Classics, yes, but it was the 21st century works that reigned in a season-capping concert by conductor Giancarlo Guerrero and the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus in Millennium Park.
After helming the CSO’s summer residency for six formative seasons, Alsop departs Ravinia this year. But she’ll be back, including to complete a Mahler symphony cycle.
This concert always balances silliness with solemnity, as traditions include both conductor Christopher Bell’s absurd costumes and a tribute to U.S. military members with the Armed Forces Salute.
Friday featured the first choral-orchestral work of the season: “Conquest Requiem” by Gabriela Lena Frank, composer of “El último sueño de Frida y Diego,” which Lyric Opera produced in the spring.
Former jazz critic Howard Reich first crossed paths with author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel on assignment. Their relationship and his own family’s past became “The Dialogue of Memories.”
