Articles in Top Story
Shape-shifting Civitas Ensemble, as foursome, reveals buried gem in music of French woman
Commentary: How pleasantly disorienting, to sit in the choir loft rimming the Orchestra Hall stage and gaze down on a handful of Chicago Symphony musicians with pianist Winston Choi. But that’s Civitas Ensemble, consistently defying expectations: The program opened with piano quartet by the pathbreaking “Mel” Bonis, a 19th-century French composer about a century ahead of her time.
Mäkelä, CSO’s maestro-elect, shows his chops with baton and bow in Oslo orchestra concerts
Report: It was June 6 and I had come to the Konzerthaus in Vienna to hear Klaus Mäkelä both play the cello part and conduct Brahms’ Double Concerto on the Oslo Philharmonic tour fresh from appearances in Amsterdam and Paris. Mäkelä had recently been named music director-designate of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra effective in September 2027 – at the same time he becomes principal conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. What I heard showed that as much as he is a natural in modern music, Mäkelä also has the DNA of Brahms in his blood, perhaps through being a cellist.
