November 2024 – Gathering Note

Palindromic beauty at the CSO with Vilde Frang and Hannu Lintu

_{Conductor Hannu Lintu congratulates soloist Vilde Frang following her CSO debut performance of Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Photo Credit: Todd Rosenberg}

Originally published at Seen and Heard International

Chicago’s first snowfall of the season also marked the return of Hannu Lintu to Orchestra Hall, though an afternoon rise in temperature meant that, by the time the maestro ascended the podium, snow had transitioned to rain and a steady melt. The meteorological pivot in some ways mirrored the contrasts the Finnish conductor was bringing to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

On his earlier visit to Chicago, Lintu balanced the familiar and the unexpected, pairing well-known crowd-pleasers by Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky with seldom-performed works by Saariaho and Mussorgsky. For this current engagement, Lintu—joined by the Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, a rising star with an already formidable reputation—brought a program just as intriguing, with contrasts between pieces that exuded entertaining push-and-pull tension.

Elena Dubinets heads to the Concertgebouw

Fantastic news from the Netherlands: Elena Dubinets has been named Artistic Director of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Dubinets was a transformative force during her time at the Seattle Symphony, and now Amsterdam is about to see why.

During her Seattle days, Dubinets brought fresh ideas to programming that made the Symphony not just good but great. Remember when they commissioned John Luther Adams’ Become Ocean? That wasn’t just any new piece—it won the Pulitzer Prize and it helped reestablish the Seattle Symphony’s relevance.

I first encountered Dubinets’ work during my time as a student at the University of Iowa, though I didn’t realize it then. In the fall of 2000, she curated a Russian contemporary music festival, which Taruskin covered for The New York Times. I sat in the audience, captivated and wide-eyed, as I absorbed the unfamiliar sounds. Our paths crossed again years later when I briefly served on the board of the Seattle Chamber Players and later assisted her and the Seattle Symphony with visa applications for a group of artists who had limited experience performing in the United States.

She left Seattle during the pandemic—a loss for Seattle—and spent the last few years doing brilliant work with the London Philharmonic. Now, she’s heading to Amsterdam to work with Klaus Mäkelä, the Concertgebouw’s incoming music director. Mäkelä is already being hailed as one of the most exciting young conductors in the world and pairing him with Dubinets feels like a good match.

Klaus Mäkelä meets Shostakovich

The election last week has been, to put it mildly, numbing. I made it through about a year of the first Trump administration before the despair set in. It was the Jesuits—thank you, St. Joseph and Seattle University—who helped keep my soul intact, offering me a lifeline of reflection and community. And, surprisingly, Leif Ove Andsnes’ Sibelius recital album also played its part.

Cathedrals of sound

It’s been four months since J and I arrived in Seattle. We’re still settling in, but we’re growing fond of Chicago’s concert and classical music venues. We’re both old enough to have heard dozens of Chicago Symphony concerts in Orchestra Hall already or spent a lazy summer evening sprawled out on the lawn in front of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion listening to the Grant Park Orchestra. But they are ours now. In time, maybe they’ll even be something of a third place for us the way Benaroya Hall and McCaw Hall were. Helping us form an even deeper love for music as we march further into middle age. Enjoy some of my favorite photos of Orchestra Hall, Fine Arts Building, Jay Pritzker Pavilion and Civic Opera House.