Event Description

Mead Composer-in-Residence Missy Mazzoli curates a dynamic program featuring two world premieres: Cult of Electromagnetic Connectivity, an evocative new commission by award-winning composer and flutist Nicole Mitchell, founder of the Black Earth Ensemble, and Delta Blues, a work by composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. CSO Principal Bass Alexander Hanna is featured soloist on Mazzoli’s own Dark with Excessive Bright, a concerto that refracts Baroque influences through a modern lens.

Join us for From the Composer’s Studio: A Conversation With Missy Mazzoli and Jessie Montgomery on Thursday, May 20, 2021, at 6:00 PM CDT. Register for this free event.

Program (curated by CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Missy Mazzoli):

Smith – Delta Blues [World Premiere] Mazzoli – Dark with Excessive Bright
Mitchell – Cult of Electromagnetic Connectivity [World Premiere, MusicNOW Commission made possible through the generous support of Helen Zell]

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra thanks the following donors who provide major support for new music programming: the Zell Family Foundation, Cynthia M. Sargent, the Sally Mead Hands Foundation and the Julian Family Foundation.

The Mead Composer-in-Residence is endowed through the generous support of Cindy Sargent and the late Sally Mead Hands.

Sponsorship support for CSO Sessions is generously provided by the Zell Family Foundation; an anonymous donor; Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund; JCS Arts, Health and Education Fund of the DuPage Foundation; the Julian Family Foundation, in honor of Cristina Rocca; Cynthia M. Sargent; Megan and Steve Shebik; Betty W. Smykal; TAWANI Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; ITW, and PNC.