Dalia Stasevska stands firm as a champion of contemporary music

It is not surprising that the first work on Dalia Stasevska’s debut program with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is contemporary: Paradisfåglar II (Birds of Paradise) (2013) by Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi. The conductor has put an emphasis on new music throughout her career, especially at the Lahti Symphony, where she has led works by composers Thomas Adès, Helen Grime, Missy Mazzoli, Andrew Norman, Kaija Saariaho and Outi Tarkianen.

“First of all and most important, I love contemporary music,” she said. “The music speaks to me. I feel always that this is the language that I understand. They are the people who live in the same time with me, and they experience the same life and everything that we are having on this planet. So in that sense, I feel very connected to the stories that they try to tell. Second of all, there is nothing more thrilling than to be part of creating something new that can be thought of in 200 years the way we think of Beethoven now. I want to be on that train together.”

She discovered Tarrodi’s music six or seven years ago when she was asked to conduct a Stockholm Philharmonic program focused on the composer. “Her music connected a lot with me,” she said. “I found some similarities with Sibelius, some kind of Nordic mysticism and tone colors. Ever since, I like to program her around the world.”

This program, performed Dec. 8-10, will feature an enlarged orchestration of the original version of Birds of Paradise for strings. “It’s a beautiful piece,” Stasevska said. “She composes this amazing forest of sounds, and it’s very imaginative. You hear this imitation of birds, but it’s not really an imitation of birds. It’s a little bit like Bartók writing folk music. It’s kind of his idea of folk music. It’s the same thing with Andrea. It’s kind of her idea of this magical dream with birds.”

The program will also include Tchaikovsky’s well-known Violin Concerto with Hilary Hahn, CSO Artist-in-Residence, as soloist. Stasevska has never collaborated with the violinist, but the two recently met for coffee in Helsinki so they could get acquainted. “For me,” the conductor said, “it’s a dream come true to work with her.” 

Rounding out the program is Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra (1943), an oft-performed 20th-century classic. “I wanted to come with something that is very dear to me,” she said. “Bartók has been always been a great source of inspiration, and I love this piece.”

The work was completed two years before the composer’s death, and Stasevska sees it as a kind of valedictory celebration in which he wanted to give each section of the orchestra something spectacular to play. “It’s almost like a retrospective of all things that matter to him, that he was passionate about,” she said. “It’s such a complex piece and much more than just a showcase. You really need to think about the drama there, and all the many levels. It’s also a phenomenal piece to perform together, and I can imagine it will be just spectacular with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.”