Since 2011, Civitas Ensemble has combined the outstanding collaborative musicianship of multiple top Chicago Symphony Orchestra string chairs with a thirst for interdisciplinary exploration of new and traditional chamber music, including pairings with dancers, visual artists, and poets. Their Alla Zingarese project, released on Cedille in 2018, leaped to the whirlwind crossroads of Western classical and Romani folk traditions, creating “a trip through history … and a venture into new musical territory with surprises aplenty” (Chicago on the Aisle). In their first appearance at Ravinia as Civitas—though all veterans of the festival’s stages—the core trio of CSO Asst. Concertmaster Yuan-Qing Yu, CSO Asst. Principal Cellist Kenneth Olsen (an early 2000s alum of Ravinia’s Steans Institute), and Chicago College of Performing Arts Piano Program Head Winston Choi bring a program of Turina and Tchaikovsky headed up by a picturesque recent work by longtime Chicagoan Stacy Garrop.
In Garrop’s Beacon of the Bay, Civitas presents a familiar sight to Chicago locals and tourists: historic lighthouses that are mysteriously artful anachronisms in simpler, unhurried time but also stalwart sconces providing guidance when all else is chaos. The trio then turns to the landmark Spanish composer Turina, whose stage and concert works helped define a national musical language. With his Second Piano Trio, they luxuriate in the character of nocturnes before leaping to the stylized song and dance of Castilian rueda and Basque zortzico. The trio concludes with Tchaikovsky’s homage to the great pianist Nikolay Rubinstein, featuring a series of celebratory variations that characterize moments of rustic ambience and energetic dance, but above all sweeping scenes of powerful piano playing in the hallmark style of his close friend.
