Chicago Sinfonietta’s CEO Blake-Anthony Johnson was recently named one of Crain’s 40 Under 40.

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Chicago Sinfonietta recently announced that it will be joining the Auditorium Theater as it’s resident orchestra for the 2023-24 season! Learn more about this historic move here. 

Dedicated to achieving gender equality in the music industry,
the Donne Foundation creates impact through education and inspiration, and
projects such as Donne, Women in Music. The Foundation’s latest research
“Equality & Diversity in Global Repertoire” on repertoire presented by 111
select orchestras from 31 countries during the 2021-22 season found that of
those organizations, Chicago Sinfonietta was “the only orchestra to achieve
50/50 gender equality with an amazing diversity of composers as well.”
As a result of the findings, Donne has selected Chicago Sinfonietta as the first
recipient of its first Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Champions Award.

“I am delighted to present this award to the Chicago Sinfonietta and their Music
Director Mei Ann-Chen. Their motto is to be innovative, bold, and inclusive and
they are the real evidence that it can be done! I hope the world is watching and
that many will follow their incredible inspiration.” Stated Gabriella Di Laccio,
soprano and founder of the Donne Foundation.

“The Chicago Sinfonietta has been a pioneering force championing musicians
of color and women for years, and it is especially wonderful when such efforts
are recognized officially,” said Maestra Mei-Ann Chen. “Special thanks to the
hard work of Gabriella Di Laccio and Donne, Women in Music for its
contribution collecting repertoire done by orchestras and especially for its
inaugural EDI Champions Award.”

Executive Director Blake-Anthony Johnson stated, “Our Freeman
Fellowships, the appointment of Maestra Chen as Music Director, Kathryn
Bostic as our inaugural Artist in Residence, and our acclaimed Project W
highlighting contemporary, diverse, women composers are just a few examples
of Chicago Sinfonietta’s commitment to equity & representation within the arts.
Our push to make the universal language of music universally accessible has
been our mission from day one, and we are pleased to be honored for our
legacy but most importantly our dedication to the work ahead.”

ABOUT THE DONNE FOUNDATION
With a mission to create a more equitable music industry, the Donne
Foundation is a charitable foundation that celebrates, advances, and amplifies
women in music. Founded by the award-winning soprano Gabriella Di Laccio,
named one of the BBC’s 100 most inspirational and influential women in the
world in November 2018, the Foundation curates “The Big List” of female
composers and their works (over 5,000 strong and growing), education and
research projects, and multi-media content, podcasts, tailored programmes
and playlists, and more.

The Foundation’s Partners include the Arts Council England, Scala Radio,
PRS Foundation, St. Benedict’s School, Drama Musica, and Private
Goodness.

Further information, including the 2022 report and more, may be found on the
Donne website: https://donne-uk.org//research-new/

New York Times: “With ticket prices for performing arts rising, could fresh approaches like pay-what-you-can increase access and foster more adventurous programming?”

Removing socioeconomic barriers is one of those things we have to be ahead of.” – Chicago Sinfonietta CEO Blake-Anthony Johnson on programs like our landmark Pay-What-You-Can initiative catching fire across the country.

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Read the full Tribune review by Hannah Edgar here or here

NBC’s LeeAnn Trotter and Maestra Mei-Ann Chen sat down after rehearsal today to chat about our mission, 35th anniversary, and opening weekend…Check it out!

We were fortunate to be in the recent Joyce Foundation Grantee Spotlight. Read all about our President and CEO’s vision for the Sinfonietta and more, in this great article! READ MORE 

From Subito Music September 2022

“Roberto Sierra’s Concerto for Saxophones and Orchestra is an electrifying work.” As the Chicago Sinfonietta’s performances of Sierra’s concerto approach, soloist Julian Velasco shares his enthusiasm about his upcoming concerts. Originally commissioned by the Detroit Symphony for internationally renowned saxophonist James Carter, Sierra’s 23-minute score blends classical and jazz elements, and highlights the virtuoso possibilities of both the soprano and tenor saxophones. The Detroit Symphony premiered the concerto in 2002 led by its then-music director Neeme Järvi, and reprised it the following season. The Chicago Sinfonietta’s concerts will take place on September 17 and 19, conducted by music director Mei-Ann Chen.

