The Grant Park Music Festival
The Grant Park Music Festival will launch it’s 76th summer of free classical concerts on June 16th. All concerts will take place in Millenium Park. The lineup follows:
Wednesday, June 16 6:30pm
Vivaldi: Four Seasons
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Open Rehearsal: Tuesday, June 15 11:00am – 1:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Tuesday, June 15 3:00pm – 5:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Wednesday, June 16 11:00am – 1:30pm
Grant Park Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
Elina Vähälä, Violin
Berlioz: Roman Carnival
Vivaldi: Four Seasons
Respighi: Feste Romane
The Festival’s 76th season opens with the Four Seasons, Antonio Vivaldi’s beloved masterpiece, performed by Finnish violinist Elina Vähälä, making her Chicago debut. The program also includes Berlioz’s Roman Carnival and Respighi’s musical depiction of celebrations in the city of Rome, Feste Romane.
Friday, June 18 6:30pm
Saturday, June 19 7:30pm
Beethoven: Mass in C Major
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Open Rehearsal: Thursday, June 17 10:00am – 12:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Friday, June 18 11:00am – 1:30pm
Grant Park Orchestra And Chorus
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
Christopher Bell, Chorus Director
Amber Wagner, Soprano
Kathryn Leemhuis, Mezzo Soprano
Bryan Griffin, Tenor
Paul Whelan, Bass
Haydn: Te Deum
Hindemith: Nobilissima Visione
Beethoven: Mass, Op. 86, C major
This evening of transcendent works includes Beethoven’s Mass in C major, Haydn’s Te Deum, and Hindemith’s Nobilissima Visione, inspired by Giotto’s early-14th-century frescoes depicting the life of St. Francis.
Wednesday, June 23 6:30pm
Pink Martini
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Grant Park Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
Pink Martini
The Grant Park Orchestra is joined by the renowned band Pink Martini, which the New York Times dubbed, “a suave salon orchestra with a singer in a formal dress, ready to take up a torch song, tinkle through a light-classical staple or pick up some south-of-the-border rhythms.”
Friday, June 25 6:30pm Saturday, June 26 7:30pm
The Pulitzer Project
Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
Christopher Bell, Chorus Director
Schuman: A Free Song, Secular Cantata No.2
Sowerby: The Canticle of the Sun
Copland: Appalachian Spring: Suite
A fascinating look at three early winners of this important classical music prize: including the rarely heard A Free Song by William Schuman (1943) and Aaron Copland’s quintessentially American ballet Appalachian Spring Suite (1945). The program also features Chicago composer Leo Sowerby’s The Canticle of the Sun (1946).
Wednesday, June 30 8:00pm
Muzyka Polska
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Open Rehearsal: Tuesday, June 29 11:00am – 1:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Tuesday, June 29 3:00pm – 5:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Wednesday, June 30 11:00am – 1:30pm
Grant Park Orchestra
Krzysztof Urbański, Conductor
Krzysztof Jabłoński, Piano
Kilar: Krzesany
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1
Lutosławski: Concerto for Orchestra
In celebration of Chopin’s 200th birthday his beloved first Piano Concerto shares the program with Krzesany by Kilar (known for his Oscar-winning score for The Pianist) and Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra, a work inspired by rich Polish folklore.
Sunday, July 4 1:30pm
Independence Day in Millennium Park
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Grant Park Orchestra
Christopher Bell, Conductor
Lane Alexander And Ensemble
Key: Star Spangled Banner
Bernstein: Overture to Candide
Dvořàk: Largo from Symphony No. 9 in E minor, From the New World
Gould: American Salute
Wendel: Sea to Shining Sea
Porter: Can Can
Strauss: Champagne Polka
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture
Sousa: Stars and Stripes forever
Celebrate our country’s birthday and musical heritage in a program featuring selections by American composers as well as three Europeans — Dvořák, Johann Strauss, Jr. and Tchaikovsky — whose visits left indelible marks on their music.
Tuesday, July 6 6:30pm Thursday, July 8 6:30pm
Chorus A Cappella: French Sensuality
Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Grant Park Chorus
Christopher Bell, Chorus Director
The Grant Park Chorus has developed a fine reputation for its committed performance of a cappella repertoire. This year the chorus turns its attention to the sensuous world of French music with works by Poulenc, Debussy, and Messiaen.
Wednesday, July 7 6:30pm
Memoria del Fuego
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Grant Park Orchestra
Miguel Harth Bedoya, Conductor
Henry Godinez, Director
Luis Valdez And Artists Of The Goodman Theater
Adapted from Memory of Fire by Eduardo Galeano. Produced in association with Goodman Theatre. Uruguayan author Galeano’s masterpiece is adapted for stage by Goodman Theatre Resident Artistic Associate Henry Godinez and set to a variety of Latin music. Readings in English and Spanish. This concert launches Goodman Theatre’s 2010 Latino Theatre Festival.
Friday, July 9 6:30pm Saturday, July 10 7:30pm
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Open Rehearsal: Thursday, July 8 10:00am – 12:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Friday, July 9 11:00am – 1:30pm
Grant Park Orchestra
Xian Zhang, Conductor
Chen: Ge Xu (Antiphony)
Prokofiev: The Love for Three Oranges: Symphonic Suite
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2
Chinese-American conductor Xian Zhang makes her Chicago debut in a program featuring the great Finnish composer’s heroic symphony, the Orchestral Suite from Prokofiev’s opera The Love for Three Oranges, and Antiphony, a recent work by Chinese composer Chen-Yi.
