'Manhattan Maestros' Concert Kicks Off IPO's Season

As he embarks on his 25th and final year as music director of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Carmon DeLeone still finds the unexpected can occur while putting a program together.

And Manhattan Maestros, the IPO's season opener set for this weekend at , is a perfect example.

"It was all fortuitous happenstance," DeLeone said. "Actually, we did not set out to choose those with New York connections, but the concert just came together.

To begin the orchestra's 33rd season, DeLeone pulled together an unusual of collection of composers who aren't normally known for their ties to New York City. In lieu of Leonard Bernstein or George Gershwin ("We saved them for the closing concert," DeLeone said), Manhattan Maestros includes works by Richard Strauss, Anton Dvorak, Austrian Gustav Mahler and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Dvorak was director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York from 1892-1895, and the other composers conducted the New York Philharmonic orchestra during the 19th century.

"While we were working on this opening concert, someone mentioned both Mahler and Tchaikovsky had spent time in New York," DeLeone said. "Suddenly, Dvorak and Strauss popped up, and the four just came together in a delightful way."

And what "listen-for-this" hints—sounds, melodies or moods the audience will hear in the music—can DeLeone give audiences?

"Dvorak's Carnival Overture raises the curtain," he said. "It's the right piece to open, so peppy and lively. What you open with sets off the season."

After that piece, something by Mahler was next on the list for the maestro, who wanted to mark the composer's 150th birthday. Mahler's Adagietto is written entirely for strings and takes the orchestra and audience into a much more somber place from the very first notes.

"It's only about 10 or 11 minutes and is often used on solemn occasions," DeLeone said. "Actually, Leonard Bernstein conducted it for Robert F. Kennedy's funeral."

An ancient Flemish prankster and rogue stars in the Strauss tone poem Till Eulenspiegle's Lustige Streiche ("Merry Pranks"), third in the program.

"It tells Till's story in sound," DeLeone said. "Strauss is usually known for lengthy symphonic works, but he also wrote many of these tone poems. This one opens with (a musical) Once upon a time, and it is very light with many comical sections."

The final work on the program, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, is also the longest piece as well as the one DeLeone has been longing to perform.

It opens with horns and bassoons, but the third movement of this symphony—the scherzo—features a large section written specifically for strings and performed pizzicato, a string-plucking technique.

"In fact, this is a famous example of pizzicato," DeLeone said. "Tchaikovsky was the epitome of the Russian Romantics, and he wrote and wrote and wrote."

Click here to read what DeLeone has to say about his departure.

Manhattan Maestros

When: Saturday, Nov. 13, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 14, at 3 p.m.

Where: Lincoln-Way North High School Fine Arts Center, 19900 S. Harlem Ave., Frankfort

Tickets: $30-$50, $15 for students 18 and younger. Sunday matinee tickets are $25-$40 and $15 for students. Tickets can be purchased at the IPO office, 377 Artists Walk, Park Forest; by phone at (708) 481-7774; and online at the IPO's website.

Other events: An opening night gala at , 601 Prestwick Drive, Frankfort, will be held at 5 p.m. before Saturday's concert. Tickets are $80, and more information can be found here.