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Wishing a very happy eighty-fifth birthday to John Corigliano!
The recipient of numerous honors—including a Pulitzer Prize, an Academy Award, the Grawemeyer Award, and multiple Grammy awards—Corigliano served as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first composer-in-residence from 1987 until 1990.
The Orchestra first performed Corigliano’s Concerto for Piano in February 1969, with Sheldon Shkolnik as soloist and acting music director Irwin Hoffman on the podium. Under the baton of Sir Georg Solti, the Orchestra performed the Concerto for Clarinet with Larry Combs, as well as the Tournaments Overture on concerts in Orchestra Hall and during the 1985 tour to Europe, performing the work in Hamburg, Madrid, Paris, and London.
On March 15, 1990, music director designate Daniel Barenboim led the world premiere of Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, jointly commissioned for the Orchestra’s centennial by the Chicago Symphony and the Meet-the-Composer Orchestra Residencies Program.
“During the past decade I have lost many friends and colleagues to the AIDS epidemic, and the cumulative effect of those losses has, naturally, deeply affected me. My First Symphony was generated by feelings of loss, anger, and frustration,” wrote Corigliano in the program note for the premiere. “A few years ago, I was extremely moved when I first saw ‘The Quilt,’ an ambitious interweaving of several thousand fabric panels, each memorializing a person who had died of AIDS, and, most importantly, each designed and constructed by his or her loved ones. This made me want to memorialize in music those I have lost, and reflect on those I am losing.”
The live recording—Barenboim and the Orchestra’s first on the Erato label—featured principal cello John Sharp and, offstage, pianist Stephen Hough. The recording was recognized with two 1991 Grammy awards for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Contemporary Composition. Barenboim programmed the symphony again in 1992, also taking it on tour to Carnegie Hall, Madrid, and London.
Corigliano’s First Symphony also has been performed at the Ravinia Festival under the batons of Christoph Eschenbach in 1996 and Marin Alsop in 2003; Eschenbach also led performances in Orchestra Hall in 1998.
With the Orchestra, Neeme Järvi conducted the Pied Piper Fantasy with Sir James Galway; Eschenbach led The Red Violin: Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra with Joshua Bell; William Eddins conducted Phantasmagoria on The Ghosts of Versailles; and Leonard Slatkin has led Three Hallucinations, Fantasia on an Ostinato, and The Mannheim Rocket.
To celebrate Sir Georg Solti’s seventy-fifth birthday in 1987, associate conductor Kenneth Jean led the Orchestra in the world premiere of Corigliano’s Campane di Ravello. Written while on vacation in Ravello, Italy, the composer remarked, “On Sundays, the multitude of churches in Ravello and the surrounding towns play their bells, each in a different key and rhythm. The cacophony is gorgeous, and uniquely festive. My tribute to Sir Georg attempts to make the sections of the symphony orchestra sound like pealing bells: that tolling, filigreed with birdcalls in the woodwinds, provides the backdrop for a theme that grows more and more familiar as it is clarified. At the end, it is clear and joyous—a tribute to a great man.”
Jean also led the work on the Centennial Gala concert on October 6, 1990, and current music director Riccardo Muti conducted it on September 19, 2015, on the Symphony Ball concert launching the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 125th season.
MusicNOW, the Orchestra’s contemporary music series, kicked off its twentieth season on October 2, 2017, at the Harris Theater with a concert celebrating past composers-in-residence. Samuel Adams and Elizabeth Ogonek honored their predecessors by programming works by Anna Clyne, Osvaldo Golijov, and Mark-Anthony Turnage, along with—in attendance—Mason Bates, Shulamit Ran, Augusta Read Thomas, and Corigliano.
Most recently, in January 2019, the Orchestra performed “One Sweet Morning” from the song cycle of the same name, with baritone Thomas Hampson as soloist and Bramwell Tovey conducting. In Chicago Classical Review, Lawrence A. Johnson wrote that Corigliano’s song, “made an apt and hopeful coda, envisioning a world with no more war . . . Hampson was able to convey the gentle optimism of the Yip Harburg text, and Corigliano’s fragile, bird-like rising line.”
Happy, happy birthday!
This article also appears here.
Wishing a very happy eighty-fifth birthday to Estonian American conductor Neeme Järvi! A frequent guest to the Orchestra Hall podium for nearly forty years, he has led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a remarkable array of works, including one U.S. and two world premieres. Also with the CSO, Järvi has made four recordings, including Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, along with works by Hindemith, Kodály, Schmidt, and Scriabin, all for Chandos Records.
A complete list of his appearances with the Orchestra is below.
