The Chicago Bar Association
presents
"LAWYER and MUSICIAN"
The new
(and very occasional—promise!)
E-Newsletter from
The Chicago Bar Association
Symphony Orchestra & the CBA Chorus
Vol I. No 5. May 2023
Maestro David (Volosin) Katz, editor
|
|
Our 2022-23 Season Finale:
at St James Cathedral—Saturday, May 13th at 7:30pm
|
|
From Adrienne Kitchen's program note about the Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony
One of Tchaikovsky’s most popular works, the Fifth Symphony is one of contrasts, climaxes, and rich orchestral color. Tchaikovsky does what he does best – expresses all the emotions for which words are so woefully inadequate. Tchaikovsky blends human emotions using different instruments into the varied, complex, richly textured ability of humankind to experience multiple emotions at the same time.
From Miriam Scott's program note about the Beethoven Mass in C
E. T. A. Hoffmann, a critic from Beethoven’s time, appreciated in the Mass the "expression of a childlike serene mind, which, relying on its purity, trusts in belief in God's mercy and pleads to him as to a father who wants the best for his children and fulfills their requests.” In the C minor Agnus Dei movement Hoffmann heard "a feeling of inner hurt which does not tear the heart but is good for it, and dissolves, like a sorrow from another world, to unearthly delight.”
|
|
Meet
OUR BEETHOVEN Mass in C SOLOISTS:
|
|
|
|
Kimberly Jones, soprano
An alumna of the Ryan Opera Center of Lyric Opera of Chicago, soprano Kimberly Jones captivated audiences at her Alice Tully Hall debut in an evening of Vivaldi arias with The Little Orchestra Society. She received rave reviews as the Composer in Mozart's Jewel Box with Chicago Opera Theater, as well as Mahler's Second Symphony with the Madison Symphony. She has also appeared in concert with the Ravinia Festival (Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme), Richmond Symphony (Knoxville: Summer of 1915) and with Madison Symphony (Messiah and Christmas Pops). Her first Carmina Burana and Haydn Creation were performed with the Rockford Symphony, and later repeated with Chicago Sinfonietta. She was a featured soloist at the grand opening of Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Chicago’s Millennium Park.
She was selected by Maestro Bruno Bartoletti, Lyric Opera's former Artistic Director, to appear with the Orchestra della Toscana in Florence, La Spezia and Piombino (Knoxville: Summer of 1915). She was one of four opera center artists showcased at the Châtelet in Paris, France. She also made her Connecticut Opera debut as Fiordigili in Così fan tutte.
Miss Jones has received the 3arts grant, George London grant, Sullivan grant, and a Licia Albanese Encouragement grant. She has been nominated for the Richard Tucker grant, received three grants from the MacAllister Awards competition, and was awarded the Richard Gold Career Grant from Lyric Opera of Chicago. She is also a Union League Civic and Arts Foundation (now Luminarts) prize winner.
She has performed the Philip Glass Symphony No. 5 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, and with the Stuttgart and Danish Radio Symphonies in Germany and Copenhagen. Additionally, she debuted with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra in an evening of Porgy and Bess excerpts and spirituals. Kimberly returned to Chicago’s Mandel Hall singing Vaughn Williams' Sea Symphony and Brahms Requiem. She made her Grand Rapids Symphony debut under David Lockington in Handel's Messiah and Mozart's Exultate Jubilate.
|
|
|
|
Jennifer Kosharsky, Mezzo-Soprano
Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Kosharsky has been described by the press as “an excellent actress, with a dark-timbered, mezzo-soprano voice” of “outstanding vocal range.” Her portrayal of Princess Eboli in Don Carlo for Houston’s “Opera in the Heights” inspired the press to call her: “a powerhouse mezzo…velvet voiced...a supple mezzo [that] raised the roof.” The Elgin Review says, “At first, the dark, polished tone of mezzo-soprano Jennifer Kosharsky reminds you of exquisite contralto voices from another continent and century, but her strength and control in the upper register proves she can cover either part with her impressive tessitura.”
