New Philharmonic Presents 2015-2016 Season

Gustav’s Holst’s Mesmerizing “The Planets,”  Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte” With a Reality TV Spin and an Extraordinary Selection of Guest Artists Featured in NP’s 39^th YearTickets Now On Sale by Subscription; Single Tickets Go on Sale at the Box Office Aug. 15

GLEN ELLYN, IL – Maestro Kirk Muspratt and New Philharmonic (NP), the 60-member professional orchestra in residence at the McAninch Arts Center, located on the campus of College of DuPage, 425 W. Fawell Blvd., are pleased to present their 2015-2016 Season.

“We’re reaching for the stars…literally in our 39^th year, beginning with Gustav Holst’s mesmerizing ‘The Planets,” says Muspratt. “We’re also  thrilled to have some of Chicago’s top talent join us as guest artists in a season of  spectacular works ranging from  traditional to groundbreaking and classic to contemporary.”

As a precursor to their season,  New Philharmonic teams up with the Motown Experience for “MAC Motown: Signed, Sealed, Delivered” an evening of cocktails, hors d’oeurves and a classic Motown hits to benefit the College of DuPage Foundation (Sept. 12).

New Philharmonic officially opens their season with “Heavenly Bodies of Holst” featuring NP’s performance of Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” accompanied by a series of awe-inspiring short films created by Emmy-nominated astronomer, Dr. Jose Francisco Salgado (Oct. 3-4). “Baird and Berlioz”  follows, featuring guest violinist Baird Dodge, principal second  violin for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performing Bruch’s most popular “Violin Concerto No. 1” (Nov. 14-15).

For the holidays, audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy a return engagement of Von Heidecke Chicago Festival Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” with Tchaikovsky’s  beloved score performed live by New Philharmonic (Dec. 19-20) . And New Philharmonic rings out the old and rings  in the new with three New Year’s Eve Concerts featuring guest soprano Emily Birsan (Dec. 31).

New Philharmonic opens 2016 with Mozart’s classic opera “Cosi fan tutte” presented with a reality TV spin offering the audience at each performance the chance to pick one of three different endings (Jan. 23- 24). The season ends with “Dueling Pianos” featuring award-winning guest pianists Marta Aznavoorian and Winston Choi performing Poulenc’s ”Concerto for Two Pianos in D Minor” together onstage plus the delightful soprano Pamela Hinchman performing the thematic “Das Himmlische Leben” from Mahler’s  four-movement “Symphony No. 4 (April 16-17).

As New Philharmonic audiences have come to expect, throughout the season there will be insightful pre-concert MAC chats; in-concert educational Bootcamps, plus the opportunity to mix and mingle with Maestro Muspratt, members of New Philharmonic and guest artists during the “Cookies with Kirk” post-performance lobby receptions, sponsored in part by The Meadows.

For the second year, as part of New Philharmonic’s ongoing effort to showcase the talents of local youth, young musicians secured in a recent audition competition will be showcased in dedicated Youth Performance Spotlight segments in select concerts. Featured musicians will include Lombard’s Javier Cisneros (trombone) Oct. 3 & 4; Lisle’s Alexis E. Johnson (cello). Nov. 14 & 15; Hanover Park’s Albrecht (A.J.) Escoabar (clarinet) April 16 and a string quartet featuring Wheaton’s Luke Burden (violin), Isabel Jara (violin), Samuel Walhout (viola) and Cameron Laird (cello) April 17.

Subscriptions for New Philharmonic’s 2015-2016 Season are on sale now. (The Sept. 12 Benefit Performance is a separately ticketed event.) To subscribe by purchasing tickets to three or more shows, call the MAC Box Office at 630.942.4000. Single tickets go on sale to the public in person at the Box Office Saturday Aug. 15, online at AtTheMAC.org Sunday, Aug. 16 and by phone Tuesday, Aug. 18. For more information and season updates, visit AtTheMAC.org.

New Philharmonic is a 60-member professional orchestra in residence of the MAC that has inspired classical music enthusiasts in Chicago and the suburbs for nearly four decades. Under the direction of Conductor and Music Director Kirk Muspratt, named a 2006 Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Tribune, the group gives innovative treatment to both classic compositions and modern works and strives to make the music accessible to new audiences and youth through a variety of educational efforts.

New Philharmonic is supported in part by the College of DuPage Foundation through its New Philharmonic Fund. Established as a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit charitable organization in 1967, the College of DuPage Foundation raises monetary and in-kind gifts to increase access to education and to enhance cultural opportunities for the surrounding community. For more information about the College of DuPage Foundation and the New Philharmonic Fund, visit.cod.edu/foundation or call 630.942.2462.

The McAninch Arts Center (MAC) at College of DuPage is located 25 miles west of Chicago near I-88 and I-355, and houses three performance spaces (the 780-seat proscenium Belushi Performance Hall; the 186-seat soft-thrust Playhouse Theatre; and the versatile black box Studio Theatre), plus the Cleve Carney Art Gallery, classrooms for the college’s academic programming and the Lakeside Pavilion. The MAC has presented theater, music, dance and visual art to more than 1.5 million people since its opening in 1986 and typically welcomes more than 75,000 patrons from the greater Chicago area to more than 230 performances each season.

