The Start of the Second Decade

Rush Hour will begin its second decade on June 1 with the magnificent Sextet, Op. 18 for strings by Johannes Brahms, performed by members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera Orchestra: violinists Nathan Cole and Akiko Tarumoto; violinists Carol Cook and Yukiko Ogura; and cellists Kenneth Olsen and Brant Taylor.

There is no better way, in my view, to capture the excitement, enthusiasm and lavishness of the season ahead than this rapturous work of a young Brahms in the hands of these amazing artists. If you like the sound of a string quartet, you will be spellbound by the sound of 2 violins, 2 violas and 2 celli. Brahms was one of the few composers to capitalize on the unique richness of this combination of instruments. Op. 18, while early in his output, has all the hallmarks of the Brahms we know and love, a testimony to Robert Schumann’s introduction of the young man as “springing forth, fully armed, like Athena from the head of Zeus,” when he arrived in Leipzig with his (then) early compositions.

With the opening concert just a few weeks away, this is a good time to introduce you to Rush Hour’s Access Program:

As Rush Hour continues to bring traditional chamber music to a new audience and new classical music to seasoned cognoscenti, the Access Program offers a rich “buffet” of educational and enhancement initiatives, which allow you to optimize your concertgoing experience in both contemporary and traditional ways:

rushhour.org, Rush Hour’s website, features the 2010 program schedule, artist biographies, program notes, and informative articles, as well as a blog featuring news, events, and archives of previous seasons. You can prepare for an upcoming concert or review a past program at your leisure.

“Rush Hour Conversations,” also found on the Rush Hour website, is a series of weekly podcast interviews hosted by me with artists, advisors, and innovators in the world of arts and culture today.

Rush Hour’s weekly concert program booklet is specifically designed for the diversity of our audience and includes program notes and articles to enhance your listening experience.

Artists’ interaction with audience members: Rush Hour continues to be celebrated for the approachability of its artists, who enthusiastically engage the audience each Tuesday at the pre-concert reception, make remarks prior to the start of the music-making, and lead post-concert tours of their instruments.

Finally, with “In A Flash,” Rush Hour continues its innovative initiative to provide concertgoers with access to concert recordings on flash drives. For a nominal fee, you are are able to purchase the evening’s concert within moments of its conclusion. Past concerts are also available, in case you miss a week.

I hope you will find the Access Program complementary to your busy lifestyles and enhancing to your overall Rush Hour experience.

I look forward to greeting you on June 1 and many Tuesdays throughout the upcoming summer months!

- Deborah Sobol
Artistic and Executive Director

Recommendations from the Artistic Director: Late May 2010

Here are three fine recommendations for upcoming music events:

The Chicago Chamber Musicians are presenting a FREE Composer Perspectives concert featuring the work of Steven Stucky on Sunday, May 23. Find your way to Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center and enjoy an incredible afternoon of music!

Fulcrum Point New Music Project is performing “Computers Come Alive!” at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance on Wednesday, April 19, featuring American, Midwest and Chicago premieres of 4 pieces.

Baroque Band is presenting the final series of concerts in its 2010 season. Don’t miss Rush Hour favorite David Schrader and other virtuosos in “Harpsichords Galore” June 6-9 at three different locations in the Chicagoland area.

- Deborah Sobol, Artistic Director

All Hands on Deck: Be a Rush Hour Volunteer

Rush Hour’s volunteers are a reflection of the audiences that enjoy the weekly events – they vary in age, background, and experience.

However, they all have at least three things in common: busy, active lives; a love of live music; and a commitment to being a part of producing the free concert events each Tuesday.

No volunteer task is too small or insignificant, and there are no special skills required: high school students work alongside senior citizens and volunteer veterans pair up with novices each week, acting as the series’ true behind-the-scenes “stage crew.”

Being a Rush Hour volunteer neither requires a large chunk of time nor does it mean you have to miss the concert itself - there are a multitude of ways to get involved before, during and after the concert.

Activities include food prep and setting up chairs between 4:00-5:15 PM; greeting the audience and distributing programs from 5:15-6:15 PM; and breaking down the stage area and tidying up from 6:15-7:00 PM.

