Latest news with #Mäkelä
Chicago Tribune
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: CSO music-director-to-be Klaus Mäkelä faces his orchestra — and the work ahead
At a Chicago Symphony rehearsal this week open to the press and orchestra donors, music director designate Klaus Mäkelä halted the orchestra while working on Dvořák's Symphony No. 7. 'We know it will be a long line, yeah?' he said to the violins. As he said it, the young conductor assumed the stance of an explorer, shielding his eyes and pointing to an imagined horizon. Reflecting on Mäkelä's appearances on April 24 and May 1, I returned again and again to this directive. Both concerts evinced the infectious energy and sonic dazzle that inspired the CSO to hire him in the first place. But they also probed ensemble areas which require investment and attention — that 'long line,' so to speak, made even longer by the fact that Mäkelä doesn't fully assume the CSO post until 2027. Last week, he returned to Gustav Mahler, the composer whose symphony sealed Mäkelä's partnership with the CSO and who will be the subject of an upcoming orchestral summit in Amsterdam, another home-base-to-be for the Finnish conductor. His choice of repertoire was characteristically ambitious: Mahler's Third Symphony, the longest in the standard repertoire at about 100 minutes long. This time around, Mäkelä didn't relay the same end-to-end momentum and delicious abandon as 2023's Fifth — still a high bar for Mahlers at Orchestra Hall, under any baton. Instead, Mäkelä's Third dwelt on the CSO's impassioned ensemble sound. He had much to love: After a sleepy couple of months at Orchestra Hall, hearing the CSO give their all under Mäkelä was like a blast of fresh alpine air. (The orchestra was similarly energized under conductor Jaap van Zweden, which bodes well for their forthcoming tour to Amsterdam's Mahler Festival together.) The first movement is pocked with all-orchestra rests, which tend to give the music an air-clearing effect. Under Mäkelä, the silences themselves sung, articulating the music's bleakness rather than offering a respite from it. If a symphony must embrace everything, as Mahler's old saw goes, it must, too, embrace silence. After a mostly moment-by-moment first movement, a reverent sixth and final movement hit that point home, its spaciousness calling back to the symphony's introduction with far-sighted acuity. Last week's Mahler 3 also marked Mäkelä's first CSO appearance with singers. Based on Thursday's performance, vocalists — both solo and ensemble — seem to be in good hands. Contralto Wiebke Lehmkuhl sang her fourth-movement solo with elemental authority, her phrasing thoughtful and vowels warmly rounded. In the fifth movement, the treble voices of the Chicago Symphony Chorus and Uniting Voices Chicago (formerly Chicago Children's Choir) melded, handsomely, into one ringing body. It helped that Mäkelä cloaked the orchestra's sound ever so slightly for the benefit of the soloist and singers, just as he did for last year's Shostakovich cello concerto. Even Lehmkuhl's low-middle range landed squarely for listeners in the lower balcony. Against the Mahler, Mäkelä's Dvořák 7 (continuing through this weekend) came away as a more cohesive musical statement. In performance, Mäkelä maintained that 'long line' through the entire piece: Returning motives varied slightly but effortlessly, as though being sung in real time. The string hiccup beginning the Scherzo theme was whistle-clean; rather than beating through busy sections, Mäkelä resurrected his favored move of pointing at instruments with moving lines, or, occasionally, mouthing along to them. The third movement melted into the fourth with ease, making natural bedfellows of two very different movements. The performance seemed to just flow as though coasting across the score, rather than the Mahler's burrowing. The ride was bumpier on the rest of the May 1 program. Programming Pierre Boulez's 'Initiale,' a brass septet, was a great idea in theory: The late conductor-composer's centenary has been mostly overlooked at Orchestra Hall, and at four minutes long, the piece is plenty audience-friendly, not to mention a showcase for the storied CSO brass. Instead, the performance was dispiritingly coarse, only gaining confidence and clarity as it went on — which, for a piece that short, is too little, too late. Pianist and artist-in-residence Daniil Trifonov's appearance with the orchestra, playing Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2, also improved as it went along. The fearsomely talented pianist tends to follow his own whims behind the keyboard — a guarantee of fresh and sometimes idiosyncratic performances, like Thursday's. (Mäkelä again impressed in his solo support role here, catching Trifonov's fluctuations with eagle-eyed precision.) All the Trifonov hallmarks were there: rubbery, supple hands that glide across the keyboard, and an unabashed interiority that gives the