For Immediate Release: Press Contacts: November 16, 2015 Rachelle Roe, 312-294-3090 Eileen Chambers, 312-294-3092 Photos Available By Request [email protected]

CONDUCTOR MARIN ALSOP AND PIANIST JON KIMURA PARKER MAKE CSO SUBSCRIPTION DEBUTS IN PROGRAM OF WORKS BY CLYNE, BARBER, DVOŘÁK AND GERSHWIN

Pianist Jon Kimura Parker is Soloist in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue

November 27, 28 & 29

CHICAGO—Conductor Marin Alsop makes her Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) subscription debut in a program of works by Clyne, Barber, Gershwin and Dvořák in three concerts on Friday, November 27, at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, November 28, at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday, November 29, at 3:00 p.m., at Symphony Center. Pianist Jon Kimura Parker, featured soloist in Gershwin’s dazzling showpiece Rhapsody in Blue, also makes his CSO subscription debut in these concerts.

The program opens with Masquerade, a work by former CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence , performed by the CSO for the first time at these concerts. Clyne evokes the atmosphere of mid-18th century festivals held in London’s pleasure gardens, events that displayed a concentration of cultural and artistic diversity. Masquerade had its world premiere with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Alsop in September of 2013 at the BBC’s Last Night of in London.

The program continues with Barber’s lyrical Second Essay for Orchestra, Op. 17 and Gershwin’s jazz-infused Rhapsody in Blue. The final work on the program is Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70, a monumental work written during a somber and troubled time in Dvořák’s life.

Marin Alsop, widely recognized as one of today’s most exciting conductors, currently serves as Music Director of the Symphony Orchestra, having been with the Orchestra since 2007. She is also currently the Music Director of the Symphony Orchestra, which she has led since 2012. Alsop has been Music Director of California’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music since 1992, while retaining strong links with previous orchestras she has conducted, most notably the Bournemouth and Colorado Symphony Orchestras. She retains a close relationship with the London Symphony and London Philharmonic, as well as serving as

an Artist in Residence at the Southbank Centre in London. Alsop’s latest recording with São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (Prokofiev Symphony No. 3) was released in May 2015 as part of a Prokofiev symphonic cycle, while her first recording in the cycle (Symphony No. 5) was Orchestral Choice in BBC Music Magazine. Alsop has previously led the CSO at the Ravinia Festival in 2002 and 2005.

Canadian pianist Jon Kimura Parker has been hailed by as “an insightful, energetic soloist.” Known for his engaging performance style, Parker has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Beijing Concert Hall and the Sydney Opera House, and as soloist with many esteemed orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, and the . Parker is also an educator, holding a position as Professor of Piano at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, while he is also Artistic Advisor of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival. His latest release, Fantasy, features the fantasies of Schubert and Schumann, as well as the Wizard of Oz Fantasy by William Hirtz. Parker has previously performed with the CSO at the Ravinia Festival in 1993 and 2000.

Tickets for all CSOA-presented concerts can be purchased by phone at 800-223-7114 or 312- 294-3000; online at cso.org, or at the Symphony Center box office: 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60604.

Discounted student tickets for select concerts can be purchased, subject to availability, online in advance or at the box office on the day of the concert. For group rates, please call 312-294- 3040.

Artists, programs and prices are subject to change.

Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of the CSO.

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Chicago Symphony Orchestra Friday, November 27, 2015, 8:00 p.m. Saturday, November 28, 2015, 8:00 p.m. Sunday, November 29, 2015, 3:00 p.m. Chicago Symphony Orchestra Marin Alsop, conductor Jon Kimura Parker, piano

CLYNE Masquerade BARBER Second Essay for Orchestra, Op. 17 GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70

Tickets: $36-$265

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop is an inspiring and powerful voice in the international music scene, a Music Director of vision and distinction who passionately believes that “music has the power to change lives”. She is recognized across the world for her innovative approach to programming and for her deep commitment to education and to the development of audiences of all ages.

Her outstanding success as Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2007 has been recognized by two extensions in her tenure, now confirmed until 2021. As part of her artistic leadership in Baltimore, Marin Alsop has created bold initiatives that have contributed to the wider community and reached new audiences. In 2008 she launched ‘OrchKids’, which provides music education, instruments, meals and mentorship of the city’s neediest young people. Engaging the local community, the BSO Academy and Rusty Musicians schemes also allow adult amateur musicians the chance to play alongside members of the orchestra under Alsop’s baton. Alsop and the orchestra celebrate their centenary in 2016.

