Kidsbook: The Promise of a New Day

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Promise of a New Day CS O for K ids : Fam ily Matinee October 23, 2021, 11:00

THE PROMISE OF A NEW DAY PERFORMERS

Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Thomas Wilkins conductor Rosie Wang flute Winner of the 2019 Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition Isabella Brown violin Winner of the 2020 Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition

PROGRAM INCLUDES PROKOFIEV, ARR. OCHOA March in B-flat Major GROFÉ Sunrise from Grand Canyon Suite BRITTEN Storm from Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes PRICE Juba from Symphony No. 1 in E Minor HANSON Serenade for Flute, Harp and Strings MENDELSSOHN Allegretto non troppo—Allegro molto vivace from Violin Concerto in E Minor TCHAIKOVSKY Selections from Symphony No. 5 in E Minor

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C S O fo r Ki ds: Fa m ily M at in e e TH E PRO MISE O F A N EW DAY

MUSIC HELPS US PROCESS OUR EMOTIONS. It can help us understand our individual and shared experiences. This has been especially true during the uncertainty and turbulence of the pandemic. We have seen examples from all over the world of people expressing their emotions through music to take care of themselves during this time of COVID-19.

• How does music help you with your feelings?

• Name some ways people express their emotions with music.

Italians sang out into the streets from their balconies during the COVID-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020.

Watch this VIDEO to see how music helped people process their feelings.

With orchestral music, composers transform uncertainty into beauty. The orchestra also shows us how we can work together to build a stronger community and look forward to The Promise of a New Day.

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As you listen to each piece of music, use this listening guide to help you figure out why the music makes you feel the way it does.

MUSICAL ELEMENT

DESCRIPTION

Instrumentation

Strings (violin, viola, cello, bass)

What instruments of the orchestra are featured?

Woodwinds (flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, etc.)

Brass (tuba, trombone, French horn, trumpet, etc.)

Percussion (timpani, xylophone, cymbals, etc.)

Other (synthesizer or electronic instruments, “found” percussion, etc.)

Tempo

Presto (Very fast)

How fast or slow does the music go?

Allegro (Fast) Andante (Moderate, walking tempo) Largo (Slow)

Dynamics

Pianissimo (Very quiet)

How loud or soft is the music played?

Piano (Quiet) Mezzoforte (Medium-loud) Forte (Loud) Fortissimo (Very loud)

Articulation/Expression

Legato (Smooth and connected)

How are the notes played?

Staccato (Short and percussive) Rubato (Give and take with tempo and rhythm) Accelerando (Getting gradually faster and faster) Ritardando (Getting gradually slower and slower)

Form/Structure

Repetitive The exact same musical idea occurs again and again.

How did the composer organize the music?

Predictable Sections of the piece re-occur in an expected way.

Thematic The same musical idea is restated, though not exactly in the same way each time.

Contrasting Sections sound very different from one another.

Tonality Is the piece of music written in a major or minor key?

Tonality is the character of a piece of music as determined by the key in which it is played or the relations between the notes of a scale or key. created by brenda k. fineberg

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Now that you’ve identified some of the musical elements, how does the music make you feel?

BORED CURIOUS ABSORBED AFRAID CALM COURAGEOUS SAD COMFORTED HAPPY DOUBTFUL CERTAIN CONFIDENT TIRED REFRESHED ENERGETIC There is no wrong answer, and there is no one answer. Humans can feel lots of feelings all at the same time. As you listen to the music, ask yourself, what else am I feeling?

LISTEN to the

March in B-flat Major by Sergei Prokofiev How does this music make you feel? What did you hear in the music that made you feel this way?

This music evokes a spirit of positivity and affirmation and reminds us that we can make one another feel good when we work together as a team and as part of a community. This piece has so much hope and promise. It sounds as if all’s right with the world.

Think about a time when you worked as a member of a team to do something good for your community.

Describe how an orchestra has to work as a team to create beautiful music.

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C S O fo r Ki ds: Fa m ily M at in e e TH E PRO MISE O F A N EW DAY

One way that people all over the world worked as a team during the early days of the pandemic was by creating signs and putting them in their windows, in their yards and in places where essential workers worked.

As you LISTEN to

Sunrise from Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé, create signs of encouragement for your family or classmates for working together during the year.

What emotions did you feel while listening to this music?

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LISTEN to

Storm from Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes.

What kind of feelings did you experience while listening to this piece? How is it different from Grofé’s Sunrise? Did your emotions stay the same throughout the music? Explain what happened in the music to make your emotions change. What musical elements made you feel this way?

