Contact: Cassandra Kirkpatrick [email protected] 312-957-0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Philharmonic Society Announces Polish Music Festival and Exchange after Receiving MacArthur International Connections Fund Grant

Chicago, IL – (February 14, 2017) In December 2016, The MacArthur Foundation announced The Chicago Philharmonic Society among 15 Chicago arts organizations to receive International Connections Fund grants. The $50,000 grant awarded to the Society will help fund an exchange with Poland to share works from living Chicago composers, connect with Polish musicians and students, and deepen knowledge of Polish music and culture, culminating in a Polish music and culture festival of Chicago in the fall of 2018.

The project is an exchange of music and musicians between Chicago and Poland, with activities in Chicago and several Polish cities including Krakow and Katowice. In celebration of 100 years of Polish Independence, the centerpiece three-day Polish music festival in Chicago will take place on November 9 – 11 2018. The festival will feature a Polish conductor, and vocal and instrumental soloists, who will join the Chicago Philharmonic to perform orchestral and chamber music concerts of works by Polish composers ranging from traditional classical and jazz to film score and newer works by living composers.

Prior to the Chicago festival, Artistic Director Scott Speck and a group of Chicago Philharmonic musicians will travel to Poland in the spring of 2018 to work with and learn from Polish musicians. They will lead master classes and workshops for music students, and perform a concert of new music by composers from Chicago, in addition to other American works.

The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago, led by Consul General Piotr Janicki, is partnering with The Chicago Philharmonic Society to present the festival. Richard Guerin, a Polish music advocate based in New York, is serving as the curator of festival activities between the Society and partner organizations in Poland.

The festival will celebrate the rich music culture of Poland, a country that represents an important part of Chicago’s history and one of its larger ethnic groups. The visit by Chicago Philharmonic musicians and our conductor to Poland will help them prepare presentations of Polish compositions at the festival in Chicago, while also enabling them to share their expertise and knowledge with Polish musicians and music students. The performance of newer music by emerging Polish composers in Chicago, and Chicago composers in Poland, will provide support and exposure to these composers.

The Society selected Poland for this international exchange because of the excellent tradition of classical music in Poland, the importance of Poland to Chicago’s history and culture, and the Society’s history of collaboration with Polish artists (including choreographer Agnieska Laska, who brought her Oregon-based dance troupe to Chicago to perform with the Chicago Philharmonic in 2013) and Polish cultural organizations (including the Polish Cultural Institute in New York and the Polish Consulate General in Chicago).

About MacArthur’s International Connections Fund

MacArthur’s International Connections Fund was initiated in 2008 to enable Chicago arts organizations to launch new partnerships and creative projects with cultural organizations in other countries. Since then, the Foundation has awarded more than 120 such grants totaling $4.8 million.

“The annual International Connections Fund enables some of Chicago’s diverse and vibrant arts groups to innovate and reach new global audiences,” said MacArthur President Julia Stasch. “Many of these artistic partnerships also engage Chicago youth, connecting them to other cultures and expanding their horizons.”

International Connections Fund grants are limited to Chicago-area nonprofit arts and culture organizations that have received a grant within the last three years from MacArthur or through the MacArthur Funds established at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and the Prince Charitable Trusts. The Chicago Philharmonic Society received a one-year, $30,000 grant from the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince in 2014, and in 2015 was awarded a three-year, $90,000 grant to be distributed evenly over the next three years.

Overall, MacArthur is providing more than $11 million in funding this year to more than 300 Chicago arts and culture groups, mostly in general operating support. MacArthur also recently announced $11.6 million in new Chicago investments to help spur economic development in low-income neighborhoods, create opportunities for youth and prevent violence, promote police reform and accountability, and support arts and culture.

For more than 35 years, the Foundation has invested $1.1 billion in over 1,300 organizations and individuals across the Chicago metropolitan region – more than in any other place around the world.

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About The Chicago Philharmonic Society

The Chicago Philharmonic Society is a collaboration of over 200 of the highest-level classical musicians performing in the Chicago metropolitan area. Governed under a groundbreaking structure of musician leadership, the Society presents concerts at venues throughout the Chicago area that cover the full spectrum of classical music, from Bach to Britten and beyond. The Society’s orchestra, known simply as the Chicago Philharmonic, has been called “one of the country’s finest symphonic orchestras” (Chicago Tribune), and its unique chamber music ensembles, which perform as the Chicago Philharmonic Chamber Players (cp2), draw from its vast pool of versatile musicians. The Society’s outreach programs connect Chicago- area youth to classical music and provide performance opportunities for members of the community. Founded in 1988 by principal musicians from the Lyric Opera Orchestra, the Chicago Philharmonic currently serves as the official orchestra of the , continues its decades-long association with the , and presents symphonic concerts in Chicago’s North Shore region and at the .

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