The flexibility and short time commitment of helping out at Rush Hour means even volunteers with jam-packed schedules can contribute in a meaningful way.

Do you have even 30 minutes to give this summer? Visit rushhour.org/volunteer to see a menu of volunteer opportunities to fit your lifestyle and interests, or contact Managing Director Julie Hutchison for more information at 773.338.9480.

How Your Support Makes a Difference

As we enter our 11th season, we would like to thank you – our committed patrons, our volunteers, our sponsors, and our weekly audience members – for your support and enthusiastic participation. Without you, Rush Hour simply would not exist.

Each year, as we finish the last notes of the final concerts, we begin again to raise the funds for next the season. It is an annual cycle, fueled by the mission to keep this series free and open to all, in a format that is convenient and supportive of contemporary lifestyles: no subscribing for tickets, no need to choose concerts or plan ahead. Rather, you come as often as you like, whenever you like: Rush Hour is there every Tuesday, all summer long.

Your financial support is critical to our ability to present extraordinary weekly concerts that bring refreshment and renewal to our busy lives, admission-free.

Here is a sampling of what your contributions enable us to do:

This year, we are featuring over 60 Grammy award-winning, world-class musicians from all over the world in 14 concerts from June through August.

More than 30 volunteers will serve over 5,000 cookies, brownies, and pastries, 4,500 glasses of wine, and 250 pounds of fruit and cheese to 500+ weekly attendees at the season’s pre-concert receptions.

Your donations enable Rush Hour to mount all of the components of its Access Program, helping to keep the series’ “great music for busy lives” relevant and available to audiences of all ages and backgrounds at any time.

Here are three ways to further leverage your giving this year:

Our board of directors has issued a $20,000 challenge grant, pledging to match all new and increased gifts received before June 30, which will make substantial progress in guaranteeing an admission-free season.

If you’re under 40 years of age, our groundbreaking donor challenge has returned again this year, with the Irving Harris Foundation matching $5,000 toward all gifts from donors under 40.

Additionally, corporate matching gifts are a great way to maximize your personal contribution and increase the impact of your gift. If your employer has a matching grant program, you may be able to double or even triple the amount of your contribution.

Thank you for your continued support at any level. Your dollars go directly back into developing high quality programming that is free and accessible to all.

8/25 – Concert Recap

This week, Rush Hour presented its 10th season finale concert event: Percussion Panache. Third Coast Percussion artists Owen Clayton Condon, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore provided a thrilling final performance featuring an impressive array of percussion instruments. Following the concert, Third Coast treated concertgoers to a hands-on tour of the instruments.

Third Coast Percussion warming up on the marimbas

Peter Martin chats with an audience member before the concert

Executive Director Megan Balderston, Artistic Director Deborah Sobol, and Managing Director Julie Hutchison

The lights dim on the 10th season at Rush Hour

Thoughts from the Executive Director & Artistic Director: Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

I usually like to tie my writing together with neat bows, observations, and interesting anecdotes. Today, however, I wish only to thank you all for a wonderful season and your intense generosity over the month of August.

Just as Chicago traffic has two seasons, winter and construction, so do we have two seasons: production and planning. Being able to go into planning season secure in the support of our audience helps us to program concerts around artistic goals, rather than solely under the constraint of “can we afford it?” The 2009 season was a testament to the power of planning a season with the best artists and programs in mind. We thank you all for your role in bringing beautiful music into our lives, and look forward to seeing you again next summer.

- Megan Balderston
Executive Director

People say time flies when you’re having fun. This year has gone by faster than any of the previous ten! Thank you to ALL of you – audience, volunteers, staff, board, and supporters – for making this year so memorable. Artists new to Rush Hour this year have asked to be invited back again, so impressed were they with what they now call “the Rush Hour experience.” I am already very excited about the programming for next season, which will hold 14 concerts. The CSO cellists and friends are cooking up another multi-cello concert for June; Fifth House will be back with its exuberant energy; Trio Voce, the dynamic piano trio who brought us Ravel’s Piano Trio a few weeks ago, will be with us again; the Lincoln String Quartet will be joined by two guests in Brahms’ magnificent Sextet, Op. 18, No. 1. As always, we will have a combination of “cornerstone chamber music works” next to a few unknown works, unusual instrumental combinations, new music and…yes, even a bit of whimsy! And, of course, we will continue to aim to inspire and uplift you in your busy lives.

