New Philharmonic starts season with “Tchaikovsky and Beethoven”

Esme Arias-Kim joins the New Philharmonic to perform Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23 and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 24 at the MAC.

Photo: Esme Arias-Kim. Photo curtesy of Esme Arias-Kim.

“What I have in my heart and soul - must find a way out. That's the reason for music,” said Ludwig van Beethoven. It’s wonderful that we can listen to and appreciate the music of talented composers many years after they wrote their masterpieces and shared them with the world. The musicians of our time help us enjoy that music, and it’s a great gift that is given to us.

One of the orchestras that keeps sharing the beauty of classical music with the Chicagoland area is the New Philharmonic, the professional orchestra in residence at the McAninch Arts Center. Under the baton of Maestro Kirk Muspratt, the New Philharmonic starts its 2023-2024 concert season with the elegance of Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto in D Major, Op. 35, and with the energy of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92.

A concert program called “Tchaikovsky and Beethoven” will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 23 and 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 24 at the McAninch Arts Center located at 425 Fawell Boulevard on the grounds of the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.

During these two performances, the New Philharmonic will be joined by 17-year-old violinist Esme Arias-Kim, winner of the 2023 Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition.

“I’m so thrilled to have Esme join us again on the Belushi Performance Hall stage,” said Maestro Muspratt. “She is a brilliant musician whose star continues to rise at lightning speed. Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is a favorite among soloists and audiences, and she’s been rehearsing the work in advance of this concert at a summer camp under the tutelage of Itzhak Perlman, so I know our audience is in for a spectacular performance they’ll never forget.”

The audience remembers Esme Arias-Kim from her brilliant performance with the New Philharmonic in January 2023. That program featured Korngold’s “Hollywood Concerto,” and this award-winning prodigious young violinist demonstrated all the beauty of that piece and all the spectrum of her own talent.

Now, Esme is ready to wow the audience performing Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto, which is one of the best-known violin concertos ever written and which is Tchaikovsky’s only violin concerto. Esme is ready to demonstrate her own look at this masterpiece, which requires not only a brilliant technical presentation, but also an emotional connection with the piece and a deep understanding of the composer’s feelings and intentions.

Composed in 1878, this violin concerto consists of three parts: Allegro moderato, Canzonetta: Andante, and Finale: Allegro vivacissimo. Each part carries its own mood and tells its own story, but all three are equally unforgettable. This composition met a few difficulties on its way to the stage, and finally it was performed on December 4, 1881. Adolf Brodsky premiered the concerto in Vienna. He later wrote: “One can play the concerto again and again and never be bored. And, this (repetition) is a most important circumstance for conquering its difficulties.”

This violin solo imposes technical difficulties on the violinist, but nothing is impossible for such a hardworking and talented violin player as Esme, who is originally from Hoffman Estates. Lately, Esme attended the Music Institute of Chicago Academy as a Merit Scholarship Fellow and studied with Almita Vamos. She will be a high school senior this fall at the Colburn Music Academy in Los Angeles studying violin with Robert Lipsett. Esme is also a fellow of the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative, as well as the daughter of a former New Philharmonic musician.

Esme began her violin studies at the age of two and a half, made her solo orchestral debut at 10 with the Oistrakh Symphony, and has had solo appearances with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Sinfonia da Camera, Ottawa Chamber Orchestra, Midwest Young Artists Symphony Orchestra, Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, Accademia d’Archi Arrigoni Orchestra, and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also presented solo recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Chicago Cultural Center, 92Y New York, Musikferien am Starnberger See in Germany, and Palácio Foz in Portugal.

The fact that Esme is winner of the 2023 Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition is very important. As a result, she will appear as a soloist in an upcoming CYSO concert. Her appearance with the New Philharmonic this September is going to be another memorable event both for her and for the audience.

Photo: The New Philharmonic and Maestro Kirk Muspratt. Photo courtesy of the McAninch Arts Center.

It’s going to be a memorable event also for Maestro Muspratt, who is recognized as one of the outstanding figures in the new generation of conductors. His honors include recipient of the 2018 Conductor of the Year award from the Illinois Council of Orchestras and recognition by the Chicago Tribune as a 2006 “Chicagoan of the Year.”

Maestro Muspratt prepared another gem for his audience as well. This concert program will feature Beethoven’s high-spirited, rhythmic Symphony No. 7, Op. 92, recognized as one of Beethoven’s best works. Composed between 1811 and 1812, this symphony is a thought-provoking composition that consists of Introduction, Poco sostenuto - Vivace, Allegretto, Presto, and Allegro con brio.

“It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer,” Beethoven said. Maestro Muspratt and the New Philharmonic have enough skills and love for music to bring their audience into the mental state of Beethoven, and they will do it in a brilliant way.

For tickets, please visit https://www.atthemac.org/events/tchaikovskybeethoven/ or call the MAC Box Office at 630-942-4000. Tickets are $55. A limited number of $10 tickets are available for students with valid ID.

Beginning Sept. 12 MAC Box Office hours are 12 pm to 6 pm Tuesday to Saturday and two hours prior to performance. A free MAC Chat will precede the concerts beginning one hour prior to each performance. WDCB 90.9FM, Chicago’s Home for Jazz, is the Media Sponsor for this performance.

Natalia Dagenhart

09/05/23