Program Book - Civic at Fourth Presbyterian: Bach Marathon Finale

ONE H U NDR ED FI FT H SEAS ON

CIVIC ORCHESTRA OF CHICAGO KEN-DAVID MASUR Principal Conductor

The Robert Kohl and Clark Pellett Principal Conductor Chair

Monday, December 4, 2023, at 7:00 Fourth Presbyterian Church

BACH MARATHON FINALE Ken-David Masur Conductor Rachel Sparrow Soprano Lauren Randolph Mezzo-soprano Ryan Townsend Strand Tenor David Govertsen Bass-baritone Chicago Symphony Chorus Cheryl Frazes Hill Associate Director MUSIC BY J.S. BACH

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050 Allegro Affettuoso Allegro

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048 [Allegro] Allegro

Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049 Allegro Andante Presto

INTERMISSION

The 2023–24 Civic Orchestra season is generously sponsored by

Lori Julian for the Julian Family Foundation, which also provides major funding for the Civic Fellowship program.

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Cantata No. 40, Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes Chorus: Dazu ist erschienen Recitative: Das Wort ward Fleisch und wohnet in der Welt Chorus: Die Sünd macht Leid Aria: Höllische Schlange Recitative: Die Schlange Chorus: Schüttle deinen Kopf und sprich Aria: Christenkinder, freuet euch!

Chorus: Jesu, nimm dich deiner Glieder

Cantata No. 110, Unser Mund sei voll Lachens Chorus: Unser Mund sei voll Lachens Aria: Ihr Gedanken und ihr Sinnen Recitative: Dir, Herr, ist niemand gleich Aria: Ach Herr, was ist ein Menschenkind Duet: Ehre, sei Gott Aria: Wacht auf Chorus: Alleluia! Gelobt sei Gott

The 2023–24 Civic Orchestra season is generously sponsored by Lori Julian for the Julian Family Foundation, which also provides major funding for the Civic Fellowship program.

The appearance of the Chicago Symphony Chorus has been made possible by a generous gift from The Grainger Foundation.

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

Special thanks to Fourth Presbyterian Church, Kathy Kidder, John Sherer, and Emma Cox for hosting and helping to organize this concert.

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COMMENTS by Phillip Huscher and Richard E. Rodda JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Born March 21, 1685; Eisenach, Germany Died July 28, 1750; Leipzig, Germany

The Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1048–50 Berlin is now only a short afternoon’s drive from the half-dozen towns in east central Germany where Bach lived and worked his entire life. (In sixty-five years, he never set foot outside Germany.) But in his day, the trip was much more arduous, and Bach didn’t travel that far unless he was sent on official business. He went to Berlin, apparently for the first time, in 1719, on an expense-account shopping trip to buy a new, state-of-the-art harpsichord for his patron in Cöthen, a small, remote, rural town sometimes dismissively called “Cow Cöthen.” Bach wouldn’t recognize Berlin today, with its traffic jams and round-the-clock construction, but he was probably put off by its urban bustle even in 1719, for he had only a passing acquaintance with large towns such as Leipzig and Dresden. We don’t know exactly when Bach visited Berlin that year—on March 1, the Cöthen court treasury

advanced him 130 thalers “for the harpsichord built in Berlin and travel expenses”—or how long he stayed. But he found time to make several useful contacts, none more beneficial to the future of music than Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg, who asked Bach to send him some of his compositions. At the time, Bach was preoccupied with inspecting the harpsichord that had been made to order by Michael Mietke, who was famous for the quality of his high-end, elaborately painted instruments, and with arranging to have it shipped back to Cöthen. But he didn’t forget the margrave’s request. It would be another two years before Bach handed Christian Ludwig the carefully written “presentation copy” of the six concertos we now call the Brandenburgs, after the margrave’s province just to the south and west of Berlin (its capital was Potsdam). Bach’s life, in the meantime, had been busy and unsettled. He had watched three family members (his ten-month-old son, his wife Maria Barbara, and his brother) die—a sudden spate of funerals, even in an age when life was short. He

t o p t o b o t t o m: Johann Sebastian Bach, oil portrait by Elias Gottlob Haussmann (1695–1774), ca. 1746 | A 1720 engraving depicting a view of the city of Cöthen, where Bach worked from 1717 to 1723 as kapellmeister for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen.

Bach-Archive, Leipzig

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had gone to Halle to compete for the job of organist (he later declined the offer), which suggests that he was growing restless in Cöthen despite working for an enlightened patron, the twenty-something Prince Leopold, who “both loved and understood music.” (The prince’s sympathies would suddenly change in 1721 when he married a woman who “seemed to be alien to the muses.”) And, in addition to his daily workload at Cöthen, he was trying to finish some of his most important music, including the sonatas and suites for solo violin.

We don’t know when Bach wrote the six concertos he dedicated to the margrave of Brandenburg. Recent scholarship suggests that most of them were already finished when he met the margrave (two of them possibly dating from 1713), and he simply took his time compiling a set of pieces, some old and some new, that he thought made a sufficiently varied and satisfying whole. The Fifth Concerto, for example, with its unprecedented star role for the harpsichord, was surely written after Bach returned from Berlin to inaugurate the new special-order instrument.

