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Articles tagged with: Yo-Yo Ma

The stars align – Muti, Ma, CSO – as visitors from U.S. orchestras catch a cosmic concert

Jun 17, 2018 – 11:35 pm
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Review: You could say the 600 representatives of symphony orchestras from around the country who heard the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with music director Riccardo Muti and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, were in the right place at the right time. If ever there was a musical nexus, this was one: the convergence of those particular performing forces and the work at hand, Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2, a sublime masterpiece captured at Orchestra Hall on June 14 in every dimension of its dark drama, searing introspection and virtuosic eloquence.

Brahms’ three trios for violin, cello and piano, played in perfect completeness by three stars

Feb 26, 2018 – 4:27 pm
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Review: Even if it wasn’t literally a once in a lifetime experience, it was rare enough, and it surely was special: the opportunity to hear all three of Brahms’ piano trios performed in a single concert. Violinist Leonidas Kavakos, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ax converged on the Brahms trios before an overflow audience at Orchestra Hall that spilled onto stage seating. The event in the Symphony Center Presents series delivered all that one might have wished for, and then some.

Converging on a cosmic plane, CSO and Ma find star stuff in Salonen’s new Cello Concerto

Mar 10, 2017 – 5:48 pm
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Review: As the audience packed into Orchestra Hall whooped its enthusiasm for Esa-Pekka Salonen’s new Cello Concerto, just given its world premiere by soloist Yo-Yo Ma and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Salonen conducting, the two stars of the moment gleefully pointed fingers at each other as if to say, “You’re the man,” and, “Oh no, you’re the man.” They were both right.

Salonen, embracing history and the present, leads CSO anniversary concert to celebrate

Mar 2, 2016 – 12:15 pm
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Review: Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen’s recent concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra came as a multifaceted, indeed exhilarating reminder of the CSO’s grand legacy and at the same time pointed up the orchestra’s undiminished prowess as well as its still-rising arc of achievement.

Musical accent unmistakable, French pianist Tiberghien gives CSO fest pitch-perfect start

May 4, 2015 – 3:03 pm
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Review: The French pianist Cédric Tiberghien turns 40 years old on May 5, but it was he passing out the presents May 3 at Orchestra Hall. His recital, devoted largely to Ravel and Debussy as the official opening event of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s three-week festival titled “French Reveries & Passions,” was a veritable shower of musical gifts from a pianist making his Chicago debut and, incredibly enough, still just barely known in the U.S.

From an exotic lark for cellos to MusicNOW, CSO ventures bring heat to frosty cityscape

Feb 7, 2014 – 9:56 am
Giovanni Sollima and  Yo-Yo Ma perform world premiere of Sollima's 'Antidotum Tarantula XXI' with Chicago Symphony Orchestra Jan. 30, 2014 (Todd Rosenberg)

Review: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and its au courant offshoot MusicNOW introduced four contemporary works to Chicago in the space of a single week, including the world premiere of a double cello concerto featuring Yo-Yo Ma and cellist-composer Giovanni Sollima. It’s been cold in Chicago, but it feels like spring with a Riccardo Muti residency in full bloom.

Sparked by belief in music’s healing power, Civitas lights up hospital and concert hall

May 18, 2013 – 4:35 pm
Civitas members Yuan-Qing Wu (violin), Kenneth Olsen (cello) and J. Lawrie Bloom (clarinet) with their favorite audience, hospitalized children (credit Civitas)

Concerts by the chamber music ensemble Civitas are as likely to take place at Lurie Children’s Hospital as they are on a concert stage, and perhaps that focus helps to explain the particular warmth and humor of the group’s programming sensibility. Its performances radiate joyful vigor, a happy blend of virtuosity and camaraderie. ““The last thing we want to be is stodgy,” says founder Yuan-Qing Yu.

CSO Rivers Festival explores the enchantment of waterways, their impact on human history

May 9, 2013 – 4:29 pm
Chicago Symphony music director Riccardo Muti at the Chicago River 2013 Rivers Festival credit Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Preview: Literally and metaphorically, rivers seem to flow in every direction across our lives; indeed, across life. It’s not hard to see how the Chicago Symphony Orchestra might have hit on the concept of its Rivers Festival, a multifaceted month-long exploration and tribute that opens musically May 9 at Orchestra Hall.

