Grant Park Orchestra launches summer with musical excellence, logistical challenges
The Grant Park Orchestra launched its season in stellar fashion Wednesday night at the Pritzker Pavilion, as guest conductor and pianist Andrew Litton had the ensemble performing at the top of its game right out of the gates in a Technicolor program.
Following the season-opening “Star-Spangled Banner,” the evening began with the first GPO performances of Three Latin American Dances by Gabriela Lena Frank, current composer-in-residence of the Philadelphia Orchestra. One of Frank’s calling cards is her robust mix of cultural influences, having been born to a Peruvian-Chinese mother and Lithuanian-Jewish father. Opening 2025 with her music felt like a strong statement of the GPO’s commitment to programming contemporary works of diverse composers.
The present triptych fully projects Frank’s cultural depth, which was captured in Wednesday’s performance. “Introduction: Jungle Jaunt” begins with a self-conscious nod to Bernstein’s West Side Story, and drives in an insistent 6/8 recalling Ginastera before disappearing in a fey evaporation.
The centerpiece is “Highland Harawi,” an extended evocation of traditional Andean lyricism that channels Bartók’s night music while remaining entirely in Frank’s own idiom. An eerie stasis gives way to stern utterances from the brass and a vigorous section in mixed meters before the opening atmosphere returns to close the movement. “The Mestizo Waltz” further synthesizes popular South American songs and dances with American and African influences. (“Mestizo” means “racially mixed.”). A rigid motto recurs emphatically in the brief dance, which received high-stepping treatment from Litton at the GPO.
Litton, music director of the New York City Ballet since 2015, was both soloist and conductor in Gershwin’s timeless Rhapsody in Blue. During the stage change he recounted the famous story of the work’s inception, with Gershwin seeing an advertisement for an upcoming concert featuring a new work of his, which was news to him. One byproduct of the rushed composition was relatively independent parts of piano and ensemble, lending the work to being led from the keyboard, in Litton’s opinion.
Litton’s performance fully captured the hasty, improvisatory genius of Gershwin’s score. Clarinetist Trevor O’Riordan launched the performance with a luxuriant upward glissando, and Litton charted a sure course through the episodic unfolding of Gershwin’s “musical kaleidoscope of America,” with madcap virtuoso work on the keyboard and attuned leadership. The lyrical latter theme had a cinematic sweep that seemed to leave the audience spellbound.
The concert closed with an extended Suite from The Three-Cornered Hat of Manuel de Falla (combining selections from the traditional Suites Nos. 1 and 2). Characterful woodwind solos from the principal chairs captured the personalities of the miller and oafish magistrate. Litton whipped up an Iberian flair in the sultry dances, contrasting these with coquettish charm in the more flirtatious episodes. The GPO brass were in particularly fine form, playing with unified force and an idiomatically bright group timbre.
Two non-musical elements detracted from the superb music-making on opening night. The Grant Park Music Festival has persisted with its practice, new last year, of meager printed leaflets as programs, with the bulk of the information—including the musician roster and program notes—accessible online through a QR code. While it remains frustrating to have to be staring at one’s phone to access a host of essential information, at least the Festival now includes translations of vocal works in the provided flyers, so attendees this weekend will have the text of the featured Boulanger and Runestad choral pieces easily available.
Much more problematic were the unprecedented security lines to get into the park before the performance. At half-an-hour to curtain, the line at the northwest entrance wrapped down Randolph Street almost all the way to Michigan Avenue. There was no clear reason for this: the audience was ample but no more than usual, and festival staff confirmed security measures had not changed since last year.
Weekend patrons, particularly those attending Saturday when more protests are planned, would be wise to leave substantial time for entering and getting situated in Millennium Park.
The Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus led by Christopher Bell performs Boulanger’s Psalm 24, Jake Runestad’s Earth Symphony, and Holst’s The Planets 6:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at at the Pritzker Pavilion. www.grantparkmusicfestival.com
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Posted Jun 13, 2025 at 8:07 am by GCMP
The extra security was probably related to potential anti-ICE protests. It was hard to get to Orchestra Hall on Thursday with random streets closed . . . but surprisingly not some that one might have thought.