TONAL TRANFORMATION
CONCERT 6 – Season Finale
May 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM
WENTZ CONCERT HALL, Naperville
May 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
AUDITORIUM THEATRE, Chicago

Mei-Ann Chen, conductor
Timothy McAllister, saxophone, guest artist

Brittany J. GREEN In the Beginning CHICAGO PREMIERE
Adolphus HAILSTORK Concerto for Saxophone CHICAGO PREMIERE
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

Chicago Sinfonietta closes its 37th season with works that are as inspirational and creative as the people who perform them and the audiences for which they are performed. Having journeyed this season through music celebrating youth, women, culture, heritage, creativity, emotions and more, Chicago Sinfonietta pays tribute to those that allow us to transform our artform for the better. TONAL TRANSFORMATION aptly opens with Brittany J. Green’s In the Beginning, which “explores the excitement of new worlds forming, colliding, and shifting into place.” Following is a work by one of the most prolific and distinguished Black American composers of our time, Adolphus Hailstork’s Concerto for Saxophone, written for Timothy McAllister, “one of the foremost saxophonists of his generation” (The New York Times), promises an expressive and virtuosic exploration of the saxophone’s colorful range. Juxtaposing these two modern works is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s deeply colored Symphony No. 4, made possible by a female patron, described by the composer as a depiction of the nature of Fate. The work’s famous ominous opening fanfare transitions to a bright energy in the final movement, bringing our season to its conclusion.