CSO Resound Announces 14th Release, VERDI'S OTHELLO

By: Sep. 03, 2013
Get Access To Every Broadway Story

Unlock access to every one of the hundreds of articles published daily on BroadwayWorld by logging in with one click.




Existing user? Just click login.

CSO Resound, the independent record label of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA), announces its 14th release: Verdi's Otello, featuring Music Director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), recorded live during critically acclaimed and sold-out performances at Symphony Center in Chicago in April 2011.


Maestro Muti is considered by many to be the greatest living interpreter of Verdi. The Chicago Tribune called Maestro Muti "the greatest Verdi conductor of our time" in its review of these performances, and this release captures the magic of those concerts. The cast features tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko in the title role of Otello, soprano Krassimira Stoyanova as Desdemona, baritone Carlo Guelfi as Iago, mezzo-soprano Barbara Di Castri as Emilia, tenor Juan Francisco Gatell as Cassio, tenor Michael Spyres as Roderigo, basses Paolo Battaglia and Eric Owens as Montano and Lodovico, respectively, and bass David Govertsen as a Herald. The Chicago Symphony Chorus (Duain Wolfe, chorus director), and the Chicago Children's Choir (Josephine Lee, artistic director), join the CSO.

Available for digital download and streaming on September 3, 2013 and in CD and SACD formats at retail outlets beginning September 24, 2013, Otello marks the Orchestra and Chorus's second recording on the label with Music Director Riccardo Muti conducting. Their first recording together, Verdi's Messa da Requiem, was released in September 2010 and went on to receive two Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance. Throughout the years, recordings by the CSO have won 62 Grammys, more than that of any other artist or ensemble.

This release of Verdi's Otello coincides with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association's season-opening celebration of Verdi's bicentennial, which includes a wide array of concerts and community activities featuring Music Director Riccardo Muti and the CSO and Chorus. The celebration culminates in the Verdi 200th Birthday Spectacular: a one-night only performance of Verdi's Requiem featuring Maestro Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at Symphony Center on Thursday, October 10 at 7:30 p.m. CDT.

Though the concert at Symphony Center is sold out, the CSOA will offer the Requiem performance live and on-demand worldwide via a free video webcast on Thursday, October 10 at 7:30 p.m. CDT
(-5 GMT). Online, the Requiem performance can be viewed live and on demand at

Also on October 10, 7:30 p.m. CDT, the live concert will be simulcast on the new state-of-the-art LED screen at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. Admission is free, and tickets are not required.

Bank of America is the Global Sponsor of the CSO.

About Riccardo Muti (www.RiccardoMutiMusic.com)
Riccardo Muti, born in Naples, Italy, is one of the preeminent conductors of our day. In 2010, when he became the tenth music director of the world-renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), he had more than forty years of experience at the helm of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence (1968-80); the Philharmonia Orchestra in London (1972-82); the Philadelphia Orchestra (1980-1992); and Teatro alla Scala in Milan (1986-2005). He continues to be in demand as a guest conductor for other great orchestras and opera houses: the Berlin Philharmonic; the Vienna Philharmonic; the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; the Vienna State Opera; the Royal Opera House in London; the Metropolitan Opera in New York City; and many others. He is an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic, which gave him its Golden Ring as a special sign of esteem and affection. He also is honorary director for life of the Rome Opera.

Muti has received innumerable honors from Italy, the United States, France, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Israel, Spain, Russia, Sweden, and the Vatican as well as more than 20 honorary degrees from universities around the world. Passionate about teaching young musicians, Muti founded the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra in 2004. Through Le vie dell'Amicizia (The Paths of Friendship), a project of the Ravenna Festival in Italy, he has conducted in many of the world's most troubled areas in order to bring attention to and advocate for civic and social issues. In Chicago and around the globe, Muti demonstrates his strong commitment to sharing classical music broadly by regularly offering free concerts and rehearsals to the public and by performing in schools, prisons, and other community venues.

Riccardo Muti's vast catalog of recordings, numbering in the hundreds, ranges from the traditional symphonic and operatic repertoires to contemporary works. He also has written two books, Verdi, l'italiano (published in Italian and German) and Riccardo Muti: An Autobiography: First the Music, Then the Words, which has been published in several languages.

About the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (cso.org)
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is consistently hailed as one of the greatest orchestras in the world. Its music director since 2010 is Riccardo Muti, one of the preeminent conductors of our day. The venerable Pierre Boulez is the CSO's Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus. The renowned musicians of the CSO annually perform more than 150 concerts, most at Symphony Center in downtown Chicago and, in the summer, at the suburban Ravinia Festival. The CSO also appears in other U.S. cities and each year tours internationally. Since its founding in 1891, the Orchestra has made 56 international tours, visiting 28 countries on five continents. At home and on tour, tickets are always in high demand and frequently sold out; occasional performances and rehearsals are free.

The CSO is part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA), which also includes the acclaimed Chicago Symphony Chorus; the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a unique training orchestra; CSO Radio broadcasts and webcasts worldwide; and CSO Resound, a best-selling record label. Recordings by the CSO have won 62 Grammys, more than any other artist or ensemble. Through its Symphony Center Presents series, the CSOA offers dozens of performances each year by famous guest artists of jazz, pop, contemporary, world, and classical music. Through its Institute for Learning, Access, and Training, the CSOA offers a variety of youth, community and education programs, all of which are based on the concept of Citizen Musicianship, using and promoting the power of music to contribute to our culture, our communities, and the lives of others. Celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma is the CSOA's Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant; Deborah F. Rutter, a highly regarded arts executive, is the CSOA's president.

About CSO Resound (cso.org/Resound)
Since its founding in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has amassed an extensive and critically acclaimed catalog of commercial recordings that have won a total of 62 Grammy Awards. In 2007, in order to broaden the reach of the Orchestra, the CSO launched its own record label, CSO Resound. All CSO Resound releases are selected from live recordings of CSO concerts in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center.

CSO Resound releases include Verdi's Messa da Requiem conducted by Riccardo Muti (2010 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance); Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass Live; Mahler's First, Second, Third and Sixth symphonies, conducted by former CSO Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink; Poulenc's Gloria with Jessica Rivera and Ravel's complete Daphnis et Chloé, conducted by Haitink; and Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, also conducted by Haitink; Stravinsky's complete Pulcinella, Symphony in Three Movements and Four Études, conducted by Pierre Boulez; Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago, with Yo-Yo Ma, Wu Man, the Silk Road Ensemble and conductors Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Alan Gilbert (2008 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Classical); and a download-only recording of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony under Myung-Whun Chung.

A two-disc CD/DVD set of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4 conducted by Bernard Haitink (2008 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance), with video of the CSO's Beyond the Score exploration of the work, was released in August 2008.



Videos