Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association Selects Third Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprentice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Press Contacts: September 23, 2015 Eileen Chambers, 312.294.3092 Rachelle Roe, 312.294.3090 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION SELECTS THIRD SIR GEORG SOLTI CONDUCTING APPRENTICE Distinguished Jury Chaired by CSO Music Director Riccardo Muti Appoints Erina Yashima to Two-Year Apprenticeship CHICAGO—The jury of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association’s (CSOA) International Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship—CSO Music Director and Jury Chair Riccardo Muti; American soprano Carol Vaness; CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen; CSO Principal Cello John Sharp; CSO Principal Trumpet Christopher Martin; and CSOA Vice President of Artistic Planning Cristina Rocca —and the Negaunee Music Institute of the CSO are pleased to announce that Erina Yashima has been named the Third Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprentice. As part of the two-year conducting apprenticeship, beginning in February 2016 and continuing through January 2018, Yashima will spend at least 10 weeks a year studying and assisting Muti in Chicago during his residencies with the CSO each season. The apprenticeship also includes close work with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the CSO’s training orchestra for young professional musicians, including the opportunity to lead several rehearsals and a performance with the Civic Orchestra each year. The specific responsibilities included in the two-year apprenticeship are tailored to the individual who holds the position. At the live audition that took place at Symphony Center, the finalists were required to lead the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in a rehearsal of symphonic repertoire, and also to coach soprano Laura Wilde and baritone Anthony Clark Evans, both members of the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago in opera arias from the piano. German-born Erina Yashima was selected in consideration of her distinctive artistic qualities displayed throughout the selection process. She was recently appointed répétiteur with conducting duties of the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. From 2013-2015, she was the music director of the Freies Studentenorchester Rostock. In 2013 she was given the Award of outstanding excellence by the Musikakademie Rheinsberg for the opera production she conducted there that year. Her guest conducting experiences include a collaboration with El Sistema in Venezuela, where she conducted two youth orchestras (May 2015). The creation of the CSO International Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship was announced by Muti in October 2009 as part of his larger vision for the CSOA. This vision includes the opportunity to build on the CSO’s great tradition of training young musicians through the creation of an apprenticeship which fosters the talents of promising young conductors and invests in the future of the art form. The program is named for Sir Georg Solti, who served as music director of the CSO from 1969 to 1991, not only because of his deep connection with the CSO, but also in honor of his commitment to connecting with young musicians. Earlier in their respective careers, both Sir Georg Solti and Riccardo Muti refined their musicianship through their studies and work with singers in the opera house, and Muti remains passionate about the importance of a conductor’s ability to rehearse with an artist at the piano. He regards keyboard and vocal-coaching skills as crucial in the creation of a complete musician: one who is able to stand before of an orchestra with natural authority. Muti’s sincere hope in establishing this apprenticeship was to identify the promising young conductor who will benefit most from his tutelage and the unique opportunities of working with the CSO and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. The CSO’s International Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship is a program of the Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO. Funding for the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship is provided by a generous grant from The Claire Rosen & Samuel Edes Foundation. The Foundation’s deep commitment to education and the arts in America provides a promising young conductor the financial means to focus on their work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Muti and the rare opportunities this experience provides. # # # Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti, born in Naples, Italy, is one of the preeminent conductors of our day. In 2010, when he became the tenth music director of the world-renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), he had more than forty years of experience at the helm of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence (1968–1980), the Philharmonia Orchestra in London (1972–1982), the Philadelphia Orchestra (1980–1992), and Teatro alla Scala in Milan (1986–2005). He continues to be in demand as a guest conductor for other great orchestras and opera houses: the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic; the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, and many others. Muti is an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic, which gave him its Golden Ring as a special sign of esteem and affection. Muti has received innumerable honors from Italy, the United States, France, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Israel, Spain, Russia, Sweden, and the Vatican as well as more than twenty honorary degrees from universities around the world. Passionate about teaching young musicians, Muti founded the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra in 2004. Through Le vie dell’Amicizia (The paths of friendship), a project of the Ravenna Festival in Italy, he has conducted in many of the world’s most troubled areas in order to bring attention to and advocate for civic and social issues. In Chicago and around the globe, Muti demonstrates his strong commitment to sharing classical music broadly by regularly offering free concerts and rehearsals to the public and by performing in schools, prisons, and other community venues. In 2015, he founded the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy in Ravenna, Italy. Riccardo Muti’s vast catalog of recordings, numbering in the hundreds, ranges from the traditional symphonic and operatic repertoires to contemporary works. He also has written two books, Verdi, l’italiano (published in Italian and German) and Riccardo Muti: An Autobiography: First the Music, Then the Words, which has been published in several languages. www.riccardomutimusic.com Erina Yashima German-born conductor Erina Yashima has been recently appointed répétiteur with conducting duties of the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. Previously, she was the music director of the Freies Studentenorchester Rostock (2013-2015). In 2013 she was given the Award of outstanding excellence by the Musikakademie Rheinsberg for the opera production she conducted there in 2013. Her guest conducting experiences include a collaboration with El Sistema in Venezuela, where she conducted two youth orchestras (May 2015). Yashima was active participant of Riccardo Muti's Italian Opera Academy at the Ravenna Festival and of masterclasses given by Bernard Haitink (Lucerne Festival) and Gianluigi Gelmetti (Accademia Musicale Chigiana). In 2015 she was selected as one of the top three finalists at the workshop INTERAKTION des Kritischen Orchesters by members of professional orchestras such as Berlin Philharmonic and Staatskapelle Berlin. As pre-college piano student of Bernd Goetzke Ms. Yashima started her musical studies at the Institute for the Early Advancement of the Musically Highly Gifted (IFF) in Hannover where she got her first conducting lessons at the age of 14. After studying conducting in Freiburg with Scott Sandmeier and in Vienna with Mark Stringer, she is completing her studies in conducting at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin under the guidance of Christian Ehwald and Hans-Dieter Baum. The orchestras that Yashima conducted include the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt (Oder), Neubrandenburger Philharmonie, Brandenburger Symphoniker, Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim, North Czech Philharmonic Teplice, Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo and New Music ensembles of the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover. Civic Orchestra of Chicago (cso.org/civic) Since 1919, young artists have sought membership in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago to develop their talents and further prepare for a career as a professional musician. Founded by the CSO’s second music director Frederick Stock as the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra benefits from a musical alliance that is the only one of its kind among major American orchestras. A signature initiative of the CSO’s Negaunee Music Institute, the Civic Orchestra provides exceptional career-bound musicians with unique access to the musical resources of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and hands-on training experiences with the musicians of the CSO and some of today’s most sought-after conductors including CSO Music Director Riccardo Muti. Under the guidance of Principal Conductor Cliff Colnot and CSO Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant Yo-Yo Ma, the Civic Orchestra musicians develop as exceptional orchestral players and engaged citizen musicians, cultivating their ability to succeed in the rapidly evolving world of music in the 21st century. The importance of the Civic Orchestra’s role in the general community is also underscored by its commitment to present concerts of the highest quality at no

Load more