Most recently, Jennifer joined The Joffrey Ballet for Yuri Possokhov’s Anna Karenina by Ilya Demutsky for their 2023 productions at Chicago’s Lyric Opera and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Later this year, Ms. Kosharsky returns to the West Suburban Symphony Orchestra to make her debut as Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana as well as Beethoven’s Mass in C Major with the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
She began her 2022 season debuting with Chicago’s Folks Operetta performing the role of Wirten in the American premiere of Korngold’s Die Kathrin for the Korngold Festival at University of Chicago. Signature opera roles include Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlo with Opera in the Heights in Houston, Dalila in Samson et Dalila by Saint-Saens with St. Petersburg Opera and West Bay Opera, the title role in Bizet’s Carmen with Teatro Lirico D’Europa and Preziosilla in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino with Da Corneto Opera.
Soloist concert engagements include Brahms' Alto Rhapsody, De Falla’s El Amor Brujo, the Verdi Requiem, La Deluge by Saint-Saens and Handel’s Messiah. Also she has performed the Beethoven Choral Fantasy with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, Holiday Concert & Opera Gala with the Traverse City Symphony Orchestra in Michigan. She made her European debut with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra (Croatia) as guest artist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
|
|
|
|
Cameo Humes, tenor
Hailed by critics for possessing a “compelling lyric tenor that pulses with the perennially conflicted feelings of the character” [Opera News] and a “sonorous, dark-hued timbre which vividly projected the complicated nature of the drama” [theWholeNote], Cameo Humes is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after tenors in operatic and concert repertoire.
He has performed with Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Richmond Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, SANAA Opera Project, Hilton Head Choral Society, and the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’International Chamber Ensemble in Italy. His most recent engagements included debuts with Lucerne Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and Teatro alla Scala in the roles of Peter, Crab man, Mingo and Robbins in Porgy and Bess.
Other operatic credits include the title role in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, Reverend Milton Allison in the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s Quamino’s Map with Chicago Opera Theater, Ottavio (Don Giovanni) with Operafestival di Roma, Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Gastone (La Traviata), Prunier (La Rondine), Peter (Porgy and Bess) with Lyric Opera of Chicago (cover), Dayton Opera and Skylight Music Theatre of Milwaukee, Crab man (Porgy and Bess) with The Princeton Festival, Nelson (Porgy and Bess) with Cincinnati Opera, and Ensemble (Show Boat) with Houston Grand Opera.
He has recorded the lead role in Richard Thompson’s The Mask in the Mirror—a modern opera based on the life of Paul Laurence Dunbar—with Navona Records which was reviewed by Opera News and selected as Critic’s Choice. Recent concert performances include Handel’s Messiah with the Richmond Symphony, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast with the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Judas Maccabeus, Mozart’s Grand Mass in C minor, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Bach St. John Passion and Mass in B minor, and The Seven Last Words of Christ by Théodore Dubois. Upcoming engagements include reprising the roles of Peter, Crab man, Mingo and Robbins with the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg in May. A lover and avid performer of the Negro spiritual, Cameo has toured Spain, France and Ireland with the world renown American Spiritual Ensemble. He is also a full-time member of the chorus at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
|
|
|
|
Leo Radosavljevic, bass-baritone
Praised for his “steely power” (Voix des Arts) and “resonant bass” (Opera News), Leo Radosavljevic is a presence on the operatic stage. Mr. Radosavljevic is sought after around the world for his “excellent musicianship” and “expansive delivery”. A native of Chicago, he spent his childhood singing in the Lyric Opera Children’s Chorus and studying piano with his father. He then attended The Juilliard School where he received a bachelors degree with scholastic distinction and a masters degree. During his studies he performed many operatic roles such as Simone in Gianni Schicchi, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tobia Mill in La Cambiale di Matrimonio, and gave the U.S. premiere performances of Willi Graf in Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Kommilitonen!.