The presentation score he gave the margrave is a “gift edition” of the set, almost entirely in Bach’s own meticulous handwriting, prefaced by an elaborate dedication page written in French and dated March 24, 1721. “As I had a couple of years ago the pleasure of appearing before Your Royal Highness,” Bach wrote, recounting how the margrave had praised his talent at the time and asked for “some pieces of my composition.” Bach simply but provocatively describes the contents as “concerts avec plusieurs instruments”—that is, concertos for many different combinations of instruments, a modest way of expressing one of the set’s most innovative features. Since we have no record that the margrave ever arranged to have his concertos performed, he has often been unfairly portrayed as an unworthy patron who put the unopened score on his bookshelf and never thanked or paid Bach for his efforts.

We probably will never know when or where these works were first played, but they were obviously not widely known during Bach’s life.

(The obituary prepared by his son Carl Philipp

Emanuel doesn’t even mention them.) Only the Fifth, with its remarkable harpsichord solo, was performed with any regularity in the years after the composer’s death; eventually, the whole set was forgotten. The earliest documented public performance of a Brandenburg concerto dates from 1835, more than a century after they were written. Today, they are arguably Bach’s most popular works.

Like many of Bach’s sets, such as the Goldberg Variations or The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Brandenburg Concertos form a kind of master anthology—a demonstration, really, of all the imaginable possibilities inherent in a certain musical form. Each of these six concertos calls for a different combination of soloists—every one unprecedented in its choice of instruments and still without parallel today. Perhaps they represent Bach’s ideal, for their instrumentation corresponds neither to the Cöthen ensemble he conducted nor to the margrave’s own resident group of musicians. Bach gives solo roles to members of all three orchestral families and often groups them in unexpected combinations, such as the trumpet, flute, oboe, and violin ensemble of the second concerto. All the concertos demand and celebrate the performers’ virtuosity as much as they demonstrate Bach’s amazing skill. The union of joyful music-making and compositional brilliance combine to put the Brandenburgs among those rare works that delight connoisseurs and amateurs alike.

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he Fifth Concerto stands out, even among the Brandenburgs, for Bach seems to be on the verge of inventing a new form— the keyboard concerto—that would soon be a favorite of virtually every composer from Mozart through the nineteenth century. In this piece, for the first time, Bach elevated the harpsichord from its rank-and-file role as a member of the continuo group (the backup ensemble that provided the harmonic support in nearly all music written in Bach’s day) to a featured part. Joined by two other soloists, the flute and the violin, the keyboard here enjoys its first great starring role, not only sharing the spotlight but even C SO.ORG/INSTITUTE

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dominating the action at times. It’s likely that the fancy two-manual harpsichord Bach picked up in Berlin gave him the idea of showing it off in an unusual way, but he cannot have known how the gesture would influence music after his death.

The opening Allegro is the longest of all the movements. In this complex music, Bach merges tradition (the alternation of a ritornello for all the musicians and episodes for the soloists) with a very modern concern for organic growth and continuity. Just before the last statement of the ritornello, Bach writes an extraordinary sixty-five-measure keyboard cadenza (he didn’t use the term, but that’s unmistakably what it is) that wouldn’t be surpassed in length or imagination until Mozart and Beethoven began to write down the cadenzas they improvised for their own concertos. (Apparently, Bach didn’t intend to get so carried away—in a first draft, the cadenza is just eighteen measures.) Despite its difficulty and showy brilliance, this isn’t a virtuoso indulgence but an integral part of the piece—notice how the keyboard gradually begins to assert itself before the other instruments drop out—developing the main theme and then revving up, in a most extraordinary fashion, to lead into the final ritornello. The slow middle movement—one of only a handful in Bach’s output marked affettuoso (affectionate, tender)—is a lovely air scored for just the three soloists. The way Bach ingeniously divides the material among the three, sometimes pairing flute and violin, sometimes the keyboard with one of the other instruments, gives this music such endless variety that we scarcely notice that the orchestra itself is silent.

The finale, reuniting all the players, is a kind of da capo aria, with the entire beginning section repeated at the end. The keyboard quietly steals the spotlight again in the middle, and even though the flute and the violin quickly regain their rightful places as fellow soloists, the concerto form itself would never be the same again.

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he Third Concerto, thought to be among the earliest of the six, is scored for a nine-fold group of strings—three each of violin, viola, and cello. Its inherent homogeneity

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of sound challenged Bach to create remarkably diverse sonorities and continuously changing textures. Bach spins the contents of each movement from just one or two simple themes, handed off from one group of players to another, eventually involving the instruments in what seems to be all possible permutations. There’s no clear-cut, consistent designation of soloists; the assignments change from page to page. The standard black-and-white contrast of the typical concerto grosso—the entire ensemble alternating with the solo group—is blurred here by the music’s ever-evolving nature and by Bach’s fascination with endlessly varied shades of gray.

Both fast outer movements travel the wide spectrum from assertive unison passages to intricate polyphony and from full orchestral splendor to the conversational intimacy of chamber music.