Britten’s music reminds us how during the pandemic the days got long, and signs of encouragement got old. Each sunrise brought new uncertainties, and it seemed like we really were in the midst of a storm.

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C S O fo r Ki ds: Fa m ily M at in e e TH E PRO MISE O F A N EW DAY

Life can sometimes feel like we’re living in a storm because it’s filled with lots of obstacles. As an African American woman composer writing music at the turn of the 20th century, Florence Price had many obstacles that prevented her from having her music performed during her lifetime; nevertheless, she persisted.

When composing her Symphony No. 1, Florence Price reflected on the obstacles she and her ancestors faced and put her thoughts and feelings into music.

LISTEN to

Juba from Symphony No. 1 and describe how this music makes you feel. Can you hear how the music sounds positive with an undercurrent of conflict?

What obstacles have you overcome during this time of the pandemic?

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To overcome obstacles during the pandemic, we have had to support one another and help take care of others in our communities. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky understood that being in a community was important for well-being. As you listen to the fourth movement from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, notice how the music is composed in a hopeful-sounding major key. This music captures the feeling that we will be all right because we belong to a community.

LISTEN to the fourth movement from

Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.

Use the listening tool to explore what musical elements Tchaikovsky used to capture such a hopeful sound.

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C S O fo r Ki ds: Fa m ily M at in e e TH E PRO MISE O F A N EW DAY

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An orchestra can capture a specific time or place, inspire an emotion and tell a story all with music. It can sound big and exciting and then small and calm. In an instant, it can change from super-slow and sad to super-fast and energetic. It can reach deep down for low, tired notes or soar way up for high, happy notes. How can an orchestra do this? It’s all in the music and in the composers who write the music and the musicians who translate the notes into sounds and feelings.

Believe in the power of orchestral music to provide The Promise of a New Day!

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THOMAS WILKINS

Wilkins is principal conductor • Thomas of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra,

Meet the Conductor

the Germeshausen Youth and Family Concerts conductor and artistic adviser for education and community engagement with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and holds Indiana University’s Henry A. Upper Chair of Orchestral Conducting. He completed his long and successful tenure as music director of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra at the close of the 2020/21 season.

believes that an orchestra is one • He of the best demonstrations of what a

community is: a diverse group of people working together for a common purpose.

Every voice in the orchestra is different; because an orchestra is a community, however, musicians navigate their differences to achieve a common goal: beauty.

his conducting career, he has • During led orchestras throughout the United

States, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago. He has also served on the music faculty of North Park University.

lives with his wife, Sheri-Lee, and they • He are the proud parents of twin daughters, Erica and Nicole.

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Meet the Guest Artists How old are you?

I am 17 years old.

ROSIE WANG

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Rosie Wang has been playing the flute for eight years and has placed in a multitude of international and national competitions, including the 2019 Crain-Maling Foundation Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition, second prize at the 2021 Enkor International Music Competition, twice at the Walgreens National Concerto Competition and twice at the Society of American Musicians Competition.

from the flute, Wang is involved • Aside in business activities, photography and digital design, community service and more.

is the co-founder of Sharing the • She Stand, a nonprofit that delivers free online music lessons to students worldwide, the co-president of the Adlai E. Stevenson High School Chapter of Crescendo for a Cause, a national nonprofit that aims to use music performance as a vehicle for advocacy, and has been directing a volunteering program at the Friendship Village Senior Center, where she organizes weekly instrumental music performances.

Where do you go to school?

I go to school at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.

How old were you when you started playing your instrument?

I was 9 years old when I started playing the flute.

How does playing your instrument help you express your emotions?

Playing the flute helps me envision a story I want to tell in my head and treat my instrument as a self-expression outlet. In telling my story to the audience, I’m able to convey emotion through phrasing, dynamics, tone color, articulation and so much more.

Tell about a time when you turned to your instrument and the music you were playing to help you process your feelings?

In times of stress, sadness or anger, I always turn to my instrument. For me, playing the flute is like an escape, and I can fully transition my mind from anything I’m overthinking about to telling a story through my music. Instead of worrying about small, temporary matters in my life, I shift my focus to captivating other people with my music.

What are your hopes for your future?

In the future, I hope to continue turning to flute as a de-stressor, a self-expression outlet and a creative outlet. I am also very passionate about entrepreneurship and hope to run a sustainable company of my own someday.

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How old are you?

