ESO ends season with 'Pictures at an Exhibition'
The Elgin Symphony Orchestra closes its 2016-17 season Saturday and Sunday, May 6 and 7, with concerts conducted by music director Andrew Grams that highlight Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky's towering "Pictures at an Exhibition."
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Hemmens, 45 Symphony Way, Elgin. Tickets are $30-$65 with student tickets at $12. Call (847) 888-4000 or visit www.elginsymphony.org/.
Based on drawings and watercolors by Viktor Hartmann, the suite has inspired interpretations from such diverse performers as Emerson Lake & Palmer, metal bands Mekong Delta and Armored Saint, electronic musician Amon Tobin, and guitarist Trevor Rabin. Even Michael Jackson sampled a short section on his song HIStory.
As part of the ESO's ongoing exploration of Mahler, the program also holds his Songs of a Wayfarer with baritone Takaoki Onishi, a 2016-17 ensemble member of the Lyric Ryan Opera Center. The piece is a song cycle with lyrics written by Mahler himself and based on one of his favorite collections of German folk poetry.
Also featured is Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, with text adapted from "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare, performed with the Elgin Master Chorale.
"Rachmaninoff himself stated after attending the premiere of Serenade to Music that it was the most beautiful piece of music he'd ever heard," Grams said. "And like Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, which opened our season, 'Pictures at an Exhibition' has a wonderful melody for the saxophone that captures the painting by Hartmann of a troubadour singing a song before an old castle.
The grandeur of The Great Gate of Kiev caps off another great season of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra."
Grams will give a preconcert chat one hour before the concert, and Saturday concertgoers are invited after the performance to Mingle with the Musicians at the Elgin Public House.
Takaoki Onishi
A native of Tokyo, baritone Takaoki Onishi is the inaugural first prize winner of the IFAC-Juilliard Singing Competition in Japan, which awarded him a full scholarship to the Juilliard School. He is also a second-year ensemble member with the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Ryan Opera Center, and he appeared in the Lyric's 2017 production of Eugene Onegin.
Onishi is quickly gaining recognition as one of the most talented singers of his generation. In just one year, he won the Top Prize in Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, and the First Prize in both the Opera Index, Inc. Vocal Competition and the Licia Albanese-Puccini International Vocal Competition. He also received a prize in the 2013 Loren L. Zachary Competition. He was also named First Prize winner in the 2015 Giulio Gari Competition.
Songs of a Wayfarer was written by Gustav Mahler at the end of a turbulent relationship with soprano Johanna Richter, and letters to friends reveal the extent of his heartache - "I am torn apart, my heart is bleeding, all is lost." He wrote the lyrics to the song cycle himself, although they were influenced by German folk poetry. The words convey all the emotions of someone despondent over a lost love - melancholy, regret, despair, bittersweet remembrance and finally acceptance and the embracing of all that life offers: "Everything: love and grief, world and dream."
Elgin Master Chorale
A cultural cornerstone of Elgin and the Fox Valley, the Elgin Master Chorale comprises nearly 100 volunteer singers from across the Fox Valley. Incorporated as a not-for-profit in 1966, the organization changed its name to Elgin Master Chorale in 2014. In residence at Elgin Community College, EMC presents several concerts per year at the Blizzard Theatre at the college, as well as the Hemmens Cultural Arts Center and other locations in the Chicago area. It is under the direction of maestro Andrew Lewis.