Hill Auditorium
Orchestre de Paris
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“Here was something truly special: a conductor who reveled in freshly imagining each sound.” (The Times, London)
At 28, the young Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä already has an impressive resume: music director of the Orchestre de Paris, chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, and artistic partner of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, a role that will turn into chief conductor in 2027.
For his UMS debut, he conducts the orchestra in Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Stravinsky’s complete Firebird, with 2022 Van Cliburn winner Yunchan Lim performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The 18-year-old Lim’s ascent to international stardom has been meteoric; he is the youngest person to win gold at the Van Cliburn Competition and also won both the Audience Award and the award for Best Performance of a New Work.
Program
Claude Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Sergei Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in c minor, Op. 18
Encore: Frédéric Chopin 12 Études, Op. 25, No. 1 in A-flat Major (“Aeolian Harp”)
Igor Stravinsky The Firebird (complete version)
Join host Doyle Armbrust for “The Society of Disobedient Listeners” — a special pre-performance talk, 6:30 pm in the lower lobby of Hill Auditorium. This evening’s special guest will be Hannah Edgar, classical critic for The Chicago Tribune.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
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Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä has held the position of chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic since 2020 and music director of the Orchestre de Paris since September 2021. He assumes the title of chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in September 2027 and, in the same season, begins his tenure as Zell Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. An exclusive Decca Classics artist, he has recorded two albums featuring Ballets Russes scores by Stravinsky and Debussy with Orchestre de Paris. With the Oslo Philharmonic, he has recorded the complete Sibelius Symphonies, Sibelius’ and Prokofiev’s first Violin Concerto with Janine Jansen and Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 and 6.
Since becoming the youngest person to ever win gold at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at the age of 18 in 2022, Yunchan Lim’s ascent to international stardom has been meteoric. Marin Alsop expressed: “Yunchan is that rare artist who brings profound musicality and prodigious technique organically together.”
In the years following his Cliburn win, Yunchan made successful orchestral debuts with the New York, Los Angeles, Munich, and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras, as well as Chicago, Lucerne, BBC, Boston, and Tokyo Symphony orchestras among others. Recital appearances include performances at Carnegie Hall, Verbier Festival, the Wigmore Hall, Het Concertgebouw, and Suntory Hall, among other major stages.
Lim’s 2024/25 season highlights include orchestral debuts with Washington National Symphony, London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, and WDR Symphony Orchestras, as well as returning to New York Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra de Paris. This season will also see his recital debut at the Kennedy Center, and a return to Carnegie Hall.
As an exclusive Decca Classics recording artist, Yunchan Lim’s acclaimed debut studio album, Chopin Études Opp.10 & 25 has gone double platinum in South Korea and topped the classical charts around the world. His previous releases include Liszt’s Transcendental Études (Steinway & Sons); Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (Universal Music Group); and his appearance on KBS’s 2020 Young Musicians of Korea album.
Born in Siheung, Korea, Yunchan Lim began piano lessons at age 7. He was accepted into the Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts at age 13, where he met his teacher and mentor, Minsoo Sohn. In 2019, aged only 15, he became the youngest person to win Korea’s IsangYun International Competition. Yunchan currently studies at the New England Conservatory of Music with his teacher Minsoo Sohn.
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