Chicago Philharmonic 2018-2019 Spring

10 SPRING 2019 | THE CHICAGO PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY 2018 2019 SEASON: THE ROARING TWENTIES Kurt Weill (1900-1950) Suite from e reepenny Opera (1928) In 1928, German-Jewish composer Kurt Weill wrote and premiered the music to e reepenny Opera, a “play with music” by German playwright Bertolt Brecht. e work, a biting satire and sharp political critique based on John Gay’s 1728 play “ e Beggar’s Opera”, paved the way for musical theater as we know it today and inspired later hits like Caberet and Chicago . e reepenny Opera was an instant smash, captivating audiences in bohemian Berlin and across Europe. Mack the Knife later became a hit for Bobby Darin, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and countless other pop musicians. A few months a er the play’s premiere, Weill composed Kleine Dreigroschenmusik ( Little reepenny Music or Suite from e reepenny Opera ) for wind ensemble. Little reepenny Music combines popular, jazz, and avante-garde classical music to create a unique style. What current concert-goers might think of as hokey, old-timey jazz was in fact cutting edge composition in the 1920s. Complete with slurpy trombone lines, cheesy vibrato, and a staunch Socialist political message, Little reepenny Music still represents a major cultural moment in 20th century music and theater. George Gershwin (1898 – 1937) Rhapsody in Blue (1924) American Broadway composer George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was an instant hit, combining elements of symphonic music with the free-spirited style of jazz and popular music of the 1920s. It catapulted Gershwin to a new level of stardom and cemented his place as a composer of “serious” classical music alongside international contemporaries. Nearly a century later, it still epitomizes what so many Americans take pride in: a awed but beautiful melting pot constantly creating new cultural phenomena, tradition be damned. emes from the piece are used today in the concert hall and commercially; you may have heard Rhapsody playing in the connecting concourses in Terminal 1 at the O’Hare airport, in a United Airlines advertisement, or as the inspiration and soundtrack to Woody Allen’s 1979 lm Manhattan. Rhapsody in Blue was composed at the request of jazz bandleader and “King of Jazz” Paul Whiteman for an all-jazz concert held in a classical music venue that would be called an “Experiment in Modern Music”. Gershwin composed the piece for two pianos (one solo, one accompanying) in just ve weeks and handed o an incomplete score to Whiteman’s arranger Ferde Grofé. Grofé, who later became famous for his Grand Canyon Suite, arranged Rhapsody for Whiteman’s jazz ensemble. He also arranged the piece for full symphony orchestra in 1942. e piece begins with one of the most recognizable solos in classical music: a schmaltz-y smear of a clarinet glissando. e line was originally written as a trill and then 17-note scale, but clarinetist Ross Gorman (apparently due to either boredom or exhaustion during rehearsal) replaced the scale with a glissando, and the rest is history. Aldo López-Gavilán, piano “A dazzling technique and rhythmic re” - e Seattle Times “A formidable virtuoso” - e Times of London Aldo López-Gavilán was born in Cuba to a family of internationally acclaimed classical musicians. His rst international triumph was at the age of 11, when he won the Danny Kaye International Children’s Award, organized by UNICEF. He made his professional debut at the age of 12 with the Matanzas Symphony Orchestra. Parallel to his classical abilities, López-Gavilán developed remarkable improvisational skills. He was invited to perform in the world-famous Havana Jazz Festival with legend Chucho Valdés, who called López-Gavilán “simply a genius, a star.” In 1999, he recorded his rst CD, En el ocaso de la hormiga y el elefante , which won the 2000 Grand Prix at Cubadisco. He was also invited by Maestro Claudio Abbado to perform as soloist in a special concert dedicated to the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, in which he was accompanied by the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela. e following year, Abbado invited him to perform Proko ev’s Concerto No. 1 in Caracas and Havana. López-Gavilán’s remarkable professional career also includes composing original music for award winning lms, arranging his own compositions for international orchestras as well as performing in some of the world’s greatest concert halls, such as Amadeo Roldán (Cuba), Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center (USA), Teresa Careño (Venezuela), Bellas Artes (Mexico), Royal Festival Hall (U.K.), Nybrokajen 11 (Sweden), e Hall of Music (Russia), and Duc de Lombard et Petit Journal Montparnasse (France). KENNETH WARREN & SON, LTD. VIOLIN DEALERS AND EXPERTS i Dealers in fine violins, violas, cellos, and their bows i Expert opinions and valuations i Sponsor of and collaborator with the latest historical research of classic Italian violin making and French bow making 40 North Wells Street, Suite 500 Chicago, IL, 60606 312 634-5050 info@kwsviolins.com www.kwsviolins.com