Ravinia 2025 Issue 5

PAVILION 5:00 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2025 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DAVID ROBERTSON, conductor SHEKU KANNEH-MASON, cello † SNIDER Something for the Dark ** SAINT-SAËNS Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, op. 33 Allegro non troppo—Allegretto con moto—Molto allegro Sheku Kanneh-Mason CHABRIER España , Rhapsody for Orchestra RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Capriccio espagnol , op. 34 Alborada: Vivo e strepitoso Variations: Andante con moto Alborada: Vivo e strepitoso Scene and Gypsy Song: Allegro Fandango of the Asturias There is no intermission in this program. † Ravinia debut ** First performance by the CSO and at Ravinia Ravinia expresses its appreciation for the generous support of Premier Sponsor The Negaunee Foundation . Ravinia extends its appreciation to the generous supporters of the Cello Consortium , which includes Bill & Diane Lloyd, Sheila Medvin, and Paul & Mary Yovovich. SARAH KIRKLAND SNIDER (b. 1973) Something for the Dark Scored for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, three B-flat clarinets, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, tom-toms, glockenspiel, triangle, tam-tam, bass drum, vibraphone, marimba, suspended cymbal, crash cymbal, sleigh bells, celeste, snare drum, chimes, crotales, harp, piano, celesta, and strings A native of Princeton, NJ, Sarah Kirkland Snider studied piano and voice in her youth before at- tending Wesleyan University as a psychology and sociology major. Composition was an early pursuit—Snider produced her first original mu- sic in high school. She returned to composition in graduate school with studies at New York University under Justin Dello Joio and at the Yale School of Music with Martin Bresnick, Aar- on Jay Kernis, Ezra Laderman, and David Lang. Snider has emerged as a fresh compositional voice over the past 15 years. The Washington Post included her among the “top 35 female compos- er in classical music” in 2017. Her orchestral song cycle Penelope for mezzo-so- prano, string sextet, and live electronics retraces the story of the faithful wife of Odysseus, who craftily dodges a string of suitors while awaiting her husband’s return from the Trojan War. Snid- er and playwright Ellen McLaughlin originally reimagined this classic tale from Homer’s epic poem for a modern music-theater “monodrama” presented at the J. Paul Getty Center in 2008. The song-cycle adaptation for mezzo-soprano, a percussion-and-strings sextet, and live electron- ics was composed in 2009 for Shara Worden, the lead singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumen- talist of the indie rock band My Brightest Dia- mond. Time Out New York named the recording of Penelope its Top Classical Album of 2010, and National Public Radio included it among the Five Best Genre-Defying Albums of 2010. Sarah Kirkland Snider RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUG. 4 – AUG. 17, 2025 82 SHERVINLAINEZ