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For Immediate Release:
May 8, 2015
Press Contacts:
Eileen Chambers, 312-294-3092
Rachelle Roe, 312-294-3090
Photos Available By Request
PR@cso.org
CSO AT THE MOVIES 2014/15 SERIES CONCLUDES WITH
SILENT FILM CLASSIC, METROPOLIS
May 29 at 8 p.m.
CHICAGO—The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2014/15 CSO at the Movies series
concludes with a screening of Fritz Lang’s silent film Metropolis on Friday, May 29 at 8
p.m. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), led by conductor Cristian Măcelaru, will
accompany Giorgio Moroder’s abridged version of the film with a live performance of a
score compiled by John Goberman and that includes music by Schoenberg, Grieg and
Bartók.
Fritz Lang’s genre-defining science fiction film debuted in 1927 and has since been
restored and rereleased all over the world. The film is set in a futuristic city whose
citizens, divided into two classes, find that their conflicts are mediated by an unexpected
source. Film critic Roger Ebert described Metropolis as doing “what many great films
do, creating a time, place and characters so striking that they become part of our
arsenal of images for imagining the world… and the result is one of those films without
which many others cannot be fully appreciated.”
Because of its production as a silent film, the score for Metropolis is reinvented with
each screening of the film. The CSO will use the score compiled by TV and film
producer John Goberman, the creator of the Emmy Award-winning show Live from
Lincoln Center. Goberman’s compiled score for Metropolis includes sections of
Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night and two of the composer’s chamber symphonies,
Bartok’s String Quartet No. 1 and Grieg’s Holberg suite. Goberman compiled this score
for a screening of Metropolis at Kennedy Center Concert Hall in 2003. The CSO’s
performance on May 29 represents only the second time Moroder’s abridged version of
Metropolis will be screened live with Goberman’s score.
Cristian Măcelaru currently serves as Conductor-in-Residence of the Philadelphia
Orchestra and recently made his Carnegie Hall debut. Măcelaru has conducted the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra on multiple occasions including his first appearance in
2012 when he conducted as a replacement for Pierre Boulez.
Program and Ticket Details
Tickets for all CSOA-presented concerts can be purchased by phone at 800-223-7114 or 312294-3000; online at cso.org, or at the Symphony Center box office: 220 S. Michigan Ave.,
Chicago, IL 60604.
Discounted student tickets for select concerts can be purchased, subject to availability, online
in advance or at the box office on the day of the concert. For group rates, please call 312-2943040.
Artists, programs and prices are subject to change.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
CSO at the Movies
Friday, May 29 at 8 p.m.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Cristian Măcelaru, Conductor
Metropolis
Compiled score by John Goberman contains sections of the
following works:
SCHOENBERG
SCHOENBERG
SCHOENBERG
GRIEG
BARTOK
BARTOK
Verklare Nacht, Op. 4 (sextet version)
Chamber Symphony No. 1 in E Major
Chamber Symphony No. 2
Holberg Suite, Op. 40
String Quartet No. 1
String Quartet No. 2
Tickets: $34-$120
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Cristian Măcelaru
Winner of the 2014 Solti Conducting Award, Cristian Măcelaru has established himself as one of the fastrising stars of the conducting world. With every concert he displays an exciting and highly regarded
presence, thoughtful interpretations and energetic conviction on the podium. Cristian Măcelaru came to
public attention in February 2012 when he conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a replacement
for Pierre Boulez in performances met with critical acclaim. Since his Chicago debut, he has conducted
that orchestra on subscription in three consecutive seasons including 14/15. The Chicago Sun-Times
exclaimed: “Măcelaru is the real thing, displaying confidence without arrogance and offering
expressiveness without excess demonstration.”
Recently appointed Conductor-in-Residence of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Măcelaru made an
unexpected subscription debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in April 2013. Since then, he has
conducted Philadelphia in two further subscription programs in 13/14 and will lead two programs on
subscription in 14/15. The 2014/15 season sees Măcelaru make his Carnegie Hall debut on a program
with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Replacing the orchestra’s Chief Conductor Rafael
Frühbeck de Burgos, Măcelaru will have the honor of conducting the Danish National Symphony
Orchestra in Denmark and on a German and U.S. tour in January and February 2015. The 11-concert
project includes the Carnegie appearance which features Anne-Sophie Mutter as violin soloist.
This season Mr. Măcelaru also returns on subscription to Chicago and has subscription debuts with the
Toronto, Baltimore, Houston, St. Louis, Seattle, Detroit, Milwaukee and Indianapolis symphony orchestras
in North America; the U.K.’s Hallé Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony; and the Hague's Residentie
Orkest in the Netherlands.
