Connect with the CSO’s African American Network

Friday, November 2, 7:00-7:30 p.m., Grainger Ballroom
Preconcert lecture featuring Reginald R. Robinson and Columbia College Chicago Professor Stan West: An exploration of James Reese Europe’s legacy
Open to all concert ticketholders

Friday, November 2, postconcert, Grainger Ballroom
Stay after the SCP Jazz concert for a meet-and-greet with Reginald R. Robinson

Friday, November 16, postconcert, Green Room
Join us for an exclusive AAN postconcert meet-and-greet with the Soweto Gospel Choir after its concert!

$35 tickets are available for each of the concerts listed below unless otherwise noted. Use promotion code RSVP or call 312-294-3000.

2018/19 Special Ticket Offer Dates:

Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts:
Thursday, October 25, 2018, 8:00 p.m.: Haitink Conducts Bruckner Symphony No. 6 and Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2 performed by Paul Lewis
Thursday, November 1, 2018, 8:00 p.m.: Barenboim Conducts Smetana Má vlast
Friday, November 2, 2018, 1:30 p.m.: Barenboim Conducts Smetana Má vlast
Saturday, November 3, 2018, 8:00 p.m.: Barenboim Conducts Smetana Má vlast
Friday, November 30, 2018, 8:00 p.m.: CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen Leads All-Mozart
Saturday, December 8, 2018, 8:00 p.m.: R. Strauss Four Last Songs & Nielsen The Inextinguishable Symphony
Thursday, March 14, 2018, 8:00 p.m.: Muti Conducts Beethoven and Wagner
Thursday, April 11, 2019, 8:00 p.m.: Chopin and Zemlinsky The Mermaid
Thursday, May 23, 2019, 8:00 p.m.: Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez

Symphony Center Presents Jazz concerts:
Friday, November 2, 2018, 8:00 p.m.: $45 — Branford Marsalis Quartet with special guest Roy Hargrove | opening set by Reginald R. Robinson: Celebrating the Great James Reese Europe
Friday, February 22, 8:00 p.m.: Jazz in the Key of Ellison featuring Will Downing, Nona Hendryx, Quiana Lynell, Nicholas Payton and the Andy Farber Orchestra
Friday, May 24, 2019, 8:00 p.m.: TWO WINGS

Special Concerts:
Monday, November 5, 2018, 7:30 p.m.: Barenboim Conducts West-East Divan Orchestra: R. Strauss Don Quixote & Tchaikovsky 5
Sunday December 16, 2018, 4:30 p.m.: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Merry, Merry Chicago! holiday spectacular
Friday, April 19, 2019, 8:00 p.m.: Zakir Hussain and the Masters of Percussion

 

   

Tickets just $35 with promotion code RSVP. Call 312-294-3000 or visit cso.org.

How to book your tickets on cso.org:
1. Click BUY TICKETS button.
2. Click “Select Your Own Seats” button
3. User the interactive map to select your seating section on the Main floor or Lower balcony.
4. After you select your seats, click “Finalize Seat and Add to Cart”
5. Click “Checkout” in the pop-up window
6. You can also checkout by clicking “My Cart” and “Checkout”
7. Login or Register to Continue
8. Enter RSVP in the box that says “Enter Promo Code”
9. Click “Apply” and enter your billing information to complete the purchase. The ticket price will change for the tickets selected as long as you have Main Floor or Lower Balcony seats in your cart.

Fees: Additional fee of $6 per ticket apply.

HAITIAN PIANO TREASURES RECITAL
May 3, 2018

Pianist Marianne Parker performs never-before-heard Haitian piano gems.

 

 

 

CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OPEN REHEARSAL
May 2018

Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti welcomes AAN members backstage following an open rehearsal with the CSO.

 

COMPOSING THE BLACK CHICAGO RENAISSANCE: PIANO RECITAL
April 12, 2018

Pianist Samantha Ege performs works by African American female composers.

