This series of educational videos features musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing and sharing personal insights about orchestral music excerpts that are regularly requested at auditions. The first releases consist of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 with Principal Trumpet Esteban Batallán, Zoltán Kodály’s Dances of Galánta with CSO Principal Clarinet Stephen Williamson, Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben with Concertmaster Robert Chen and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Principal Bass Alexander Hanna.
Produced by the CSO's Negaunee Music Institute
In this episode of Orchestral Excerpt Insights, CSO Principal Percussion Cynthia Yeh demonstrates how a vibraphone can evoke the drama of Leonard Bernstein’s epic score from West Side Story. For Yeh, this excerpt comes alive when the player focuses on creating a scene and using the full ...
Audiences around the world have marveled at the beautiful and consistent playing of Jennifer Gunn, piccolo of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her instrument may be small, but her approach to making music with it is mighty. In this Orchestral Excerpt Insights video, she describes the importance of...
In this Orchestral Excerpt Insight, CSO Principal Horn David Cooper walks viewers through the techniques he uses to practice the opening solo from Strauss’ iconic tone poem Ein Heldenleben. And when it comes time to play this piece for an audition, what’s his advice? Trust that the commi...