One curiosity, still unsolved: in place of a conventional middle slow movement, Bach writes just two chords—those that would normally provide the movement’s final cadence—leaving musicians, possibly beginning with the margrave’s own, to wonder what the great master himself might have wanted.

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he relationship between soloists is different in each of the Brandenburgs; in the Fourth Concerto, they switch roles as the work progresses. The violin dominates the opening Allegro (although, at first, it sounds as if the two flutes will have more to play). Then, in the slow middle movement, it’s the flutes who share the spotlight, while the violin, except for one measure, is relegated to doubling the orchestral violins or simply playing the bass line.

The violin takes the lead once again in the finale, although the real marvel of that movement is the way everyone, soloists and orchestra players alike, joins as equals in one contrapuntal web.

The Allegro is one of the longest movements in any of Bach’s concertos, partly because the opening paragraph—the traditional ritornello that introduces the main themes—is unusually spacious, with at least five different motifs to be developed. Bach then builds a very large structure with six statements of the ritornello

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alternating with free and highly inventive episodes to create a monumental movement of surprising lightness. The Adagio is the only Brandenburg slow movement that doesn’t switch to a smaller cast of characters, instead calling for the entire ensemble (although, by reversing the solo roles, Bach subtly changes the complexion).

The spirited finale isn’t dance music, as was the norm, but something more substantial and

meaty. With its grand proportions and unusually serious fugal writing, this movement is one of the few finales in eighteenth-century music to carry as much weight as its opening movement counterpart— here, as in so many areas, Bach anticipating the accomplishments of Mozart and Beethoven.

—Phillip Huscher

Cantata No. 40, Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes COMPOSED

1723

Bach took up his duties as director of music for Leipzig’s churches on May 30, 1723, well aware of the mountainous responsibilities of the job, and met them with breathtaking prolificacy. Before the start of the Christmas season, he had written and performed twenty-three new cantatas for the local congregations, as well as a few others he had brought with him that had not been heard in Leipzig, and capped the works of that year with five more cantatas for the celebration of the Nativity—the first was Dazu ist erschienen de Sohn Gottes (For This, the Son of God Was Manifested) for December 26, the second day

of Christmas. The title and text of the opening chorus were taken from 1 John 3:8, “For this, the Son of God was manifested . . . ,” and the character and scoring of the music was appropriately festive, with two oboes and two horns augmenting the customary strings and continuo, a combination apparently never before heard in Leipzig’s churches. The anonymous texts for the cantata’s two recitatives and two arias comment on the following clause in the biblical verse: “. . . that He might destroy the works of the Devil.” Interspersed are short chorales extracted from three different hymns with texts

by Lutheran clergymen and hymn writers Kaspar Füger, Paul Gerhardt, and Christian Keymann; the sources of their melodies are unknown.

—Richard E. Rodda

(Please turn the page quietly.)

a b o v e : Johann Sebastian Bach, circa 1720, from the painting by Johann Jakob Ihle in the Bach Museum, Eisenach, Germany

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1. Chorus Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, dass er die Werke des Teufels zerstöre.

For this, the Son of God has appeared, that He might destroy the works of the Devil.

2. Recitative Das Wort ward Fleisch und wohnet in der Welt, The Word was made flesh and dwelt in the world, das Licht der Welt bestrahlt den Kreis der Erden, the light of the world illuminates the earth, der grosse Gottessohn the mighty Son of God verlässt des Himmels Thron, leaves the throne of heaven, und seiner Majestät gefällt, and it pleases His majesty ein kleines Menschenkind zu werden. to become a tiny infant.

Bedenkt doch diesen Tausch, Give thought to this exchange, wer nur gedenken kann; all who can think: der König wird ein Untertan, the King becomes a subject, der Herr erscheinet als ein Knecht the Lord appears as a servant und wird dem menschlichen Geschlecht and is born for this race of man —O süsses Wort in aller Ohren— —O sweet word in all men’s ears— zu Trost und Heil geboren. to heal and comfort.

3. Chorale Die Sünd macht Leid; Christus bringt Freud, weil er zu Trost in diese Welt ist kommen.

Mit uns ist Gott nun in der Not. Wer ist, der uns als Christen kann verdammen?

Sin brings sorrow; Christ brings joy, for He has entered this world to console.

God is with us now in our need.

Who could condemn us as Christians?

4. Aria Höllische Schlange, wird dir nicht bange?

Der dir den Kopf als ein Sieger zerknickt, ist nun geboren, und die verloren, werden mit ewigem Frieden beglückt.

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Serpent of hell, are you not frightened?

The victor who shall crush your head is now born and all the lost shall be favored with eternal peace.

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5. Recitative Die Schlange, so im Paradies auf alle Adamskinder das Gift der Seelen fallen liess, bringt uns nicht mehr Gefahr; des Weibes Samen stellt sich dar, der Heiland ist ins Fleisch gekommen und hat ihr alles Gift benommen.

Drum sei getrost! betrübter Sünder!

The serpent that in paradise made fall on all of Adam’s children, the venom of souls no longer endangers us; woman’s seed is made manifest, the Savior has appeared in flesh and has removed all venom.

Take comfort then, O troubled sinner.

