UChicago Symphony Orchestra presents Bernstein and Brahms

Continuing its distinctive commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, the University of Chicago Symphony Orchestra (USO) presents its final concert of the season on Saturday, May 26, featuring Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”, with piano soloist Daniel Pesca. The program also includes Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68, and Bernstein’s Presto Barbaro from On The Waterfront. The concert begins at 8 p.m. in Mandel Hall, and is preceded by a lecture with Thomas Christensen, Avalon Foundation Professor of Music and the Humanities, in the McCormick Tribune Lounge at 7 p.m.

The concert opens with Bernstein’s exhilarating Presto Barbaro from the 1954 film On The Waterfront, which features Marlon Brando in a signature role. The score for the film received wide popular and critical acclaim, and On The Waterfront won eight Academy Awards.

Immediately following this short opener, the USO presents the second of Bernstein’s three symphonies. Dubbed “The Age of Anxiety,” Bernstein’s 1949 creation was inspired by W.H. Auden’s poem of the same name, which the former regarded as “one of the most shattering examples of pure virtuosity in the history of English poetry.” Auden’s text explores a theme that especially resonated with Bernstein during his compositional career—a difficult and problematical search for meaning and faith—and this motif comprises the essential lines of the music. The piece’s break from the conventional four-movement, exclusively orchestral structure of a symphony allows the composer to create an almost “autobiographical protagonist” in the role of the piano soloist.

Daniel Pesca, Artist-in-Residence and director of the University of Chicago Chamber Music Program, will be the featured soloist in the Bernstein work. Pesca has performed at the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, and at festivals devoted to contemporary music in Spain, Italy, and Greece. As a passionate advocate for new music, Pesca has also shared the stage with many leading new music ensembles, including Ensemble Signal, Dal Niente, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble.

As a counterpart to the Bernstein, the University Symphony offers Brahms’ masterful Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68, a piece that took the German composer a full 21 years to create, from initial sketches to finishing touches. While often described as a worthy successor to Beethoven’s Ninth, the Brahms’ First moves beyond its famous model in terms of thematic definition, interplay, and development in its opening movement; in the contrasts of mood in the ensuing Andante and Allegretto e grazioso movements; and in the sheer emotional power and dramatic trajectory of its enormously complex finale.

This distinctive performance takes place on Saturday, May 26 at 8 p.m. in Mandel Hall at 1131 East 57th Street. The audience is invited to a pre-concert lecture with Professor Thomas Christensen in the McCormick Tribune Lounge at 7 p.m. Christensen’s lecture will focus on the Bernstein work, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Admission is free. A suggested donation of $10 general, $5 students and children will be collected at the door. For more information, visit music.uchicago.edu or call 773-702-8484.