April 3, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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GRANT COMMUNICATIONS
Massachusetts - New York
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Artists from China, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Romania, and
the United States
appear on Classic Music Chicago’s April and May
Dame Myra Hess Concerts
Featuring works by
Schumann, Gershwin, Sweet, Beethoven, Heggie, Blitzstein, Chopin, Prokofiev, Bach, Liszt, Debussy, South, Vieuxtemps, von Weber, Hsu, Saint-Saëns, Scott,
Ali-Zadeh, Montgomery, Tailleferre, Grant Still, Bartók, Guarnieri, and Fernandez
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Chicago, IL – Classical Music Chicago closes out the 2023 spring Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts season with nine weeks of concerts highlighting different instruments and offering diverse music spanning several centuries up to the modern day. The free to the public concerts offer a compelling, rich selection of varied programs by internationally acclaimed young artists from around the world, including violinist Ria Honda and pianist Umi Garrett, piano; Martin Luther Clark, tenor and Chris Reynolds, piano; Crystal Jiang, piano; Jiao Sun, piano; Sirena Huang, violin and Chih-Yi Chen, piano; Eleni Katz, bassoon and Maxwell Foster, piano; Xiting Yang, piano; Ariel Horowitz, violin and Alexa Stier, piano; and André Golbert, piano. Works such as Samuel K. Sweet’s "a just soliloquy" written for tenor Martin Luther Clark that combines two texts-one poet Langston Hughes’ alluring poem, "Dream Variations”; Eddie South’s soulful violin work, Black Gypsy, with its jazz twist; and Cindy Hsu’s Spring Fever for bassoon, inspired by the beautiful wild flowers blooming in the yard of the composer’s new Colorado home, which ranges from calm to highly energetic, stand in perfect harmony alongside such series offerings as Beethoven’s brilliant Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 2 No. 3; Béla Bartók’s popular Romanian Folk Dances, based on traditional folk songs; and Claude Debussy’s La cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral), a shining example of music impressionism.
Artists’ biographies and more can be found in each “Details here” link below.
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Classical Music Chicago
Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts
Wednesdays, 12:15 PM
Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago - 55 E. Wacker Drive
APRIL 5, 2023
Ria Honda, violin and Umi Garrett, piano
Robert SCHUMANN
Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121
George GERSHWIN, trans. Jascha Heifetz
3 Preludes
APRIL 12, 2023
Martin Luther Clark, tenor and Chris Reynolds, piano
Samuel K. SWEET
A Just Soliloquy
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
An die ferne Geliebte
1. Auf dem Hügel sitz ich spähend
2. Wo die Berge so blau
3. Leichte Segler in den Höhen
4. Diese Wolken in den Höhen
5. Es kehret der Maien, es blühet die Au
6. Nimm sie hin denn, diese Lieder
Jake HEGGIE
Friendly Persuasions: Homage to Poulenc
1. Wanda Landowska
2. Pierre Bernac
3. Raymonde Linossier
4. Paul Eluard
Marc BLITZSTEIN
Stay In My Arms
APRIL 19, 2023
Crystal Jiang, piano
Frédéric CHOPIN
Selections from Preludes, Op. 28
Sergei PROKOFIEV
Piano Sonata no. 6
APRIL 26, 2023
Jiao Sun, piano
Carl Philipp Emanuel BACH
Sonata in B minor, H. 245
Franz LISZT
Grandes études de Paganini S. 141 No. 3 La Campanella
Claude DEBUSSY
La cathédrale engloutie
Franz LISZT
Grandes études de Paganini S. 141 No. 3 La Campanella
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Piano Sonata No. 13, Op. 27 No. 2
Frederic CHOPIN Scherzo in C sharp minor, Op. 39 No. 3
MAY 1, 2023
CMC Spring Event Fundraiser
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Union League Club of Chicago, 60604
A special opportunity to celebrate CMC’s historically free-to-the-public music programs
in a breathtaking venue filled with arresting works of art while experiencing a one-of-a-kind performance from today’s generation of not-to-be-missed musicians.
Tickets: $125.
