Chicago Symphony Orchestra lights up the city with a Fanfare concert program
The musicians from the CSO brass and percussion sections led by CSO trombonist and conductor Michael Mulcahy presented a Fanfare concert program May 27 - May 30.
Michael Mulcahy (conductor/CSO trombone) leads musicians of the CSO brass and percussion sections in an all-American program on May 27, 2021 in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center. Photo by: Anne Ryan
By Natalia Dagenhart
After fourteen months of not being able to attend live classical music events, I was extremely happy to finally go back to the Chicago Symphony Center to hear a live concert called Fanfare presented by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra brass and percussion sections accompanied by guest brass and piano musicians. Under the baton of Maestro Michael Mulcahy, this beautiful program touched the heart of each and every person attending this event. Although the musicians and the audience members had to follow the social distancing rules and the concert was presented with reduced audience capacity, the music broke all the barriers and united everyone through its magical sounds and unbeatable power.
The musicians looked happy as well. I noticed that some of them, when they had a chance, stared at the audience and had gratitude in their eyes. The exchange of energy during live concerts is difficult to underestimate, and the audience members tried as much as they could to demonstrate to the musicians their thankfulness and applauded enthusiastically after each piece.
Before the concert, CSOA President Jeff Alexander and Members’ Committee Chair James Smelser thanked everyone who made it possible for the orchestra to go through these difficult months and to make these live concerts possible. Mr. Alexander and Mr. Smelser also thanked everyone for coming to the Chicago Symphony Center and for demonstrating their patience and support.
CSOA President Jeff Alexander, Members’ Committee Chair James Smelser and CSOA Board Chair Helen Zell welcome the audience from the stage of Orchestra Hall at the May 27 concert. Photo by: Anne Ryan
The concert started with Aaron Copland’s epic piece - Fanfare for the Common Man. The loud and life-affirming sounds of this piece caught everyone’s attention - the piece started with dramatic percussion followed by clear and heroic trumpet notes. This composition, with its main theme played by trumpets, French horns, trombones and tubas and juxtaposed with timpani and cymbals, demonstrated the beauty of each individual's talent. It was a good choice of music to start such a meaningful concert program.
It was followed by Symphony for Brass and Percussion, Op. 16 written by Gunther Schuller. This composition, with its inner tension and numerous musical dialogs between various groups of instruments, didn’t just demonstrate the technical abilities of those instruments. In my opinion, it also somehow echoed our own feelings and emotions that we experienced during the pandemic.
The audience also had a chance to enjoy Samuel Barber's Mutations from Bach. This calm and thoughtful composition, based on a Lutheran hymn "Christe, du Lamm Gottes," brought to the audience the feeling of peace and harmony and demonstrated the ability of the musicians to play in a brilliantly structured ensemble.
This concert program also included Street Song for Symphonic Brass by Michael Tilson Thomas. This beautiful work consists of three continuous parts that complement one another and show all the beauty of the instruments and their ability to create a musical mosaic that consists of various harmonies, moods, styles and emotions. Dissonance and consonance, movement and suspension - all that is in this composition, which takes you on an exciting musical journey away from your everyday problems and worries.
CSO trombonist and conductor Michael Mulcahy leads musicians from the CSO brass and percussion sections. Photo by Anne Ryan
Presto Barbaro from On the Waterfront by Leonard Bernstein impressed the audience with its energy and expression. This emotional piece became a great conclusion of the concert, and we were ready to leave, but Maestro Mulcahy announced that they prepared a musical present for Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti who was born in Naples July 28, 1941 and who will be 80 this summer. The musicians played a Happy Birthday song in a very nice and unique interpretation written by trombonist/composer Timothy Higgins, and the audience greeted it with warmth and enthusiasm.
It was an unforgettable event. To tell you the truth, I wanted to cry when I first saw the musicians coming to the stage that day. We all deserve to have music in our lives. We all deserve to have music in our hearts. We all need to stay connected with each other through the means of music. As English composer Malcolm Arnold said, "Music is the social act of communication among people, a gesture of friendship, the strongest there is." Let’s make sure that we never live in a world that deprives us of this gesture of friendship, as we need it now more than ever.
Natalia Dagenhart
5/29/21
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