After graduation from Juilliard, he has been heard with Opera Colorado as Bonze (Madama Butterfly), The New Philharmonic as Don Alfonso (Così fan Tutte), Opera Theater of Saint Louis as Manders (Regina), Teatro Nuovo as Orbazzano (Tancredi), and he covered the role of the King in Aida with Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is the 3rd Prize winner of the 8th Klaudia Taev Competition in Estonia, Grand Prize winner of the 2017 Bel Canto Competition, and was a Regional Finalist in the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
On the concert stage, he has appeared as soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Metropolis Symphony, The Orchestra Now, New Juilliard Ensemble, and Juilliard415, with whom he performed Telemann’s rarely heard Die Tageszeiten to high acclaim from The New York Times, as well as made a studio recording in Vancouver with the Canadian Broadcasting Company. He has also appeared regularly as an art song recitalist at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago and Carnegie Hall in New York.
Mr. Radosavljevic is a proud recipient of the 2020 Marcella Kochańska Sembrich Award from the American Council for Polish Culture. In 2021 he returned to Teatro Nuovo to cover Bartolo (Il barbiere di Siviglia), as well as performed the roles of Colline in Puccini’s La Boheme with the Savannah Voice Festival, and Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with Opera in Williamsburg.
He was also heard in a workshop of Proximity which will premiere later this season (2023) at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Mr. Radosavljevic began 2022 with a company debut with Opera San Jose, as Zuniga in Carmen. Later in the year, he jumped in as the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro with Manhattan School of Music, sang the role of Richard in Michael Ching’s Alice Riley with the Savannah Voice Festival, covered Archieros in Szymanowski’s King Roger with Chicago Opera Theater, and reprised the role of Zuniga with MasterVoices at Lincoln Center to great acclaim by The New York Times, OperaWire, and Opera News.
Mr. Radosavljevic previously soloed with The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at Symphony Center as a winner of The American Prize in Voice.
|
|
|
|
Join the CBA Chorus for a season of masterpieces rehearsed and performed under outstanding professional conductors. The chorus generally has openings in all sections, but it sometimes is necessary to move singers into other sections to obtain the proper balance. Rehearsals are held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Wednesdays at the CBA Building, 321 S. Plymouth Court, and occasionally at the Daley Center. To join, contact Sean Hoffman. seanmichaelhoffman@gmail.com
No auditions are required. All our members have had previous choral experience and all new members should have vocal experience, preferably choral experience. The chorus fee, which includes music and sectional rehearsal accompanist fees for the season (September to May), is $125 per member, payable at the first rehearsal. The chorus fee for full-time students is $50. Please make your checks payable to The Chicago Bar Association and remit to the CBA Chorus co-chairs. We accept all individuals working in the legal profession, so do not hesitate to contact us about joining the chorus if you are a paralegal, legal assistant or secretary.
|
|
|
|
The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra is Chicagoland's unique orchestra of attorneys, judges and law students. Growing from just a handful of musicians at its first rehearsal in 1986, the CBASO now regularly fields an orchestra of 75 musicians or more, virtually all affiliated with Chicago's legal community.
The musical momentum initiated by a small group of lawyers has grown into today's CBASO, a musical group collaborating to present exciting and increasingly challenging musical works each season. Under the direction of professional conductor and founding music director, David Katz, the CBASO has performed in venues ranging from Daley Center courtrooms to Chicago's Symphony Center.
The orchestra performs at many public events for the Chicago Bar Association, its prime sponsor, including annual Law Day celebrations on Daley Plaza. Other notable performances have included the Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration at Navy Pier with famed author Doris Kearns Goodwin, and a 2010 gala for retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. The orchestra is also noted for having presented the very first performances of Gilbert and Sullivan's courtroom operetta, Trial By Jury, in a working courtroom, with a cast, orchestra and chorus made up entirely of legal professionals.