sense, at times, that Trifonov is playing for an audience of one. Trifonov carried that spirit forward into the final Allegretto grazioso movement, its first notes beginning with the same awed hush as the end of the Andante. More uncharacteristically, the typically impeccable pianist tripped a couple times in Thursday's performance: a note flub in the first movement, a brief brain freeze in an exposed moment in the second. One wonders if that, on top of the concerto's immense bulk, played into the exacting Trifonov's decision to leave audiences with just a whiff of an encore: Chopin's Prelude No. 10, all of 30 seconds long. CSO musicians delivered on the concerto's big solo moments, mostly. Principal cellist John Sharp sang above the haze of the Andante with a noble tone and tender phrasing. So did assistant principal horn Daniel Gingrich, his sound willowy and fluid. Less so for his colleague, principal horn Mark Almond, whose opening horn call kicks off the concerto. Almond has seen a few strong performances in recent months, including a poised turn in Jaap van Zweden's Mahler 7 last month. But his features in Mäkela's concert weeks — in Mahler 3 and the Brahms — sounded tentative in the extreme. Mahler 3 likewise saw some good nights for principals and troubled nights for others. Principal trumpet Esteban Batallán returned for these concerts with a post horn solo to remember, wistfully sounding from Orchestra Hall's rafters. (Mahler's score directs the soloist to emulate the effect of a horn call moving closer; in these performances, Batallán actually did so, playing his first solo from the fifth floor corridor, his second from the entrance to the hall's ceiling, and his final solo directly above the stage, on a catwalk.) Concertmaster Robert Chen, settling back into the orchestra after a pinched nerve, saw opposite fortunes in the first movement, with stoic solos that often trotted ahead of his colleagues and Mäkelä's beat. Ups and downs in various principal seats only made trombonist Timothy Higgins' contributions, leading that section, all the more commendable. After winning the CSO's principal trombone audition last month, Higgins, of the San Francisco Symphony, has joined the orchestra for some trial weeks, starting with van Zweden's Mahler 7. But it was Mahler 3, and the first movement's many trombone solos, that were his true testing ground. Over the course of the movement, brawny eloquence gave way to vulnerability, as though he was curling inwards — a unified statement across the movement's sprawl. A week later, Higgins was MVP again as an anchor in the rough tides of the Boulez. If the deal gets sealed, Higgins will be Mäkelä's second hire to the orchestra after violinist Gabriela Lara — also a standout player. The last three weeks would indicate he's passed, colors a-flying. Hannah Edgar is a freelance critic. The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism helps fund our classical music coverage. The Chicago Tribune maintains editorial control over assignments and content. Program repeats 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and again 3 p.m. on Sun., May 4; tickets $75-$399 at Also worth noting The arts calendar has gotten fuller in recent weeks. Chicago Opera Theater announced its coming season, with Chicago premieres of works by Kurt Weill and Antonio Salieri, while the Grant Park Music Festival and CSO have grown theirs slightly. Grant Park adds a performance by violinist Joshua Bell on Aug. 6, and the CSO tacks on concerts of John Williams' film music (June 23, 2026), the Ravi Shankar Ensemble (March 22, 2026) and ranchera star Aída Cuevas (Sept. 26). Symphony Center's jazz series also announced its 2025-26 season programming this week, and with it a new guest curator model. Kate Dumbleton, director of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and Mike Reed, drummer, venue owner and festival programmer, are each tasked with curating a concert in the spring. The full SCP Jazz lineup is as follows; tickets are on sale Aug. 6 at Bassist Christian McBride and pianist Brad Mehldau playing duo, 8 p.m. Oct. 10; tickets $39-$119. Herbie Hancock (note Sunday date), 8 p.m. Oct. 26; tickets $55-$199. Joshua Redman Quartet feat. singer Gabrielle Cavassa, playing selections from 2023's 'where we are' and the forthcoming 'Words Fall Short,' 8 p.m. Nov. 7; tickets $39-$119. 50th anniversary of Marvin Gaye's 'I Want You' with singers José James and Lizz Wright, 8 p.m. Feb. 6, 2026; tickets $39-$119. Double-bill of saxophonist Nubya Garcia and singer Somi, curated by Kate Dumbleton, 8 p.m. March 13, 2026; tickets $29-$119. Miles Davis centenary tributes by pianists Gonzalo Rubalcaba and John Beasley, 8 p.m. March 27, 2026; tickets $39-$119. Drummer and curator Mike Reed explores his 'Chicago Inspirations,' including a tribute to bassist Fred Hopkins and a suite of compositions written by Chicagoans between 1980 and 2010. 8 p.m. May 1, 2026; tickets $29-$119.
