Music of the Baroque (MOB), in association with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, opens its 51st Season with its second “Baroque in the Park” open-air performance at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion (201 E. Randolph St.) on Friday, Sept. 10 at 6:30 p.m. The concert will be conducted by Music of the Baroque Music Director Dame Jane Glover.
The program for “Baroque in the Park” features the world premiere of MOB’s first commission, “Spectacle of Light.” Composed by internationally acclaimed composer Stacy Garrop in honor of MOB’s 50th anniversary, the work’s debut was postponed due to the pandemic. Garrop found her inspiration for the work in an etching displayed on MOB’s website of a 1749 fireworks spectacle on the River Thames in honor of Great Britain’s King George II.
“I was intrigued by the manner in which the etching’s artist represented the path of each individual firework, starting with an upward trajectory of a golden streak of light that inevitably bends and falls back towards the earth, blooming into glittering specks before flickering out,” says Garrop. “Ultimately, I decided that ‘Spectacle of Light’ would represent the experience of a fireworks show. As a tip of the hat to Music of the Baroque, I worked a few salient elements of the Baroque style into my own musical language, as well as found a few choice spots to add a few subtle hints of Handel’s ‘Royal Fireworks’.”
The program for “Baroque in the Park” also includes:
• The opening movement of Vivaldi’s Gloria and the "Hallelujah" chorus from Handel’s “Messiah. Joining the Music of the Baroque ensemble will be the Strong Voices Choir, comprised of singers from Chicago public high schools involved in MOB’s arts education program.
• The final movement of Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1. featuring Chicago cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing in her MOB debut.
“This concert is a celebration of Music of the Baroque’s 50-year legacy of bringing great music to Chicagoans,” said Glover. “It features some of the most popular works from the Baroque era, but also looks forward to our upcoming season which features such works as Bach’s Easter Oratorio and Haydn’s Creation Mass. I am also thrilled to welcome Stacy Garrop, one of the tremendously talented contemporary composers who honor the legacy of the Baroque era by creating new works that should rightly take their place alongside the works of Bach, Vivaldi and Haydn,”
Music of the Baroque’s executive director, Declan McGovern commented: ‘this is like a homecoming, a reunion of our audience with our musicians, but more than that, it’s a chance to throw our doors wide open and invite so many new friends to join us for this taster program of highlights from our season ahead. It also gives us a chance to say thank you to our loyal supporters who have stayed strong in their support for MOB during the pandemic, and thank all those professionals who battled the heights of the pandemic to keep Chicago strong over the past 18 months. Although we are not out of the woods yet, we are so grateful for the opportunity to perform live in front of a live audience again, for the first time in a long time, to celebrate our orchestra and chorus as we turn 50, and to champion our Strong Voices singers and exciting young performers such as Ifetayo Ali-Landing’.
Pavilion and lawn seating is free. For more information, including COVID-19 protocols, call 312.551.1414 or visit baroque.org.
“Baroque in the Park” is part of Chicago in Tune (Aug. 19 – Sept. 19), a new citywide festival celebrating Chicago’s diverse and legendary music scene and the 2021 Year of Chicago Music. This month of music brings together iconic neighborhood venues, presenting organizations and musicians from across the city to celebrate all music genres and forms — with 575+ free and ticketed shows at more than 55 venues. For more information visit chicago.gov/music and do312.com/chicagointune.
About Music of the Baroque
Under the direction of internationally acclaimed British conductor Dame Jane Glover, Music of the Baroque occupies a special place in the rich cultural life of Chicago. Long recognized as one of the region’s top classical groups, Music of the Baroque’s professional chorus and orchestra is one of the leading ensembles in the country devoted to the performance of eighteenth-century works.
Over the past five decades, Music of the Baroque has presented premiere performances of many early masterpieces, including Monteverdi’s operas and 1610 Vespers, Georg Philipp Telemann’s “Day of Judgment,” Mozart’s “Idomeneo,” and numerous Handel operas and oratorios. The ensemble has drawn particular praise throughout its history for its performances of the major choral and orchestral works of J. S. Bach and Handel, Mozart, and Haydn.
Opera News calls Music of the Baroque “one of Chicago’s musical glories” and the Chicago Sun-Times writes, “Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra may be the big guys on the local classical music scene, but in terms of sheer quality of performance…Music of the Baroque inhabits the same stratosphere.”
Music of the Baroque draws audiences from across the Chicago metropolitan area, performing regularly at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago and the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, as well as at intimate Chicago and suburban churches. Listeners across the country enjoy the work of Music of the Baroque through radio broadcasts and recordings on 98.7WFMT Radio.
Through its "Strong Voices" program, Music of the Baroque conducts arts education to support and enhance music education programs at Chicago public high schools. Music of the Baroque is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. For more information about Music of Baroque visit baroque.org.
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events + Millennium Park
The City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is dedicated to enriching Chicago’s artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy. This includes fostering the development of Chicago’s non-profit arts sector, independent working artists and for-profit arts businesses; providing a framework to guide the city’s future cultural and economic growth; marketing the city’s cultural assets to a worldwide audience; and presenting high-quality, free and affordable cultural programs for residents and visitors. Millennium Park (201 E. Randolph St.) is the No. 1 attraction in the Midwest and among the Top 10 most-visited sites in the U.S. Discover a world-class collection of architecture, landscape design and art that provides the backdrop for hundreds of free cultural events throughout the year. For more information visit chicago.gov.
BIOGRAPHIES
Ifetayo Ali-Landing (Guest Cellist). Ali-Landing is a First Place Laureate of the Sphinx Competition’s Junior Division and has performed with notable symphonies including Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, New World Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Wilmington (NC), South Bend, Southwest Michigan, and Elgin Symphonies. Ali-Landing has also been heard on NPR’s “From the Top and Performance Today.”
Stacy Garrop (Composer). Garrop is Chicago Opera Theater’s first Emerging Opera Composer and recent composer-in-residence with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra. She served as the first Emerging Opera Composer of Chicago Opera Theater’s Vanguard Program (2018-2020), during which she composed “The Transformation of Jane Doe” and “What Magic Reveals” with librettist Jerre Dye. Her numerous awards and grants include an Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fromm Music Foundation Grant, Barlow Prize, and three Barlow Endowment commissions.
Dame Jane Glover (Music of the Baroque Music Director). Acclaimed British conductor Glover has been Music of the Baroque’s music director since 2002. She made her professional debut at the Wexford Festival in 1975, conducting her own edition of Cavalli’s “L’Eritrea.” She joined Glyndebourne in 1979 and was music director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera from 1981 until 1985. She was artistic director of the London Mozart Players from 1984 to 1991, and has also held principal conductorships of both the Huddersfield and the London Choral Societies. From 2009 until 2016 she was Director of Opera at the Royal Academy of Music where she is now the Felix Mendelssohn Visiting Professor. She was recently Visiting Professor of Opera at the University of Oxford, her alma mater.
Glover has conducted all the major symphony and chamber orchestras in Britain, as well as orchestras in Europe, the United States, Asia, and Australia. A Mozart specialist, her discography includes a series of Mozart and Haydn symphonies with the London Mozart Players and recordings of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Britten, and Walton with the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, and the BBC Singers. The author of the critically acclaimed books “Mozart’s Women” and “Handel in London”, she was created a Commander of the British Empire in the 2003 New Year’s Honours and a Dame Commander in the 2021 New Year's Honours.