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Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Mäkelä Conducts López Bellido & Mahler 5
Feb 16-18, 2023
Overview
In his Fifth Symphony, Mahler embraces all aspects of life. After a tumultuous funeral march, the work’s five movements include folk-inspired dances, a tender love song and a boisterous finale. Noted for his “great affinity with Mahler” (Le Monde), Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä pairs the composer’s Fifth Symphony with the U.S. premiere of Aino by Peruvian American composer Jimmy López Bellido.
Explore the music in the free preconcert conversation featuring Steve Rings in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets are needed.
Program
Sibelius
The Swan of Tuonela
López Bellido
Aino [United States Premiere, CSO Co-commission]
Mahler
Symphony No. 5
Performers
Sponsors & Partners
Official Airline of the CSO
Aino is commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra through the generous support of the Helen Zell Commissioning Program.
The appearance of Klaus Mäkelä is made possible by the Juli Plant Grainger Fund for Artistic Excellence.
Mäkelä & Sibelius
Klaus Mäkelä teams up with the Oslo Philharmonic, where he serves as Chief Conductor, to present the complete symphonies of Jean Sibelius. “Mäkelä’s cycle is all of a piece, accomplished and insightful,” says Gramophone, “full of the beauty and intrigue that make these works so perennially exciting.” Available for a limited time at the Symphony Store.
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Discover more on Experience CSO
Of his debut Klaus Mäkelä recalls, “I was very impressed by them. I’m someone who has listened to a lot of recordings, and of course the Chicago Symphony on CD is an orchestra I have heard a lot. But it is always different when you are standing there, in front of the orchestra."
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Beethoven's Fifth looms so large that it has inevitably influenced other composers who have reached this same milestone. The CSO will perform four of these Fifth symphonies — call them the “four Fives” — this season.
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Jimmy López calls his tone poem "Aino," a CSO co-commission, "first and foremost a gift to conductor Klaus Mäkelä, but it is also an homage to the country that welcomed me as a young student."
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Patron Services associates offer their own choices for the must-see CSO and SCP performances of 2022-23. First up, Robert Coad, VIP Services manager, who's mad for Mahler.
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Joseph Fernicola, director of sales and patron experience, plans to take in as many Riccardo Muti concerts as possible during the music director's final season in the post.
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To celebrate the enduring legacy of Gustav Mahler, born July 7, 1860, here some pertinent facts and a playlist of memorable CSO performances of his works.
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