The mission of the MAC is to foster enlightened educational and performance opportunities, which encourage artistic expression, establish a lasting relationship between people and art, and enrich the cultural vitality of the community. For more information about the MAC, visit AtTheMAC.org, facebook.com/AtTheMAC or twitter.com/AtTheMAC.

The MAC’s 2015-2016 Season is made possible in part with support by Arts Midwest, BMO Harris, The DuPage Foundation, Hilton of Lisle/Naperville, WDCB 90.9 FM and the College of DuPage Foundation.

New Philharmonic’s 2015-2016 Season is made possible in part with support by Brookdale Plaza, The JCS Fund of The DuPage Foundation, Smith Financial Advisors, Terrence J. Taylor & Maureen Sullivan Taylor, WDCB 90.9 FM and the College of DuPage Foundation.

Established as a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit charitable organization in 1967, the College of DuPage Foundation raises monetary and in-kind gifts to increase access to education and to enhance cultural opportunities for the surrounding community. For more information about the College of DuPage Foundation, visit cod.edu/foundation or call 630.942.2462.

Programs at the MAC are partially supported through a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

New Philharmonic’s 2015-2016 Season
(Events, dates, artists and prices subject to change)
The following performances will take place in the MAC’s Belushi Performance Hall.

Subscriptions are on sale now. (The Sept. 12 Benefit Performance is a separately ticketed event. See information below.)

To subscribe by purchasing tickets to three or more shows, call the MAC Box Office at 630.942.4000. Single tickets go on sale to the public in person at the Box Office Saturday Aug. 15, online at AtTheMAC.org Sunday, Aug. 16 and by phone Tuesday, Aug. 18. For more information and season updates visit AtTheMAC.org

Benefit Performance – “MAC Motown: Signed, Sealed, Delivered”
Featuring: The Motown Experience with New Philharmonic, Kirk Muspratt Conductor
Benefit Performance Saturday, Sept. 12, 6:30 p.m.
$125

McAninch Arts Center kicks off the season with a party to celebrate and benefit the programs of the MAC. The evening features cocktails, hors d’oeurves and a classic hits concert by the Motown Experience, an all-star lineup of world class vocalists drawn from the ranks of the legendary Motown groups, in performance with New Philharmonic.  For more information, contact the College of DuPage Foundation at foundation@cod.edu or 630.924.2462.

New Philharmonic, Kirk Muspratt Conductor
“Baird and Berlioz”
Saturday, Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 15, 3 p.m.
$49

Baird Dodge, principal second violin for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performs Bruch’s most popular “Violin Concerto No. 1,” rich with gorgeous melodies. Berlioz’ epic work, “Symphonie Fantastique: An Episode in the Life of an Artist in Five Parts,” followed by Berlioz’ “Rakocky March” from “La Damnation de Faust” bookends this program of suspenseful, imaginative music.

Von Heidecke Chicago Festival Ballet: “The Nutcracker”
with New Philharmonic, Kirk Muspratt Conductor
Saturday, Dec. 19, 2 & 7 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 20, 1 & 5 p.m.
$43 | $32 youth

Von Heidecke Chicago Festival Ballet’s gorgeous staging of this classic ballet danced to Tchaikovsky beloved score performed live by New Philharmonic is sure to be a highlight of the holiday season.

New Philharmonic, Kirk Muspratt Conductor
“New Year’s Eve with an International Twist”
Thursday, Dec. 31, 2, 6 & 10 p.m.
$65

New Philharmonic welcomes back guest soprano Emily Birsan to perform “Je Veux Vivre” from Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” and “Quando m’en vo” from Puccini’s “La Boheme.” The program will also include Strauss Jr.’s “The Blue Danube Waltz,” Strauss Sr.’s “Radetzsky March,” polkas, opera arias, scores from iconic cinema and more.

New Philharmonic, Kirk Muspratt Conductor
“Cosi fan tutte” (“Women Are Like That”)
Saturday, Jan. 23, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Jan. 24, 3 p.m.
$55
Sung in Italian with English supertitles

New Philharmonic presents Mozart’s mix of farce, drama and comedy with a reality TV spin and gives the audience the chance to pick the ending. Mozart’s sparkling orchestration centers on desire and fidelity as two young lovers wager to see whose fiancé will stay faithful in the heat of temptation.

New Philharmonic, Kirk Muspratt Conductor
“Dueling Pianos”
Saturday, April 16, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, April 17, 3 p.m.
$49

Award-winning pianists Marta Aznavoorian and Winston Choi go head to head, performing Poulenc’s ”Concerto for Two Pianos in D Minor” on two intertwined pianos in a program that also includes guest soprano Pamela Hinchman sings Mahler’s “Das Himmlische Leben.”