MAY 3, 2023
Sirena Huang, violin and Chih-Yi Chen, piano
Eddie SOUTH
Black Gypsy
Sergei PROKOFIEV
Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80
Henri VIEUXTEMPS
Souvenir d’Amérique, Variations burlesques sur “Yankee Doodle
MAY 10, 2023
Eleni Katz, bassoon and Maxwell Foster, piano
(Katz is a Concert Artists Guild artist, one of CMC’s collaborative colleagues)
Carl Maria von WEBER
Andante e rondo ongarese, Op. 35
Cindy HSU
Spring Fever
Camille SAINT-SAËNS
Bassoon Sonata in G Major, Op. 168
Jeff SCOTT
Elegy for Innocence
MAY 17, 2023
Xiting Yang, piano
Fredrick Chopin (1810-1849) - Nocturne, Op. 62 No. 1 in B Major (1846) (8’)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 2 No. 3
Claude DEBUSSY
L’isle Joyeuse, L. 106
MAY 24, 2023
Ariel Horowitz, violin and Alexa Stier, piano
(Horowitz is a Concert Artists Guild artist, one of CMC’s collaborative colleagues)
Franghiz ALI-ZADEH
Impulse
Jessie MONTGOMERY
Peace
Germaine TAILLEFERRE
Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano
William GRANT STILL
Summerland
Béla BARTÓK
Romanian Folk Dances
MAY 31, 2023
André Golbert, piano
Mozart Camargo GUARNIERI
Sonatina No. 4
Oscar Lorenzo FERNANDEZ
Três Estudos em Forma de Sonatina ("Three Etudes in Sonatina Form”)
Claude DEBUSSY
from Préludes, Livre 2
VII. ...La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune
VIII. ...Ondine
X. ...Canope
XI. ...Les tierces alternées
XII. ...Feux d'artifice
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About Classical Music Chicago
Since 1976, Classical Music Chicago (CMC) has offered a variety of unforgettable classical music performances by up and coming and established artists throughout the Chicago community. A celebrated innovator from the very beginning and one of the first to focus on the importance of accessibility, presenting engaging concerts in various formats and venues free of charge, CMC is the 2016 union of two distinguished Chicago music institutions: the International Music Foundation (IMF), founded by Chicagoan Al Booth, and Rush Hour Concerts (RHC) founded by pianist and civic leader Deborah Sobol in 2000. Over the next few seasons, CMC will celebrate landmark anniversaries of each of its acclaimed series, beginning with the year-long 25th anniversary of the Rush Hour Concerts in 2024-2025, the 50th Anniversary of the Do-It-Yourself Messiah concert in 2025, and the 50th anniversary of the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in fall 2026.
IMF comprised the Do-It-Yourself Messiah at Orchestra Hall begun in 1976, and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, modeled on the series launched by Dame Myra Hess during World War II, to provide young artists with a performance outlet and present top caliber concerts free to the public. Begun in 1977, such acclaimed musicians as sopranos Elizabeth Frutal, June Anderson and Jo Ann Pickens; baritone Richard Cowan; oboist Alex Klein; guitarists Eliot Fisk and Paul Henry; violinists Rachel Barton Pine, Jennifer Frautschi, Jennifer Koh, Robyn Bollinger, and Tessa Lark; cellists Steven Isserlis, Nathanel Rosen, Jeffrey Solow and Bion Tsang; pianists David Shrader, Jeffrey Kahane, Angela Hewitt, Barry Douglas, Daniel Trifonov, and Max Levinson; and ensembles including the Vermeer Quartet, the Chicago Bassoon Quartet, His Majesties Clerkes, the Enzo String Quartet, and Orchestra Sinfonica Haydn di Bolzano e Trentoto, to name a few, have graced the Hess stage. In 1982, Live Music Now! - currently Young People’s Concerts - was founded by Booth with the assistance of his friend Yehudi Menuhin to bring professional musicians into the Chicago Public Schools. Students in grades K – 8 experience live performances, which have grown to reach more than 90 Chicago Public Schools annually.
Rush Hour Concerts, begun in 2000 as a welcoming summer concert format that removed accessibility barriers, in 2011 introduced Make Music Chicago, a citywide, daylong celebration of music making held on the summer solstice. It was followed by the addition of a professional ensemble residency program in Chicago’s neighborhoods in 2012. The 2023 Rush Hour Concerts at the beautiful St. James Cathedral begin in June.
The latest addition to Classical Music Chicago’s roster of offerings is The Concerts for Well-being and Rejuvenation, bringing the healing power of music to people and places who do not have access to live performances. CMC partners onsite with health care facilities, community centers, meals programs and other organizations where music can make a vital difference. promoting community, creative interaction and therapeutic benefits through 45-minute interactive performances followed by a Q & A with the artists.
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Press Contact:
Laura Grant
Grant Communications
917.359.7319
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