It’s a rare opportunity to hear part of a famous classical piece not often performed.
When Chicago Sinfonietta performs Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” at Cantigny Park, it will do so with the help of Waubonsie Valley High School’s Mosaic Choir.
“There’s actually a vocal opening to it that Mosaic will be featured on, which is very rarely performed or heard,” said Jim Hirsch, executive director of the Sinfonietta. “It’s beautiful.”
The Chicago Sinfonietta will perform at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 4 at Cantigny Park in Wheaton. The concert and parking are free. It is part of the park’s annual McCormick Day celebration, which celebrates the birthday of Col. Robert R, McCormick, whose will established Cantigny as a public place for education and recreation. McCormick was a longtime editor and publisher of The baiduhai, served in the First Infantry Division during World War I and also a farmer.
In addition to the evening concert, the McCormick Day will feature a variety of activities from noon to 7 p.m. for the family. The free activities include tours, an open house at the McCormick Museum, living history presentations, old-fashioned games, horse derby, crafts, piñatas, an inflatable jump house, birthday cake cutting, a newspaper toss challenge and vintage baseball exhibition. For a complete schedule, visit cantigny.org
Conducted by Maestro Mei-Ann Chen, the Sinfonietta will perform pieces that follow an Americana theme. The repertoire, especially in the first half, all comes from a similar place, Hirsch said.
“I think the pieces link together really well, because they all have a slightly patriotic bent to them,” he said.
The concert opens with Charles Ives’ famous work, “Variations on America.”
“Basically what Ives took was that very, very famous melody and proceeded to write 10 to 12 variations on the famous melody,” Hirsch said. “Some of them are almost are a little tongue-in-cheek and humorous. Others are a little dark, quite frankly, and kind of suggest that while America is an amazing success, there are clearly some dark chapters in our history that are part of the story.”
The first half of the concert will finish with two works by Pulitzer Prize winner Aaron Copland. The first Copland selection is “Shaker Variations,” one of his most famous melodic treatments, Hirsch said.
“He took that melody and created this grand symphonic tempo out of it,” Hirsch said.
The second piece by Copland is “Lincoln Portraits,” which typically features narration done by an older male serving as a voice of authority.
“A couple years ago we did it and actually had high school students do the narration and thought it was such an interesting take on the piece that we’re kind of reviving it for this concert,” Hirsch said.
In this case, the narrators will be from Waubonsie Valley High School’s Mosaic Choir, he said.
“This is one of the choirs we love working with, not only because the kids are fantastic, but it really represents diversity, which is a very important value of ours,” Hirsch said.
The Waubonsie Valley choir will also join the Sinfonietta for Alexander Borodin’s “Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances” before performing the vocal portion of the “1812 Overture.”
“Not many people ever hear it, so it’s a wonderful opportunity to do so,” Hirsch said of the overture’s vocals. “It’s breathtakingly beautiful. I only heard it recently for the first time, and it’s fantastic.”
The overture serves as the evening’s finale, ending with a big bang.
“Of course, ‘1812’ iconically finishes with the gigantic cannon shots, and we will actually have cannon shots during the finale, thanks to our wonderful partners at Cantigny Park,” Hirsch said.
The McCormick Foundation sponsors the concert, along with support from Molex and Morgan Stanley. Serving as emcee for the evening is Regina Waldroup of NBC 5 Chicago, which recently became the Sinfonietta’s television partner, Hirsch said.
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This is the third year the Sinfonietta has performed at Cantigny, with previous concerts experiencing large turnouts.
“It’s kind of a cool, fun, informal vibe,” Hirsch said. “There are no fixed seats, so the audience comes with their blankets, chairs and tables.
“It’s just a great evening, and for people that are thinking about introducing younger people to symphonic music, this is a great concert to do so because the repertoire we’re performing is very fun and accessible,” he said. “And having the high school students involved as our guest artists make it really, really family friendly.”
Those attending the concert will also receive a surprise, he said.
“Everybody who attends will get a really cool souvenir, courtesy of the Sinfonietta. But I’m not going to say what it is, they’ll have to show up to find out,” Hirsch said. “We just have so much fun playing out there, and it’s such a cool environment, we hope a lot of people come out and share the evening with us.”
Kathy Cichon is a freelance writer.
When: Aug. 4
Where: Cantigny Park, 1S151 Winfield Road, Wheaton
Tickets: Free