Velasco continues. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to share Roberto Sierra’s Concerto for Saxophones with such an incredible orchestra! When I was asked to perform with the Chicago Sinfonietta, Sierra’s work was something I was very excited to pitch. This concerto asks a lot of the soloist as it requires them to pull upon classical and jazz musical traditions, often switching on a dime throughout the work. As a musician who was raised within these two realms, I find that Roberto blends the different aspects of the instruments’ sonic possibilities in a way that feels incredibly authentic, unique, and captivating. This piece is incredibly unique in that it was written for the great Detroit Jazz saxophone legend James Carter and Sierra gives a good amount of freedom to the performer to even improvise throughout the work!

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By Hosea Sanders and Marsha Jordan ABC Chicago
Friday, September 9, 2022 5:43PM

CHICAGO (WLS) — We’re gearing up for the “Chicago Live!” festival just over two weeks from
now.
Chicago Sinfonietta is one of the city’s artistic treasures you can see perform free at the event at
Navy Pier!
ABC7’s Hosea Sanders was at the lakefront to check out some of the talented artists, like key
members of the Chicago Sinfonietta.
The sound is joyous and mesmerizing, and so is their mission.
Chicago Sinfonietta have over three decades of artistic excellence, with a repertoire spanning
classic to modern with majestic vibrancy. It’s inclusive in every way.
The Sinfonietta is a little gem, it’s a wonderful orchestra, it’s diverse in almost every way. The
membership is very diverse, the audience is very diverse.
Music shouldn’t feel elitist, it should feel really welcoming,” said tubist Charlie Schuchat.

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By Kathy Cichon
Naperville Sun
Sep 07, 2022 at 4:13 pm

Saxophonist and Cedille Records Emerging Artists Competition winner Julian Velasco will
perform as guest musician on Roberto Sierra’s “Concerto for Saxophones and Orchestra” during
the Chicago Sinfonietta’s season opening concert, “Next,” performed on Sept. 17 at Wentz
Concert Hall in Naperville. (Chicago Sinfonietta)
A bit of the old and a bit of the new combined with big percussion sounds and a wide range
emotion is a good way to describe the Chicago Sinfonietta’s season-opening concert.
“I think that’s how people (are feeling at the moment),” Maestro Mei-Ann Chen said. “It is a
wide range of emotions we all feel in our life. The new reality if you will, the new normal.”
Audience members can experience the pieces when the Chicago Sinfonietta performs the concert
“Next” at 8 p.m. Sept. 17 at Wentz Concert Hall in Naperville and at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19 at
Symphony Center in Chicago.
Big percussion sections are needed in the two pieces that comprise the first half of the program.
George Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture” is followed by Roberto Sierra’s “Concerto for
Saxophones and Orchestra,” a piece featuring Cedille Records Emerging Artists Competition
winner Julian Velasco as guest musician.
After hearing Velasco perform, Sinfonietta President and CEO Blake-Anthony Johnson asked
Music Director Chen to program a piece with saxophonist Velasco.
“Saxophone concertos are of course, less standard, even I had to Google Julian’s list to pick the
one that seems to fit in our season,” she said
With the jazz theme on the Sinfonietta’s wish list for future programming, “I picked the very
interesting jazz concerto that hadn’t been done that many times by the wonderful composer we
have played a couple of times,” she said.
Chen said Sierra is “able to combine the sounds of Latin America with other idioms and in this
case, jazz” in the work, which has four movements. While the last movement, “Fast (with
swing),” leaves no doubt about the jazz connection, she said all of the movements are fun. The
second movement, titled “Tender,” is also a highlight.
“It’s just absolutely gorgeous music that needs to be shared,” Chen said.
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