Gabriela Lena FRANK                Elegia Andina (Andean Elegy)

Juan Pablo CONTRERAS         Alma Monarca (Monarch Soul)

Antonín DVOŘÁK   DVOŘÁ Symphony No. 8

Experience the incredible influence and beauty of cultural belonging and family traditions with CULTURE CHRONICLES. Our second series concert propels composers both living and past into the spotlight, providing an intimate peak into how their cultural heritage inspires their musical storytelling. Guest Conductor Vinay Parameswaran joins the Sinfonietta, having collaborated with Music Director Mei-Ann Chen to bring audiences a program that contemplates ancestry, homelands and guiding spirits. 

The concert opens with Gabriela Lena Frank’s Elegia Andina (Andean Elegy). The piece marks the composer’s first musical foray into exploring her diverse ethnic background, Chinese-Peruvian-Spanish (her mother) and Lithuanian-Jewish (her father). It draws on the indigenious Peruvian instrument arca/ira zampoña panpipe to form musical elegiac poetry. Darkly lyrical with moments of intense beauty and tonal colors, Frank's work will leave you spellbound. 

Mexican composer Juan Pablo Contreras returns to the Sinfonietta for a second season, featuring our newest co-commissioned work and Chicago premiere of his Alma Monarca  (Monarch Soul). This sonic narrative is inspired by Contreras' remarkable family and cultural traditions, paying homage to departed loved ones during Dia de los Muertos. Local folk legends believe the souls of dearly departed loved ones become Monarch butterflies as they migrate to the next life; Contreras shares a sonic remembrance of this deeply personal childhood memory.

We close the evening with beloved Bohemian composer, Antonín Dvořák. His Symphony No. 8 is one of his best-known works, celebrated for its integration of folk melodies and celebration of nature, within a classical symphonic structure. This cheerful symphony exudes warmth, lyricism, and a joyful spirit, certain to uplift all who listen.