Conductor: Bernard Haitink
Venue: Concert Hall
Dates: 19:30, Feb13 - 14, 2009　
Price: VIP/1380/1080/780/480/280 RMB

Programme Introduction

In its second century, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) enjoys an enviable position in the music world with performances greeted by enthusiastic audiences both at home and abroad.

The CSO returned to the national airwaves in April 2007 with the BP Chicago Symphony Orchestra Radio Broadcast Series. The weekly series is syndicated to more than 200 markets nationwide on the WFMT Radio Network. These broadcasts offer a new and distinctive approach to CSO radio programming, with lively and engaging content designed to provide deeper insight into the music and programmatic themes found within the CSO's concert season.

Throughout its history, recordings have been an important part of the Orchestra's activities. Since 1916, the Orchestra has amassed a discography numbering more than 900. Recordings by the CSO have earned 58 Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences—more than any other orchestra in the world—including several Classical Album of the Year honors as well as a number of best performances in the orchestral, choral, instrumental and vocal soloist and engineering categories.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has long been associated with Ravinia, in Highland Park, Illinois, having first performed in Ravinia Park's second season in November 1905 and appearing semiregularly through August 1931, after which the Park fell dark under the Great Depression. The Orchestra helped to inaugurate the first season of the Ravinia Festival in August 1936 and has been in residence at the Festival every summer since.

Conductor: Bernard Haitink

With an international conducting career that has spanned more than five decades; Amsterdam-born Bernard Haitink is one of today's most celebrated conductors. Appointed principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2006, he has led many of the world's major orchestras, including more than 25 years at the helm of the Royal Concertgebouw as its music director. In addition, Haitink has previously held posts as music director of the Dresden Staatskapelle; Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Glyndebourne Festival Opera; and the London Philharmonic. He is conductor laureate of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and conductor emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He continues to make frequent guest appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, London Symphony and other leading orchestras around the world.

Throughout the 2008-2009 season, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra celebrates Haitink 80th birthday, with seven weeks of subscription programming at Orchestra Hall and three tours: one to Europe, one to Asia and one to New York City's Carnegie Hall.

Bernard Haitink has received many international awards in recognition of his services to music, including both an honorary knighthood and the Companion of Honour in the United Kingdom and the House Order of Orange-Nassau in the Netherlands. He was named Musical America's 2007 Musician of the Year.

Haitink first conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in March 1976, leading Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4, Ravel's "Alborada del gracioso" and Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements, as well as music by Bruch, Cowell, Mendelssohn and Mozart. He made his debut with the Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in July 2008, conducting Mahler's Symphony No. 6.

Programs

February 13

Mahler Symphony No.6

February 14

Haydn Symphony No. 101

--Intermission--

Bruckner Symphony No. 7