Camerata Chicago — Mendelssohn's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

Camerata Chicago, led by the chamber orchestra's founder and music director Drostan Hall, opens its 23rd concert season with a program featuring Felix Mendelssohn’s music for William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Op. 61; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds in E-flat Major, K. 297b; and the world premiere of Chicago-area composer Tony Payne’s “Fantasy on English Melodies,” commissioned by Camerata Chicago. All three are new to Camerata Chicago’s repertoire.

Mendelssohn’s music for Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Opus 61, comprises the overture Mendelssohn wrote as teenager and the incidental music he composed nearly two decades later.

The work includes the resplendent “Wedding March,” one of the most famous pieces of classical music, traditionally heard at the conclusion of the ceremony as the newlywed couple walks out in joyous celebration.

Hall, who was born in Norwich, England, and retains his “plummy” British accent, will narrate excerpts from the play, set in an enchanted forest, as well as conduct Mendelssohn’s witty and colorful, atmospheric score conjuring bird songs, buzzing insects, rustling leaves, and rippling creeks.

Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds in E-flat major, K. 297b, is a charming and melodious three-movement orchestral work. The soloists are four of Camerata Chicago’s principal players: Grace Hong, oboe; Elizandro Garcia Montoya, clarinet; Vincent Karamanov, bassoon; and Lee Shirer, horn.

“We are thrilled to feature our superb principal wind players for the first time with the programming of this marvelous concerto,” Hall says.

“Audiences who are used to hearing the Mendelssohn and Mozart played by a symphony orchestra can savor these more intimately scaled performances for the musical detail they reveal,” Hall says.

“Both are examples of works that were originally written for orchestras the size of Camerata Chicago,” he says, “as were many other important works in the classical repertoire we feature.”

Camerata Chicago, Hall says, “is about chamber-music intimacy on a larger stage.”

Hall describes Payne’s ““Fantasy on English Melodies” as “beautifully cast in the mold of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who turned English folk tunes into wonderful, spiritually uplifting compositions.”

The “Fantasy,” which Payne dedicated to Hall, includes the folk ballad “Lovely Joan,” a tribute to Hall’s late mother, Joan.

Tickets and information

Single tickets are $50 adults, $40 seniors 65 and over, $10 students, $2 children 14 and under. VIP tickets are $75.

Using online code CCPR provides a 15% discount.

Tickets and information are available at CamerataChicago.org and by phone 312-799-0916. Email: andiamo@cameratachicago.org.