Sinfonietta’s new director Mei Ann-Chen plans 3 world premieres

Chicago Sun-Times
By BRYANT MANNING
April 17, 2011
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Mei-Ann Chen isn’t going to forget her upcoming inaugural season as the Chicago Sinfonietta’s second music director. Three world premieres, a concert celebrating pioneering opera singer Grace Bumbry, and a free welcome shebang at Millennium Park in August highlight a busy 2011-12 campaign.

Fans of visionary founder and director Paul Freeman — who steps down in June after 24 years — won’t be disappointed with where the new leadership is taking the organization.

“The founding and nurturing of the Chicago Sinfonietta will forever be one of the proudest achievements in my long music career,” Freeman said in a statement Tuesday. “Although I face retirement with some sadness, I am joyful and confident that the orchestra remains strong and that the legacy of our work together is in good hands for a bright future.”

Beginning in September the orchestra will leave its Dominican University home where it gave Sunday afternoon concerts for years; the Sinfonietta moves to the state-of-the-art Wentz Concert Hall in Naperville for Saturday nights. Monday evening concerts at Symphony Center remain the same.

The three world premieres include a string quartet/orchestral twist on Bernstein’s beloved “West Side Story,” arranged by Randall Fleischer. For the annual Dr. Martin Luther King tribute concert in January, flutist Nicole Mitchell will introduce her socially aware work “Flight for Freedom.” Guest conductors will play a role this year too, as Harvey Felder will premiere Brent Michael Davids’ “Spirit Woman Song” in April. (On Nov. 1, Hector Guzman leads a Latin celebration at Harris Theater.)

With music arranged by Felder, mezzo-soprano Christin-Marie Hill joins the orchestra for four selections that will tell Bumbry’s inspiring story as a singer of color.

For Chen’s first subscription concerts in September, she’s enlisted harpist Ann Hobson Pilot for the Chicago premiere of “On Willows and Burches.” On Nov. 5 and 7, Chen welcomes back astronomer Dr. Jose Francisco Salgado, who will provide visual accompaniments for the 100th anniversary of Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloe.” The year’s final program features newscaster Bill Kurtis in narration of Mendelssohn’s“A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Known affectionately as the “nation’s most diverse orchestra,” the Sinfonietta continues its partnership with the Sphinx Foundation, Apostolic Church of God Sanctuary Choir, the Harlem Quartet and Sones de México Ensemble Chicago.

Bryant Manning is a local free-lance writer.