6. Chorale Schüttle deinen Kopf und sprich: Fleuch, du alte Schlange!

Was erneur’st du deinen Stich, machst mir angst und bange?

Ist dir doch der Kopf zerknickt, und ich bin durchs Leiden meines Heilands dir entrückt in den Saal der Freuden.

Shake your head and say: Flee, you ancient serpent!

Why renew your sting for my fear and anguish?

After all, your head is dashed, and I, through the passion of my Savior, have fled from you into the hall of gladness.

7. Aria Christenkinder, freuet euch!

Wütet schon das Höllenreich, will euch Satans Grimm erschrecken: Jesus, der erretten kann, nimmt sich seiner Küchlein an und will sie mit Flügeln decken.

Christian children, now rejoice!

Though hell’s domain now rages, though Satan’s fury would frighten you: Jesus, who can save, will gather His chicks under His wing.

8. Chorale Jesu, nimm dich deiner Glieder ferner in Genaden an; schenke, was man bitten kann, zu erquicken deine Brüder: Gib der ganzen Christenschar Frieden und ein sel’ges Jahr!

Freude, Freude über Freude!

Christus wehret allem Leide.

Wonne, Wonne über Wonne!

Er ist die Genadensonne.

Jesus, continue to look after Thy members with loving grace; give, whatever we ask, to revive Thy brethren: give to all the Christian throng peace and a blessed year!

Joy, joy, unending joy!

Christ shall ward off all sorrow.

Bliss, bliss, unending bliss!

He is the sun of grace.

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Cantata No. 110, Unser Mund sei voll Lachens COMPOSED

1725

Bach wrote well over 300 cantatas, of which some 220 are extant. Though these pieces have called forth countless exegetical flights, they were very practical items, intended, as was virtually all of the music before Beethoven, for a specific occasion and audience. In the case of Bach’s cantatas, which were the principal music of the main Lutheran service, the occasion arose almost weekly, and the audience was the congregation of Leipzig’s churches.

The Hauptgottesdienst (Main Service), the most important of the week’s devotions, was an imposing collection of Roman and Protestant components that began at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday and lasted until almost noon: an organ voluntary, a motet, the Kyrie and Gloria, various hymns, gospels, prayers and announcements, communion, and a sermon whose mighty length was certain to turn listeners’ thoughts to the hereafter. Just before the sermon, to prepare the congregation for the inspired homily and to celebrate that Sunday’s special significance in the church calendar, a cantata was performed whose texts were taken from, based on, or inspired by one of the biblical verses for the day. Except for the Sundays in Lent and Advent, Bach was required to prepare a cantata every week with his choristers from the Thomasschule, as well as for various special festivals, such as Christmas, Easter, and New Year’s Day—a total of fifty-nine cantatas annually. During his tenure in Leipzig, Bach produced five complete annual service cycles comprising some 300 sacred cantatas.

The first two of these cycles (a total of 120 works) were completed during his first two years at the Thomaskirche (1723–24), an average of one new cantata every six days! (1723 was also the year of the Magnificat, the St. John Passion, a motet, a sanctus, numerous organ works, and the birth of a short-lived daughter.) The third cycle was written between 1725 and 1727, and the fourth by

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1729, but the last extended into the 1740s, Bach by that time having built up a large library from which he could draw to meet his needs.

The Christmas celebration at Leipzig’s two most important churches—the Thomaskirche, where Bach was based as composer, organist, music director, and teacher of music and the classics, and the Nikolaikirche—encompassed the three days of Christmas (December 25, 26, and 27), the Feast of the Circumcision and the Naming of Jesus (January 1), the first Sunday of the New Year, and the Feast of the Epiphany, which marked the arrival of the three kings at the manger (January 6). The services during the four weeks of Advent were simplified (e.g., no cantata was performed on Sunday morning) so that the elaborate music and ceremonies observing the birth of Christ, by contrast, took on a splendor appropriate to that season’s importance in the church calendar.

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nser Mund sei voll Lachens (Our Mouth Is Full of Laughter) was Bach’s musical celebration of Christmas Day in Leipzig in 1725. He scored it for one of the largest ensembles in any of his cantatas—four soloists, large chorus, and a “festival orchestra” comprising two flutes, three oboes (who double on the oboe’s larger and huskier-voiced cousins, oboe d’amore and oboe da caccia), bassoon, two trumpets, timpani, strings, and continuo. The cantata takes its title and text for the opening chorus from Psalm 126:2, 3, whose music is based on the overture from Bach’s Orchestral Suite no. 4 (BWV 1069), probably composed that same year.

The most familiar Christmas verses in the work, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14), are used in a duet for soprano and tenor; the bass recitative quotes Jeremiah 10:6, “There is none like unto Thee, O Lord.” The closing chorale is borrowed from the 1592 hymn “Wir Christenleute” (We Christians) by Lutheran clergyman Kaspar Füger; the remaining verses were taken from a

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Phillip Huscher is the program annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

collection of cantata texts published in 1711 by the Darmstadt court poet and librarian, Georg Christian Lehms.

Richard E. Rodda, a former faculty member at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Music, provides program notes for many American orchestras, concert series, and festivals.

