The newly appointed music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has a graceful style of conducting with easy-to-follow stick technique, using abundant facial expressions and subtle movements like leaning in and out and crouching to convey a point, but not to distraction.
On Sunday, Nov. 20, Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras is thrilled to reteam with Joliet native and CYSO alum Mary Elizabeth Bowden, this time for the world premiere of "Bohemian Queen: Concerto for Trumpet and String Orchestra" by Clarice Assad at Symphony Center s Orchestra Hall.
Hedy Weiss | May 28, 2021 3:14 pm
A socially distanced, reduced-capacity audience listens to the sounds of the CSO brass at the concert that signaled the return of Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts, May 27, 2021. (Credit Anne Ryan)
The sense of pure elation was palpable Thursday evening as members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra walked onstage to perform their first concert before a live audience in more than 14 months.
Thanks to our sponsors: The orchestra, like the audience, was reduced in size (about 20 musicians in various combinations, along with a number of guest artists), with only its altogether golden brass and percussion sections positioned in a grand semicircle on Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall stage. But their sound was as full and beautiful as ever as they played a meticulously chosen program of works by five American composers (all under the umbrella title of “Fanfare”) that alternately heralded a triumphant return and evoked the emotional turmoil