in for exclusive video content throughout the season. Chicago Sinfonietta proudly presents through its membership various offering ranging from interactive events to online classes taught by guest artists. (Note: Exclusive video content will be available beginning September 15, 2020.)
Prices
Pick One: $45
Pick Two: $65
Pick Three: $85
Tickets go on sale to the public August 18, 2020; orders may be placed by phone or online. One week prior to the virtual concert premiere date, patrons will receive a customized access link via email. Each concert will be made available for a 24-hour period.
As per Illinois State and CDC health guidelines, for the May concert, social distancing will be observed, masks are required in hall, and no food or drinks will be available.
ABOUT THE CHICAGO SINFONIETTA
Groundbreaking. Dynamic. Innovative. An acclaimed cultural leader and a powerful champion of diversity, equity and inclusion, the award-winning Chicago Sinfonietta was founded in 1987 by the late Maestro Paul Freeman to address diversity in orchestras. Dedicated to changing the face of classical music, and making classical music accessible to everyone, what began as a mission to represent the city of Chicago has evolved into an international position at the forefront of progressive change in the arts. Led by international conductor and Music Director Maestra Mei-Ann Chen since 2011, today Chicago Sinfonietta is a pioneering organization and positive influencer in the orchestral world, renowned for its defiantly different outlook, innovative and collaborative programming, and artistry of the highest caliber. The ensemble's success has been recognized with numerous industry honors, including a 2020 League of American Orchestras Catalyst Award for Institutional Development and Anti-racism Training, a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions - the "genius award" for non-profit organizations, an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, and a First Place Award for Programming of Contemporary Music.
Celebrated for its daring, cutting-edge programs ranging from its popular subscription concert series with guests of national and local renown, the organization's commitment to parity and diversity for all is ubiquitous in its myriad education and community programs. Amongst them: Audience Matters, targeting 4th - 6th grade students in partnership with more than 23 CPS schools and nine Aurora schools; Student Ensembles with Excellence and Diversity (SEED) a mentoring program for talented high school musicians; and Residents Orchestrate, re-imagining the role that an orchestra can play in historically underserved Chicago neighborhoods. Its nationally recognized Project Inclusion Fellowships, with training and mentoring of young musicians in the areas of administration, orchestral and ensemble performance, conducting and now composition, is the largest and most successful of its kind. Through the above performances and initiatives, as well as various events, Chicago Sinfonietta continues to expand its mission and strengthen its leadership in the world of classical music, redefining the orchestra experience for today's and future generations. www.chicagosinfonietta.org
Download word copy of press release and publicity photos from dropbox here.
Press Contact:
For interviews, questions or additional materials please contact:
Laura Grant, National Publicist for Chicago Sinfonietta
Grant Communications
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