"Fusion: Stronger Together"

Astor PIAZZOLLA / arr. Steven VERHELST
Suite from Maria de Buenos Aires

Valerie COLEMAN
Selections from Portraits of Josephine (for Woodwind Quintet)

Victor WOOTEN
La Lección Tres for Electric Bass & Orchestra
Chicago Sinfonietta Commission, World Premiere

CONDUCTOR
Mei-Ann Chen

SOLOIST
Victor Wooten, bass

Chicago Sinfonietta closes its 2020-2021 season with a finale that honors the voice of the people in its many forms, tracing the line of stories told across time and place. Merging the present with the past, the orchestra presents a mesmerizing closing season concert. The orchestra welcomes back Grammy award-winning bassist and prized collaborator Victor Wooten for the commissioned world premiere of La Lección Tres, a merging of music and philosophy moved forward in exuberant bass lines. The orchestra marks the centenary of Astor Piazzolla's birth with an arrangement of the catchy Suite from his Tango Opera, Maria de Buenos Aires, followed by Valerie Coleman's musical portrayal of entertainer and activist Josephine Baker's life.