April 2, 2018<\/p>\n
RICCARDO MUTI AND CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA<\/strong> ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCE EXTENSION FOR\u00a0<\/strong>SIR GEORG SOLTI CONDUCTING APPRENTICE ERINA YASHIMA<\/strong><\/p>\n Yashima Continues as Solti Conducting Apprentice for a Third Consecutive Year through 2018\/19 Season<\/p>\n Yashima Leads Civic Orchestra Concert featuring Symphonies of Beethoven and Rachmaninov on April 9<\/p>\n CHICAGO\u2014Music Director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA) announce the extension for Erina Yashima as the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprentice through the 2018\/19 season. Yashima was appointed to the position in 2015 for a two-year term covering the 2016\/17 and 2017\/18 seasons.<\/p>\n In recognition of her accomplishments over the past two seasons, Muti and the CSOA made the decision to extend Yashima\u2019s term in the role. Yashima is the third Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprentice, a position that Muti helped to establish at the beginning of his tenure as music director. The position was created in part to recognize the CSO\u2019s distinguished tradition of training young musicians and was previously held by Sean Kubota (2011-2013) and Matthew Aucoin (2013-2015). The International Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship is a program of the Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO.<\/p>\n \u201cI have respect and appreciation for Ms. Yashima,\u201d said Riccardo Muti. \u201cShe demonstrates great commitment to her role as our Solti Conducting Apprentice and an excellent level of artistry that she shares with our young musicians of the Civic Orchestra. I am pleased that she will continue with us for the upcoming season.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe role of Solti Conducting Apprentice has made a major impact in my life as a musician and as a person,\u201d noted Yashima. \u201cThe opportunity to learn from one of the greatest conductors such as Maestro Muti and the musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and to collaborate with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago over the last two years has been a significant experience that I will take with me throughout my life in music. I look forward to continuing my work in this inspiring environment and hope that I can return to the musical world what has been shared with me by these incredible musicians during my time in this role.\u201d<\/p>\n During her tenure as Solti Conducting Apprentice, Yashima has spent at least 10 weeks each season studying and assisting Muti in Chicago during his residencies with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Yashima has also had a close association with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the CSO\u2019s training orchestra for young professional musicians. Her podium appearances with the Civic Orchestra have included a spring 2016 community \u201cside-by-side\u201d concert with young musicians from Schurz High School and Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant Yo-Yo Ma, a concert with the Civic during the 2016 Ear Taxi Festival and an April 2017 Civic Orchestra performance featuring Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring at Symphony Center.<\/p>\n Yashima leads the Civic Orchestra in a program of works by Beethoven and Rachmaninov on Monday, April 9, at 8 p.m. at Symphony Center. Yashima, who made her podium debut with Civic last season, conducts Beethoven\u2019s Symphony No. 4 and Rachmaninov\u2019s Symphony No. 2.<\/p>\n As Solti Conducting Apprentice, Yashima has also led the orchestra assembled for the finals of the 2017 and 2018 Young Artists Competition and led Civic Orchestra musicians alongside young musicians from the People\u2019s Music School, Sistema Ravinia and ChiMOP during the 2018 Youth in Music Festival. She also assisted guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen during the week leading up to the CSO\u2019s 2017 world premiere performances of the composer\u2019s new cello concerto written for Yo-Yo Ma.<\/p>\n During the 2018\/19 season, Yashima will continue to observe and assist Muti during his 10 weeks of residency activities with the CSO, lead the Civic Orchestra in rehearsal and performances, and will also participate in other programs of the CSO\u2019s Negaunee Music Institute.<\/p>\n German-born conductor Erina Yashima recently made her conducting debut at the 2017 Salzburg Festival in Der Schauspieldirektor, the festival’s opera production for children, and her Italian opera debut in February 2017 in Rossini’s La Cenerentola leading the Cherubini Youth Orchestra in Lucca and Ravenna\u2013a production she also conducted in Piacenza in February 2018. During Romania\u2019s 2017 Festival Musical Autumn Cluj, Yashima conducted the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra of Cluj-Napoca. In September 2017, Yashima was also invited to be a cover conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.<\/p>\n Previously, Yashima served as r\u00e9p\u00e9titeur with conducting duties at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern, where she made her conducting debut in December 2015. From 2013-2015, she was the music director of the Freies Student Orchestra Rostock. In 2013, she was given the Award of Outstanding Excellence by the Rheinsberg Student Orchestra for the opera production she conducted there that year. Her guest conducting experiences include a collaboration with El Sistema in Venezuela, where she conducted two youth orchestras in May 2015. In that same year, Yashima was a participant at Riccardo Muti’s Italian Opera Academy at the Ravenna Festival and was selected by Bernard Haitink as one of seven candidates to take an active part in his conducting master class during the Lucerne Festival.<\/p>\n The creation of the CSO International Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprenticeship was announced by then-Music Director Designate Riccardo Muti in October 2009 as part of his larger vision for the CSOA. The program is named for Sir Georg Solti, who served as music director of the CSO from 1969 to 1991, not only because of his deep connection with the CSO, but also in honor of his commitment to connecting with young musicians.<\/p>\n Support for Erina Yashima as the Sir Georg Solti Conducing Apprentice in the 2016\/17 and 2017\/18 seasons was provided through a generous grant from The Claire Rosen & Samuel Edes Foundation.<\/p>\n Discover more on the “Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy” and how to participate in the rehearsal of Macbeth<\/em> on:
\n<\/b>www.riccardomutioperacademy.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n