To mark its 20th anniversary in 2006, the CBASO performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 at Navy Pier on the final evening of the convention of World Bar Associations. In 2011 the CBASO, CBA Chorus and guest choirs, nearly 300 musicians in all, performed Carl Orff's Carmina Burana at Symphony Center to a sell-out crowd to celebrate the Orchestra's 25th anniversary. The chorus and orchestra returned to Symphony Center in 2015 to present "Something Wonderful!", an evening of music by Rodgers and Hammerstein, and “Ode to Joy” in 2019, a concert featuring the choral finale of the Beethoven 9th Symphony and music by Lowry (premiere), Schumann, Mozart and Saint-Saens. Openings in many sections for new members. Email Emily Fishman for details. cbaso.cochairs@gmail.com
|
|
|
|
|
MAREK RACHELSKI, resident conductor, CBA Symphony |
Marek Rachelski appreciates the rich variety in
his musical life as conductor, pianist/organist/ harpsichordist and as collaborative artist in recital. He has appeared with orchestras in the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Canada and the USA. Mr. Rachelski has served on the faculties of Loyola University and DePaul University. He is the Resident Conductor of the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra, now in its 36th season.
As the Artistic Director of the Musica Lumina Orchestra and Conductor/Founder of the Niles Metropolitan Chorus (2013), in nine seasons the NMC/ML has performed major works of the repertoire: Requiems of Cherubini, Mozart, Faure, and Rutter; the Magnificats of Pärt, Bach, and Pergolesi; Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass and selections from Faust and Romeo & Juliet, Haydn’s Creation, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Lobgesang, Op. 52, a yearly Handel’s Messiah, the St. Matthew Passion, and the St. John Passion of J. S. Bach. The current season includes Le Deluge by Saint-Saëns, Britten’s The Company of Heaven, and a Vaughan Williams 150th Retrospective, along with a deluge of chamber music. Previously, as Music Director of Opera Las Vegas he conducted complete staged performances of Puccini’s La Bohème, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Mollicone’s The Face on the Barroom Floor, a Puccini 150th Retrospective and accompanied aria recitals. While in Nevada he was also the founder and conductor of the Las Vegas Peoples Valley Chorus in Requiems by Faure, Rutter, and Brahms, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Vespers, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans, Handel’s Judas Maccabeus, Messiah, and various Bach Cantatas.
As Assistant Conductor at the Prague Ballet Theater he prepared the world premiere choreographed version of Smetana’s Ma Vlast. As Assistant Conductor of the Elgin (IL) Symphony he conducted Young People’s and Holiday Concerts and performed with Victor Borge; he was also Music Director of the Valley Civic Orchestra and conducted the Elgin Area Youth Orchestras. A composer of over 100 works, Marek is published with GIA Publications. He was commissioned for a setting of Psalm 145 for the 1989 Papal Mass in Detroit and for a Magnificat by the Lira Singers for their 25th Anniversary. In addition to awards from the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, he was presented with the Pulaski Award for his contributions to Polish American Culture.
|
|
|
|
STEPHEN BLACKWELDER, chorus director |
Stephen Blackwelder is currently Director of the DePaul Community Chorus (since 2005), Director of the Chicago Bar Association Chorus (since 2017) and Music Director of North Shore Unitarian Church in Deerfield (since 2016). Previous positions include Music Director of the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra (2000-2018) and Music Director of the Hinsdale Chamber Orchestra (1983-94), plus numerous civic/educational orchestral, opera, and choral ensembles in the greater Chicago area. As a professional singer, he performed frequently under conductors Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, James Levine, Robert Shaw and Margaret Hillis while a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Aspen Chamber Choir. Over a number of decades, he served on the conducting staff of Chicago Opera Theater, Opera da Corneto, Opera Illinois, Hinsdale Opera Theater (IL) and Harford Opera Theater of Baltimore. Academic and teaching positions include East Carolina University, Northern Illinois University, Lake Forest College and (currently) DePaul University’s Community Music Division. Blackwelder holds a BM from the University of North Carolina (1978) and a MM from Northwestern University (1979). Professional study included four seasons with the Aspen Music Festival and conducting master classes with Sir Georg Solti, Max Rudolf and Erich Leinsdorf. |
|
|
|
DAVID KATZ, founding music director, CBA Symphony (PDF) |
|
OUR EXCITING 2023-24 SEASON
will be announced soon!
|
|
and to help CELEBRATE
The Chicago Bar Association's
150th ANNIVERSARY in 2023-24:
A new book about the CBA Symphony,
CBA Chorus
and Barristers Big Band!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