The Guardian
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I was surprised how common it is': the director of Sebastian on his controversial film about an author who enters sex work
Growing up in a small Finnish town close to the Russian border, Mikko Mäkelä knew he was gay from the age of 11. 'I think I was happy until then,' says the shy 36-year-old, whose slippery second film Sebastian is about to be released. Isolated he may have been, but at least the young Mäkelä had movies. Alone in his room, he watched queer gems such as Mysterious Skin, Presque Rien and Beautiful Thing, keeping the volume low in case his parents heard. Then a trip to the cinema to see Brokeback Mountain changed everything. 'When I got home, they asked me, 'Did you like that film?' They had read about it and wanted to make sure I wasn't like the characters. That was the night I ended up coming out to them.' He didn't stay in Finland much longer, movingNottingham to attend university. 'My home town felt extremely homophobic, which was a big part of why I left. I told myself that when I stepped off the plane in the UK, I'd stop lying.' Mäkelä is dressed in a black hoodie, with a ring in each ear, and we are sitting in a crowded cafe near his home in east London. He discusses his upbringing willingly. Only later do I have the nagging feeling that a big piece of the puzzle is missing. When we reconnect by video call a few weeks later, he is in a Lyon hotel and seems breezier and less guarded than in the cafe, where we were elbow-to-elbow with strangers. Now feels like a better time to ask how his parents reacted to him coming out. 'Oh, badly,' he snorts. 'Very badly. They were religious. My mum still is but we're on good terms. My dad has passed away now. They tried to make me engage with gay conversion. I played along for a little bit, but ultimately realised it wasn't going to work. That was why I had to put some distance between myself and my family.' His parents insisted on keeping his sexuality secret from his siblings. 'They wanted to hide it from everyone. I was sent to a psychologist, who actually sided with me. Then I was driven to an evangelical prayer-and-healing group. When the priest asked me what I felt was the matter with me, I told him, 'Nothing.' My parents weren't too pleased about that. They also tried to make me join them in prayer, to purge me of these thoughts. There was so much pressure.' But the horse had long since bolted, leaving the stable door in tatters. Mäkelä had been writing erotic stories, one of which he had posted online. This was bought by the Finnish porn magazine Kalle, which set aside a few pages for gay material. Mäkelä has never seen a physical copy of that issue, declined to have one sent to his home in case his parents found it, was too embarrassed to flick through it in a shop, and doesn't know if it's available now. 'It might be,' he says, then dashes my hope of reading it. 'It's in Finnish, though.' What was it about? 'The standard romantic fantasy of a horny teenager in a small town.' Mäkelä's short-lived career in erotica is pertinent to Sebastian. The film concerns Max, a young literary journalist in London who moonlights as a sex worker as research for his debut novel, only to discover that he enjoys it. As the picture begins, Max, played by Ruaridh Mollica, is already well into this unorthodox research for the book, which is titled Sebastian after the alias he goes by when charging for his charms. When we first meet Max, a middle-aged client is inviting him to 'tell me about yourself'. This idea of finding oneself through the stories we tell is pursued right through to the end of the movie, when Max goes directly from an afternoon assignation to a promotional Q&A at Foyles. He has continued to work his second job – one plus being that he doesn't have to give 15% to his agent. At the bookshop, Max tells his interviewer: 'You can ask me anything.' Talking to Mäkelä, then, is a faintly meta experience. Here I am, trying to discover what first-hand knowledge he has, if any, of sex work, all while we pick over a film that ponders whether an artist's personal life is any of his audience's business. As Max's mother tells him after reading one of his stories: 'You do have the right to keep some things just for yourself.' How much will Mäkelä keep for himself? He is not about to deny that his movies flirt with autofiction. In his recent short Nothing Special, a director is told: 'I really liked your film but I wish it had a different ending.' Mäkelä heard the same remark from some audience members after the equivocal conclusion of A Moment in the Reeds, his 2017 debut about an affair between a Finnish academic and the Syrian builder renovating his father's home. He has also given the hero of Sebastian some of his own characteristics: he's an outsider who lives in east London, works as a journalist (as Mäkelä briefly did), writes erotic fiction and has a name beginning with M. Mäkelä assures me that he has neither paid for sex nor been paid for it. His interest in the subject came after arriving in London, where he noticed that some of his peers were earning money from sex. 