A city that has always desperately needed its heroes-cultural, civic or political-will be paying closer attention than usual this autumn to Georg Solti, beginning his 19th season as Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director. Of all the conductors presently directing American orchestras it is Solti who has enjoyed the longest tenure. That alone is a significant achievement and relates in no small way to the lofty artistic esteem in which our orchestra is held throughout the world.
Sir Georg turns 75 in October and, to help him celebrate the milestone, a spate of superstars, including soprano Kiri Te Kanawa, tenor Placido Domingo and pianist Murray Perahia, will present a special birthday gala with the CSO Oct. 9 in Orchestra Hall.
But if you weren`t able to obtain tickets to the soldout birthday bash, don`t despair. The gala will be taped for airing on public broadcasting stations Dec 28. Solti settles into his more customary podium duties Sept. 24-26, leading the opening subscription program of the CSO`s 97th season with Perahia the soloist in Schumann`s Piano Concerto. Solti will launch a five-year exploration of the major orchestral works of Haydn and Bartok. Highlighting his fall term will be symphonies by Mozart (Oct. 8 and 10) and Elgar (Oct. 1-3, 6).
The Chicago Symphony Chorus will officially celebrate its 30th anniversary with the local premiere of Marvin David Levy`s oratorio
”Masada,” conducted by Margaret Hillis on Oct. 15-17. But the big event next month is the CSO return, after an absence of 19 years, of the eminent French composer/conductor Pierre Boulez, who will direct his own works along with early 20th-Century classics by Stravinsky, Bartok and Schoenberg in subscription programs beginning Oct. 22.
Continuing the parade of guest conductors, Leonard Slatkin and Erich Leinsdorf will take charge of two subscription programs apiece beginning in mid-November. Slatkin presides over the local premiere of William Schuman`s oratorio ”On Freedom`s Ground,” while Leinsdorf has scheduled orchestral excerpts from Wagner`s ”Parsifal.”
December will bring Michael Tilson Thomas, conducting Janacek`s powerful
”Glagolitic Mass,” and two programs directed by Neeme Jarvi, the impressive Estonian conductor, the first all-Scandinavian, the second an all- Russian evening featuring co-concertmaster Samuel Magad.
Just ahead of Solti`s arrival, one of the other great orchestras of the world, the Vienna Philharmonic, will visit Orchestra Hall under the direction of one of the other great conductors, Leonard Bernstein. The program on Sept. 20 holds Bernstein`s own Symphony No. 1 (”Jeremiah”), along with the Mozart Symphony No. 29 and Sibelius` Fifth Symphony.
Nor will the autumn orchestral manna stop there. The Leningrad State Symphony will appear Oct. 12, followed by the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China on Nov. 1 and the Dresden Staatskapelle on Nov. 6-all three events at Orchestra Hall.
The sponsor, Allied Arts has also scheduled a generous array of recitalists, beginning Sept. 27 with cellist Yo-Yo Ma (an event rescheduled from May 21). Youth and experience are the operative elements of the 1987-88 piano series, which opens Oct. 7 with Andre Watts. Rudolf Serkin, one of the most distinguished pianists of his generation, makes a rare Chicago appearance Nov. 29 in a recital no piano connoisseur can afford to miss.
Across the Loop at the Civic Opera House, the Lyric Opera is preparing its longest and most adventuresome season to date.
The 1987-88 Lyric season will begin and end with Verdi favorites, ”Il Trovatore” and ”La Forza del Destino,” which have been absent from the local repertory for more than two decades. ”Trovatore,” which opens Sept. 18, promises the starpower of Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Luciano Pavarotti, Shirley Verrett (in her belated Chicago operatic debut) and Piero Cappuccilli. Pavarotti will appear as Manrico in the first five performances, surrendering the role to Giuliano Ciannella and Bruno Sebastian for the remaining three. Bruno Bartoletti, Lyric`s artistic director, conducts.
Because there is more of Luciano Pavarotti-artistry, that is-than can possibly be contained on the operatic stage, Lyric Opera is presenting the celebrated tenor in his ”other” guise as recitalist Wednesday at the Auditorium Theatre. All seats are sold for the recital and his ”Trovatore”
performances. Single tickets are still available for the ”Trovatore”
performances of Oct. 7, 12 and 16.