November 21, 22, and 23, 1985, Orchestra Hall
LYADOV Polonaise, Op. 49
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18
Yefim Bronfman, piano
STENHAMMAR Symphony No. 1 in F Major (U.S. premiere)
December 10, 11, 12, and 15, 1987, Orchestra Hall
STENHAMMAR Intermezzo from Sängen, Op. 44
STENHAMMAR Florez och Blanzeflor, Op. 3
Håkan Hagegård, baritone
ALFVÉN Skogen sover, Op. 28, No. 6
Håkan Hagegård, baritone
SIBELIUS Incidental Music from Kuolema
SIBELIUS Four Songs
Håkan Hagegård, baritone
TUBIN Symphony No. 4 in A Major (Sinfonia lirica)
December 17, 18, and 19, 1987, Orchestra Hall
GLAZUNOV Prelude from From the Middle Ages, Op. 79
SHOSTAKOVICH Violin Concerto No. 2 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 129
Samuel Magad, violin
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 4 in C Major, Op. 112
November 10, 11, and 12, 1988, Orchestra Hall
HAYDN Symphony No. 88 in G Major
LLOYD Symphony No. 7 (world premiere)
April 20, 21, 22, and 25, 1989, Orchestra Hall
SCHMIDT Symphony No. 2 in E-flat Major
CORIGLIANO Pied Piper Fantasy (Concerto for Flute and Orchestra)
James Galway, flute
Marie Bennett, Charlie Chen, Brian Davis, Demarre McGill, Vicki Meier, Anita Mooney, Katherine Naftzger, Esther Sullivan, Kyra Tyler, and Caroline You, flutes
Sharyon Culberson and Brad Fox, percussion
Tracy Cunningham, Kelly Krueger, Anthony McGill, and Carlos Velez, Jr., actors
René Roy, director
Schmidt’s Symphony no. 2 was recorded in Orchestra Hall live in concert.
November 22, 24, 25, and 28, 1989, Orchestra Hall
PÄRT Symphony No. 3
SCRIABIN Poem of Ecstasy, Op. 54
MUSSORGSKY/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition
Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition were recorded in Orchestra Hall on November 27 and 28, 1989.
February 15, 16, 18, and 20, 1990, Orchestra Hall
KODÁLY Háry János, Op. 35a
Laurence Kaptain, cimbalom
SAINT-SAËNS Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major, Op. 103 (Egyptian)
Lorin Hollander, piano
KODÁLY Variations on a Hungarian Folksong (The Peacock)
KODÁLY Dances of Galánta
Kodály’s Háry János, Peacock Variations, and Dances of Galánta were recorded in Orchestra Hall live in concert.
January 31, February 1, 2, and 5, 1991, Orchestra Hall
HINDEMITH Concerto for Orchestra, Op. 38
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491
Radu Lupu, piano
SCHMIDT Symphony No. 3
Hindemith’s Concerto for Orchestra and Schmidt’s Symphony no. 3 were recorded in Orchestra Hall live in concert.
October 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, 1993, Orchestra Hall
TUBIN/Raid Elegy for Strings
ELLER Folk Tune from Songs of My Homeland
DARZINS Melancholy Waltz
MEDINS Aria
NIELSEN Clarinet Concerto, Op. 57
John Bruce Yeh, clarinet
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 13
January 5, 6, 7, and 10, 1995, Orchestra Hall
BARBER Intermezzo and Under the Willow Tree from Vanessa
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97 (Rhenish)
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
TCHAIKOVSKY Excerpts from the Incidental Music for The Snow Maiden
February 13, 14, 15, and 16, 1997, Orchestra Hall
RAPCHAK Saetas (world premiere)
PAGANINI Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 7
Rachel Barton, violin
NIELSEN Symphony No. 4, Op. 29 (The Inextinguishable)
May 18, 19, 20, and 23, 2000, Orchestra Hall
SCHUMANN Overture to Manfred, Op. 115
BRAHMS Concerto for Violin and Cello in A Minor, Op. 102 (Double)
Samuel Magad, violin
John Sharp, cello
DOHNÁNYI Symphony No. 2 in E Major, Op. 40
October 16, 17, 18, and 21, 2008, Orchestra Hall
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30
Yefim Bronfman, piano
TANEYEV Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 12
December 8, 9, and 10, 2016, Orchestra Hall
GLAZUNOV Concert Waltz No. 1 in D Major, Op. 47
PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 19
Vadim Gluzman, violin
SIBELIUS Suite from Karelia, Op. 11
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 82
April 20, 22, and 23, 2017, Orchestra Hall
April 21, 2017, Wheaton College
PÄRT Fratres
Robert Chen, violin
BARTÓK Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. Posth.
Robert Chen, violin
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (Pastoral)
December 7, 8, 9, and 12, 2017, Orchestra Hall
SMETANA Music from The Bartered Bride
BARBER Cello Concerto, Op. 22
Alisa Weilerstein, cello
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 5 in F Major, Op. 76
Happy, happy birthday!
