FORMER PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR BERNARD HAITINK LEADS

For Immediate Release:
March 24, 2015
Press Contacts:
Rachelle Roe, 312-294-3090
Eileen Chambers, 312-294-3092
Photos Available By Request
PR@cso.org
FORMER PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR BERNARD HAITINK LEADS
THE CSO IN MAHLER’S SEVENTH SYMPHONY
April 9, 10, 11 and 14
CHICAGO—The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s (CSO) former Principal Conductor, Bernard
Haitink, returns this season to lead the Orchestra in four performances of Mahler’s enigmatic
Symphony No. 7 on April 9, 10, 11 and 14. Haitink last appeared with the CSO in 2013 for
performances featuring Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4.
Performed without intermission, Mahler’s five-movement symphony features a little bit of
everything over the course of 75 minutes. Although not programmatic like his early symphonies,
Mahler’s Seventh clearly follows a theme of Night and Day. Mahler not only named two of the
five movements, “Nachtmusik,” but also described his Symphony No. 7 to Swiss critic William
Ritter as “Three night pieces; the finale, bright day. As foundation for the whole, the first
movement.” Through a diverse orchestration including an unconventional tenor horn solo
melody and a mandolin-guitar serenade, the work expresses celebration for a new dawn.
CSO Music Director Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra gave the first North
American performance of Mahler’s Seventh Symphony on April 15, 1921.
One hour prior to the April 9, 10, 11 and 14 concerts, there will be a 30-minute introduction to
the program with guest lecturer Stephen Alltop.
Tickets for all CSO concerts can be purchased by phone at 800-223-7114 or 312-294-3000;
online at cso.org, or at the Symphony Center box office: 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL
60604.
Discounted student tickets for select concerts can be purchased, subject to availability, online in
advance or at the box office on the day of the concert. For group rates, please call 312-2943040.
Artists, programs and prices are subject to change.
###
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Thursday, April 9, 2015, 8 p.m.
Friday, April 10, 2015, 8 p.m.
Saturday, April 11, 2015, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Bernard Haitink, conductor
MAHLER Symphony No. 7
Tickets: $29-$244
Bernard Haitink
Bernard Haitink’s conducting career began 60 years ago with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in his
native Holland. He went on to be Chief Conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra for 27 years, as well
as Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera, The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and Principal
Conductor of the London Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra. He is Patron of the Radio Philharmonic, and Conductor Emeritus of the Boston Symphony, as
well as an honorary member of both the Berlin Philharmonic and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
The 2014/15 season began with an anniversary concert with the Radio Philharmonic in the
Concertgebouw, and will include return visits to the Symphony Orchestra of the Bayerischer Rundfunk,
opening their season with the Missa Solemnis, four programs with the London Symphony Orchestra in
London, Madrid and Paris, and the conclusion of a Brahms cycle with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
in Amsterdam and Paris. He also conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in the Baden-Baden Easter Festival,
and revisits the Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras.
He is committed to the development of young musical talent, and gives an annual Conducting
Masterclass at the Lucerne Easter Festival. This season in addition he gives conducting classes to
students of the Hochschule der Kunst, Zurich in collaboration with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, and a
workshop with students from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in conjunction with players from
the London Symphony Orchestra.
Bernard Haitink has an extensive discography for Phillips, Decca and EMI, as well as the many new live
recording labels established by orchestras themselves in recent years, such as the London Symphony,
Chicago Symphony and Bayerischer Rundfunk. He has received many awards and honours in
recognition of his services to music, including several honorary doctorates, an honorary Knighthood and
Companion of Honour in the United Kingdom, and the House Order of Orange-Nassau in the
Netherlands.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra www.cso.org and www.csosoundsandstories.org/.
Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the greatest
orchestras in the world. Since 2010, the preeminent conductor Riccardo Muti has served as its 10th
music director. Pierre Boulez is the CSO’s Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus, Yo-Yo Ma is its Judson
and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, and Mason Bates and Anna Clyne are its Mead Composers-inResidence.
From baroque through contemporary music, the CSO commands a vast repertoire. Its renowned
musicians annually perform more than 150 concerts, most at Symphony Center in Chicago and, each
summer, at the suburban Ravinia Festival. They regularly tour nationally and internationally. Since 1892,
the CSO has made 58 international tours, performing in 29 countries on five continents.
People around the globe listen to weekly radio broadcasts of CSO concerts and recordings on the WFMT
network and online at cso.org/radio. Recordings by the CSO have earned 62 Grammy Awards, including
two in 2011 for Muti’s recording with the CSO and Chorus of Verdi's Messa da Requiem (Muti’s first of
four releases with the CSO to date). Find details on these and many other CSO recordings at
www.cso.org/resound.
The CSO is part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, which includes the Chicago Symphony
Chorus (Duain Wolfe, Director and Conductor) and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a preprofessional
training ensemble. Through its prestigious Symphony Center Presents series, the CSOA presents guest
artists and ensembles from a variety of genres—classical, jazz, world, and contemporary.
The Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO offers community and education programs that annually
engage more than 200,000 people of diverse ages and backgrounds. Through the Institute and other
activities, including a free annual concert with Muti and the CSO, the CSO promotes the concept of
Citizen Musicianship™: using the power of music to create connections and build community.
The CSO is supported by tens of thousands of patrons, volunteers and institutional and individual donors.
Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of the CSO. The CSO’s music director position is endowed in
perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation. The Negaunee Foundation provides
generous support in perpetuity for the work of the Negaunee Music Institute. CSO Tuesday series
concerts are sponsored by United Airlines.