CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA RICCARDO MUTI ZELL MUSIC DIRECTOR SYMPHONY CENTER PRESENTS 2019/20 The 10th Anniversary Season of Riccardo Muti as Music Director — Celebrating Beethoven’s 250th Birthday WELCOME | 2019/20 SEASON We should all become brothers and sisters—this is the message of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. For two hundred and fifty years, we have tried to find the secret behind the untouchable music of this divine architect and to comprehend the enormity of his timeless philosophical, spiritual and human message. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and I invite you to explore the symphonies of Beethoven and the music of many other composers worth celebrating. With each performance, we strive to reach the ideal that is the triumph of beauty. RICCARDO MUTI “Riccardo Muti and the CSO took to the stage to reaffirm their current eminence among the world’s greatest musical ensembles.” CHICAGO SUN-TIMES SEASON HIGHLIGHTS 4 A Celebration of Beethoven’s 250th Birthday: Muti Conducts the Complete Beethoven Symphonies A Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle 8 New & American Voices TABLE OF CONTENTS 10 Series at a Glance 12 Experience the Season 14 Season Calendar 42 Negaunee Music Institute 43 Support the CSO CENTER INSERT: Subscription Series Guide & Grid 2 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SYMPHONY CENTER PRESENTS CSO.ORG 312-294-3000 3 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS Beethoven’s 250th Birthday Celebration 2019 “Music should /20 strike fire from the heart of man.” ludwig van beethoven Muti Conducts the Complete Beethoven Symphonies Riccardo Muti conducts the nine iconic symphonies of Beethoven throughout the 2019/20 season. Each symphony stands as a pillar of the repertoire; collectively they represent the apex of artistic achievement, synthesizing all musical development that preceded them and creating a wake that would influence all music to follow. Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra explore the unprecedented individuality, overwhelming power and true genius of Ludwig van Beethoven in this season-long celebration. s schiff Á sir andr kirill gerstein The Complete Piano Sonatas igor levit The piano was the instrument of Beethoven’s imagination, and the piano sonata his essential means for personal expression. Renowned for his virtuosity and gift for improvisation, Beethoven achieved fame, even notoriety, for his performances that embodied skill, originality and incredible pathos—a true poet of the piano. Performed in their entirety by esteemed artists Evgeny Kissin, Maurizio Pollini, Sir András Schiff, Rudolf Buchbinder, Igor Levit and Kirill Gerstein, the thirty-two sonatas are Beethoven’s most intimate lasting legacy, illustrating his lifelong and evolving relationship with his pollini maurizio primary instrument. rudolf buchbinder evgeny kissin landscape painting: de agostini picture library/a. dagli orti/bridgeman images; letter: heiligenstadt testament (1802)/ state and 4 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SYMPHONY CENTER PRESENTS university of hamburg; beethoven sketch: portrait by august kloeber (1817)/lebrecht music arts/bridgeman images CSO.ORG 312-294-3000 5 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS Riccardo Muti, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and artists on March 2 the Symphony Center Presents series perform signature works by Piano Trios: Opp. 1, No. 3; 70, No. 2 & 97 (Archduke) Ludwig van Beethoven in honor of the approaching 250th anniversary Emanuel Ax piano / Leonidas Kavakos violin / of his birth. His symphonies, concertos, solo and chamber works Yo-Yo Ma cello stand as testament to his creative genius and matchless power of SCP Chamber Music series Beethoven: expression. Immerse yourself in a celebration of some of the most stirring, dazzling and revolutionary music of all time, culminating in a March 29 performance of “the symphony to end all symphonies” (The Guardian), Piano Sonatas Nos. 24, 25, 26 (Les Adieux), 27 & 28 Beethoven’s euphoric Ninth. Sir András Schiff SCP Piano series E/A; Beethoven Sonata Cycle A Musical Visionary March 31 Piano Sonatas Nos. 12, 13 (Quasi una fantasia), September 26–28 14 (Moonlight) & 15 (Pastoral) Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3, Sir András Schiff Consecration of the House Overture Beethoven Sonata Cycle Riccardo Muti conductor CSO Main series THU A/F, FRI B, SAT D April 5 Six Bagatelles, Op. 126 & Diabelli Variations October 13 Mitsuko Uchida Piano Sonatas Nos. 2, 4, 16, 19 & 22 SCP Piano series E/B; Beethoven Sonata Cycle Kirill Gerstein SCP Piano series E/A; Beethoven Sonata Cycle April 30–May 3 2019 Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7 October 27 Riccardo Muti conductor Violin Sonata No. 6 CSO Main series THU A/G, SAT B/G, SUN A; Christian Tetzlaff violin CSO at Wheaton Lars Vogt piano riccardo muti riccardo /20 SCP Chamber Music series May 10 Eroica Variations & Piano Sonatas Nos. 8 (Pathétique), November 