I am 18 years old.

Where do you go to school?

ISABELLA BROWN

Brown made her solo debut • Isabella with orchestra at the age of 10.

Since then she has performed with many orchestras across the country.

She has won first prize in dozens of competitions, including the 2020 CrainMaling Foundation Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition.

2019, she was awarded a top prize • Inin the Cooper International Violin

Competition and debuted with the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 16. Her performance was praised by critics, who wrote that Brown exhibited “complete control,” “soared out nicely over the big orchestra” and “delivered an intensely lyrical and scintillating performance of the Dvořák Violin Concerto.”

previously studied violin with Almita • She and Roland Vamos as a Scholarship

Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy and is thankful to be playing on a Dom Nicolo Marchioni of Bologna circa 1740 violin, generously on loan to her from Kenneth Warren & Son Ltd.

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I am currently pursuing my bachelor of music degree at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where I study with Martin Beaver.

How old were you when you started playing your instrument?

I was 2 years old when I started playing violin.

How does playing your instrument help you express your emotions?

Music transcends linguistic and cultural boundaries in ways that can’t be done with ordinary languages. Through the violin, I can express my deepest emotions in a way that I can’t do with words, and I think that’s really special.

Tell about a time when you turned to your instrument and the music you were playing to help you process your feelings?

I was 10 years old when I moved across the country from Virginia to Illinois to study with Almita Vamos, who became my violin teacher for the next eight years. Going through such a drastic change in my life when I was so young was exciting, but also scary. During that time in my life, which was full of so much uncertainty and unfamiliarity, my violin became something that I could turn to whenever I needed comfort.

It was during that time when I realized that I could never live without my violin.

What are your hopes for your future?

My hopes for the future are simply to continue pursuing a career as a professional violinist. I love all kinds of music, so I’m not sure exactly where I will end up, but as long as I am able to keep doing what I love, I know that I’ll be happy!

C S O fo r Ki ds: Fa m ily M at in e e TH E PRO MISE O F A N EW DAY

CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • RICCARDO MUTI zell music director DUAIN WOLFE Chorus Director and Conductor JESSIE MONTGOMERY Mead Composer-in-Residence HILARY HAHN Artist-in-Residence

MEMBERS OF THE CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA FOR THIS PERFORMANCE VIOLINS David Taylor Concertmaster Simon Michal Susan Synnestvedt Sando Shia Matous Michal Florence Schwartz So Young Bae Cornelius Chiu Ying Chai Kiju Joh Baird Dodge Lei Hou Nancy Park Hermine Gagné Ronald Satkiewicz Mihaela Ionescu Michele Lekas Florentina Ramniceanu VIOLAS Sunghee Choi Wei-Ting Kuo Danny Lai Maxwell Raimi Catherine Brubaker Weijing Wang CELLOS Daniel Katz Richard Hirschl Gary Stucka Karen Basrak Judy Stone Linc Smelser

BASSES Robert Kassinger Bradley Opland Christopher Polen Jeremy Attanaseo FLUTES Jennifer Gunn John Thorne Blair Francis OBOES Scott Hostetler Anne Bach CLARINETS John Bruce Yeh Teresa Reilly David Tuttle BASSOONS Keith Buncke William Buchman Nicholas Ritter HORNS Oto Carrillo James Smelser Daniel Gingrich David Griffin TRUMPETS Esteban Batallán Tage Larsen David Inmon

The CSO’s music director position is endowed in perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation.

Support for Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association programming for children and families is provided by Abbott Fund, Archer Daniels Midland Company, John Hart and Carol Prins, Kinder Morgan, PNC, Megan and Steve Shebik, Michael and Linda Simon, the Walter and Caroline Sueske Charitable Trust and an anonymous family foundation.

TROMBONES Michael Mulcahy Felix Relagado Charles Vernon TUBA Gene Pokorny TIMPANI Vadim Karpinos PERCUSSION Cynthia Yeh James Ross Patricia Dash HARP Eleanor Kirk KEYBOARD Pei-Yeh Tsai LIBRARIANS Mark Swanson ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL John Deverman Director Anne MacQuarrie Manager, CSO Auditions and Orchestra Personnel

Allstate Insurance Company is the CSOA Youth Education Program Sponsor.

CSO for Kids media partner:

Kidsbook© is a publication of the Negaunee Music Institute. For more information, call 312-294-3410 or email institute@cso.org.

Content for Kidsbook was created by Katy Clusen with graphic design by Shawn Sheehy.