Cosmic Convergence concludes Chicago Sinfonietta's 2015-2016 season

Even for an orchestra that received the 2011-12 award for Adventurous Programming from ASCAP and the League of American Orchestras, tonight's Cosmic Convergence takes creativity to out-of-this-world places.

The Chicago Sinfonietta concludes its 2015-2016 Season with Cosmic Convergence, a special multi-media concert including the World Premiere and Chicago Premiere of two films by Dr. Salgado. The event marks a decade of collaboration with Chicago-based, KV 265 Emmy-nominated astronomer and visual artist Dr. José Francisco Salgado.

This truly is a performance for everyone from star gazers to music lovers to film buffs. The collaboration began a decade ago when the "Chicago Sinfonietta first collaborated with Dr. Salgado and the Adler Planetarium with the debut performance of what soon became an award-winning suite of seven short films set to Gustav Holst’s most famous work, The Planets. As a result of this collaboration, Dr. Salgado co-founded KV 265, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting science through music. Throughout the last decade, this highly acclaimed creative partnership was renewed with performances of works by Mussorgsky and Ravel set to Salgado’s films, opening the Sinfonietta to an even-broader international audience including a multi-media experience performed for over 12,000 people at Millennium Park in 2008."

The music holds its own in the creativity department. The selections on the agenda for this evening include:

HOLST The Planets – Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity

ESTACIO Borealis featuring Chicago Premiere by Dr. José Francisco Salgado

BERLIOZ Mvt. 2, Un bal, from Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 featuring World Premiere by Dr. José Francisco Salgado

MUSSORGSKY (arr. Ravel) Excerpts from Pictures at an Exhibition- Hut on Fowl's Legs and The Great Gate of Kiev

HOLST The Planets – Mars, the Bringer of War

SIERRA Júbilo

ABELS Global Warming

TCHAIKOVSKY Capriccio Italien, op.45

ABELS Victory Road

A special treat is the hands-on element available during the pre-concert and the intermission. "Audience members will be invited to touch, hear, and observe the universe up close and personal with diverse astronomers from across the city including the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, the Cernan Earth and Space Center, and the Chicago Astronomical Society during the Symphony Center performance,"according to the Chicago Sinfonietta's press release.

The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. tonight, May 23 at the Chicago Symphony Center. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the Chicago Sinfonietta.