Pierre Boulez Withdraws from Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Conductors' Biographies

Matthew Aucoin, winner of the CSO's Second International Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition and Apprenticeship, is equal parts conductor, composer, poet and pianist. The youngest assistant conductor in the history of the Metropolitan Opera (the Met), he is currently composing his third opera, commissioned by Diane Paulus and the American Repertory Theater, for which he is writing both the music and the libretto, and whose premiere he will conduct in the 2014/15 season. A 2012 graduate of Harvard College, Aucoin will make his Rome Opera debut next season in a concert with the Rome Opera Orchestra; he will also serve as cover conductor for the Metropolitan Opera's production of Shostakovich's The Nose and head coach for the Canadian Opera Company's Così fan Tutte, and will conduct the premieres of his own works with the Boston-based Encounters Ensemble. In addition to the Met, Aucoin has served as an assistant/repetiteur at the Berliner Staatsoper (The Rake's Progress), Italy's Spoleto Festival and the Rome Opera. He is composer-in-residence at the Peabody Essex Museum, where he recently conducted the premiere of his orchestral work This Same Light. Aucoin's senior thesis, a collection of poems, won Harvard's top literature prizes, and his poetry and essays have been published in the Boston Globe, Colorado Review and Harvard Advocate. Upcoming musical commissions include chamber and orchestral works for the Spoleto Festival and Fire Island Opera Festival. This summer, Aucoin will perform recitals (as pianist) with baritone Paulo Szot and violinist Keir GoGwilt in Italy, New York, Boston and Toronto.

Marcelo Lehninger, born in Brazil, is recognized as one of the most gifted conductors of his generation. Appointed Music Director of the New West Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles, his growing reputation as a dynamic conductor inspires musicians and audiences of all ages worldwide. After three successful seasons as Boston Symphony Orchestra's Assistant Conductor, Mr. Lehninger renewed his contract for two more seasons as the Orchestra's new Associate Conductor. Mr. Lehninger made his BSO debut in 2010 with the violinist Pinchas Zukerman as soloist and in 2011 he stepped in for Maestro Levine on very short notice to conduct the world premiere of Harrison Birtwistle's Violin Concerto and Bartok's 2nd Violin Concerto with Christian Testzlaff as soloist. In 2012, Mr. Lehninger filled in for Andris Nelsons, conducting a program that included the American premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Trumpet Concerto "From the Wreckage" with Håkan Hardenberger as soloist as well as Strauss' "Thus Spake Zarathustra". He also successfully conducted a program, without any rehearsals, that included Stravinsky's Piano and Winds Concerto with Peter Serkin and Shostakovich's 5th Symphony. Mr. Lehninger's made a highly praised debut at Carnegie Hall with the BSO in 2011. Critic Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times: "He was terrific, conducting all three works with impressive technique, musical insight and youthful energy". Maestro Lehninger's other BSO appearances included his Tanglewood debut in the summer of 2012 with pianist Nelson Freire and a subscription week in the 2012/13 season with violinist Joshua Bell. Chosen by Kurt Masur in 2008, Mr. Lehninger was awarded the First Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Scholarship sponsored by the American Friends of the Mendelssohn Foundation. He was Maestro Masur's assistant with the Orchestre National de France (during their residency at the Musikverein in Vienna), Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig and the New York Philharmonic. In 2011 he participated in the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview, organized by the League of American Orchestras, conducting the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

Cristian Macelaru, winner of the 2012 Sir Georg Solti Emerging Conductor Award, recently won rave reviews for his subscription concert debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra and a highly publicized return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the latter as a replacement for Pierre Boulez. The Chicago Sun Times wrote, "Macelaru is displaying confidence without arrogance and offering expressiveness without excess demonstration." Additional highlights of the 2012/13 season include his Carnegie Hall debut; highly anticipated debuts with the Atlanta Symphony, Orchestre Métropolitain, Florida Orchestra and Alabama Symphony; plus returns to the Baltimore Symphony and Chicago's Orchestra Hall where Macelaru was honoured to be invited to conduct a work for the Solti World Orchestra for Peace programme, which also featured Valery Gergiev. The program was performed in October in celebration of the centennial of Solti's birth and was repeated at Carnegie Hall marking Macelaru's Carnegie debut. Macelaru was named Assistant Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra in September 2011. In November 2012, he was elevated to his current role of Associate Conductor in recognition of his artistic contribution to the orchestra and his work with Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and visiting conductors. He currently resides in Philadelphia with his wife Cheryl and children Beniamin and Maria.

About the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (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; celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma is the CSO's Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant. Composers Mason Bates and Anna Clyne are the CSO's Mead Composers-in-Residence.

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 frequently 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.

People around the globe enjoy the extraordinary sounds of the Orchestra and the Chorus through CSO Radio broadcasts and webcasts worldwide and through CSO Resound, a best-selling record label. Recordings by the CSO have won 62 Grammy Awards®. Through its Institute for Learning, Access, and Training, the CSO 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.

The parent organization for the CSO is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association (CSOA). It also includes the acclaimed Chicago Symphony Chorus, conducted by Duain Wolfe, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a training ensemble conducted by Cliff Colnot. Under the banner of a series entitled Symphony Center Presents, the CSOA also presents prestigious guest artists and ensembles from a variety of musical genres-classical, jazz, pop, world, and contemporary. Deborah F. Rutter, a highly regarded arts executive, is president of the CSOA.