—Richard E. Rodda

1. Chorus Unser Mund sei voll Lachens und unsre Zunge voll Rühmens.

Denn der Herr hat Grosses an uns getan.

Let our mouth be full of laughter and our tongue of praise.

For the Lord hath done great things for us.

2. Aria Ihr Gedanken und ihr Sinnen, schwinget euch anitzt von hinnen, steiget schleunig himmelan und bedenkt, was Gott getan!

Er wird Mensch, und dies allein, dass wir Himmels Kinder sein.

All your thoughts and meditations soar aloft at once, climb swiftly to heaven, and think what God has done!

He becomes man, merely that we might be heaven’s children.

3. Recitative Dir, Herr, ist niemand gleich.

Du bist gross, und dein Name ist gross und kannst’s mit der Tat beweisen.

There is none like Thee, Lord.

Thou Art great, and Thy name is great in might.

4. Aria Ach Herr, was ist ein Menschenkind, dass du sein Heil so schmerzlich suchest?

Ein Wurm, den du verfluchest, wenn Höll und Satan um ihn sind; doch auch dein Sohn, den Seel und Geist aus Liebe seinen Erben heisst.

Ah, Lord, what is a child of man that Thou, through such pain, would redeem him?

A worm, whom Thou dost curse, when hell and Satan surround him; but yet Thy Son, whom soul and spirit out of love call their inheritance.

5. Duet Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe und Friede auf Erden und den Menschen ein Wohlgefallen!

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!

(Please turn the page quietly.)

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6. Aria Wacht auf, ihr Adern und ihr Glieder, und singt dergleichen Freudenlieder, die unserm Gott gefällig sein.

Und ihr, ihr andachtsvollen Saiten, sollt ihm ein solches Lob bereiten, dabei sich Herz und Geist erfreun.

Awake, you veins and limbs and sing those songs of joy, which are pleasing to our God. And you, you strings of deep devotion should offer Him such praise that heart and soul rejoice.

7. Chorale Halleluja! Halleluja! Gelobt sei Gott, singen wir all aus unsers Herzens Grunde.

Denn Gott hat heut gemacht solch Freud, die wir vergessen solln zu keiner Stunde.

Alleluia! Alleluia! All praise to God; let us all sing from the depths of our hearts.

For God today has wrought such joy, that we shall always remember.

2023 Bach Marathon The Civic Orchestra is thrilled to partner with several community organizations as part of the 2023 Bach Marathon. The theme of this year’s project is focused on exploring shared humanity through musical and community service. Using the music of Bach as the medium, we have engaged with these organizations to support their extraordinary work across Chicago. Led by Ken-David Masur, this finale concert is the culmination of a weekend rich in musical connections.

PA R T N E R S

Chicago Academy for the Arts Fourth Presbyterian Church The Mather Montgomery Place Retirement Community The Night Ministry The Resurrection Project

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St. Joseph Hospital, in partnership with Sharing Notes SALUD Center Sarah’s Circle Whitney M. Young Magnet High School

PROFILES Ken-David Masur Conductor Ken-David Masur celebrates his fifth season as music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony’s Civic Orchestra. He has conducted distinguished orchestras around the world, including the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, National Philharmonic of Russia, and other orchestras throughout the United States, France, Germany, Korea, Japan, and Scandinavia.

Masur’s tenure in Milwaukee has been marked by innovative thematic programming, including a festival celebrating the music of the 1930s, when the Bradley Symphony Center was built, and the Water Festival, which highlighted local community partners whose work centers on water conservation and education. He also instituted a multi-season artist-in-residence program and led highly acclaimed performances of major choral works, including a semistaged production of Peer Gynt.

This season, he begins a residency with bass-baritone Dashon Burton and leads the MSO in an inaugural citywide Bach festival, celebrating the diverse and universal appeal of J.S. Bach’s music in an ever-changing world.

Last season, Masur made his New York Philharmonic debut in a gala program featuring John Williams and Steven Spielberg.

He also debuted at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and at Classical Tahoe in three programs broadcast on PBS. He led the

P H OTO BY A D A M D E TO U R

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Branford Marsalis, and James Taylor at Tanglewood in a ninetieth birthday concert for John Williams. Summer 2023 marked Masur’s debuts with the Grant Park Festival and the National Repertory Orchestra; later this season, he returns to the Baltimore Symphony and the Kristiansand Symphony.

Previously, Masur was associate conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. During his five seasons there, he led numerous concerts at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood. For eight years, Masur served as principal guest conductor of the Munich Symphony. He was also associate conductor of the San Diego Symphony and resident conductor of the San Antonio Symphony.

Music education and working with the next generation of young artists are of major importance to Masur. In addition to his work with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he has conducted Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan Chamber Orchestra and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and led master classes at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts, New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Boston University, Boston Conservatory, and the Juilliard School, where he leads the Juilliard Orchestra this fall.

Passionate about contemporary music, Masur has conducted and commissioned dozens of new works, many of which have premiered at the Chelsea Music Festival, an annual summer festival in New York City founded and directed by Masur and his wife, pianist Melinda Lee Masur.

The festival celebrates its fifteenth anniversary in 2024.

Masur and his family are proud to call Milwaukee their home and enjoy exploring all the riches of the Third Coast.

