Grant Park Music Festival Announces 76th Season
By Alexander Hough in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 18, 2010 5:00PM
We're feeling chipper this morning. Maybe it's the way the sun now stays up until almost 5:30 p.m., or maybe we've just started hallucinating to subconsciously cope with seasonal affective disorder, but gosh darn it if it doesn't feel like spring's right around the corner!
And you know what the short, barely-existing Chicago spring means: Summer!
And, to us, nothing means Chicago in the summertime like the Grant Park Music Festival, which has released its 2010 schedule. So thank you, GPMF, for reminding us that warm evenings spent sitting in the Millennium Park grass watching the sun descend over the city while sipping wine and listening to free performances by the Grant Park Orchestra are NOT figments of our imaginations. We just have to make it four more months.
Check out what's on tap after the jump, although we'll be reminding you as these shows get nearer because there's plenty to be excited about, including some unusual performances like GPO collaborations with Pink Martini (June 23) and Toumani Diabaté (August 11) and an airing of "Planet Earth." All concerts are conducted by Music Director Carlos Kalmar unless otherwise noted.
June 16 - GPO with Elina Vähälä, violin
Berlioz: Roman Carnival
Vivildi: Four Seasons
Respighi: Feste Romane
June 18-19 - GPO and Chorus with Amber Wagner, soprano; Kathryn Leemhuis, mezzo-soprano; Bryan Griffin, tenor; and Paul Whelan, bass
Haydn: Te Deum
Hindemith: Nobilissima Visione Suite
Beethoven: Mass in C Major, op. 86
June 23
Pink Martini plays with the GPO
June 25-26 - GPO and Chorus indoors at the Harris Theater
Schuman: A Free Song, Secular Cantata No. 2
Sowerby: The Canticle of the Sun
Copland: Appalachian Spring Suite
June 30 - GPO with Krzysztof Urbański, guest conductor; and Krzysztof Jabłoński, piano
Kilar: Krzesany
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1, op 11
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra
July 4 - GPO with Christopher Bell, Conductor; Lane Alexander and Ensemble
Francis Scott Key: Star Spangled Banner
Bernstein: Overture to Candide
Dvorak: 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
July 6, 8 - Grant Park Chorus indoors at the Harris Theater
The Grant Park Chorus sings sans the GPO.
July 7 - GPO combines with the Goodman Theatre; Miguel Harth Bedoya, guest conductor
Adaptation of Eduardo Galeano's novel "Memory of Fire."
July 9-10 - GPO with Xian Zhang, guest conductor
Chen Yi: Ge Xu (Antiphony)
Prokofiev: The Love for Three Oranges Symphonic Suite
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2
July 14 - GPO with Hans Graf, guest conductor; Alban Gerhardt, cello
Tchaikovsky: The Tempest; Fantasy-Overture, op. 18
Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, op. 33
Stravinsky: Petrushka
July 16-17 - GPO with Julian Kuerti, guest conductor
Respighi: La Boutique Fantasque
Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn, op. 56a
Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, op 34
July 21 - GPO with George Fenton, guest conductor
The orchestra will provide live accompaniment to "Planet Earth." Sweet.
July 23-24 - GPO and Chorus with Christopher Bell, conductor; Jonita Lattimore, soprano; Anita Krause, mezzo-soprano; Garrett Sorenson, tenor; John Relyea, bass
Tippett: A Child of Our Time
July 28, 30 - GPO with Hannu Lintu, guest conductor; Markus Groh, piano
Stravinsky: The Fairy's Kiss
Liszt: Concerto No. 2, A major
Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien, op 45
July 31 - Wild Card!
Program yet to be determined
August 4 - GPO with Christian Tetzlaff, violin
Adams: Lollapalooza
Dvorak: Violin Concerto
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9, op 70
August 6-7 - GPO with the Ryan Opera Center indoors at the Harris Theater
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
August 11 - GPO with Toumani Diabaté, kora
Mande: Variations
August 13-14 - GPO and Chorus with Layla Claire, soprano; Alexandra Petersamer, mezzo-soprano; Brenan Tuohy, tenor; Kyle Ketelsen, bass
Dvorak: Requiem
August 18 - GPO with Horacio Gutierrez, piano
Saint-Saens: Marche Militare Francaise
Bizet: Symphony No. 1 in C major
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
August 20-21 - GPO and Chorus with Karina Gauvin, soprano; Allyson McHardy, mezzo-soprano
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor “Resurrection”