The only full-time professional chamber orchestra in the United States returns to Chicago for a special Orchestra Hall concert. One of the world’s most sensitive and accomplished chamber ensembles, its 24 players have an unsurpassed sense of color and line–and flexibility in performing music of all periods. The group’s present appearance is particularly significant because it’s the first here with their new director of music Christopher Hogwood, who has finally provided the ensemble with the strong leadership it so lacked during the tenure of Pinchas Zukerman. Hogwood’s appointment to “the artistic commission” (which also includes Hugh Wolff as principal conductor and composer John Adams as creative chairman) completes a formula that is already becoming a model for performing arts groups around the globe. Concertmaster Romuald Tecco will be on hand for the Mozart Adagio for Violin and Orchestra, K. 261, part of a well-balanced and innovative program that also includes the Haydn Symphony no. 84, Mendelssohn’s String Symphony no. 9, and Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks Concerto for chamber orchestra. Although we don’t tend to think of Hogwood in connection with Mendelssohn and Stravinsky–or even with modern instruments for that matter–he brings a revelatory clarity to these composers. Tuesday, 8 PM, Orchestra Hall, 220 S. Michigan; 435-6666.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/David Brewster.