CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
kidsbook
Community Pride Community Pride
CSO for Kids: School Concerts May 2, 2025 | 10:15 & 12:00
CSO for Kids: Family Matinees May 3, 2025 | 11:00 & 12:45
A community can be found in many places — your classroom, neighborhood and even the natural world. The word community also can mean a group of people with common interests. An orchestra and the people who make a concert happen are a kind of community.
In this concert, we will explore three important concepts that are essential for every community.
PERFORMERS
Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Wilkins conductor
These three concepts guide the people who create an orchestra concert at Symphony Center. Keep reading and discover the community that brings the music you’ll hear on the stage to life.
Community Community Pride
Jaden Teague-Núñez steelpan PROGRAM
PROKOFIEV (ARR. OCHOA) March in B-flat Major
FUČÍK Entrance of the Gladiators
MENDELSSOHN Saltarello from Symphony No. 4 (Italian)
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4
GRIEG In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt
TEAGUE (ORCH. WHITMARSH) A Visit to Hell
BRAHMS (ORCH. SCHMELING) Hungarian Dance No. 5
SMETANA Dance of the Comedians from The Bartered Bride
Pride
COOPERATION COMMUNICATION CONVICTION COMMUNITY COMMUNITY CONVICTION
When you enter Symphony Center, ushers greet you and show you to your seats. As you listen to March in B-flat Major by Sergei Prokofiev, notice how the beginning of the piece features the winds and percussion communicating back and forth.
COMMUNITY COMMUNITY COOPERATION COOPERATIONCO
It sounds like the ushers when they excitedly greet guests as they arrive at the hall.
Pride Community Community Pride
CONVICTION
Symphony No. 4 by Felix Mendelssohn has a lot of quickly moving notes, just like the staff at Symphony Center consists of dozens of people who are always on the move, cooperating to make sure everything is working smoothly.
Entrance of the Gladiators by Julius Fučík is a military march that you might hear at the circus, but at this concert, imagine the brass instruments are joyous concertgoers marching to their seats in Orchestra Hall.
One member of the staff is an archivist, someone who keeps a record of everything the Orchestra does.
COMMUNICATION COMMUNICAT
CHICAGOSYMPHONYORCHESTRA
WhenPyotrIlyichTchaikovskywrote SymphonyNo.4,hefeltabandonedbyhis aboutcommunity.Hesaid,“Butothersdonotcare you.Theyhavenoteventurnedaround, nottheyhavenotglancedatyou,andtheyhave noticedthatyouaresolitaryandsad.”
Liam Teague wrote his piece for steelpan and orchestra when he was a teenager. His son, Jaden Teague-Núñez, performs it at the concert.
When Jaden won the Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition, the steelpan community around the world celebrated his win.
ATIONCOOPERATION COOPERATION
Hear how In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg starts out very quietly and slowly, like the stagehands need to be when they’re backstage during the concert. Then the music gets faster and louder, just like the stagehands when they have a lot of running around to do to get the stage ready for the orchestra.
TIONCOMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION
COOPERATION CONVICTION CONVICTIONCONVI
COMMUNICATION
The orchestra is made up of more people than you might think. It’s not just the musicians and conductors, but librarians, too! The librarians oversee the process of getting the music ready to play and putting scores on the stands before each concert.
Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms captures the joy of making music together. Listen to the orchestra and think about all the ways your community expresses joy!
Bedřich Smetana’s Dance of the Comedians from The Bartered Bride is the last piece of music in this concert, and you, the audience members, are the final piece of the puzzle that makes up this community. This cheerful music celebrates the hard work it took to put this concert together. It also celebrates your conviction that this concert is worth your while. Without you, this community would not exist. It takes a lot of effort to bring an orchestra concert to the stage, but we know that what we are building together is worth our sweat, our passion and our full selves.
