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2018 Grant Park Music Festival |
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The Grant Park Music Festival began in 1931 as a series of free concerts
offered by the Chicago Band Association. The following year, James C.
Petrillo, president of the Chicago Federation of Musicians, began a vigorous
campaign to establish these concerts as a permanent summer tradition.
In 1934, the Chicago Park District formed the Grant Park Orchestra under
the direction of Principal Conductor Nikolai Malko and officially launched
the Grant Park Concerts in 1935.
Over the ensuing decades, principal conductors of the Orchestra included
such illustrious figures as Irwin Hoffman, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman,
Zdenek Macal, and Hugh Wolff, culminating in the appointment of
Carlos Kalmar in 2000. In 2011, Maestro Kalmar was additionally named
the Festival’s Artistic Director. The Orchestra draws musicians from top
ensembles across the country, including the orchestras of Lyric Opera
of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera as well as the Buffalo, Colorado,
Jacksonville, Kansas City, Milwaukee, New Mexico, Phoenix, Pittsburgh,
Richmond, San Antonio, Seattle, and Utah symphonies.
The Festival also boasts one of the nation’s only fully professional choruses.
Established in 1962 under the direction of Thomas Peck, the Grant Park
Chorus was subsequently led by Michael Cullen (1994–97) and a series of
guest conductors until the appointment of current Director Christopher
Bell in 2002. Recipient of the 2006 Chorus America Margaret Hillis Award
for Choral Excellence, the Chorus comprises more than 100 professional
vocalists whose additional affiliations include Lyric Opera of Chicago, the
Chicago Symphony Chorus and Chicago
a cappella
.
Over the course of the Festival’s history, the Orchestra and Chorus have
performed alongside such noted soloists and ensembles as Marian
Anderson, Kathleen Battle, Leonard Bernstein, Alfred Brendel, Van Cliburn,
Aaron Copland, Jascha Heifetz, The Joffrey Ballet, Mario Lanza, Luna
Negra Dance Theater, Lily Pons, Paul Robeson, Rudy Vallee, and Pinchas
Zukerman. In 2004, the Festival took up residence in Millennium Park and
its state-of-the-art outdoor concert facility designed by noted architect
Frank Gehry. The Orchestra and Chorus have also released nine critically
acclaimed recordings, including the Grammy Award-nominated
Robert
Kurka: Symphonic Works.
ORCHESTRA & CHORUS
2 0 1 8 G R AN T PA R K MU S I C F E S T I VA L