Clef Notes

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra’s (UISO) first performance. To commemorate this milestone, Director of Orchestras Dr. Carolyn Watson had an idea: to launch a commissioning initiative to expand and diversify the orchestral canon. Through the 1874 Project, the University of Illinois will commission six female composers to write works that the UISO will premiere and record over the next few years.

Illinois Summer Youth Music (ISYM) is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Each summer, ISYM brings over 1,000 students and 150 faculty and staff to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus for three weeks of intensive music tuition. Students can choose from 20 different programs, from large ensembles to solo instruments and even music technology and hip-hop. Programs are offered to meet the needs of students of various abilities and experience levels, with junior, senior, and pre-college divisions. Read on to learn more about the annual program and its history.

After a year-long search process, the Danville Symphony Orchestra has just announced its next music director. Conductor Matthew Sheppard was selected from over 60 highly qualified applicants to lead the local professional orchestra. He takes over for Jeremy Swerling, who held the position for 27 years before retiring in 2023. Read on to learn more about Maestro Sheppard and his goals for the Danville ensemble.

Local hub of music, theatre, and dance, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts has just announced its forthcoming 2024–25 season. We’ll take you through the classical music highlights to gear you up for another year of world-class artistry in central Illinois. With so much on offer, we're bringing you our Top 10 picks so you can make the most of this cultural gem of the prairie.

Hailed by ResMusica as the “Martha Argerich of the harpsichord,” Lillian Gordis is one of the world’s preeminent harpsichordists. A dual French and American citizen, Lillian regularly performs as a soloist in festivals across Europe and the United States. This month, she opens the 2024 Five Cities Baroque Festival with a recital at the Chapel of St. John the Divine in Champaign. Read on to learn more about Lillian and her all-Bach program on Sunday, June 16.

Soprano Renée Fleming may be best known as “The People’s Diva,” but in recent years, she has developed an interest in the connection between music and health. In her latest book, Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, Fleming has curated an anthology of essays from experts in the fields of science, medicine, and the performing arts. Each chapter offers unique insight into music’s power to heal, connect, and shape us and the new areas of research examining why this is.

The hit Netflix show Bridgerton shattered streaming records when it debuted in December 2020. With the release of the show’s third season this month, we’re taking a look at how it has sparked new interest in classical music among younger and more diverse audiences through its use of extant classical pieces and arrangements of contemporary pop songs by the Vitamin String Quartet.

June 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of Classics of the Phonograph, hosted and produced by longtime fixture of WILL-FM, John Frayne. We chatted with John to discuss how Classics of the Phonograph came to be, how he approaches programming, and the importance of historical recordings in the digital age.

We sat down with British clarinetist Julian Bliss ahead of his appearance with the Illinois Wind Symphony at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts on May 1. Bliss will play Divine Mischief, a clarinet concerto written for him by composer John Mackey. While in the area, Bliss will also lead a masterclass for the clarinet studio at the University of Illinois School of Music and conduct educational outreach and workshops at area elementary, middle, and high schools. Read on to learn more about Bliss and Divine Mischief.

One of the biggest stories in classical music this month was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s announcement that 28-year-old Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä would be the storied ensemble’s next music director. Mäkelä will take the reins in 2027 from the 82-year-old Italian conductor Riccardo Muti, who led the ensemble from 2010 to 2023. When Mäkelä’s contract begins, he will be only 31—the youngest conductor in the CSO’s history to hold the position. This 50-year gap in experience between the outgoing and incoming music director has led many to ask, is Mäkelä too green for the job, or is his youth an asset?