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P ROF ILES

Rachel Sparrow Soprano

Lauren Randolph Mezzo-soprano

Rachel Sparrow has performed across the United States, Europe, and South America. She has won several awards in national and international competitions, winning the Audience Favorite title in nearly every competition. Sparrow won first prize in the Alexander & Buono International Vocal Competition in 2014, and her subsequent Carnegie Hall debut showcased her ability to sing across genres, from the most virtuosic of coloratura repertoire, such as “The Bell Song,” to her own arrangements of traditional American gospel music and Broadwaystyle belting.

Sparrow’s versatility is frequently featured in new works. She is particularly interested in performing on projects that inspire change for positive social purposes or offer children exposure to classical or culturally rich music. Sparrow sings with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Music of the Baroque, and the new chamber choir Stare at the Sun. When not performing, she regularly teaches.

Rachel Sparrow earned bachelor’s degrees from Idaho State University in music education and vocal performance, a master of arts degree in opera at Northwestern University, and a certification in early childhood music. Sparrow enjoys leading her children and their friends in performing at local senior centers and churches. She also enjoys arranging sacred songs in both folk and classical styles and plans to release her debut album of her arrangements soon.

For more information, please visit rachelsparrow.com.

Chicago-based mezzo-soprano Lauren Randolph recently graduated from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music under the mentorship of Theresa Brancaccio. An avid interpreter of baroque repertoire, she has performed in Handel’s Giulio Cesare (Cornelia), Serse (Amastre), and Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Disinganno). She has also appeared as a concert soloist in J.S. Bach’s Cantata no. 103 and Easter Oratorio. Other operatic and concert engagements include Florence Pike in Britten’s Albert Herring, la zia principessa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and the mezzo-soprano soloist in Duruflé’s and Mozart’s requiems. In March 2023 Randolph was recognized as the third-place winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition in the Central Region and the recipient of the Edith Newfield Award with the Musicians Club of Women.

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Ryan Townsend Strand Tenor Ryan Townsend Strand is a Minnesota native with an expanding career as a concert and oratorio soloist.

Most recently, he was a featured soloist in Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s Dixit Dominus with the Chicago Master Singers.

Highlights of the 2023–24 season include featured performances with Bella Voce, touring New England with Constellation Men’s Ensemble, and debuting as tenor soloist for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Illinois Philharmonic. In the fall, Strand performs a solo recital titled Letters to Jackie, premiering fifteen works by some of the most sought-after voices in classical music today. The recital is in tandem

P H OTO S C O U R T E SY O F T H E A R T I S T S , A D O R E A L E X A N D E R P H OTO G R A P H Y

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with the sixtieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination and will tour throughout the 2023–24 season.

Strand made his professional Chicago opera debut in Haymarket Opera Company’s production of Alessandro Scarlatti’s Gli equivoci nel sembiante (Armindo). In the fall of 2020, he premiered Acis & Galatea in HD (Chorus, Acis Cover). He returned to Haymarket for their production of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea in September 2022 as Primo Soldato.

Other operatic productions include Handel’s Beauty’s Truth (Pleasure) and Così fan tutte (Ferrando) with Transgressive Theater-Opera & Elmhurst Symphony; Mark Adamo’s Little Women (Laurie), Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Nero), and Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath (Al Joad) with Northwestern Opera Theater. With Chicago Opera Theater, Strand most recently performed Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick and has sung other chorus roles in productions of Philip Glass’s The Perfect American, Mozart’s Lucio Silla, and Bloch’s Macbeth. Strand will make his debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in their season productions of Der fliegende Holländer and Aida.

Strand has sung with the Grammy Award–winning contemporary vocal ensemble the Crossing in Philadelphia under the direction of Donald Nally. He performs regularly with Music of the Baroque, Stare at the Sun, Bella Voce, William Ferris Chorale, Chicago A Cappella, and the Grant Park Festival Chorus. Strand is a founding member and executive director of Constellation Men’s Ensemble, celebrating their tenth season as Chicago’s premier tenor/bass ensemble.

David Govertsen Bass-baritone Chicago native David Govertsen has been active as a professional singer for nearly twenty years, portraying a wide variety of opera’s low-voiced heroes, villains, and buffoons. Govertsen has appeared as a soloist with numerous local and regional opera companies, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, Tulsa Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and the Haymarket Opera Company. He is a member of the vocal chamber quartet Fourth Coast Ensemble, performing in Chicago and throughout the Midwest.

As a concert soloist, Govertsen has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Madison, Detroit, Santa Fe, and Grant Park symphony orchestras, among many others. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2011 as the herald in Otello with the CSO, conducted

by Riccardo Muti. Govertsen is an alumnus of the Ryan Opera Center, the Santa Fe Opera, and Central City Opera apprentice programs and holds degrees from Northwestern University, Northern Illinois University, and the College of DuPage.

David Govertsen is currently on faculty at North Park University, Lewis University, and the College of DuPage.

ryantownsendstrand.com

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P ROF ILES

Chicago Symphony Chorus

The Chicago Symphony Chorus regularly performs with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Orchestra Hall and at the Ravinia Festival.