2013 Summer Season: Ravinia will come out swinging with jazz tribute to Benny Goodman

Mar 12, 2013 – 2:55 pm
Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Festival James Conlon conducting summer 2012

Ravinia Festival Best Bets: If you want to branch out a bit musically, the summertime Ravinia Festival in Highland Park is a good place for it. There, classical music lovers sample niche-expanding novelties of the sort that gave Brooklyn Academy of Music its must-see reputation. College students picnic on the lawn for free when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performs. And family friendly movie prices rule for recitals featuring the latest contest winners and stars on the rise.

Honoring composer whose time may be now, Salonen, Yo-Yo Ma make case for Lutosławski

Mar 2, 2013 – 1:04 am
Yo Yo Ma and Esa-Pekka Salonen take bows after performing the Lutoslawski Cello Concerto with Chicago Symphony Orchestra 2013 credit Todd Rosenberg

Review: Among the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s most important relationships with conductors in their prime middle years is surely that with Finnish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, 54, who led a concert of Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Lutoslawski so compelling that it made one want to go back to the box office and do the whole thing all over again. Through March 3. ★★★★★

2013 Summer Season: Grant Park Fest spins Chinese and Incan threads, jazz and modern

Feb 14, 2013 – 5:40 pm
Grant Park Music Festival announces 2013 concerts credit Norman Timonera

Report: Under the stars at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park, the Grant Park Music Festival kicks off its 79th free-concert summer season on June 12. Here’s what looks new and promising week by week.

CSO, Muti plan tributes to Verdi and Schubert in 2013-14 season, with two world premieres

Feb 6, 2013 – 3:24 pm
Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti takes a bow with the CSO credit Todd Rosenberg

Report: We offer our hot picks.

Holy cow! Frantic CSO, in Asia sans Muti, endures nail-biting days but tour stage set

Jan 24, 2013 – 3:52 pm
Liberty Times headlines about the Chicago Symphony tour substitions Jan. 21 2012

CSO Asia Tour Report:The Liberty Times Taipei headline says “The great Chicago Symphony Orchestra breaks its normal rule and tours with two soloists; Taiwan’s music lovers gain the most.” The optimism is a welcome development for CSO leaders who raced against time to forge a solution when illness forced music director Riccardo Muti to pull out of the orchestra’s imminent Asia tour. Concerts begin Jan. 24 in Taipei and end Feb. 7 in Seoul.

Decidedly duo recital by Weilerstein, Barnatan launches Symphony Center chamber series

Oct 27, 2012 – 4:12 pm
Alisa Weilerstein alt credit Gerardo Antonio Sanchez Torres

Preview: Ask cellist Alisa Weilerstein about the recital she plays Oct. 28 at Orchestra Hall, and she will quickly note that the best thing about the program is that it’s actually a duo recital for two equally important voices – and that she’s lucky to be teamed up with Israeli pianist and longtime collaborator Inon Barnatan. Their concert opens the chamber music portion of this season’s Symphony Center Presents series, which also offers four more chamber concerts, nine solo piano recitals and two performances by visiting orchestras.

CSO extends consultancy with Yo-Yo Ma; cites record gifts and ticket sales, but higher costs

Oct 18, 2012 – 1:27 am
Yo Yo Ma discusses finer points of music with fellow cellists who are members of the Civic Orchestra credit Todd Rosenberg

Report: Yo-Yo Ma’s high profile creative consultancy with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been extended another two years through 2015, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA) announced Oct. 17 at the organization’s annual meeting at Symphony Center. In its financial tally for fiscal 2012, the CSOA reported that contributions rose a record 11.6 percent to $28.2 million, but total expenses outpaced that growth slightly.

Surprise! Renée Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma spring serenade on lunch crowd at Thompson Center

Mar 19, 2012 – 5:17 pm
Renee Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma jam on 3-19-2012 at James T. Thompson Center Chicago  credit Nancy Malitz

Soprano and cello, burgers and pizza.

Chicago Symphony’s 2012-13 plans highlight Wagner, Stravinsky and waterway themes

Feb 6, 2012 – 7:38 pm
Riccardo Muti Orchestra Hall credit Todd Rosenberg

Complete season highlights, details.