1–5 17 (Tempest) & 21 (Waldstein) Violin Concerto Evgeny Kissin Riccardo Muti conductor SCP Piano series E/B; Beethoven Sonata Cycle Leonidas Kavakos violin CSO Main series FRI B, SAT A/F, TUE B May 20 Piano Sonatas Nos. 9–11 & 29 (Hammerklavier) November 6 Igor Levit Piano Sonatas Nos. 1, 3, 20 & 23 (Appassionata) Beethoven Sonata Cycle Rudolf Buchbinder leonidas kavakos leonidas Beethoven Sonata Cycle May 24 yo-yo ma The Last Sonatas, Nos. 30–32 November 10 Maurizio Pollini Piano Sonatas Nos. 5–7 & 18 SCP Piano series E/A; Beethoven Sonata Cycle Rudolf Buchbinder SCP Piano series E/B; Beethoven Sonata Cycle May 28–30 Namensfeier Overture & Ah! perfido January 22 Susanna Mälkki conductor Violin Sonatas Nos. 4, 5 (Spring) & 9 (Kreutzer) Camilla Tilling soprano Anne-Sophie Mutter violin CSO Main series THU C/E, FRI C, SAT B/G Lambert Orkis piano anne-sophie mutter SCP Chamber Music series June 11–13 “He himself is neither classic nor romantic; mitsuko uchida emanuel ax Symphonies Nos. 6 & 8, he is Beethoven, and his figure towers like a January 30–February 4 Overture to The Ruins of Athens Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 4 Riccardo Muti conductor colossus astride the two centuries.” Sir Andrew Davis conductor CSO Main series THU B/I, FRI A, SAT C Paul Lewis piano donald j. grout, CSO Main series THU C/D, FRI A, SAT A/F, TUE A June 18–21 history of western music Symphony No. 9 February 20–23 Riccardo Muti conductor Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5 Chicago Symphony Chorus Riccardo Muti conductor Duain Wolfe chorus director paul lewis paul CSO Main series THU B/H, FRI D, SAT A/E, SUN A CSO Main series THU C/D, FRI C, SAT B/H, SUN A landscape painting: view of vienna from the belvedere (detail) (1759–60) by bernardo belloto 6 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SYMPHONY CENTER PRESENTS kunsthistorisches museum, vienna/©mondadori electa/bridgeman images CSO.ORG 312-294-3000 7 2019/20 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS NEW & AMERICANVOICES “The best kind of classical performance is not a retreat into the past but an intensification of the present.” alex ross, listen to this Riccardo Muti and esteemed guest conductors introduce music by some of the December 5–10 April 2–4 most original and powerful voices of the 20th and 21st centuries, including distinctive Jennifer Higdon blue cathedral Adès Dances from Powder Her Face works by American composers. Presenting new and invigorating artistic talent is an “Imaginative, richly orchestrated and accessible…blue Hear rapturous orchestral excerpts from British integral part of the CSOA’s mission to promote classical music’s future. Be part of the cathedral is one of the most frequently performed composer Thomas Adès’ sensational 1995 opera excitement this season and experience fresh interpretations and repertoire. All music new works in the United States” (The New York Times). about the notorious Duchess of Argyll. was once new. CSO Main series THU C/E, FRI A, SAT A/E, TUE B CSO Main series THU A/G, FRI B, SAT A/F December 12–14 April 23–28 Mason Bates Resurrexit Muti Conducts Price Symphony No. 3 Bates, former CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence, Riccardo Muti conducts the work of two 20th-century missy mazzoli calls his new work “a theatrical and fast-paced African American composers: Florence Price’s October 3–5 conjuring of the classic Resurrection narrative.” expressive Third Symphony and William Grant Still’s Avner Dorman Eternal Rhythm CSO Main series THU B/H, FRI B, SAT B/G beguiling Mother and Child. The U.S. premiere of a percussion concerto that CSO Main series THU C/E, FRI D, SAT A/E, TUE A celebrates rhythm as the essence of music December 19–22 and the pulse of life, performed by CSO Principal John Adams The Chairman Dances April 30–May 3 Percussion Cynthia Yeh. Edo de Waart conducts Adams’ exuberant “foxtrot for Muti Conducts Missy Mazzoli Orpheus Undone CSO Main series THU C/D, FRI C, SAT B/H orchestra,” a study for his opera Nixon in China. Muti debuts an orchestral suite from a new ballet CSO Main series THU A/F, FRI A, SAT D, SUN A by current CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Missy November 1–5 Mazzoli. bernard rands Muti Conducts Bernard Rands DREAM for Orchestra February 20–23 CSO Main series THU A/G, SAT B/G, SUN A; Muti and the CSO give the first-ever performance of a Muti Conducts Nicolas Bacri Ophelia’s Tears CSO at Wheaton new work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer. Riccardo Muti and the CSO present a new bass clarinet CSO Main series FRI B, SAT A/F, TUE B concerto by French composer Nicolas Bacri featuring the CSO’s own J. Lawrie Bloom. November 21–24 CSO Main series THU B/H, FRI D, SAT A/E, SUN A James Lee III Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula & Barber Two Scenes from Antony & Cleopatra Michigan-born composer James Lee III’s tone poem that depicts the celestial source of the Messiah and the jubilation at his arrival is paired with music from Samuel Barber’s lush 1966 opera.