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
PERMANENTLY ENDOWED SUPPORT
- Menakka and Essel Bailey Fund for International Artistic Brilliance
PRINCIPAL SPONSOR
- Jon and Sandy Willen (in honor of Brian Willen, UMS Board Co-Chair)
- Laura Chang and Arnold Chavkin
SUPPORTING SPONSOR
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- Donald and Antoinette Morelock
MEDIA PARTNERS
Klaus Mäkelä is Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of Orchestre de Paris and, since Autumn 2022, Artistic Partner of the Concertgebouworkest. An exclusive Decca Classics Artist, he has recorded the complete Sibelius Symphony cycle with the Oslo Philharmonic as his first project for the label.
For his second season as Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris, Klaus Mäkelä has chosen to spotlight composers Pascal Dusapin, Betsy Jolas, Jimmy López Bellido, Magnus Lindberg and Kaija Saariaho, the latter featured with three different works. There is also a focus on the Ballets Russes, with two key Diaghilev scores: Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Rite of Spring.
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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