Wednesday, July 14 6:30pm
Petrushka
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Open Rehearsal: Tuesday, July 13 11:00am – 1:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Tuesday, July 13 3:00pm – 5:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Wednesday, July 14 11:00am – 1:30pm
Grant Park Orchestra
Hans Graf, Conductor
Alban Gerhardt, Cello
Tchaikovsky: The Tempest: Fantasy—Overture, op.18
Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, op. 33
Stravinsky: Petrushka
This program of infectious melodies and vivid harmonies of two Russian masters includes Tchaikovsky’s work inspired by Shakespeare’s magical last play, The Tempest, and his Variations on a Rococo Theme, plus Stravinsky’s ballet about a puppet come to life at a country fair, Petrushka
Friday, July 16 6:30pm Saturday, July 17 7:30pm
The Magic Toy Shop
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Open Rehearsal: Thursday, July 15 10:00am – 12:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Friday, July 16 11:00am – 1:30pm
Grant Park Orchestra
Julian Kuerti, Conductor
Respighi: La Boutique Fantasque
Brahms: Haydn Variations
Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, op. 34
This family oriented concert include Respighi’s La Boutique Fantasque, with its depiction of the joyful dances of dolls in a toy shop come to life, as well as Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, a perfect introduction to the orchestral instruments.
Wednesday, July 21 8:30pm
Planet Earth Live
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Open Rehearsal: Tuesday, July 20 11:00am – 1:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Tuesday, July 20 3:00pm – 5:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Wednesday, July 21 11:00am – 1:30pm
Grant Park Orchestra
George Fenton, Conductor
BBC Earth presents its ground-breaking nature documentary as it makes its world-premiere tour, featuring a score by five-time Academy Award-winning composer George Fenton, who also conducts. This astonishing film will, in the words of David Attenborough, “take you to the last wildernesses and show you the planet and its wildlife as you have never seen them before.”
Friday, July 23 6:30pm Saturday, July 24 7:30pm
A Child of Our Time
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Open Rehearsal: Thursday, July 22 10:00am – 12:30pm
Open Rehearsal: Friday, July 23 11:00am – 1:30pm
Grant Park Orchestra And Chorus
Christopher Bell, Conductor
Jonita Lattimore, Soprano
Anita Krause, Mezzo Soprano
Garrett Sorenson, Tenor
John Relyea, Bass
Tippett: A Child of Our Time
The English composer and pacifist Sir Michael Tippett’s bold and massive choral work, written during the Second World War, explores an act of Jewish resistance. Among the piece’s influences are African American spirituals and the music of Bach.
Wednesday, July 28 6:30pm Friday, July 30 6:30pm
The Fairy’s Kiss
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Grant Park Orchestra
Hannu Lintu, Conductor
Markus Groh, Piano
Stravinsky: The Fairy’s Kiss
Liszt: Piano Concert No. 2, A major
Tchaikovsky: Cappriccio Italien
Franz Liszt’s Piano Concert No. 2, which embodies both his creative genius and flamboyant showmanship, shares the program with Stravinsky’s luminous ballet The Fairy’s Kiss ( based on a tale by Hans Christian Andersen), and Tchaikovsky’s joyful Capriccio Italien
Wednesday, August 4 6:30pm
Violinist Christian Tetzlaff Returns
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Grant Park Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
Christian Tetzlaff, Violin
This delightfully varied program begins with the rousing Lollapalooza by This delightfully varied program begins with the rousing Lollapalooza by John Adams and continues with Dvorák’s folk-inspired Violin Concerto, and ends with Shostakovich’s enigmatic Symphony No. 9, composed at the end of the Second World War.
Friday, August 6 6:30pm Saturday, August 7 7:30pm
Mozart and Rossini Finales with Ryan Opera Center
Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Grant Park Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
Artists Of The Ryan Opera Center
Rossini: La Cenerentola, Finale Act 1
Mozart: Don Giovanni, Finale
Rossini: L’Italiana in Algieri, Finale Act 1
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro, Finale Act 2
The Festival collaborates with the Lyric Opera’s Ryan Opera Concert and its collection of rising vocal stars for an evening of opera scenes including Rossini’s La Cenerentola and L’Italiana in Algieri plus Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro.
Wednesday, August 11 6:30pm
Toumani Diabaté: Kora Music from West Africa
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Grant Park Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
Toumani Diabaté, Kora
The world-renowned kora (a West African harp) player from Mali and his ensemble join the Grant Park Orchestra to perform an adaption of his recent album, The Mande Variations and other works.
Friday, August 13 6:30pm Saturday, August 14 7:30pm
Dvorák: Requiem
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Grant Park Orchestra And Chorus
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
Layla Claire, Soprano
Alexandra Petersamer, Mezzo Soprano
Brendan Tuohy, Tenor
Kyle Ketelsen, Bass
The Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus provide a rare opportunity to hear Dvořák’s richly expressive, passionate choral masterpiece, which was among his most popular choral works during his lifetime.
Wednesday, August 18 6:30pm
Brahms and Bizet
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Grant Park Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
Horacio Gutiérrez, Piano
Saint-Saëns: Marche Militaire Francaise
Bizet: Symphony No. 1 in C major
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
An evening exploring the legacy of national traditions includes Saint-Saëns’ Marche Militaire Francaise, Bizet’s vivacious Symphony No.1 and Brahm’s Piano Concerto No. 1 interpreted by renowned Cuban-born pianist Horacio Gutierrez.
Friday, August 20 6:30pm Saturday, August 21 7:30pm
Mahler: Symphony No. 2
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Grant Park Orchestra And Chorus
Carlos Kalmar, Conductor
Karina Gauvin, Soprano
Allyson McHardy, Mezzo Soprano
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor “Resurrection
This masterpiece is among music’s most monumental experiences. This season-ending program is also a special celebration of Principal Conductor Carlos Kalmar’s 10th Anniversary with the Grant Park Music Festival.
