Saturday, January 30, 2016, 8PM

Symphony Center, Orchestra Hall

Chicago Symphony Center
220 S Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60604

Pre-concert lecture 7 PM
Harvard musicologist Thomas Forrest Kelly is the noted author of First Nights: Five Musical Premieres, (Yale University Press, 2000). His pre-concert talk will bring you into the time and space of the 1913 Paris premiere of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Kelly's essay and lectures on the event bring into vivid relief what he considers to be "the most important single moment in the history of 20th century music."

Chicago’s own Marcy Stonikas (Oberlin Conservatory 2002) will be the featured soprano in Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs. The program also includes Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture.

“It is worth noting the fact than an undergraduate orchestra can play The Rite of Spring with ease nowadays,” says conductor Raphael Jiménez. “This is a piece that, for its premiere, took a professional orchestra 22 rehearsals to prepare. It speaks of the evolution of orchestral playing in the world and loudly speaks of the great training that our conservatory students are receiving.”

Oberlin Orchestra

The Oberlin Orchestra has enjoyed a rich history of notable guest conductors including Igor Stravinsky, Pierre Boulez, Sir Simon Rattle (whose son is an Oberlin alumnus), David Zinman, Robert Spano, and John Williams. Recent appearances by the Oberlin Orchestra include performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; at Cleveland’s Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra; a 13-day tour of China in 2005 and a second tour of China, including Singapore, in 2011; and recent critically acclaimed performances at Carnegie Hall in New York conducted by Robert Spano in 2007 and by Raphael Jiménez in 2013. The New York Times has described the performances at Carnegie Hall as “stellar,” “tightly wrought,” and “stirring, vividly shaped.”

After Sir Simon Rattle conducted the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in December 2004, Plain Dealer music critic Donald Rosenberg wrote that the concert was “stamped by magnificence.” Indeed, Rosenberg included the Oberlin-Rattle performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, which he described as “uncommonly rich in poetry and drama,” in his list of top 10 memorable events from the 2004 concert season.

The Oberlin Orchestra's work can be heard on several releases on Oberlin Music, the official record label of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, which celebrates the artistic vision and superlative talent of Oberlin’s faculty, students, and alumni—on campus and on tour.

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Program

Read Program Book

Hector Berlioz
Roman Carnival Overture

Richard Strauss
Four Last Songs
Marcy Stonikas, soprano

Igor Stravinsky
Le Sacre du printemps
(The Rite of Spring)

About The Artists

Marcy Stonikas, soprano
Oberlin Orchestra
Raphael Jiménez, conductor

Venue Information

Symphony Center, home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, is a music complex located at 220 South Michigan Avenue in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois.

Designed by renowned Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, Symphony Center includes the 2,522-seat Orchestra Hall, which dates from 1904. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978.

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