Classical Music Chicago's December performances include 47th edition of Do-It-Yourself Messiah and Dame Myra Hess Concerts

Leadership and Dynamism on full display in Classical Music Chicago’s December performances

Works by Chopin, Shubert, and Say and more in December Dame Myra Hess Concerts

Historic Do-It-Yourself Messiah presents 47^th edition

CHICAGO, IL – Classical Music Chicago closes the first half of the 2023-24 season with innovative performances from cellist Julia Yang and pianist Mika Sasaki, and pianist Byeol Kim on its free to the public the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series. A long-standing leader in the field, CMC sets the tone for the holidays with its iconic, always free DIY Messiah concerts on December 17.

Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series
December 6, 2023
12:15 PM

Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago - 55 E. Wacker Drive

 Julia Yang, cello, and Mika Sasaki, piano

Thomas ADÉS Les eaux from Lieux Retrouvés

Shih-Hui CHEN Movement 1 from Shui

Frédéric CHOPIN Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65
I. Allegro moderato; II. Scherzo; III. Largo; IV. Finale: Allegro

Featuring two contemporary works from the early 2000's juxtaposed against a masterwork from the 19th century, and the only cello sonata to be written by Chopin, multi-faceted musicians cellist Julia Yang and pianist Mika Sasaki offer a fascinating and versatile array of works for cello and piano – separated by almost three centuries. The New York Times praised “the rippling figures for piano and cello that spin out in crazed, cyclic riffs; the crystalline piano harmonies that sound as if the wind were rustling the chimes in the pagoda; the feisty, industrialized propulsive bursts in the finale….” in Les eaux from Lieux Retrouvés by Adés. Chen’s first movement from Shui is reminiscent of rippling in another sense – that of water, with a “focus on the integration of Western compositional techniques with Chinese sound qualities.” Closing the concert, Chopin fans – and others – will delight in his sole cello sonata.

Learn more here.

Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series
December 13, 2023
12:15 PM

Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago - 55 E. Wacker Drive

 Byeol Kim, piano

Ottorino RESPIGHI
Three Preludes on Gregorian Melodies, No. 1

Franz SCHUBERT
Impromptu in B flat major “Rosamunde”

Friedrich KALKBRENNER
5 variations on Chopin’s Mazurka in B flat major, Op. 120

Fazil SAY
Paganini Variations in the style of modern jazz for piano

Steinway Artist Byeol Kim, acclaimed for her “ingeniously colorful imagination,” opens with Respighi’s Three Preludes on Gregorian Melodies, a work based on but not actually Gregorian Chant, reminiscent of a chariot. Schubert’s compelling Impromptu in B Flat Major is followed by Friedrich Kalkbrenner’s enchanting 5 variations on Chopin’s Mazurka in B flat major, Op. 120. Staying in modern times, a completely different change of pace ends the concert – Say’s Paganini Variations in the style of modern jazz for piano. A hint of what to expect in this thrilling work can be found in an fairly recent Bachtrack interview in which the composer states “Music should always come out as an improvisation and a composition in itself is an improvisation.”

Learn more here.

The Dame Myra Hess Concerts are generously sponsored by the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council and by individual donors.

For 47 years Chicagoans and guests countrywide have shown up in numbers to participate in one of the oldest participatory Messiah performances. So popular that one performance is not enough, Classical Music Chicago presents this beloved Handel masterpiece twice in two concerts. Led by a professional conductor with celebrated soloists, and accompanied by organ and string quartet, the audience becomes a vital part of the chorus in this Chicago musical tradition. Free, but required a reservation due to limited seating, this is truly an event not to be missed.

 Do-It-Yourself Messiah

Sunday, December 17, 2023

At 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm

Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago - 55 E. Wacker Drive, Chicago
Free with ticket.

Click here to reserve tickets.

About Classical Music Chicago

Since 1976, Classical Music Chicago (CMC) has offered a variety of unforgettable classical music performances by up-and-coming and established artists throughout the Chicago community. A celebrated innovator from the very beginning and one of the first to focus on the importance of accessibility, presenting engaging concerts in various formats and venues free of charge, CMC is the 2016 union of two distinguished Chicago music institutions: the International Music Foundation (IMF), founded by Chicagoan Al Booth in 1977, and Rush Hour Concerts (RHC) founded by pianist and civic leader Deborah Sobol in 2000. Over the next few seasons, CMC will celebrate landmark anniversaries of each of its acclaimed series, beginning with the year-long 25th anniversary of the Rush Hour Concerts in 2024-2025, the 50th Anniversary of the Do-It-Yourself Messiah concert in 2025, and the 50th anniversary of the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in fall 2026.

IMF, composed of the Do-It-Yourself Messiah at Orchestra Hall, begun in 1976, and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, begun in 1977 and modeled on the series launched by Dame Myra Hess during World War II, to provide young artists with a performance outlet and present top caliber concerts free to the public. Such acclaimed musicians as sopranos Elizabeth Frutal, June Anderson and Jo Ann Pickens; baritone Richard Cowan; oboist Alex Klein; guitarists Eliot Fisk and Paul Henry; violinists Rachel Barton Pine, Jennifer Frautschi, Jennifer Koh, Robyn Bollinger, and Tessa Lark; cellists Steven Isserlis, Nathanel Rosen, Jeffrey Solow and Bion Tsang; pianists David Shrader, Jeffrey Kahane, Angela Hewitt, Barry Douglas, Daniel Trifonov, and Max Levinson; and ensembles including the Vermeer Quartet, the Chicago Bassoon Quartet, His Majesties Clerkes, the Enso String Quartet, and Orchestra Sinfonica Haydn di Bolzano e Trentoto, to name a few, have graced the Hess stage. In 1982, Live Music Now! - currently Young People’s Concerts - was founded by Booth with the assistance of his friend Yehudi Menuhin to bring professional musicians into the Chicago Public Schools. Students in grades K – 8 experience live performances, which have grown to reach more than 90 Chicago Public Schools annually.

Rush Hour Concerts, begun in 2000 as a welcoming summer concert format that removed accessibility barriers, in 2011 introduced Make Music Chicago, a citywide, daylong celebration of music making held on the summer solstice. It was followed by the addition of a professional ensemble residency program in Chicago’s neighborhoods in 2012. The 2023 Rush Hour Concerts at the beautiful St. James Cathedral begin in June.

The latest addition to Classical Music Chicago’s roster of offerings is The Concerts for Well-being and Rejuvenation, bringing the healing power of music to people and places who do not have access to live performances. CMC partners onsite with health care facilities, community centers, meals programs and other organizations where music can make a vital difference. promoting community, creative interaction and therapeutic benefits through 45-minute interactive performances followed by a Q & A with the artists.

Classical Music Chicago livestreams every concert through its website, offering free concerts to music lovers around the globe. Excerpted performances are often broadcast on 98.7 WFMT radio, with whom CMC has enjoyed a relationship for almost 50 years.

www.classicalmusicchicago.org

Press Contact:

Laura Grant, Grant Communications
917.359.7319; Laura@grant-communications.com