The Lyric season will continue with the first performance by a major international opera company of Minimalist composer Philip Glass`
”Satyagraha,” based on the early life of Mahatma Gandhi and sung in Sanskrit by a cast headed by Douglas Perry. ”Satyagraha,” which opens for seven performances beginning Sept. 28, will be conducted by Christopher Keene and directed by David Pountney, in set designs by Robert Israel.
Lyric`s 1979 production of Gounod`s ”Faust” returns Oct. 13 with a promising new cast starring Cheryl Studer, Neil Shicoff and Samuel Ramey.
Agnes Baltsa returns to the Lyric roster Oct. 28 for Rossini`s
”L`Italiana in Algeri,” a buffa assignment she will share with Rockwell Blake and Timothy Nolen.
Nov. 14 brings the second of the season`s new productions, Mozart`s ”Le Nozze di Figaro,” conducted by Andrew Davis and directed by Peter Hall. The international cast-Maria Ewing, Felicity Lott, Frederica von Stade, Ruggero Raimondi and Ramey-sounds sensational on paper.
The season`s second Mozart comedy will be ”Cosi Fan Tutte,” opening Dec. 12 in a production starring Kiri Te Kanawa and Jerry Hadley, with John Pritchard conducting.
Falling between these Mozart masterpieces is the lushly decadent Expressionism of Alban Berg`s ”Lulu”; the performances, beginning Nov. 24, mark the Chicago premiere of the full three-act version. Lyric is entrusting the staging to the controversial Soviet-emigre director Yuri Ljubimov. Catherine Malfitano impersonates the most fatale of operatic femmes fatales. Dennis Russell Davies makes his Lyric debut in the pit. Puccini`s ”Tosca”
and Verdi`s ”Forza,” both to be heard in January and February, 1988, complete the operatic agenda.
Lest anyone believe all that glitters musically in 1987-88 is determined solely by the Chicago Symphony organization or Lyric Opera, a glance at the following highlights should prove otherwise:
Murray Perahia crowns his CSO appearances with a local chamber music bow Sept. 21 at the Civic Theatre, teaming with the Vermeer Quartet in a concert sponsored by Chamber Music Chicago.
The gifted Spanish pianist Joaquin Achucarro comes to the Auditorium Sept. 13 to launch the 1987-88 Zelzer piano series presented by Sarah Zelzer in cooperation with the Auditorium Theatre Council and American Conservatory of Music. Other keyboard artists appearing on the Zelzer series: Mitsuko Uchida, Sept. 27, and Alicia de Larrocha, Nov. 8.
Chicago Sinfonietta, a new professional chamber orchestra under the direction of Paul Freeman, makes its bow with soprano soloist Wilhelmenia Fernandez (”Diva”) Oct. 11 at Rosary College, River Forest (repeated Oct. 13 in Orchestra Hall).
City Musick, Chicago`s splendid 18th-Century orchestra of period instruments, inaugurates a new Mozart series Oct. 18 in a new location, Old St. Patrick`s Church in the West Loop. Elaine Scott Banks conducts.
The Russians are coming! Violinist Vladimir Spivakov leads the Moscow Virtuosi in works by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich Oct. 5 at the Civic Theatre. And the Soviet-emigre pianist, Bella Davidovich, plays a recital in the Chicago Theatre Oct. 26.
Two of our most popular violinists, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, will be giving Auditorium recitals, Perlman on Oct. 25, Zukerman on Dec. 1.
Thomas Wikman conducts Baroque orchestral works by Bach, Handel and Rameau as the first concert of Music of the Baroque`s eight-concert season, opening Nov. 4, First United Methodist Church in Evanston. Chorus and orchestra present Bach`s complete ”Christmas Oratorio” here Dec. 14-20, also under Wikman`s direction, before taking it to New York`s Carnegie Hall.
Jazz pianist and composer Keith Jarrett will join forces with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, flutist Paula Robison and various colleagues for a program presented by Chamber Music Chicago Dec. 14 at Orchestra Hall.