Guest-conducting highlights of the 2013-14 season included a subscription debut with the National
Symphony Orchestra and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, a European debut stepping in at the last minute
with the Gothenburg Symphony, and concerts in his home country to lead the National Radio Orchestra
of Romania in Mozart’s Requiem. In March 2014, he returned to Chicago where he led overwhelmingly
successful subscription appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, his third season in a row as
a replacement for Maestro Boulez. His 2014 summer season commenced with an opening concert for the
Caramoor Festival with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and Joshua Bell as soloist. Other summer
appearances included festivals in Vail, Mann Center, Chautauqua and Saratoga Springs.
Cristian Măcelaru made his first conducting appearance at Carnegie Hall in 2012, leading a work on a
program alongside Valery Gergiev in a Georg Solti Centennial Celebration. In 2010, Mr. Mǎcelaru made
his operatic debut with the Houston Grand Opera in Madama Butterfly and led the U.S. premiere of Colin
Matthews’s Turning Point with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra as part of the Tanglewood
Contemporary Music Festival.
In addition to being appointed the 2014 Solti Fellow, Cristian Măcelaru previously received the Sir Georg
Solti Emerging Conductor Award in 2012, a prestigious honor only awarded once before in the
Foundation’s history. He has participated in the conducting programs of the Tanglewood Music Center
and the Aspen Music Festival, studying under David Zinman, Murry Sidlin, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos,
Robert Spano, Oliver Knussen and Stefan Asbury. His main studies were with Larry Rachleff at Rice
University, where he received master’s degrees in conducting and violin performance. He completed
undergraduate studies in violin performance at the University of Miami.
An accomplished violinist from an early age, Mr. Măcelaru was the youngest concertmaster in the history
of the Miami Symphony Orchestra and made his Carnegie Hall debut with that orchestra at the age of
nineteen. He also played in the first violin section of the Houston Symphony for two seasons.
Cristian Măcelaru formerly held the position of Resident Conductor at Rice University’s Shepherd School
of Music, where he was Music Director of the Campanile Orchestra, Assistant Conductor to Larry Rachleff
and Conductor for the Opera Department. A proponent of music education, he has served as a
conductor with the Houston Youth Symphony, where he also conceptualized and created a successful
chamber music program. As Founder and Artistic Director of the Crisalis Music Project, Mr. Măcelaru
spearheaded a program in which young musicians perform in a variety of settings, side-by-side with
established artists. Their groundbreaking inaugural season produced and presented concerts featuring
chamber ensembles, a chamber orchestra, a tango operetta, and collaborations with dancer Susana
Collins, which resulted in a choreographed performance of Vivaldi/Piazzolla’s Eight Seasons.
Cristian Măcelaru currently resides in Philadelphia with his wife Cheryl and children Beniamin and Maria.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra www.cso.org and www.csosoundsandstories.org/.
Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the greatest
orchestras in the world. Since 2010, the preeminent conductor Riccardo Muti has served as its 10th
music director. Pierre Boulez is the CSO’s Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus, Yo-Yo Ma is its Judson
and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, and Mason Bates and Anna Clyne are its Mead Composers-inResidence.
From baroque through contemporary music, the CSO commands a vast repertoire. Its renowned
musicians annually perform more than 150 concerts, most at Symphony Center in Chicago and, each
summer, at the suburban Ravinia Festival. They regularly tour nationally and internationally. Since 1892,
the CSO has made 58 international tours, performing in 29 countries on five continents.
People around the globe listen to weekly radio broadcasts of CSO concerts and recordings on the WFMT
network and online at cso.org/radio. Recordings by the CSO have earned 62 Grammy Awards, including
two in 2011 for Muti’s recording with the CSO and Chorus of Verdi's Messa da Requiem (Muti’s first of
four releases with the CSO to date). Find details on these and many other CSO recordings at
www.cso.org/resound.
The CSO is part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, which includes the Chicago Symphony
Chorus (Duain Wolfe, Director and Conductor) and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a preprofessional
training ensemble. Through its prestigious Symphony Center Presents series, the CSOA presents guest
artists and ensembles from a variety of genres—classical, jazz, world, and contemporary.
The Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO offers community and education programs that annually
engage more than 200,000 people of diverse ages and backgrounds. Through the Institute and other
activities, including a free annual concert with Muti and the CSO, the CSO promotes the concept of
Citizen Musicianship™: using the power of music to create connections and build community.
The CSO is supported by tens of thousands of patrons, volunteers and institutional and individual donors.
Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of the CSO. The CSO’s music director position is endowed in
perpetuity by a generous gift from the Zell Family Foundation. The Negaunee Foundation provides
generous support in perpetuity for the work of the Negaunee Music Institute. CSO Tuesday series
concerts are sponsored by United Airlines.