The “winter music season” will be starting up soon in our great city. There are brochures available here today of several wonderful series that I recommend to you to keep your appetites for great live music fed in our off-season. But we won’t go away completely: please visit us online here at rushhour.org and sign up for our e-newsletter that comes out regularly throughout the fall, winter and spring, with lots of interesting articles, news of RH off-season events, and my recommendations for good listening adventures around town. Thank you for a great summer!

When the ice and snow make their season visit to Chicago this year, just sit back and remember Tuesdays at St. James Cathedral: the light, the camaraderie, the receptions, and the music. It will be here soon again!

- Deborah Sobol
Artistic Director

8/19 – Concert Recap

This week, Rush Hour presented “ORGAN 102: Fantasies, Preludes, and Fugues of J.S. Bach,” featuring organist Bruce J. Barber II, St. James’ Director of Cathedral Music. A live video feed of the performance performance was projected onto a screen on the stage, making the organist visible to the audience from his position in the music gallery. Cameras filmed Mr. Barber’s hands and feet, displaying the incredible skill and dexterity required to play the organ.

Special thanks to the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Chicago for their sponsorship in part of Tuesday’s concert event.

Bruce J. Barber II rehearsing for Tuesday’s performance

The foot pedals of the organ: a keyboard that is played with the feet and volume pedals

An audience member browses the information provided by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Chicago, a sponsor of today’s concert

Organist Bruce Barber addresses a group of audience members during the post-concert organ tour

8/11 – Concert Recap

This week, Rush Hour presented “RAVISHING FRENCH.” Trio Voce’s Jasmine Lin, violin, Marina Hoover, cello, and Patricia Tao, piano, performed Maurice Ravel’s Trio in A minor for Violin, Cello, and Piano. The trio then surprised and delighted audience members with an encore, Astor Piazzolla’s lively tango, “Esquelo.”

Special thanks to the Consulate General of France in Chicago for their sponsorship in part of Tuesday’s concert event.

Cellist Marina Hoover, violinist Jasmine Lin, and pianist Patricia Tao record Episode 11 of podcast series “Rush Hour Conversations” with Artistic Director Deborah Sobol

Audience members enjoy the view from the overflow seating in the music gallery

Jasmine Lin, violin, and Marina Hoover, cello

Volunteer Margaret Isaacson (right) enjoys the reception with friends and family

8/4 – Concert Recap

This week, Rush Hour presented “BAROQUEFEST.” Oboist Eugene Izotov, cellist Brant Taylor, and organist David Schrader delighted the crowd of over 500 attendees with their performance of G.B. Platti’s Sonata in C minor and G.F. Handel’s Oboe Concerto No. 3 in G minor.

Organist David Schrader, cellist Brant Taylor, and oboist Eugene Izotov warming up before the concert

Deborah Sobol interviewing Tuesday’s musicians for the 10th episode of podcast series Rush Hour Conversations

Audience members enjoying the pre-concert reception

The pipes and keys of Tuesday’s organ

7/28 – Concert Recap

This week Rush Hour celebrated its 10th season and Felix Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday with cake, balloons, and savory snacks from Trader Joe’s. Violinist Qing Hou, cellist Paula Kosower, and pianist Kuang-Hao Huang honored the composer’s birthday with a performance of his Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49.

Violinist Qing Hou, cellist Paula Kosower, and pianist Kuang-Hao Huang rehearse before the concert

Balloons celebrating 10 years of Rush Hour

Artistic Director Deborah Sobol interviews the artists for a new episode of podcast series Rush Hour Conversations

Volunteer usher Bob Friedli dons a party hat to celebrate Rush Hour and Mendelssohn’s birthday