 

BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION: FILM SCREENING OF THE SCAR OF SHAME
February 25, 2018

Conductor and composer Renée Baker speaks about the silent film The Scar of Shame and her world premiere score.

 

 

CELEBRATION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AND PAUL ROBESON: LECTURE
January 20, 2018

Melanie Zeck from Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Black Music Research gives a lecture on the lives of Paul Robeson and Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Lecture attendees work on a written exercise about Paul Robeson.

 

AAN HOLIDAY PARTY
December 14, 2018

Party attendees enjoy special holiday performances.

 

AAN member Barbara Wright-Pryor, CSOA President Jeff Alexander, AAN Coordinator Sheila Jones, Center for Black Music Research lecturer Melanie Zeck, and AAN member George Cooper.

 

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine performs for holiday party guests.

 

PIZZA PARTY & POSTCONCERT Q&A WITH CONDUCTOR THOMAS WILKINS
In partnership with the CSO’s Negaunee Institute
December 2, 2017

Conductor Thomas Wilkins and Dana Navarro, CSO Communications & PR Manager and Q&A moderator, answer pizza party attendees’ questions after the Family Matinee concert.

 

CSO ALL-ACCESS CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT
November 29, 2017

  

AAN members pose for a photo following a free CSO chamber music series concert at Symphony Center.

 

 

THE TRANSORMATION OF BLACK MUSIC BOOK DISCUSSION & LECTURE
October 21, 2017

Melanie Zeck from Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Black Music Research gives a lecture on The Transformation of Black Music, a book she co-authored with musicologist Samuel A. Floyd, Jr.

 

AAN Seminar at Benedictine University
September 15, 2017

 

The AAN was proud to give a seminar at Benedictine University entitled “Classical Composers of African Descent through the Ages.” Special thanks to Dr. Elizabeth Boone, AAN Organizing Committee member and Development Director of Benedictine University’s CLL program.

POSTCONCERT Q&A WITH BRANFORD MARSALIS
June 16, 2017

Pictured left to right: Branford Marsalis; Randy Elliot, CSO Director of Artistic Administration

 

Pictured left to right: AAN Coordinator Sheila Jones; Branford Marsalis; Jeff Alexander, CSOA President

 

BODY AND SOUL FILM SCREENING
February 25, 2017

The African American Network held its first film screening: Micheaux’s Body and Soul, with a new score by conductor and composer Renée Baker! Pictured left to right: Renée Baker speaks about the film and her new score alongside African American Network Coordinator Sheila Jones and Max Raimi, CSO violist.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Renee C. Baker, Artistic Consultant, Chicago Modern Orchestra Project
Ben Handy, Web Associate
Tony Land, Office of Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza
Eric Owens, Lyric Opera Bass-Baritone
Rachel Barton Pine, Classical Violinist, RBP Foundation
Barbara Wright-Pryor, Archivist/Historian
Darlene and Howard Sandifer, Educational Engagement
Javante Smith, Multilingual Interpreter
Melanie Zeck, Musicologist, Center for Black Music Research

ENDORSERS/SUPPORTERS
Alfreda Burke
Joyce A. Carter
Cynthia Clarey
George Cooper
Doris Davenport
Mimi Duginger
Thelma Fitzgerald
Jennifer M. Gunn
Keith Hampton
Cornelius V. Johnson
Ernest Paul Jones
Katinka Kleijn
Rev. Herbert Lassiter
Brad Opland
Eric Owens
Max Raimi
Godwin Sadoh
Florence Schwartz
Adam Vida

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Elizabeth Boone
Phyllis Calderone
Kyle J. Dickson
Susan Carlotta Ellis
Larry Flennoy
Patrice Fumbanks
Neomia Harris
Adrienne Harrison
Katherine E. Hicks
Casandra Holiday
Susan Johnson
Mary Lynn Kelly
Leah McGregory
Rosemarie Rogers
Bryant Young