'You'd hear things like, 'Oh, someone offered me money on Grindr and I needed the cash,'' he says. 'The digitalisation of our lives has lowered the threshold for entering sex work. It's no longer associated with renting a room above a shop. I was surprised to see how commonplace it had become among queer students and creatives in east London. What was striking was the sense of freedom it gave people to explore their sexuality.' To hear Max outlining his novel to a prospective publisher feels rather like listening to Mäkelä discussing the film. 'I don't want it to be another tragic sex-worker story,' Max says. Mäkelä had much the same objective. We might fear at times for Max's wellbeing, especially when a client angrily discovers he has been fictionalising their encounters for his book, but events stop short of outright disaster. The movie's most radical aspect, though, is its treatment of the ageing and elderly body. Whereas rent-boy movies such as My Own Private Idaho and Johns are squeamish, even ageist, in their view of the men who pay for sex, Sebastian deals in equal-opportunity eroticism. Max relishes the sex he has with much older men, while the camera duly regards their bodies without the customary wariness or revulsion. These older cast members may not have been invited to disrobe on-screen in decades, if at all, and the chance might never come again. 'One of the actors did say they hadn't been naked on screen before,' Mäkelä confirms. 'I specified in the screenplay that we should see young skin touching older skin. I wanted to emphasise the poetry in those images. I thought that would be a beautiful thing to show.' It is only during Max's interactions with men his own age, when no cash is changing hands, that he radiates awkwardness or inauthenticity. 'It's not a porno!' says one partner in response to his over-eager technique. Andrew Haigh, the director of All Of Us Strangers who made his debut with 2009's rent-boy documentary Greek Pete, observed recently that there are overlaps between sex work and directing: 'You're trying to make the thing that works for people and makes them feel something,' he told me. Does Mäkelä share that view? 'It's an interesting one. I remember being surprised by how fully some sex workers had outlined all the possible questions and answers on their websites so clients knew what to expect.' Not unlike a film-maker reassuring nervous financiers, then. 'That's true. And their websites all have reviews and star ratings, too.' Another similarity. 'Yes,' he says coolly. 'It's like a Letterboxd for sex workers.' Sebastian is in cinemas from 4 April.
Chicago Tribune
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
CSO's 2025-26 season sees Mäkelä and Muti split duties — plus our short list of unmissables
It's hard to believe, for all the hubbub around Klaus Mäkelä's hiring as the 11th music director of the Chicago Symphony, that next season will mark just the halfway point between his tenure and Riccardo Muti's. The orchestra's 2025-26 season, announced Wednesday, at least reflects the passing of the baton far better than the current. Mäkelä and Muti, now the orchestra's music director emeritus, both lead four engagements with the CSO. Each gets a domestic tour with the orchestra, too — Muti on a seven-city Arizona and California tour, Mäkelä covering four stops in the Midwest and East Coast, including his first Carnegie Hall appearance with the CSO on Feb. 25, 2026. This still being an interim year between the maestri, the 2025-26 season has few unifying features or trends. (As ever, SCP Jazz, MusicNOW, world music and other programming will be announced at a later date.) Some arise out of circumstance: We see a decent scoop of Ravel, catching the end of his 150th birthday year, and much more American music than usual, thanks to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Calling all singers Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato is the CSO's next artist-in-residence, for another single-year appointment. She begins her residency with a Symphony Ball Strauss medley (Sept. 20). Following it is an Emily Dickinson-inspired song cycle by Kevin Puts, featuring pop-classical trio Time for Three (Feb. 10, 2026). DiDonato concludes her residency in the spring by singing Peter Lieberson's 'Neruda Songs' with conductor Edward Gardner (May 7-9, 2026). Missing former artists-in-residence Daniil Trifonov and Hilary Hahn? They'll both be back next season, Trifonov playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 2026) and Hahn in a to-be-announced recital program (May 24, 2026). Viola! The middle child of the string section gets two serious spotlights in the 2025-26 season. Opening night features CSO principal violist Teng Li and conductor-violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider in Mozart's collegial Sinfonia concertante (Sept. 18-19). A month later, violist Antoine Tamestit solos on an all-Berlioz program: 'Harold in Italy' and 