Chicago Sinfonietta closes season with ‘Tonal Transformation’
Chicago Sinfonietta, led by Maestro Mei-Ann Chen, will close out its 37th season with “Tonal Transformation” at 7 p.m. Friday, May 9, at Wentz Concert Hall in Naperville, and 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, at Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. The guest artist will be acclaimed saxophonist Timothy McAllister.
The concert program will open with the Chicago premiere of a piece called “In the Beginning” by Brittany J. Green, a North Carolina-based composer, performer, and educator. Her music has been awarded the Alarm Will Sound Matt Marks Impact Fund, American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Charles Ives Scholarship, ASCAP Foundation’s Morton Gould Award, and New Music USA’s Creator Development Grant. She is currently in residence at Duke University, pursuing a Ph.D. in Music Composition as a Deans Graduate Fellow.
It will be followed by Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Strings written by one of the most prolific and distinguished Black American composers of our time, Adolphus Hailstork. He was born in 1941 in Rochester and grew up in Albany, New York.
Hailstork first began composing under the encouragement of his high school orchestra director. He received his doctorate in composition from Michigan State University, where he was a student of H. Owen Reed. He had previously studied at the Manhattan School of Music, at the American Institute at Fontainebleau, and at Howard University. He also has received honorary doctorates from the Manhattan School of Music and the College of William and Mary. He is professor emeritus at Old Dominion University.
Hailstork has written numerous works for chorus, solo voice, piano, organ, various chamber ensembles, band, orchestra, and opera. In total, he has written more than 250 compositions.
Chicago Sinfonietta will present the Chicago premiere of his Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Strings. Hailstork dedicated this composition to Timothy McAllister, “one of the foremost saxophonists of his generation” (The New York Times). According to the Chicago Sinfonietta’s website, “this work is a virtuosic exploration of the saxophone’s wide range of tonal colors. With its rich harmonies, intricate melodies, and rhythmic vitality, the concerto offers a captivating journey through an impressive range of emotions and musical landscapes.”
McAllister is today’s most celebrated classical saxophonist and educator. His career in music has taken him to over 20 countries, with solo performances in many of the world’s most prestigious venues including Prince Royal Albert Hall in London, the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.
Juxtaposing these two modern works is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s deeply colored Symphony No. 4 in F Minor. Tchaikovsky, one of the most prominent Russian composers of all time, wrote his Symphony No. 4 between 1877 and 1878. The work’s famous ominous opening fanfare transitions to a bright energy in the final movement, bringing Chicago Sinfonietta’s season to its conclusion.
For more information and tickets, go to chicagosinfonietta.org/may-2025-tonal-transformation/.