For Immediate Release: Press Contacts: May 8, 2015 Eileen Chambers, 312-294-3092 Rachelle Roe, 312-294-3090
Photos Available By Request [email protected]
CSO AT THE MOVIES 2014/15 SERIES CONCLUDES WITH SILENT FILM CLASSIC, METROPOLIS
May 29 at 8 p.m.
CHICAGO—The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2014/15 CSO at the Movies series concludes with a screening of Fritz Lang’s silent film Metropolis on Friday, May 29 at 8 p.m. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), led by conductor Cristian Măcelaru, will accompany Giorgio Moroder’s abridged version of the film with a live performance of a score compiled by John Goberman and that includes music by Schoenberg, Grieg and Bartók.
Fritz Lang’s genre-defining science fiction film debuted in 1927 and has since been restored and rereleased all over the world. The film is set in a futuristic city whose citizens, divided into two classes, find that their conflicts are mediated by an unexpected source. Film critic Roger Ebert described Metropolis as doing “what many great films do, creating a time, place and characters so striking that they become part of our arsenal of images for imagining the world… and the result is one of those films without which many others cannot be fully appreciated.”
Because of its production as a silent film, the score for Metropolis is reinvented with each screening of the film. The CSO will use the score compiled by TV and film producer John Goberman, the creator of the Emmy Award-winning show Live from Lincoln Center. Goberman’s compiled score for Metropolis includes sections of Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night and two of the composer’s chamber symphonies, Bartok’s String Quartet No. 1 and Grieg’s Holberg suite. Goberman compiled this score for a screening of Metropolis at Kennedy Center Concert Hall in 2003. The CSO’s performance on May 29 represents only the second time Moroder’s abridged version of Metropolis will be screened live with Goberman’s score.
Cristian Măcelaru currently serves as Conductor-in-Residence of the Philadelphia Orchestra and recently made his Carnegie Hall debut. Măcelaru has conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on multiple occasions including his first appearance in 2012 when he conducted as a replacement for Pierre Boulez.
Program and Ticket Details
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.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Friday, May 29 at 8 p.m. CSO at the Movies Chicago Symphony Orchestra Cristian Măcelaru, Conductor
Metropolis
Compiled score by John Goberman contains sections of the following works:
SCHOENBERG Verklare Nacht, Op. 4 (sextet version) SCHOENBERG Chamber Symphony No. 1 in E Major SCHOENBERG Chamber Symphony No. 2 GRIEG Holberg Suite, Op. 40 BARTOK String Quartet No. 1 BARTOK String Quartet No. 2
Tickets: $34-$120
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Cristian Măcelaru Winner of the 2014 Solti Conducting Award, Cristian Măcelaru has established himself as one of the fast- rising stars of the conducting world. With every concert he displays an exciting and highly regarded presence, thoughtful interpretations and energetic conviction on the podium. Cristian Măcelaru came to public attention in February 2012 when he conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a replacement for Pierre Boulez in performances met with critical acclaim. Since his Chicago debut, he has conducted that orchestra on subscription in three consecutive seasons including 14/15. The Chicago Sun-Times exclaimed: “Măcelaru is the real thing, displaying confidence without arrogance and offering expressiveness without excess demonstration.”
Recently appointed Conductor-in-Residence of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Măcelaru made an unexpected subscription debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in April 2013. Since then, he has conducted Philadelphia in two further subscription programs in 13/14 and will lead two programs on subscription in 14/15. The 2014/15 season sees Măcelaru make his Carnegie Hall debut on a program with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Replacing the orchestra’s Chief Conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Măcelaru will have the honor of conducting the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Denmark and on a German and U.S. tour in January and February 2015. The 11-concert project includes the Carnegie appearance which features Anne-Sophie Mutter as violin soloist.
This season Mr. Măcelaru also returns on subscription to Chicago and has subscription debuts with the Toronto, Baltimore, Houston, St. Louis, Seattle, Detroit, Milwaukee and Indianapolis symphony orchestras in North America; the U.K.’s Hallé Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony; and the Hague's Residentie Orkest in the Netherlands.
Guest-conducting highlights of the 2013-14 season included a subscription debut with the National Symphony Orchestra and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, a European debut stepping in at the last minute with the Gothenburg Symphony, and concerts in his home country to lead the National Radio Orchestra of Romania in Mozart’s Requiem. In March 2014, he returned to Chicago where he led overwhelmingly successful subscription appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, his third season in a row as a replacement for Maestro Boulez. His 2014 summer season commenced with an opening concert for the Caramoor Festival with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and Joshua Bell as soloist. Other summer appearances included festivals in Vail, Mann Center, Chautauqua and Saratoga Springs.
Cristian Măcelaru made his first conducting appearance at Carnegie Hall in 2012, leading a work on a program alongside Valery Gergiev in a Georg Solti Centennial Celebration. In 2010, Mr. Mǎcelaru made his operatic debut with the Houston Grand Opera in Madama Butterfly and led the U.S. premiere of Colin Matthews’s Turning Point with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra as part of the Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival.
In addition to being appointed the 2014 Solti Fellow, Cristian Măcelaru previously received the Sir Georg Solti Emerging Conductor Award in 2012, a prestigious honor only awarded once before in the Foundation’s history. He has participated in the conducting programs of the Tanglewood Music Center and the Aspen Music Festival, studying under David Zinman, Murry Sidlin, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Robert Spano, Oliver Knussen and Stefan Asbury. His main studies were with Larry Rachleff at Rice University, where he received master’s degrees in conducting and violin performance. He completed undergraduate studies in violin performance at the University of Miami.
An accomplished violinist from an early age, Mr. Măcelaru was the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony Orchestra and made his Carnegie Hall debut with that orchestra at the age of nineteen. He also played in the first violin section of the Houston Symphony for two seasons.
Cristian Măcelaru formerly held the position of Resident Conductor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he was Music Director of the Campanile Orchestra, Assistant Conductor to Larry Rachleff and Conductor for the Opera Department. A proponent of music education, he has served as a conductor with the Houston Youth Symphony, where he also conceptualized and created a successful chamber music program. As Founder and Artistic Director of the Crisalis Music Project, Mr. Măcelaru spearheaded a program in which young musicians perform in a variety of settings, side-by-side with established artists. Their groundbreaking inaugural season produced and presented concerts featuring chamber ensembles, a chamber orchestra, a tango operetta, and collaborations with dancer Susana Collins, which resulted in a choreographed performance of Vivaldi/Piazzolla’s Eight Seasons.
Cristian Măcelaru currently resides in Philadelphia with his wife Cheryl and children Beniamin and Maria.
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 Mason Bates and Anna Clyne 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 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 includes the Chicago Symphony Chorus (Duain Wolfe, Director and Conductor) and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a preprofessional training ensemble. 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 promotes the concept of Citizen Musicianship™: using the power of music to create connections and build community.
The CSO is supported by tens of 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. CSO Tuesday series concerts are sponsored by United Airlines.