Chicago Symphony violinist joins Sinfonietta DuPage at May 5 concert
The Sinfonietta DuPage spring concert on May 5 will showcase Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist Cornelius Chiu. He will be performing Sibelius Violin Concerto, op. 47, D minor (c. 1905). Also on the program is Klughardt Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 57.
The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 5, at Peace Church, 21W500 Butterfield Road, Lombard. Doors open 30 minutes prior to the concert. Tickets, available only at the door, are $22 or $12 for students or seniors; cash or check only. Parking is free and there is ample intimate seating.
Cornelius Chiu joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1996. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees with high distinction; a performer’s certificate; and a coveted fellowship from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
A winner in the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and the National Arts and Letters Competition, Chiu has performed as a soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Washington Chamber Orchestra and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. An avid chamber musician, he frequently appears with his colleagues on the CSO Chamber Music series at Northwestern University, Wheaton College Conservatory of Music and Roosevelt University. He has performed at the Sarasota and Aspen music festivals, Rencontres Musicales Festival, Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute for Young Artists and with the Ensemble Villa Musica in France and Germany.
A dedicated teacher, Chiu has maintained a private studio for more than 35 years. A former faculty member at Wheaton College, he currently teaches at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts.
The Violin Concerto in D minor, originally composed in 1904 and revised in 1905, is the only concerto by Sibelius. The initial version of the concerto premiered on Feb. 8, 1904, with Sibelius conducting. Sibelius withheld this version from publication and made substantial revisions.
The new version premiered on Oct. 19, 1905, with Richard Strauss conducting the Berlin Court Orchestra. It is symphonic in scope, and like most concertos, is in three movements. Musicologist Donald Tovey wrote that he had “not met a more original, a more masterly, and a more exhilarating work than the Sibelius violin concerto.”
August Friedrich Klughardt (1847-1902) was a German composer and conductor. He composed multiple works for orchestra, chamber music, as well as opera. From 1869 to 1873, he worked at the court theater in Weimar. From 1882 to the end of his life, he was director of music at the court in Dessau. His works include six symphonies, four operas, and a variety of orchestral, vocal, and chamber works. Symphony No 4 was composed in 1890, with its first performance in 1892, with a dedication to Friedrich von Anhalt. Its four-movement structure is in a style of the more conservative Romantic composers of the time, similar to Schumann or Mendelssohn.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and National Endowment for the Arts, and Arts DuPage Foundation. Visit sinfoniettabelcanto.org.