The history of the Chorus began in 1957, when sixth music director Fritz Reiner invited Margaret Hillis to establish a chorus to equal the quality of the Orchestra. Hillis accepted the challenge, and the Chicago Symphony Chorus debuted in March and April 1958 in Mozart’s Requiem under Bruno Walter and Verdi’s Requiem under Reiner. Hillis served the Chorus for thirty-seven years until her retirement in 1994; ninth music director Daniel Barenboim appointed Duain Wolfe as her successor in June of that year.

The Chorus first performed in Carnegie Hall in 1967 in Henze’s Muses of Sicily and Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe under seventh music director Jean Martinon and most recently in 2015 with Riccardo Muti for Scriabin’s Prometheus and Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky. Touring internationally with the Orchestra, the Chorus traveled to London and Salzburg in 1989 with Sir Georg Solti for performances of Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust and to Berlin in 1999 with Barenboim for Brahms’s A German Requiem and Pierre Boulez for Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron.

World premieres featuring the Chorus have included Ned Rorem’s Goodbye My Fancy, John Harbison’s Four Psalms, and Bernard Rands’s apókryphos. With visiting orchestras, the Chorus has collaborated with the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Seiji Ozawa, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra with Zubin Mehta, and the Staatskapelle Berlin under

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Barenboim. Since first recording commercially in 1959— Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky under Reiner— the Chorus has amassed a discography that includes hallmarks of the choral repertoire and several complete operas. The Chorus most recently received a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for Verdi’s Requiem, led by Riccardo Muti on CSO Resound. The Chorus has received an additional nine Grammy awards for Best Choral Performance for Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Brahms’s A German Requiem, Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, Haydn’s Creation, and Bach’s Mass in B minor with Solti; Brahms’s Requiem and Orff’s Carmina Burana with James Levine; and Bartók’s Cantata profana with Boulez.

The Chorus also has appeared on two movie soundtracks with the Orchestra: Fantasia 2000 led by Levine and John Williams’s score for Lincoln conducted by the composer. Recordings on CSO Resound featuring the Chorus include Mahler’s Second and Third symphonies, Poulenc’s Gloria, and Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe under Bernard Haitink; and Berlioz’s Lélio, Verdi’s Otello, Schoenberg’s Kol Nidre, choruses

by Verdi and Boito’s Prologue to Mefistofele, Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 13 (Babi Yar) with men of the Chorus, and most recently Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana under Riccardo Muti.

Cheryl Frazes Hill Associate Chorus Director Cheryl Frazes Hill is the associate director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus.

Now in her forty-seventh season, she began with the Chorus as a singer and was later appointed to the conducting staff by Margaret Hillis, the CSC’s founder and first director. Frazes Hill has continued in that role, assisting Chorus Director Duain Wolfe for twenty-eight years, and currently serves as interim director of the Chicago Symphony P H OTO S BY TO D D R O S E N B E R G

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Chorus. Frazes Hill is the director of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, whose performances in recent seasons have included joining the CSC in Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 at the Ravinia Festival in 2019 under the direction of Marin Alsop. Frazes Hill has recently added the title “author” to her résumé with her newly released book, Margaret Hillis: Unsung Pioneer (GIA Publications), which can be found at the Symphony Store.

In addition to her roles in Chicago and Milwaukee, Frazes Hill is a professor, serving as director of choral activities for Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts since 2002. Under her direction, the Roosevelt University choruses have been featured in prestigious and diverse events, including appearances at national and regional music conferences and in performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra. Among other performances, the Roosevelt Conservatory Chorus received enthusiastic reviews for the U.S. premiere of Jacob ter Velduis’s Mountaintop, in addition to the internationally acclaimed Defiant Requiem and a semi-staged production of Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard.

Frazes Hill has prepared the Chicago Symphony Chorus for conductors Marin Alsop, Pierre Boulez, Daniel Barenboim, James Conlon, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Michael Tilson Thomas, and many others. Recordings of her

Chorus preparations have been released on the CSO’s From the Archives series, including tracks on Beethoven, A Tribute to Daniel Barenboim, and Chicago Symphony Chorus: A Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration.

An accomplished vocalist, Frazes Hill is a featured soloist on the Grammy Award–nominated recording of the CBS Masterworks release Mozart: Music for Basset Horns.

During her years of teaching, Frazes Hill has received numerous distinctions, including the Illinois Governor’s Award, the Northwestern University Alumni Merit Award, the Commendation of Excellence in Teaching from the Golden Apple Foundation, the Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Chicago, and the Roosevelt University Presidential Award for Social Justice. In addition, she is the recipient of the prestigious 2022 Harold Decker Conducting Award from the American Choral Directors Association.

Cheryl Frazes Hill is a frequent guest conductor and speaker. As a clinician, she leads festivals and concerts throughout the country.

An advocate for women conductors past and present, Frazes Hill joined conductor Marin Alsop as a featured speaker for the 2022 Ravinia Festival Symposium Breaking Barriers: Forging Paths for Women Conductors. Frazes Hill shares her scholarship through published articles for national education and choral journals on topics of her research in choral conducting and music education.