Meet the CONDUCTOR
Thomas Wilkins
Thomas Wilkins is Principal Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; the Germeshausen Youth and Family Concerts Conductor, and Artistic Adviser, Education and Community Engagement with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He holds Indiana University’s Henry A. Upper Chair of Orchestral Conducting and is Principal Guest Conductor of the Virginia Symphony.
He believes that an orchestra is one 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 negotiate their differences to achieve a common goal: beauty.
During his conducting career, Wilkins has led orchestras throughout the United States, including the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics, the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras, and the symphonies of Chicago, Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit and the National Symphony, among others.
He lives with his wife, Sheri-Lee, and they are the proud parents of twin daughters, Erica and Nicole.
Meet the
GUEST ARTIST
Jaden Teague-Núñez
Jaden is 17 years old and was born in Panama City, Panama. The son of Trinidadian and Panamanian parents, he moved to the United States in 2011 and began studying steelpan and piano (classical and jazz) at ages 8 and 10, respectively.
In 2024, Jaden won the Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition, becoming the first steelpan player in history of the event to do so.
Among his growing list of accomplishments, Jaden has been a guest soloist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Fox Valley Orchestra and the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Jaden was a guest performer at the 2023 Tuba Bach Festival in Big Rapids, Michigan, where he was honored to collaborate with guitar virtuoso Fareed Haque and tuba master Ed Mallet; he frequently performs with his father, Liam Teague, as the duo TNTeague
Jaden attends DeKalb High School, where he previously served as the drummer for the jazz ensemble, and now holds the chair of pianist; he also plays steelpan and drum set in the DHS steel band and is a member of the marching band.
In addition to his passion for music, Jaden practices mixed martial arts.
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
KLAUS MÄKELÄ zell music director designate RICCARDO MUTI music director emeritus for life
DANIIL TRIFONOV artist-in-residence
violins
Robert Chen Concertmaster
The Louis C. Sudler Chair, endowed
by an anonymous benefactor
Stephanie Jeong Associate Concertmaster
The Cathy and Bill Osborn Chair
David Taylor Assistant Concertmaster*
The Ling Z. and Michael C. Markovitz Chair
Yuan-Qing Yu Assistant Concertmaster*
So Young Bae
Cornelius Chiu
Gina DiBello
Kozue Funakoshi
Russell Hershow
Qing Hou
Gabriela Lara
Matous Michal
Simon Michal
Sando Shia
Susan Synnestvedt
Rong-Yan Tang
Baird Dodge Principal
Danny Yehun Jin Assistant Principal
Lei Hou
Ni Mei
Hermine Gagné
Rachel Goldstein ‡
Mihaela Ionescu
Melanie Kupchynsky
Wendy Koons Meir
Joyce Noh §
Ronald Satkiewicz
Florence Schwartz
violas
Teng Li Principal
The Paul Hindemith Principal Viola Chair
Catherine Brubaker
Youming Chen
Sunghee Choi
Wei-Ting Kuo
Danny Lai
Weijing Michal
Diane Mues ‡
Lawrence Neuman
Max Raimi
cellos
John Sharp Principal
The Eloise W. Martin Chair
Kenneth Olsen Assistant Principal
The Adele Gidwitz Chair
Karen Basrak
The Joseph A. and Cecile
Renaud Gorno Chair
Richard Hirschl
Daniel Katz
Katinka Kleijn
Brant Taylor
The Blickensderfer Family Chair
basses
Alexander Hanna Principal
The David and Mary Winton
Green Principal Bass Chair
Alexander Horton Assistant Principal
Daniel Carson
Ian Hallas
Robert Kassinger
Mark Kraemer
Stephen Lester ‡
Bradley Opland
Andrew Sommer
harp
Lynne Turner flutes
Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson Principal
The Erika and Dietrich M.
