New Philharmonic, the professional orchestra in residence at the McAninch Arts Center (MAC) debuts its 2023-2024 Season with “Tchaikovsky and Beethoven” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 24. 17-year-old violinist Esme Arias-Kim, winner of the 2023 Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition, returns to join New Philharmonic for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, his only violin concerto. The program also features Beethoven’s high-spirited, rhythmic Symphony No. 7, Op. 92, recognized as one of Beethoven’s best works. A free MAC Chat will precede the concerts beginning one hour prior to each performance. WDCB 90.9FM, Chicago’s Home for Jazz, is the Media Sponsor for this performance.
New Philharmonic Artistic Director and Conductor Kirk Muspratt is recognized as one of the outstanding figures in the new generation of conductors and garnering international critical acclaim. His honors include recipient of the 2018 Conductor of the Year award from the Illinois Council of Orchestras and recognition by the Chicago Tribune as a 2006 “Chicagoan of the Year.”
Observes Maestro Muspratt, “I’m so thrilled to have Esme join us again on the Belushi Performance Hall stage. She is a brilliant musician whose star continues to rise at lightning speed. Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is a favorite among soloists and audiences and she’s been rehearsing the work in advance of this concert at a summer camp under the tutelage of Itzhak Perlman, so I know our audience is in for a spectacular performance they’ll never forget.”
Esme Arias-Kim. Photo courtesy of the MAC.
Arias-Kim was last seen by MAC audiences in New Philharmonic’s Korngold’s "Hollywood Concerto” concerts this past January. Originally from Hoffman Estates, she will be a high school senior this fall at the Colburn Music Academy in Los Angeles studying violin with Robert Lipsett. She formerly attended the Music Institute of Chicago Academy as a Merit Scholarship Fellow and studied with Almita Vamos. She is also a fellow of the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative, as well as the daughter of a former New Philharmonic musician.
Arias-Kim began her solo orchestral debut at the age of 10 in the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago and was featured on WFMT’s “Introductions” and NPR’s “From the Top.” She has appeared as a soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Fairbanks Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera (Champaign-Urbana), Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Midwest Young Artist Conservatory, Fox Valley, Chicago Arts, Ottawa Chamber, Lincolnwood Chamber, Accademia d’Archi G.G. “Arrigoni” and Civic orchestras. She has been showcased in solo recitals at the Peninsula Music Festival, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, 92nd Street Y in New York, Musikferien am Starnberger See (Germany) and Palácio Foz (Portugal).
During the summer of 2018, Arias-Kim was the only American among the 16 finalists selected to compete in the “II Piccolo Violino Magico” International Competition in Italy. During 2020, she received the Grand Prize for the junior division of the Sphinx Competition and was also awarded the Overall Open Division Grand Winner and Open Senior Division Overall Winner in the 2020 Walgreens National Concerto Competition. Recent honors include winner of the 2023 Crain-Maling Foundation CSO Young Artists Competition and, as a result, she will appear as a soloist in an upcoming CYSO concert.
Tickets
New Philharmonic presents “Beethoven and Tchaikovsky” with guest violinist Esme Arias-Kim, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 24. Tickets are $55. A limited number of $10 tickets are available for students with valid ID. A free MAC Chat will precede the concerts beginning one hour prior to the performance.
For tickets or more information visit www.AtTheMAC.org or call the MAC Box Office at 630.942.4000. Beginning Sept. 12 MAC Box Office hours are 12 noon-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and two hours prior to performance.
About New Philharmonic
New Philharmonic, the only professional orchestra based in DuPage County, Ill., has inspired classical music enthusiasts in Chicago and the suburbs for more than four decades. New Philharmonic was recently honored with the Illinois Council of Orchestras’ 2020 ICO Award in the category Programming of the Year. It continues to thrive with the goal to give innovative treatment to both classic compositions and modern works while striving to make the music accessible to new audiences and youth through a variety of educational efforts. Today, under the direction of Kirk Muspratt, named 2018 Conductor of the Year (Professional Orchestra) by Illinois Council of Orchestras, New Philharmonic consists of more than 60 professional musicians and typically performs more than a dozen concerts a year, reaching more than 7,500 from the greater Chicago area annually.
Season support for New Philharmonic is provided in part by the JCS Fund of the DuPage Foundation; Anonymous, Brookdale Glen Ellyn; a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; WDCB 90.9 FM and the College of DuPage Foundation.
About the MAC
McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage is located 25 miles west of Chicago near I-88 and I-355. It houses three indoor performance spaces (780-seat proscenium Belushi Performance Hall; 186-seat soft-thrust Playhouse Theatre; and a versatile black box Studio Theatre), outdoor Lakeside Pavilion, plus the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and classrooms for the college’s academic programming. The MAC has presented theater, music, dance and visual art to more than 1.5 million people since its opening in 1986 and typically welcomes more than 100,000 patrons from the greater Chicago area to more than 230 performances each season.
The mission of the MAC is to foster enlightened educational and performance opportunities, which encourage artistic expression, establish a lasting relationship between people and art, and enrich the cultural vitality of the community. For more information about the MAC, visit www.AtTheMAC.org or @AtTheMAC on Facebook and Instagram.
Support for the McAninch Arts Center is provided in part by Bank of America, Brookdale Senior Living Glen Ellyn, the DoubleTree by Hilton Lisle/Naperville, Anonymous, Sullivan Taylor Family Trust, The DuPage Foundation, Ball Horticultural, Clayco, Enjoy Illinois, Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; JCS Arts, Health and Education Fund of the DuPage Foundation; Wight & Company, WDCB 90.9 FM and College of DuPage Foundation.
Established as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization in 1967, the College of DuPage Foundation raises monetary and in-kind gifts to increase access to education and to enhance cultural opportunities for the surrounding community. For more information about the College of DuPage Foundation, visit ww.foundation.cod.edu or call 630.942.2462.