RICCARDO MUTI LEADS THE CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ON TOUR TO EUROPE – JANUARY 13-27, 2017

CHICAGO – Music Director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) take their sixth trip to Europe together in January 2017, marking the Orchestra’s 33rd tour to Europe and the 60th international tour in its distinguished history. The tour is set to take place during the CSO’s 126th season in 2016/17 and includes 11 concerts from January 13-27, 2017, in Paris; Hamburg; Aalborg, Denmark; Milan; Vienna; Baden-Baden, and Frankfurt.

Highlights of Muti and the CSO’s 2017 European Tour include the CSO’s first-ever performances at the new Philharmonie de Paris, on January 13; concerts at the state-of-the art Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg which are part of the grand opening week of programs and also represent the first performances in the venue by a foreign orchestra, on January 14 and 15; the CSO’s debut at the Musikkens Hus in Aalborg, on January 16 and 17; performances at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan which represent the first CSO tour appearances there since 1981 and the Orchestra’s first performances at the venue with Music Director Riccardo Muti, on January 20 and 21; a highly-anticipated return to the Musikverein in Vienna, on January 23 and 24; and the first CSO appearances since the 1990s at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, on January 25 and at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, on January 27.

Featured tour repertoire for Muti and CSO includes Hindemith’s Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass, Elgar’s In the South (Alassio), Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain, and Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition, Richard Strauss’ Don Juan and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, as well as Dvořák’s Husitská Overture-a work performed on the CSO’s first concerts in October 1891.

In addition to the full orchestra performances during the tour, CSO musicians lead master classes for music students and give community chamber performances in the tour cities in programs supported by the Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO.

Riccardo Muti’s first European tour with the CSO took place in 2007. Muti, who had not made an appearance in Chicago for 32 years, returned in 2007 for month-long residency that included subscription concerts at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, followed by a tour to Europe, with stops in England, France, Germany, and finally to Italy, where the Orchestra had not performed in more than 25 years.

Since becoming music director in 2010, Muti has embraced the Orchestra’s rich legacy of international touring, having led European tours in 2011, in 2012-also including performances in Russia-and in 2014, which included the CSO’s debut in Spain’s Canary Islands, both in Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria, and in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as part of the opening program for the 30th annual Canary Islands Music Festival. Muti and the CSO also performed in the Mexican cities of Guanajuato and Mexico City as a part of a 2012 tour that also took Muti and the Orchestra to New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Muti and the CSO’s most recent tour to Europe in the fall of 2014 was marked by successful debuts in both Geneva, Switzerland, and Warsaw, Poland. The concerts in Warsaw included performances of Andrzej Panufnik’s Concerto in modo antico in honor of the Polish composer’s centennial in 2014. The CSO also performed a week of sold-out concerts at the Musikverein in Vienna, with the final two concerts featuring triumphant performances of Verdi’s Requiem.

In January 2016, Muti took the CSO on their first tour to Asia together-the Orchestra’s eighth-for an extensive trip that included sold-out concerts in Taiwan, Japan, China, and South Korea.

Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been touring-domestically and internationally-since the beginning of its history. First traveling to Canada in 1892, the Orchestra has since embarked on 59 international tours, performing in 29 countries on five continents.

 

Tour Itinerary

 

Philharmonie de Paris Friday, January 13, 2017, 8:30 p.m.

Paris, France

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 

Riccardo Muti, conductor

HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra

and Brass

ELGAR In the South (Alassio) 

MUSSORGSKY A Night on Bald Mountain 

MUSSORGSKY, Pictures from an Exhibition 

ORCH. RAVEL

 

Elbphilharmonie Saturday, January 14, 2017. 8:00 p.m.

Hamburg, Germany

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 

Riccardo Muti, conductor

HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra

and Brass

ELGAR In the South (Alassio) 

MUSSORGSKY A Night on Bald Mountain 

MUSSORGSKY, Pictures from an Exhibition 

ORCH. RAVEL

 

Elbphilharmonie Sunday, January 15, 2017, 8:00 p.m.

Hamburg, Germany

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 

Riccardo Muti, conductor

DVOŘÁK Husitská Overture

STRAUSS, R. Don Juan 

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

 

Musikkens Hus Monday, January 16, 2017, 7:30 p.m.

Aalborg, Denmark

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 

Riccardo Muti, conductor

HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra

and Brass

ELGAR In the South (Alassio) 

MUSSORGSKY A Night on Bald Mountain 

MUSSORGSKY, Pictures from an Exhibition 

ORCH. RAVEL

 

Musikkens Hus Tuesday, January 17, 2017, 7:30 p.m.

Aalborg, Denmark

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 

Riccardo Muti, conductor

DVOŘÁK Husitská Overture

STRAUSS, R. Don Juan 

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

 

Teatro alla Scala Friday, January 20, 2017, 8:00 p.m.

Milan, Italy

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 

Riccardo Muti, conductor

CATALANI, Contemplazione

STRAUSS, R. Don Juan 

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

 

Teatro alla Scala Saturday, January 21, 2017, 8:00 p.m.

Milan, Italy

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 

Riccardo Muti, conductor

HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra

and Brass

ELGAR In the South (Alassio) 

MUSSORGSKY, A Night on Bald Mountain

Pictures from an Exhibition 

ORCH. RAVEL

 

Musikverein Monday, January 23, 2017, 7:30 p.m.

Vienna, Austria

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 

Riccardo Muti, conductor

HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra

and Brass

ELGAR In the South (Alassio) 

MUSSORGSKY A Night on Bald Mountain 

MUSSORGSKY, Pictures from an Exhibition 

ORCH. RAVEL

 

Musikverein Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 7:30 p.m.

Vienna, Austria

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 

Riccardo Muti, conductor

DVOŘÁK Husitská Overture

STRAUSS, R. Don Juan 

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

 

Festspielhaus Wednesday, January 25, 2017, 7:00 p.m.

Baden-Baden, Germany

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 

Riccardo Muti, conductor

HINDEMITH Concert Music for String Orchestra

and Brass

ELGAR In the South (Alassio) 

MUSSORGSKY A Night on Bald Mountain 

MUSSORGSKY, Pictures from an Exhibition 

ORCH. RAVEL

 

Alte Oper Friday, January 27, 2017, 8:00 p.m.

Frankfurt, Germany

Chicago Symphony Orchestra 

Riccardo Muti, conductor

DVOŘÁK Husitská Overture

STRAUSS, R. Don Juan 

TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4