This article also appears here.
Wishing a very happy eightieth birthday to John Corigliano!
The recipient of numerous honors—including a Pulitzer Prize, an Academy Award, the Grawemeyer Award, and multiple Grammy awards—Corigliano served as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first composer-in-residence from 1987 until 1990.
The Orchestra first performed Corigliano’s Concerto for Piano in February 1969, with Sheldon Shkolnik as soloist and acting music director Irwin Hoffman on the podium. Under the baton of Sir Georg Solti, the Orchestra performed the Concerto for Clarinet with Larry Combs, as well as the Tournaments Overture on concerts in Orchestra Hall and during the 1985 tour to Europe, performing the work in Hamburg, Madrid, Paris, and London.
On March 15, 1990, music director designate Daniel Barenboim led the world premiere of Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, jointly commissioned for the Orchestra’s centennial by the Chicago Symphony and the Meet-the-Composer Orchestra Residencies Program.
“During the past decade I have lost many friends and colleagues to the AIDS epidemic, and the cumulative effect of those losses has, naturally, deeply affected me. My First Symphony was generated by feelings of loss, anger, and frustration,” wrote Corigliano in the program note for the premiere. “A few years ago, I was extremely moved when I first saw ‘The Quilt,’ an ambitious interweaving of several thousand fabric panels, each memorializing a person who had died of AIDS, and, most importantly, each designed and constructed by his or her loved ones. This made me want to memorialize in music those I have lost, and reflect on those I am losing.”
The live recording—Barenboim and the Orchestra’s first on the Erato label—featured principal cello John Sharp and, offstage, pianist Stephen Hough. The recording was recognized with two 1991 Grammy awards for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Contemporary Composition. Barenboim programmed the symphony again in 1992, also taking it on tour to Carnegie Hall, Madrid, and London.
Corigliano’s First Symphony also has been performed at the Ravinia Festival under the batons of Christoph Eschenbach in 1996 and Marin Alsop in 2003; Eschenbach also led performances in Orchestra Hall in 1998.
With the Orchestra, Neeme Järvi conducted the Pied Piper Fantasy with Sir James Galway; Eschenbach led The Red Violin: Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra with Joshua Bell; William Eddins conducted Phantasmagoria on The Ghosts of Versailles; and Leonard Slatkin has led Three Hallucinations, Fantasia on an Ostinato, and The Mannheim Rocket.
To celebrate Sir Georg Solti’s seventy-fifth birthday in 1987, associate conductor Kenneth Jean led the Orchestra in the world premiere of Corigliano’s Campane di Ravello. Written while on vacation in Ravello, Italy, the composer remarked, “On Sundays, the multitude of churches in Ravello and the surrounding towns play their bells, each in a different key and rhythm. The cacophony is gorgeous, and uniquely festive. My tribute to Sir Georg attempts to make the sections of the symphony orchestra sound like pealing bells: that tolling, filigreed with birdcalls in the woodwinds, provides the backdrop for a theme that grows more and more familiar as it is clarified. At the end, it is clear and joyous—a tribute to a great man.”
Jean also led the work on the Centennial Gala concert on October 6, 1990, and current music director Riccardo Muti conducted it on September 19, 2015, on the Symphony Ball concert launching the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 125th season.
Corigliano and Stephanie Jeong at the Harris Theater on October 2, 2017 (Todd Rosenberg photo)
MusicNOW, the Orchestra’s contemporary music series, kicked off its twentieth season on October 2, 2017, at the Harris Theater with a concert celebrating past composers-in-residence. Samuel Adams and Elizabeth Ogonek honored their predecessors by programming works by Anna Clyne, Osvaldo Golijov, and Mark-Anthony Turnage, along with—in attendance—Mason Bates, Shulamit Ran, Augusta Read Thomas, and Corigliano.
CSO violins Yuan-Qing Yu and Hermine Gagné, viola Danny Lai, and cello Kenneth Olsen performed Corigliano’s A Black November Turkey (in the composer’s string quartet arrangement), and violin Stephenie Jeong soloed in the Red Violin Caprices. The Chicago Classical Review’s Lawrence A. Johnson observed, “Jeong delivered a powerful tour de force performance, sensitively serving the pages of introspective melancholy and throwing off Corigliano’s artful retake on nineteenth-century Paganini-esque fiddle fireworks with blazing virtuosity and panache. It was wonderful to see the veteran composer join the CSO’s young associate concertmaster for a double curtain call.”
And next season, in January 2019, Thomas Hampson will perform the song “One Sweet Morning” from Corigliano’s song cycle One Sweet Morning, commissioned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Bramwell Tovey will conduct.
Happy, happy birthday!
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