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In their return to what is arguably the most storied city in the history of Western music, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Riccardo Muti performed two concerts last week in Vienna’s gilded Musikverein. The 1870 neoclassical concert hall, which resembles an ancient Greek temple, provides musicians and audience members alike an acoustic that many CSO members describe as the best in the world. On Monday, January 22, the concert featured the Austrian premiere of Philip Glass’ The Triumph of the Octagon, Igor Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird and Richard Strauss’ Aus Italien. On the following evening, which marked Maestro Muti’s 200th appearance at the venue, the Orchestra performed Florence Price’s Third Symphony followed by Sergei Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. When they weren’t in concert, CSO musicians traveled through the city streets, enjoyed a game of pickup basketball and performed a chamber concert for patrons, who have joined the tour group for the rest of the journey with an itinerary that includes the CSO’s concerts, as well as receptions with CSO musicians and visits to other cultural institutions.
Karen Basrak, CSO cello, shows off the signage promoting the CSO’s performances posted near the entrance to Vienna’s Musikverein. Prior to this tour, the CSO has given 24 performances at this venue, most recently in January 2020.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
CSO principal percussion Cynthia Yeh and stage manager Chris Lewis move a bass drum into place on stage prior to rehearsal. Yeh began playing the piano at age 4 and didn’t learn other percussion instruments until she was in high school. She studied both piano and percussion during her undergraduate years before studying with legendary Philadelphia Orchestra percussionist Alan Abel during graduate school.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
CSO principal bass Alexander Hanna greets Marin Alsop, chief conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, as she stops by a CSO rehearsal on Monday, January 22, at the Musikverein. Alsop has gotten to know several members of the CSO better over the past few years through her role as chief conductor of the Ravinia Festival, which is the CSO’s summer home.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Longtime CSO member David Sanders acknowledges his colleagues’ warm regards as he is recognized during his final rehearsal with the orchestra that he has called home for 50 years. Sanders, appointed to the cello section by Sir Georg Solti in 1974, will retire at the conclusion of the Europe 2024 Tour.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
The CSO takes advantage of a rehearsal to bask in the Musikverein’s lively acoustics that so many musicians love. This hall, which opened in 1870, was designed by Theophil Hansen in a neoclassical style of an ancient Greek temple, complete with columns, statues and warm lighting.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
During a free afternoon in Vienna, CSO percussion and assistant principal timpani Vadim Karpinos, assistant principal bass Alexander Horton and bass Daniel Carson engage in a pickup game of basketball at a park.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
CSO concertmaster Robert Chen and his wife, Laura Park Chen, enjoy some shopping in Vienna. Robert is not the only violinist in the family; Laura also has enjoyed an active career as a violinist, having been a member of the Lyric Opera, Grant Park, Philadelphia, Boston, Royal Swedish Opera and Brooklyn Philharmonic orchestras.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association trustee Lori Julian attends a CSO concert in Vienna as part of a patrons tour organized by the CSO’s development department. A former piano teacher, Julian has been a CSO subscriber and supporter for 40 years and serves on the board of the Negaunee Music Institute at the CSO in addition to her role on the Board of Trustees.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Maestro Riccardo Muti, CSO music director emeritus for life, leads the Orchestra in a program that includes Philip Glass’ The Triumph of the Octagon, Igor Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird and Richard Strauss’ Aus Italien at the Musikverein on Monday, January 22. In 2021, Muti was awarded the Great Golden Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria, the highest possible civilian honor from the Austrian government.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
CSO assistant principal oboe Lora Schaefer (right) chats with longtime CSOA patron Rose Murphy at a reception following the concert on Monday evening. Murphy is participating in a patrons tour organized by the CSOA’s development department that travels alongside the Orchestra for all destinations from Vienna through Rome.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Members of the horn section—(from left to right) James Smelser, Mark Almond, David Griffin, Susanna Gaunt and Oto Carrillo—celebrate another great day on the CSO’s Europe 2024 Tour. Before joining the CSO, Smelser, Griffin and Carrillo were members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a training program of the CSO for emerging professional musicians.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
A string quartet of CSO musicians—violins Matous Michal and SoYoung Bae, viola Danny Lai and cello Karen Basrak—performs music of Beethoven at Vienna’s Theater Museum for participants in the patrons tour that has joined the Orchestra for the remainder of its travels. The Theater Museum is housed in what was once the palace of Franz Joseph Maximilian Prince Lobkowitz, a prominent patron of the Viennese and Bohemian music and theater scene. Beethoven was a regular guest at this palace and dedicated his Third Symphony (Eroica) to Lobkowitz, who consequently named the performance space within the palace Eroica-Hall.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Jake Hanegan, guest harp Julia Coronelli and CSO piccolo and flute Jennifer Gunn fill their bellies with open-faced sandwiches and tiny mugs of beer. No Vienna hot dogs here.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
The CSO bass section nominates fellow member Robert Kassigner in response to an offer by Michael Bladerer, general manager of the Vienna Philharmonic Society and double bassist, to try his instrument.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Guest musician Matthias Schorn, who is principal clarinet of the Vienna State Opera and Vienna Philharmonic, is welcomed by CSO principal oboe William Welter. Schorn graciously agreed to perform with the CSO in Vienna when a brief illness kept the CSO’s principal clarinet off the stage.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
CSO percussion and assistant principal timpani Vadim Karpinos crashes the cymbals during the CSO’s second performance of this tour at the Musikverein, on Tuesday, January 23. A native of Kiev, Ukraine, Karpinos moved to the United States in 1991 and joined the CSO a decade later, at the invitation of Daniel Barenboim.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
The CSO and Maestro Riccardo Muti perform the Third Symphony of Florence Price, whose music was long overlooked, neglected and dismissed. The CSO performed the premiere of Price’s First Symphony at the 1933 World’s Fair, an event that marked the first performance of a large-scale composition by a Black woman composer given by one of the major U.S. orchestras.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Maestro Riccardo Muti smiles at John Sharp, CSO principal cello, who is back on stage after a brief illness that kept him from a few concerts. Sharp performs on a cello that was made by Joseph Guarnerius in 1694.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Maestro Riccardo Muti leads the CSO in a second program of music by Florence Price and Sergei Prokofiev at the Musikverein on Tuesday, January 23. Over his long career, Muti has regularly appeared at this hall—200 times to be exact—and has led the Vienna Philharmonic in its annual New Year’s Concert six times, in 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2018 and 2021.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Maestro Riccardo Muti is awarded a solo bow at the conclusion of the concert on Tuesday, January 23—his 200th concert on this stage in Goldener Saal at the Musikverein. This honor by the Viennese audience is reserved for special occasions related to the most venerated conductors.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
In anticipation of travel the next morning, CSO stage technician Todd Snick moves a trunk out of the Musikverein and into a truck that will be unloaded in Budapest, Hungary. Nearly 20 tons of instruments, wardrobe and equipment are packed into 141 trunks that are moved from venue to venue along the tour.
Todd Rosenberg Photography
