For Immediate Release Press Contacts: January 28, 2021 Eileen Chambers 312-294-3092 Dana Navarro 312-294-3090 MISSY MAZZOLI CONTINUES AS MEAD COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE FOR THE CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA THROUGH JUNE 2021 CHICAGO—The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA) is pleased to announce that Missy Mazzoli will continue as the Mead Composer-in-Residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra through June 2021. Initially appointed to the position by Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti in July 2018, Mazzoli has focused her work during the first two years of her tenure on curating programs for the MusicNOW series. Her programs have included several commissions, U.S. premieres and works by composers who had not been featured on the series previously, as well as by a number of underrepresented and female voices in contemporary music, some with ties to Chicago. This season, Mazzoli’s own compositions, the 2010 string quartet Death Valley Junction and 2006 percussion work Volume, are featured in the CSO Sessions series, as well as her 2009 sextet for mixed ensemble Still Life with Avalanche in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago series on CSOtv. Mazzoli’s Orpheus Undone, which was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and originally scheduled for world premiere performances with Riccardo Muti in 2020 has been postponed due to the pandemic, with a new performance date to be announced. Mazzoli’s upcoming activities in 2021 will include curating two contemporary music programs for the CSO Sessions series on CSOtv, which features newly recorded performances by Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians filmed in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center and convening a virtual symposium for young female composers. “This extension of my residency with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will allow me to finally present some of the newly commissioned works and world premieres scheduled for recent seasons,” said Mazzoli. “This year has brought innumerable unexpected challenges, but I remain committed to the composers I have programmed and to the musicians of the orchestra and am thrilled to have this opportunity to bring to life events that have long been in the works.” Missy Mazzoli has had her music performed by the LA Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Symphony, Kronos Quartet, eighth blackbird, the Adelaide Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, Scottish Opera, LA Opera and many others. In 2018, she became, along with Jeanine Tesori, one of the first women to receive a main stage commission from the Metropolitan Opera and was nominated for a Grammy award in the category of “Best Classical Composition.” In addition to her current role as the Mead Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mazzoli was Composer-in- Residence with Opera Philadelphia from 2012 to 2015. Her 2018 opera Proving Up, created with longtime collaborator librettist Royce Vavrek and based on a short story by Karen Russell, is a surreal commentary on the American dream. Called “harrowing… a true opera for its time” by The Washington Post, the opera was commissioned and premiered by Washington National Opera, Opera Omaha and Miller Theatre, with future performances planned at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Her 2016 opera Breaking the Waves, commissioned by Opera Philadelphia and Beth Morrison Projects, was called “one of the best 21st-century American operas yet” by Opera News. Breaking the Waves received its European premiere at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival; future performances are planned at LA Opera and in Europe. Her next opera, The Listeners, will premiere in 2022 at the Norwegian National Opera and Opera Philadelphia. In 2016, Mazzoli and composer Ellen Reid founded Luna Lab, a mentorship program for young female composers created in partnership with the Kaufman Music Center. Her works are published by G. Schirmer. More information is available at missymazzoli.com The Mead Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is endowed through a generous gift from Cindy Sargent and the late Sally Mead Hands. # # # Chicago Symphony Orchestra: cso.org and csosoundsandstories.org Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the greatest orchestras in the world. Since 2010, the pre-eminent conductor Riccardo Muti has served as its 10th music director. Missy Mazzoli is Mead Composer-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 62 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 eight releases with the CSO to date). Find details on these and many other CSO recordings at cso.org/resound. The CSO is part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, which also includes the Chicago Symphony Chorus (Duain Wolfe, Director and Conductor) and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago (Ken-David Masur, Principal Conductor), 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 led by Muti, 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. 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. .