Gross Principal Flute Chair
Emma Gerstein
Jennifer Gunn
piccolo
Jennifer Gunn
The Dora and John Aalbregtse Piccolo Chair
oboes
William Welter Principal
Lora Schaefer Assistant Principal
Scott Hostetler
english horn
Scott Hostetler
clarinets
Stephen Williamson Principal
John Bruce Yeh Assistant Principal
The Governing Members Chair
Gregory Smith
e-flat clarinet
John Bruce Yeh
bassoons
Keith Buncke Principal
William Buchman Assistant Principal
Miles Maner
horns
Mark Almond Principal
James Smelser
David Griffin
Oto Carrillo
Susanna Gaunt
Daniel Gingrich
trumpets
Esteban Batallán § Principal
The Adolph Herseth Principal Trumpet Chair, endowed by an anonymous benefactor
Mark Ridenour Assistant Principal
John Hagstrom
The Bleck Family Chair
Tage Larsen
trombones
Jay Friedman Principal
The Lisa and Paul Wiggin
Principal Trombone Chair
Michael Mulcahy
Charles Vernon
bass trombone
Charles Vernon
tuba
Gene Pokorny Principal
The Arnold Jacobs Principal Tuba Chair, endowed by Christine Querfeld
timpani
David Herbert Principal
The Clinton Family Fund Chair
Vadim Karpinos Assistant Principal percussion
Cynthia Yeh Principal
Patricia Dash
Vadim Karpinos
librarians
Justin Vibbard Principal
Carole Keller
Mark Swanson
cso fellows
Jesús Linárez Violin
The Michael and Kathleen Elliott Fellow
Olivia Reyes Bass
orchestra personnel
John Deverman Director
Anne MacQuarrie Manager, CSO Auditions and Orchestra Personnel stage technicians
Christopher Lewis Stage Manager
Blair Carlson
Paul Christopher
Chris Grannen
Ryan Hartge
Peter Landry
Joshua Mondie
* Assistant concertmasters are listed by seniority ‡ On sabbatical § On leave
The CSO’s music director position is endowed in perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation.
The Gilchrist Foundation and Louise H. Benton Wagner chairs currently are unoccupied.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra string sections utilize revolving seating. Players behind the first desk (first two desks in the violins)
change seats systematically every two weeks and are listed alphabetically. Section percussionists also are listed alphabetically.
INSTRUMENTS OF THE ORCHESTRA
THE STRING FAMILY includes violin, viola, cello, bass and harp. These instruments are made of wood and strings and are played by vibrating the strings using a bow, or plucking or striking the strings with the fingers.
THE WOODWIND FAMILY includes flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone. These instruments all have the same basic shape: a long tube with a mouthpiece at one end. The flute is played by blowing across a mouthpiece to create a vibration. Oboe, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone are all played by blowing air into a single or double reed attached to the mouthpiece, creating a vibration that results in sound.
THE BRASS FAMILY includes horn, trumpet, trombone, euphonium and tuba. Brass instruments make a sound when the players vibrate their lips inside a mouthpiece, which is fitted into the instrument. The players can change pitch on a trumpet, horn or tuba by pressing on valves. Trombone players change pitch by moving the slide back and forth.
THE PERCUSSION FAMILY includes snare drum, bass drum, gong, triangle, xylophone, timpani and piano, among many others. Percussion instruments are struck, scraped or shaken.
Support for Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association programming for children and families is provided by 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.
The Negaunee Music Institute is endowed in perpetuity through a gift from The Negaunee Foundation.
Youth Education Program Sponsor
Family Matinees Sponsor
CSO for Kids concerts and CPS Partnerships Corporate Sponsor
Content for Kidsbook was created by Katy Clusen with graphic design by Shawn Sheehy.
Kidsbook© is a publication of the Negaunee Music Institute. For more information, call 312-294-3410 or email institute@cso.org.
Violin
Flute
Trombone
Clarinet Oboe
Timpani Snare Drum
Xylophone
Cymbal
Bassoon
Saxophone
Tuba Horn
Viola
Cello
Piano
Bass
Harp