'Symphonie fantastique,' both conducted by music director designate Klaus Mäkelä (Oct. 16-18). More Mäkelä The Berlioz bash is the first of Mäkelä's appearances with the orchestra next season. It's followed by a program of Beethoven 7, music by Unsuk Chin and Jörg Widmann, and Schumann's Piano Concerto; Yunchan Lim, the youngest-ever winner of the Van Cliburn competition and a frequent Mäkelä collaborator, solos (Dec. 18-20). Before that, Lim opens the CSO's piano series with contrasting variations by Webern and Bach (Oct. 19). Mäkelä's next program, which he takes to Carnegie Hall, features Sibelius's 'Lemminkäinen' and Richard Strauss's 'Ein Heldenleben' (Feb. 19-21, 2026). That's followed by an engagement that includes not only 'The Rite of Spring' but Darius Milhaud's 'Le Bœuf sur le toit' and Gershwin's 'An American in Paris' (March 5-6, 2026). Mäkelä will also lead two programs at the 2026 Ravinia Festival, dates to be announced. Muti gets retrospective Muti's 2025-26 repertoire walks down memory lane. As in, to 2018, when he last conducted Paul Hindemith's 'Mathis der Maler' symphony and Dvořák's 'New World' Symphony No. 9 (Oct. 30-Nov. 1), or broadly to his long career as a Verdian, in an operatic medley concert with soprano Lidia Fridman, tenor Francesco Meli and the Chicago Symphony Chorus (March 19-21, 2026). But this season, Muti is also looking much, much further back. One of his earliest recordings comes from a 1968 live performance of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez. He revisits the piece with soloist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas, who last played it at Orchestra Hall in 2019 (Nov. 6-8). An even deeper cut? Muti's tribute to Nino Rota, the composer behind the 'Godfather' soundtrack and Muti's one-time music teacher in Naples, Italy (March 26-29, 2026). Muti conducts a suite from the film as well as selections from Rota's score for the 1963 Luchino Visconti film 'Il Gattopardo.' The unmissables In more bad news for new music at Symphony Center, the CSO hosts just one premiere in the 2025-26 season, Matthew Aucoin's 'Song of the Reappeared' (Dec. 4-7). At least the piece has the right ingredients. Not only is Aucoin a familiar talent — he was a former CSO Solti Conducting Apprentice and commissioned composer for Lyric Opera's Unlimited program — but it features the adventurous soprano Julia Bullock in her CSO subscription debut. Also just one touring orchestra this season: Mexico City's Sinfónica de Minería, conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto and featuring trumpeter Pacho Flores (Jan. 18). Of the many tributes across CSO subscription and recital programs to Ravel's 150th year, Alice Sara Ott devises the most epic: both piano concertos in a doubleheader (Sept. 25-28). Mikko Franck conducts. In the spirit of its recent Joffrey collaborations, the CSO teams up with Goodman Theatre for a semi-staged 'Soldier's Tale' at Orchestra Hall (Oct. 23-25). The all-Stravinsky program also includes the orchestra's first-ever performances of Stravinsky's Septet and, aptly enough, his 'Fanfare for a New Theatre.' It's been a while since a young prodigy performed with the CSO on a mainstage program. Himari Yoshimura — already performing mononymically, as Himari — changes that next season, playing Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 under Jaap van Zweden (Feb. 12-15, 2026). She'll be a wizened 14 by the time she takes the Orchestra Hall stage. Accordion concertos? Yes, they exist. 'Prophecy,' a 2007 piece by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür, is among them; soloist Ksenija Sidorova takes it on alongside the CSO and conductor Paavo Järvi (April 2-4, 2026). Lately, phenom pianist Yuja Wang has tried her hands at leading from the keyboard. Her double-duty show in Chicago with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra makes no small plans: the program opens with Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 and ends with Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 (April 29, 2026). Someone else balancing violin and conducting, albeit with more venturesome taste than Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider: Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto. (To wit: he last appeared with the CSO in a concerto by The National guitarist Bryce Dessner.) He guides the orchestra through a program that ricochets from Haydn to Anna Clyne, with Nordic detours (May 21-23, 2026). The Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn has long been a South Side home for the CSO. Orchestra Hall returns the favor next season, inviting the Apostolic Church of God Sanctuary Choir to sing spirituals on a program with conductor James Gaffigan (June 11-13, 2026). Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet solos in Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 2, 'The Age of Anxiety,' as part of the same program. From your screen to Symphony Center Another notable trend: YouTube stars getting a CSO spotlight. TwoSet Violin, the project of comedian-violinists Eddy Chen and Brett Yang, announced last year that it would sunset its irreverent, wildly popular channel. The duo's live show at Symphony Center (Oct. 14) might be goodbye for good. In contrast, Hayato Sumino is no laughing matter: the Japanese pianist might have made his fame on YouTube under the name 'Cateen,' but he's as serious an artist as they come. His Orchestra Hall recital weaves his own compositions between Bach and Chopin (Nov. 17). The silver screen is represented, too: Following a sold-out run at Symphony Center last June, Studio Ghibli composer and pianist Joe Hisaishi returns to play and conduct the CSO in a program of his works (April 23-26, 2026). A fun extra: the conductor Joshua Weilerstein, tying up next season's subscription programs, is the host of 'Sticky Notes,' a podcast exploring a piece in the classical music canon every two weeks. His mainstage debut is a very American program that includes former CSO composer-in-residence Jessie Montgomery's 'Banner' and Aaron Copland's 'Lincoln Portrait,' narrator to be announced (June 18-21, 2026). Back by popular demand Following his thrilling turn in a 2022 MusicNOW program, Chicago-born cellist Gabriel Cabezas returns on a subscription program for Gabriella Smith's 'Lost Coast' with Esa-Pekka Salonen (Feb. 5-7, 2026). The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra makes its annual return, first in a SCP Jazz appearance (June 2, 2026) then again with conductor Marin Alsop and the CSO (June 4-6, 2026). Two co-commissioned pieces light up the latter: Symphony No. 5, 'Liberty,' by JLCO director Wynton Marsalis, and 'The Rock You Stand On' by John Adams. Conrad Tao's stunning 2023 subscription debut, playing Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F, has been a highlight of the CSO's post-shutdown seasons. The Urbana, Illinois, native returns to play Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3 with conductor Karina Canellakis (April 30-May 3, 2026). Tao returns a month later for a recital bridging classical and jazz traditions — think Schoenberg, Strayhorn, and, yes, heaps and heaps of Gershwin (June 7). The trumpet shall sound… On the subject of newsworthy returns, CSO principal trumpet Esteban Batallán resumes his post in 2025-26 after a year away at the Philadelphia Orchestra. In an email interview, Batallán said that the reasons for his return were both professional and personal. 'It was not a decision made out of the blue, or an 'easy' decision. I already have been a tenured member of the Philadelphia Orchestra since January, so it is not a return by the back door,' Batallán wrote. 'It has a deeper meaning, something that is above me, and probably could be called a 'dream,' a 'passion,' or both.' Batallán extended his gratitude to Philadelphia Orchestra music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, former and current CEOs Matías Tarnopolsky and Ryan Fleur, and his colleagues in the trumpet and trombone sections. 'We had a lot of wonderful performances,' he continued. 'There was a phrase from my esteemed colleague, associate principal trumpet Jeff Curnow, who made me remember what my whole life I was dreaming about. He shared his opinion about the time when he joined the Philadelphia Orchestra, and said, 'It was what I was looking for all my career as a professional player; it was a dream come true.' 'That quote made me think that, despite some situations that might have happened in the last few seasons in the CSO, I couldn't go against my whole life's desire: being the principal trumpet of the CSO.' He added that he was 'looking forward to the new era with our new music director, Klaus Mäkelä,' and that he intended to honor the legacy of his Chicago Symphony brass predecessors through 'dignity, responsibility, and trying to implement work ethic and other professional aspects together with my CSO colleagues.' A soloist speaks out A CSO spokesperson told the Tribune that German violinist Christian Tetzlaff remains scheduled to open the CSO's chamber series (Oct. 5). Complicating that: Tetzlaff's statements to the New York Times on Feb. 28, in which he vowed to cancel his U.S. engagements at least through the spring. He cited the Trump administration's hostilities toward Ukraine, federal workers and transgender Americans as the reason for his boycott. Should Tetzlaff extend his cancellations into next season and beyond, his recent appearance at the CSO, playing Sibelius's Violin Concerto, may be his last in the U.S. for the foreseeable future. 'I pay 32% taxes on every concert I play in the United States. That goes, at the moment, to a state that does partially horrible things with the money,' Tetzlaff told the Times. (He declined further interviews through a representative.) 'And so to complain and then to say, 'I take my money and go home' — that's also not good.' Hannah Edgar is a freelance critic. The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism helps fund our classical music coverage. The Chicago Tribune maintains editorial control over assignments and content.
