Gathering Note

Tag: chicago-symphony

  • From friendship to music: Williamson premieres Theofanidis’ Indigo Heaven at the CSO

    Originally published on Seen and Heard International On a summer day in 2022, Stephen Williamson stood outside in Aspen, Colorado, with his clarinet. Surrounded by an endless blue sky, mountains, and the sun, Williamson—the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s principal clarinetist—worked through intricate passages of a brand-new concerto. Its composer, Christopher Theofanidis, was right there with Williamson,…

  • Sibelius, Schoenberg, and the CSO — a must-hear concert this week

    This week, Chicago audiences will have the chance to hear one of the world’s foremost violinists, Christian Tetzlaff, take on Sibelius’ haunting Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Under the baton of David Afkham, the program also features Schoenberg’s Pelléas und Melisande, a lush, late-Romantic tone poem that offers a fascinating contrast to the…

  • Esa-Pekka Salonen and organist Iveta Apkalna bring Sinfonia concertante to life in Chicago debut

    Originally published on Seen and Heard International The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has returned home to Orchestra Hall after a successful tour through Florida, New York and Oklahoma, launching an anticipated two-week residency with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Salonen, a dynamic force in contemporary music, steps onto the Chicago podium at a transitional moment in his career,…

  • 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…

  • John Sharp and Don Quixote: Chicago Symphony’s principal cellist returns to a classic role

    Originally published at Seen and Heard International “It was intimidating and it was thrilling. That’s what I remember about my first audition week,” John Sharp says, reflecting on his first moments with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. “To see Solti conduct and the way the orchestra played—it was really something incredibly exciting.”  Sharp, now the CSO’s…