Furlanetto recital cancelled; two CSO members retire
Ferruccio Furlanetto’s recital tonight for the Opera Festival of Chicago has been cancelled due to visa issues. There will be no rescheduling and tickets will be refunded at the Harris Theater box office.
In a press release, the Opera Festival blamed “an extraordinary delay from the U.S. State Department” for Furlanetto’s non-appearance. Oddly, the company said nothing about a visa problem when it subbed Andrea Silvestrelli for Furlanetto in last week’s performance of Murder in the Cathedral.
OFC’s final event of the summer is Verdi’s Attila with Silvestrelli, to be performed July 20 and 23 at Cahn Auditorium in Evanston. For more information, go to operafestivalchicago.org.
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Two longtime Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians retired last month at the end of the CSO season.
Appointed to the CSO in 1987 by Georg Solti, cellist Gary Stucka is retiring after 37 seasons.
Violist Li-Kuo Chang is stepping down after 35 years. He began his CSO tenure in 1988 as a section player and after two weeks was promoted to assistant principal viola by Solti. Chang also served as acting principal viola from 2017-2022, appointed by Riccardo Muti.
CSO principal librarian Peter Conover is also retiring after 25 years.
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Posted Jul 14, 2023 at 5:58 pm by JS
The Opera Festival seems to be about as well-run as the infamous International Beethoven Festival that emerged like gangbusters in Chicago’s classical music scene 12 years ago. And I suspect its ultimate fate will be the same.