On Saturday’s broadcast, we feature the Music Institute of Chicago Academy Orchestra. The orchestra performed at Skokie Public Library on Saturday, March 24 under the direction of Jim Setapen.
The Academy of the Music Institute of Chicago was founded in 2006 as a training center for pre-college classical musicians who intend to pursue performance careers.
This program features a variety of pieces for string orchestra, with some expanded excerpts from famous string quartets. We begin with the evocative music from Spain and Argentina by Joaquín Turina and Astor Piazzolla. Lydia Rhea, a graduating senior and cellist at the Academy, is featured in the last movement of the Cello Concerto in A major by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The beautiful Cavatina from Beethoven’s String Quartet in B-flat Major and the sprightly Irish reel Molly on the Shore by Percy Grainger round out the program.