The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's MusicNOW concert series, curated by Composers-in-Residence Mason Bates and Anna Clyne, is at the epicenter of Chicago's burgeoning contemporary music scene.
This season's MusicNOW series recently concluded on May 5, and the concerts planned for next season promise a similarly high level of musicmaking by CSO musicians in the contemporary environment of the Harris Theater. All MusicNOW concerts include pre- and post-concert DJ sets by illmeasures, and projected program notes with video introductions by featured composers.
Programming highlights of next season include The Wind in High Places by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams (September 29), Jonny Greenwood's Suite from the movie There Will Be Blood (January 19), and the world premiere of Anna Clyne's Postponeless Creature (March 23).
Greenwood, who is the lead guitarist of rock band Radiohead, has also written contemporary music for films, string quartets and full orchestra. He recently served as composer-in-residence of the BBC Concert Orchestra.
The March 23 program "Boulez's Workshop" will honor composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, the CSO's Conductor Emeritus, on his 90th birthday. The program features Boulez's chamber work for 11 instruments, Dérive 2, as well as Mason Bates' virtuosic Indigo Workshop for solo piano, and the world premiere of Clyne's Postponeless Creature, commissioned for MusicNOW by the CSO. Clyne's composition is the latest in a series of settings of the enigmatic poetry of Emily Dickinson, featuring vocalists from the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
MusicNOW will include even more gems from the contemporary repertoire in its four concerts at the Harris Theater next season. More information about this innovative concert series is available at cso.org.
