Program Notes PDF - The Grant Park Music Festival

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Friday, June 12, 2009 carlos kalmar’s biography can be found on page A2. Christopher Bell’s biography can be found on page A3. GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL Hailed by Opera Now for his “believably heroic figure with a gleaming ring at the top of his vocal register,” John Horton Murray has recently added several new roles to his repertoire at the Nationaltheater Mannheim where his performances included the title roles in Lohengrin, Parsifal, and Otello, Jason in Medée, Alvaro in La forza del destino, Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Max in Der Freischütz, Siegmund in Die Walküre, Sergei in Lady Macbeth von Mtsensk, and Canio in Pagliacci. Highlights of his engagements in America include The Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Utah Opera, Tulsa Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera and Opera Company of Philadelphia. Among his many international engagements are performances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Frankfurt Opera, the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, the Scottish Opera, Opera North Ireland, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro alla Scala. On the concert stage, John Horton Murray recently performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Kansas City, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Colorado Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. A frequent guest at festivals around the world, the tenor has been featured at the Spoleto Festival, Antiken Fesitval, Bard Music Festival, the Baden-Baden Festival and the Bellingham Festival. Mr. Murray has recorded on numerous labels including Naxos, London, Decca and Sony. Opera News hails Denis Sedov as “tall and commanding, gifted with a splendid physique and a bass to match” and his ability to “seduce with his voice as well as with his presence.” His engagements in the 2008-09 season include Washington National Opera, Al Ayre Español, the Grant Park Music Festival and the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico. In future seasons, he returns to the Cincinnati, Atlanta and Vancouver Symphonies and the Atlanta Opera. In the 2007-08 season he sang with Seattle Opera, L’Opera de Montreal, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Quebec Symphony, as well as with L’Orchestre de Paris. Mr. Sedov’s recent international engagements include his debut with the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala and the Paris Opera. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Colline in La Bohème after having been one of very few non-American singers ever invited to join the company’s prestigious Lindemann Young Artist Development program. Mr. Sedov is also a frequent guest of the world’s most noted summer festivals, such as the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Italy’s Spoleto Festival and the Aspen Music Festival. Mr. Sedov is also an equally engaging concert performer, having performed at the winter Olympics in Japan in 1998, the Spoleto Festival, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Many of Mr. Sedov’s recordings may be found on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Program Notes A19
GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL Friday, June 12, 2009 Founded in 1956, Chicago Children’s Choir is a multiracial, multicultural choral music education organization, shaping the future by making a difference in the lives of children and youth through musical excellence. The Choir currently serves 2,800 children, ages 8-18 through choirs in 45 schools, after-school programs in 8 Chicago neighborhoods and the internationally acclaimed Concert Choir. Under Artistic Director Josephine Lee, the Choir has undertaken many highly successful national and international tours, received an Emmy Award for the 2008 documentary Songs on the Road to Freedom, and has been featured in nationally broadcast television and radio performances, including PBS’s From the Top: Live from Carnegie Hall. Today’s performance features treble voices selected from the Concert Choir and Neighborhood Choirs. As a national and international touring ensemble, the Choir has performed throughout the United States, Europe, South Africa, South Korea, Japan and Canada, and for such dignitaries as former President and Senator Clinton, former South African President Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, International and United States Olympic Committees and Mayor Richard M. Daley. The Choir has also performed with or for such celebrities as Luciano Pavarotti, Quincy Jones, Enrique Iglesias, Celine Dion, Denyce Graves, Samuel Ramey, Bobby McFerrin, Sweet Honey In The Rock and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and collaborates regularly with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Joffrey Ballet, River North Chicago Dance Company, Millennium Park, Ravinia Festival and Grant Park Music Festival. The Choir has three studio-recordings available from Amazon.com, iTunes and www.ccchoir.org. Born in Chicago, Josephine Lee is a classically trained pianist, conductor and producer. Appointed in 1999, Ms. Lee is the youngest Artistic Director in the history of Chicago Children’s Choir. Under her direction, the Choir tours nationally and internationally, and collaborates regularly with renowned choral, orchestral, opera, theatre and dance organizations. In April, she led the Choir in concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. with Denyce Graves and Sweet Honey In The Rock, honoring the 70th Anniversary of Marian Anderson’s historic concert at that site. In 2007, she was the music director for cultural programming featuring the Chicago Children’s Choir surrounding the Dalai Lama’s public appearance at Millennium Park. Ms. Lee has received numerous honors including the 2008 3Arts Artist Award and was named a 2006 “Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts” by the Chicago Tribune. In 2002, Chorus America named Ms. Lee the first Robert Shaw Conducting Fellow, recognizing outstanding, emerging conductors who will exemplify the highest standards of choral performance. In 2007, she was honored as a Distinguished Musician by The Union League Club of Chicago. Ms. Lee has conducted and performed concerts and master classes in Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, South Korea, Thailand, Canada and Japan, in addition to conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera Orchestra, Grant Park and Oregon symphony orchestras. She received her bachelor’s degree in piano performance from DePaul University studying with Dmitry Paperno, as well as a master’s degree in conducting from Northwestern University. A20 Program Notes
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