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Joshua Weilerstein’s conducting career has taken him far afield from his hometown of Rochester, New York. Currently based in London, he’s the music director of the Orchestre National de Lille (France) and chief conductor of the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra in Denmark. Still, American music remains a staple of his repertoire. When Weilerstein makes his subscription series debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on June 18-21, the eclectic program will feature works by 20th- and 21st-century American composers as part of a monthlong celebration of American music at Symphony Center.
With Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait as the centerpiece, Weilerstein’s concerts will open with Banner by former CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence and 2024 Grammy Award winner Jessie Montgomery, and continue with The Rock by Bohuslav Martinů, a Czech composer who emigrated to the United States in 1941. Three Places in New England by Charles Ives and Harlem by Duke Ellington conclude the program. Weilerstein chose this repertoire in collaboration with Cristina Rocca, vice president of artistic administration for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association.
“We both wanted to create a cross-section of American music, from very avant-garde music to jazz-influenced music to the Copland, the Americana style,” Weilerstein said in a recent interview. “I was very interested in also having a composer who came to the U.S. on this program, because it’s something that Leonard Bernstein always talked about, this massive tapestry of American music.”
To elaborate on this idea, Weilerstein cited a passage of Bernstein’s narration from a 1958 episode titled “What Is American Music?” from his educational series “Young People’s Concerts” on CBS. The excerpt reads:
“Think of all the races and personalities from all over the globe that make up our country … We’ve taken it all in … and learned it from one another, borrowed it, stolen it, cooked it all up in a melting pot. So, what our composers are finally nourished on, is a folk music that is probably the richest in the world, and all of it is American.”
Montgomery’s Banner, composed in 2014, exemplifies this syncretic approach. “She took the core of it, which is the American National Anthem, and then threw in so many different folk songs and anthems from different parts of North America,” said Weilerstein. “It’s such an inventive, creative piece, and it’s so joyful.”
The Rock is an obscure 1957 work that even most musicians are unfamiliar with today, Weilerstein said. When Martinů first came to the U.S., fleeing the Nazis during World War II, he initially struggled to adjust, but eventually embraced American culture and wrote music inspired by his new country. The title of the piece refers to Plymouth Rock, believed to be the site where the Mayflower landed in 1620.
“[Martinů] never said there was a real narrative to it, but to me, there’s really a clear imagery of crossing the ocean,” said Weilerstein. “It has this nervous anticipation — there’s fog, there’s storms, there’s intense homesickness — and then the end of it is this beautiful chorale.”
Copland’s ode to Abraham Lincoln, a work for narrator and orchestra that premiered in 1942, features passages from speeches by the 16th U.S. president, including his famous Gettysburg Address. Chicago native Harry Lennix, who recently served as associate director and music director for the Goodman Theatre’s revival of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson, makes his CSO debut as the narrator. A 2025 Tony Award nominee for his performance in Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Lennix also has extensive TV and film credits, including “The Blacklist,” ”Man of Steel” and "The Matrix” franchise.
These concerts will mark Weilerstein’s first collaboration with Lennix, and the conductor looks forward to working with him on this pillar of the classical repertoire. “It’s so inspiring and beautiful and just this classic piece of American music,” Weilerstein said of Lincoln Portrait.
Ives began composing sketches for Three Places in New England as early as 1903 — when 19th-century giants such as Mahler and Dvořák were still living — and the piece heralds his role as “one of the great visionaries of the 20th century,” said Weilerstein. “I find his music quintessentially American, because it’s very brash and humorous and loud, and also so sincere and earnest and very honest.”
Closing the program is Harlem, a 1951 orchestral jazz work by Ellington, a leading jazz pianist and composer of the Harlem Renaissance and mid-20th century. The piece is “a big, explosive celebration of Harlem and New York,” said Weilerstein. “I think with the CSO, it will quite literally raise the roof of the hall.”
In addition to his conducting posts in Europe and guest engagements, one of Weilerstein’s ongoing musical projects is “Sticky Notes,” a podcast that he has hosted and produced since 2017. Inspired by Bernstein’s example, Weilerstein aims to make classical music more accessible through interviews with artists and in-depth looks at repertoire ranging from warhorses like Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony to little-known works such as Lili Boulanger’s Psalm 130.
“I love bringing these unfamiliar pieces to audiences,” said Weilerstein. “I have a show about Three Places in New England, for example, and I’ve gotten emails from people who’ve said, ‘I never really liked Ives, but now I get it.’ And to me, that’s the most fulfilling thing one can get, is to be able to share music that you love with somebody and convince them to really enjoy it themselves.”
Weilerstein hopes to do the same with his upcoming CSO concerts. “I would say to anybody who is wondering about Montgomery or Ives or Martinů, the three maybe less familiar composers in this program, that I guarantee that you will enjoy them,” he said. “They’re so different from each other, and there’s so much to love and appreciate about all three of those pieces.”
