There’s still a chance to hear the Chicago Symphony Orchestra do the “Funeral Song,” a recently rediscovered work of Igor Stravinsky.
Conducted by renowned Stravinsky interpreter Charles Dutoit who is guest conducting the CSO now through April 15, the “Funeral Song” is on the program tonight, April 8, at 8 p.m. and again April 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Stravinsky wrote the piece after the death of his teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov more than a century ago, but it was only rediscovered when its orchestral parts, found at the St. Petersburg Kimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory, were recently pieced backed together.
The Stravinsky work leads off a program that includes Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B Minor with soloist Truls Mork and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major.
For a special Easter program Dutoit will conduct the CSO in Fauré’s Requiem featuring the Chicago Symphony Chorus, soprano Chen Reiss and baritone Matthias Goerne April 13,14 and 15.
Reiss, an Israeli soprano who has performed with conductors Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle and James Levine, will be making her CSO debut. Goerne, a German baritone who has appeared at the Met, Covent Garden and the Vienna State Opera, is returning to Symphony Center for the “Requiem.”
Dutoit is chief conductor and artistic adviser of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also music director of the Verbier Festival Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
The programs are at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. For tickets and other information call (800) 223-7114 or visit CSO.