Alsop took up the post of Principal Conductor of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) in 2012 and became Music Director in July 2013, with her contract now extended to the end of 2019. She continues to steer the orchestra in its artistic and creative programming, recording ventures and its education and outreach activities, as well as their annual Campos do Jordão International Winter Festival. Alsop led the orchestra on a European tour in 2012, with acclaimed performances at the BBC Proms in London and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; they returned to Europe in October 2013, with concerts in Berlin, London, Paris, Salzburg and Vienna.

Since 1992, Marin Alsop has been Music Director of California’s Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, where she has built a devoted audience for new music. Building an orchestra is one of Alsop’s great gifts, and she retains strong links with all of her previous orchestras – Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Principal Conductor 2002-8; now Conductor Emeritus) and Colorado Symphony Orchestra (Music Director 1993-2005; now Music Director Laureate).

Marin Alsop has guest-conducted the great orchestras of the world: Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, La Scala Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony. In Europe, she regularly returns to the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic. Alsop has a close relationship with the London Symphony and London Philharmonic, appearing with both orchestras most seasons, as well as with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She is also Artist in Residence at the Southbank Centre in London.

In September 2013, Marin Alsop made history as the first female conductor of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms in London. She returned to the Proms in 2015 to conduct the Last Night and an all-Brahms program with the OAE. 2015/16 highlights include a historic return for an American musician to Cuba, Lang Lang and the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba. In March 2016, Alsop will celebrate Carnegie Hall’s 125th anniversary conducting Bernstein’s West Side Story in the Knockdown Center, a restored factory in Queens.

Marin Alsop is the recipient of numerous awards and is the only conductor to receive the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, given to U.S. residents in recognition of exceptional creative work. She was only classical musician to be included in ’s “Top 100 women”, celebrating the centenary of International Women’s Day in 2011. Alsop is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, London and the Royal Philharmonic Society and was recently appointed Director of Graduate Conducting Program at the Johns Hopkins .

The latest disc of Alsop’s Prokofiev symphonic cycle with OSESP (Symphony No. 3) was released in May 2015 and the first (Symphony No. 5) was Orchestral Choice in BBC Music Magazine. Alsop’s extensive discography on Naxos includes a notable set of Brahms symphonies with the LPO, Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem with the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra and a highly-praised Dvořák series with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Other award-winning recordings include Bernstein’s (Editor’s Choice, Gramophone Awards 2010) and ’s Percussion Concerto (Grammy Award 2010). Alsop has also recorded for Decca Classics, Harmonia Mundi and Sony Classical.

Born in New York City, Marin Alsop attended and received her Master’s Degree from The . Her conducting career was launched when, in 1989, she was a prize-winner at the Leopold Stokowski International Conducting Competition and in the same year was the first woman to be awarded the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize from the Tanglewood Music Center, where she was a pupil of .

Jon Kimura Parker Known for his passionate artistry and engaging stage presence, pianist Jon Kimura Parker has performed as guest soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Wolfgang Sawallisch in Carnegie Hall, toured Europe with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Andre Previn, and shared the stage with Jessye Norman at Berlin’s Philharmonie. Conductors he has recently worked with include Teddy Abrams, Pablo Heras- Cassado, Claus Peter Flor, Hans Graf, Matthew Halls, , Peter Oundjian, Larry Rachleff, Bramwell Tovey, Xu Zhong and Pinchas Zukerman. A true Canadian ambassador of music, Parker has given command performances for Queen Elizabeth II, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Prime Ministers of Canada and Japan. He is an Officer of The Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian honor.

He performs as duo partner regularly with James Ehnes, Aloysia Friedmann, Lynn Harrell, Jamie Parker, Orli Shaham, and Cho-Liang Lin, with whom he has given world premieres of sonatas by Paul Schoenfield, John Harbison and Steven Stucky. He performs regularly with the Miró Quartet, and is a founding member of the Montrose Trio with violinist Martin Beaver and cellist Clive Greensmith. The Washington Post’s review of the Montrose Trio’s first tour in 2015 proclaimed them “poised to become one of the top piano trios in the world.”