Chicago Symphony Chorus

Cheryl Frazes Hill Associate Director Jennifer Kerr Budziak Assistant Director Benjamin Rivera Assistant Director Melissa Arning Madison Bolt Diane Busko Bryks* Ryan J. Cox Beena David Micah A. Dingler Kathryn Kinjo Duncan Stacy Eckert

Nicholas Falco Klaus Georg Dimitri German Kimberly Gunderson Betsy Hoats Alexandra Ioan James Judd Mathew Lake

Amanda Compton LoPresti Bill McMurray Ian Murrell Cari Plachy* Sarah Ponder Angela Presutti Elizabeth Vaughan Jonathan Wilson

CHORUS MANAGER

Shelley Baldridge

REHEARSAL PIANISTS

John Goodwin Sharon Peterson Chuck Foster

The Chorus was prepared for these performances by Cheryl Frazes Hill. *Section leader

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PROFILES

Civic Orchestra of Chicago Founded in 1919 by Frederick Stock, second music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), the Civic Orchestra of Chicago prepares emerging professional musicians for lives in music. Civic members participate in rigorous orchestral training, September through June each season, with the Robert Kohl and Clark Pellett Principal Conductor Ken-David Masur, musicians of the CSO, and some of today’s most luminary conductors, including Riccardo Muti, the CSO’s music director emeritus for life.

The importance of the Civic Orchestra’s role in Greater Chicago is underscored by its commitment to present concerts of the highest quality at no charge to the public. In addition to the critically acclaimed live concerts at Symphony Center, Civic Orchestra performances can be heard locally on WFMT (98.7 FM).

Civic musicians also expand their creative, professional, and artistic boundaries and reach diverse audiences through educational performances at Chicago Public Schools and a series of chamber concerts at various locations throughout the city, including Chicago Park District fieldhouses and the National Museum of Mexican Art. To further expand its musician training, the Civic Orchestra launched the Civic Fellowship

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program in the 2013–14 season. Each year, ten to fifteen Civic members are designated as Civic Fellows and participate in intensive leadership training that is designed to build and diversify their creative and professional skills.

From 2010 to 2019, Yo-Yo Ma was a leading mentor to Civic musicians and staff in his role as CSO Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, and the programs and initiatives he established are integral to the Civic Orchestra curriculum today. Civic Orchestra musicians develop as exceptional orchestral players and engaged artists, cultivating their ability to succeed in the rapidly evolving world of music in the twenty-first century.

The Civic Orchestra’s long history of presenting full orchestra performances free to the public includes annual concerts at the South Shore Cultural Center (in partnership with the South Shore Advisory Council) as well as numerous Chicago Public Schools. The Civic Orchestra is a signature program of the Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which offers a wide range of education and community programs that engage more than 200,000 people of diverse ages, incomes, and backgrounds each year in Chicago and around the world.

For more on the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and its Principal Conductor Ken-David Masur, please visit cso.org/civic.

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Civic Orchestra of Chicago

Ken-David Masur Principal Conductor

The Robert Kohl and Clark Pellett Principal Conductor Chair

VIOLINS

Ran (Ryan) Huo Sheena Lan Matthew Musachio* Subin Shin Lina Yamin* Nelson Mendoza Carlos Chacon J. Andrés Robuschi Darren Carter Janani Sivakumar Jonah Kartman Hsuan Chen Kimberly Bill Hojung Christina Lee Marian Antonette Mayuga* Julianne Oh Matthew Weinberg Danira Rodríguez-Purcell Mona Munire Mierxiati Hobart Shi Elise Maas Kristian Brusubardis Alec Tonno Annie Pham Justine Teo Sean Hsi Freya Liu Valentina Guillen Menesello Jason Hurlbut Crystal Qi

VIOLAS

Amanda Kellman Sava Velkoff Jason Butler* Carlos Lozano Michael Ayala Derrick Ware Megan Yeung Justin Pou Sanford Whatley Junghyun Ahn Elena Galentas CELLOS

Brandon Xu J Holzen* Francisco Lopez Malespin* David Caplan Miles Link Buianto Lkhasaranov Lidanys Graterol Lindsey Sharpe Cameron Slaugh BASSES

Hannah Novak Daniel W. Meyer Ben Foerster* Tiffany Kung James O’Toole FLUTES

Jungah Yoon Laura Watson Aalia Hanif* Katarina Ignatovich Priya Fink

OBOES

Jonathan Kronheimer Natalie Johnson James Kim Andrew Port* Yejin Kim O B O E D ’A M O R E

Jonathan Kronheimer ENGLISH HORN

Andrew Port* BASSOONS

Nina Laube* Ian Arthur Schneiderman HORNS

Jacob Medina Ryan Williamson TRUMPETS

Sean-David Whitworth Abner Wong Quincy Erickson T I M PA N I

Tomas Leivestad HARPSICHORD

Marissa Kerbel Dong-Wan Ha ORGAN

Michael Rees

* Civic Orchestra Fellow + Civic Orchestra Alumni

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A gift to the Civic Orchestra of Chicago supports the rigorous training that members receive throughout the season, which includes coaching from musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and world-class conductors.

Your gift today ensures that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association will continue to enrich, inspire and transform lives through music.

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