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Can history inspire greatness? As part of the Hill 100 celebration, UMS is proud to present the Chicago Symphony, which opened Hill Auditorium on May 14, 1913 at the 20th Ann Arbor May Festival. This concert, conducted by CSO music director Riccardo Muti, marks the 204th Chicago Symphony program since its UMS debut, opening UMS’s 14th season in 1892.

The concert—and the Hill 100 season—opens with Wagner’s Overture to The Flying Dutchman, a work that they performed at that same May Festival the season that Hill Auditorium opened. Frequently heard in the 1920s, this piece has not been programmed on a UMS concert in nearly 35 years. Cesar Franck’s most well-known work, the Symphony in d minor, dates from the same period and rounds out the program. In between, CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Mason Bates’ Alternative Energy explores the human progression through greater and more powerful forces of energy, blending electronic sounds recorded at Fermilab with percussion and orchestra.

We are thrilled to bring this very special performance to Hill, as it represents all that is UMS: proud history, brilliant performance, and a promise to inspire awe.

Program:
Wagner: Overture to The Flying Dutchman (1843)
Mason Bates: Alternative Energy (2011)
Franck: Symphony in d minor (1888)
Encore:
Hail to the Victors arranged by CSO’s own Max Raimi
Program Book [PDF]

Also see:
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Website

World-renowned conductor Riccardo Muti made his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in July 1973. In September of 2007—for the first time in more than 30 years—he appeared with the CSO in a month-long residency that included two weeks of remarkable subscription concerts, a sold-out opening night gala, and a triumphant European tour, which marked the Orchestra’s first performances in Italy in more than 25 years. In May 2008, the CSO announced Muti’s appointment as its tenth music director, a post he assumed with the beginning of the 2010/11 season.

Over the course of his extraordinary career, Riccardo Muti has conducted some of the most of the important orchestras in the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, as well as the Vienna Philharmonic.

This performance marks the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 204th appearance under UMS auspices. The CSO made its UMS debut over 100 years ago, in November 1892. Historically, the Orchestra appeared under UMS auspices under its previous names of the Chicago Orchestra and the Theodore Thomas Orchestra. The CSO last performed at Hill Auditorium in the 2011-2012 season, with violinist Pinchas Zukerman.

This evening’s concert marks Riccardo Muti’s eighth appearance under UMS auspices. Maestro Muti made his UMS debut in 1979 leading the Philadelphia Orchestra and conducted the Orchestra again that same year with Alicia de Larrocha as piano soloist. He returned under UMS auspices three more times in 1983 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the first with pianist Krystian Zimerman and the second and third with violinist Gidon Kremer.

Overture to the Flying Dutchman -- Richard Wagner