As a member of the outreach project Piano Plus, Parker toured remote areas including the Canadian Arctic, performing classical music and rock’n’roll on everything from upright pianos to electronic keyboards. In commemoration of his special performances in war-torn Sarajevo in 1995, he was a featured speaker alongside humanitarians Elie Wiesel and Paul Rusesabagina at the 50th Anniversary of the relief organization AmeriCares.

An unusually versatile artist, Parker has also jammed with Audra McDonald, Bobby McFerrin, and Doc Severinsen, and this season performed tangos on two pianos with Pablo Ziegler.

Parker also debuted his new project Off The Score in a quintet with legendary Police drummer Stewart Copeland, featuring both original compositions and fresh takes on music of Ravel, Prokofiev and Stravinsky.

An active media personality, Parker hosted the television series Whole Notes on Bravo! and CBC Radio’s Up and Coming. His YouTube channel showcases the Concerto Chat video series, with illuminating discussions of the repertoire.

This season, Parker performs as concerto soloist with the New York Philharmonic and Bramwell Tovey, the Chicago Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra with Marin Alsop, The Milwaukee Symphony with Lawrence Renes, the IRIS Orchestra with Michael Stern, the Naples Philharmonic with Andre Boreyko, and the Minnesota Orchestra with Gilbert Varga. He gives recitals with Cho-Liang Lin, tours Off the Score with Stewart Copeland in the spring of 2016, and throughout the season gives twenty concerts with the Montrose Trio.

A committed educator, Jon Kimura Parker is Professor of Piano at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. His students have won international piano competitions, performed with major orchestras across the U.S., and given recitals in Amsterdam, Beijing, New York and Moscow. He has lectured at The Juilliard School, The Colburn School, The Steans Institute, New York University, and Yale University. Parker is also Artistic Advisor of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, where he has given world premieres of new works by Peter Schickele and Jake Heggie.

Jon Kimura Parker has recorded music of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Chopin and PDQ Bach for Telarc, Mozart for CBC, and Stravinsky, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Di Liberto and Hirtz under his own label. His new CD Fantasy features Fantasies of Schubert and Schumann, as well as the sensational Wizard of Oz Fantasy by William Hirtz, receiving this praise from Classical Candor: “The reading is riveting. Parker scores with another favorite recording of the year.”

“Jackie” Parker studied with Edward Parker and Keiko Parker privately, Lee Kum-Sing at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the University of British Columbia, Robin Wood at the Victoria Conservatory, Marek Jablonski at the Banff Centre, and Adele Marcus at The Juilliard School. He won the Gold Medal at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition. He lives in Houston with his wife, violinist Aloysia Friedmann and their daughter Sophie.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra: www.cso.org and www.csosoundsandstories.org Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the greatest orchestras in the world. Since 2010, the preeminent conductor Riccardo Muti has served as its 10th music director. Pierre Boulez is the CSO’s Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus, Yo-Yo Ma is its Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, and Samuel Adams and Elizabeth Ogonek are its Mead Composers-in-Residence. From baroque through contemporary music, the CSO commands a vast repertoire. Its renowned musicians annually perform more than 150 concerts, most at Symphony Center in Chicago and, each summer, at the suburban Ravinia Festival. They regularly tour nationally and internationally. Since 1892, the CSO has made 58 international tours, performing in 29 countries on five continents.

People around the globe listen to weekly radio broadcasts of CSO concerts and recordings on the WFMT radio network and online at cso.org/radio . Recordings by the CSO have earned 62 Grammy Awards, including two in 2011 for Muti’s recording with the CSO and Chorus of Verdi's Messa da Requiem (Muti’s first of four releases with the CSO to date). Find details on these and many other CSO recordings at www.cso.org/resound.

The CSO is part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, which also includes the Chicago Symphony Chorus (, Director and Conductor) and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a training ensemble for emerging professionals. Through its prestigious Symphony Center Presents series, the CSOA presents guest artists and ensembles from a variety of genres—classical, jazz, world, and contemporary.

The Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO offers community and education programs that annually engage more than 200,000 people of diverse ages and backgrounds. Through the Institute and other activities, including a free annual concert with Muti and the CSO, the CSO is committed to using the power of music to create connections and build community.

The CSO is supported by thousands of patrons, volunteers and institutional and individual donors. Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of the CSO. The CSO’s music director position is endowed in perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation. The Negaunee Foundation provides generous support in perpetuity for the work of the Negaunee Music Institute.