Precision and Emotion: The Music Institute of Chicago's Academy Chamber Orchestra
May 4, 2015
I was blown away the first time I heard the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy Chamber Orchestra perform in 2008. Sitting in Nichols Hall with my daughters, we heard Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings played with both exquisite precision and intense emotion. I’ll freely admit that I teared up, from the sheer power of the piece and the focused energy of the musicians. Violinist Ethan Hoppe, a former Young Steinway performer featured in one of our videos, was in the orchestra then and was the reason we went to the concert. Ethan is now getting his master’s degree in violin performance at Yale.
The goals of the Academy program, while lofty, are quite inspirational:
- To be the most inquisitive musician
- To be the most articulate musician
- To be able to play as technically accurately as possible
- To be able to move any audience I play for
So, when Academy Director Jim Setapen called a few months ago to see whether it might be possible for the orchestra to perform here, I was thrilled. Whatever the scheduling challenges might be, and there were plenty, we were determined to make it work.
Among the 30 musicians in this year’s Academy program, at least nine have performed or will perform on our own Young Steinway Concert Series. On Saturday, May 16, you can hear them in their final concert of the season in our own Petty Auditorium at 4 pm. The stage will be full to bursting, but Jim assures me that they will all fit and still be able to play.
The concert will begin with a jubilant work by J.S. Bach, an arrangement for three violin soloists of his concerto for three harpsichords. Be prepared for a great deal of elegance and some very fast notes from three of the graduating seniors: Gallia Kastner, Katherine Gallagher, and Nicholas Brown.
Next is Richard Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, a work he composed as a birthday present for his wife. He hired musicians to play it live as a surprise in their home as she awoke on her birthday. How romantic is that?
The concert concludes with Serenade by Czech composer Josef Suk, who not only studied with Antonin Dvorak but also married his daughter. I’ve been listening to this piece while I’m typing, and “lush” comes to mind as a good description. Jim Setapen describes it as “by turns lyrical, soaring, exciting, and poetic.” I only wish we had this piece on CD so I didn’t have to listen to it through my lousy computer speaker!
If you haven’t had the opportunity to hear this chamber orchestra play, carve out an hour or so on a Saturday afternoon, May 16. I can safely promise that you will not be disappointed!
While you wait
Listen to the pieces that will be performed on May 16. All you need is your library card.