This past Friday and Saturday the Grant Park Music Festival ended its 75th anniversary season in style – two performances of Beethoven’s Symphony #9. Conductor Carlos Kalmar led an exciting reading on Friday night, in front of an absolutely HUGE crowd in Millennium Park. When I stepped out on stage to introduce the concert I saw an absolute sea of people-the seats were completely full, there were families and picnickers on the the lawn as far as the eye could see, and hundreds of people were standing on both levels on either side of the Pavilion.
Seeing that kind of crowd makes any concert more special for the performers. The Grant Park Orchestra and its wonderful Chorus responded with an energetic and passionate performance of Beethoven’s amazing 1824 masterpiece. The four young soloists, soprano Amber Wagner and mezzo Kathryn Leemhuis (both memberS of Lyric Opera’s Ryan Center) as well as tenor John McVeigh and bass-baritone Jason Grant joined the chorus in the finale, which sets a good part of Schiller’s long poem “An die Freude.” This is a stunning plea for brotherhood and understanding among all people.
Beethoven first read this poem when he was just 20, and had been thinking of setting it since 1793. In 1824 he found a unique solution to completing his final symphony -adding this choral and vocal solo setting to the fourth movement. Once again, Beethoven, the original, found a new direction in music and, in doing so, created one of the great masterpieces of history.
I’ve loved being a part of this season at Grant Park. It’s been fun introducing a number of the concerts (and hosting one broadcast, which was a real treat!). I come away from this summer at Grant Park with a real appreciation of the programming and level of playing and singing that happens there all summer. Congratulations to Maestro Kalmar, his orchestra, the chorus (with their conductor Christopher Bell), and all the administrators, particularly Interim General Director Leigh Levine and Marketing Director Tony Macaluso, for creating such a memorable season.
And let’s not forget THE BOOK – “Sound of Chicago’s Lakefront,” the wonderful coffee-table history of the Festival, which is stil available online at grantparkmusicfestival.org.
Here’s to many more years of great music-making, offered free to Chicago by the Grant Park Music Festival!
Carolyn Paulin
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