The Chicago Bar Association
presents
"LAWYER and MUSICIAN"
The new
(and very occasional—promise!)
E-Newsletter from
The Chicago Bar Association
Symphony Orchestra & the CBA Chorus
Vol II. No 10, January 18, 2024
Maestro David Volosin Katz, editor
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The CBA Symphony and Chorus present:
CONDUCTOR QUEST:
the search continues for the next music director of the CBASO!
SATURDAY, February 3—7:30 pm
St James Episcopal Cathedral—Wabash @ Huron
Music by Brahms, Vivaldi, Florence Price, Chabrier, Mussorgsky, Mozart, Faure and Copland.
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CBASO music director David Katz relates the story behind CONDUCTOR QUEST:
Nearly forty years ago, in December 1985, two lawyer-cellists, Susan Chernoff and Julia Nowicki, shared a music stand in a pick-up orchestra for a
Do It Yourself Messiah performance conducted by the venerable Margaret Hillis, founder and music director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. The two so enjoyed the experience they dreamed of starting an all-attorney orchestra for the City of Chicago.
There were nine lawyer-musicians in attendance in January 1987 when I raised my baton for the first time as the Founding Music Director of The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra. Now, thirty-eight years later, I am retiring as the CBASO’s music director—but will continue in a purely administrative capacity, eager to help the ensembles I have served (and loved) for so long.
The CBASO now searches for its next conductor, as five finalists vie for the podium, following a nationwide search. One of the candidates, Marek Rachelski, you already know. He has served as the orchestra’s Resident Conductor since 2017, officially auditioning for the post last May. This past November, and on February 3rd, four more candidates, Nicholas Wallin, Silas Huff, Nicholas Koo and Jennifer Huang, lead the orchestra (and chorus) in performance, before the ensemble makes the decision who the new music director of the orchestra will be.
As we approach the start of our fifth decade, watch and listen as the future of The Chicago Bar Association Symphony is made, right in front of you. (And if you are interested in the remarkable history of the CBASO, the CBA Chorus and the Barristers Big Band, look for my upcoming book, Wonderful Counsellor, being published this winter by DelGatto Press, featuring hundreds of captioned photographs, interactive links to selected performances, and reminiscences from longtime members, and from me. See more information below.)
Onward!—and enjoy…
David (Volosin) Katz, founding music director
The Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra
pictured about to play the famed Bulkley Carillon at St James' Church, Danbury, CT
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Nicholas Koo is a Korean-American conductor currently serving multiple orchestras across the United States including the Minnesota Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony Association, the San Diego Symphony, and Memphis Symphony. He has assisted a number of notable conductors including Donald Runnicles, Peter Oundjian, Fabien Gabel, and Marin Alsop and has worked alongside soloists such as Emanuel Ax, Hélène Grimaud, Joyce Yang, and Paul Huang. He has made a number of appearances conducting the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in their regular season and is active in the Chicago area both on and off the podium, additionally working with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association in artistic media and video production.
Nicholas was most recently recognized by The Solti Foundation U.S. who awarded him the prestigious 2023 Career Assistance Award for young conductors. In December of 2022, Nicholas was selected from a pool of over 300 world-wide applicants to be an active conductor of the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy in Ravenna, Italy, culminating in a performance of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. Nicholas was invited to be assistant conductor for the Peninsula Music Festival as the 2023 Karen Smuda Emerging Conductor. In summer of 2022, he joined the artist roster of Festival Mozaic in the summer of 2022 as assistant conductor. Nicholas has been a frequent conductor of multiple years at the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, most recently in 2021 where he was featured leading the CCSMF Orchestra in the PBS television’s masterworks series, Now Hear This. A strong advocate for contemporary music, Nicholas also served as music director for the Atlantic Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble and assistant conductor of the Atlantic Music Festival Symphony Orchestra where he premiered more than 20 new works for chamber and full orchestra.
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Jennifer Huang is a Taiwanese-American conductor currently serving as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Northwestern Medical Orchestra. Her most recent engagements include Music Director of the Merit School of Music Chamber Orchestra, Music Director of Thompson Street Opera Co., and Associate Conductor of the Chicago City-Wide Symphony Orchestra. Before moving to Chicago in 2021, Huang worked with several ensembles in the Bay Area, serving as Resident Conductor of the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony Aspirante Youth Orchestra, Music Director of the UCB Summer and Chamber Orchestras, and Assistant Conductor and Chorus Director of West Edge Opera.
While the majority of her work focuses on standard orchestral repertoire, Huang is also an active opera conductor and a strong advocate for new music performance, working closely with composers from around the world. An accomplished violinist, pianist, and vocalist, Huang has performed under the baton of world-class artists such as Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, and David Robertson. She holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of California Berkeley in Molecular Cell Biology and Music, as well as a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from Northwestern Bienen School of Music.
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ARTHUR CARVAJAL (right) trumpet soloist |
Arthur G. Carvajal has performed in the trumpet section of the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra since 2002. From 2006 to 2009, he was a co-chair of the orchestra. He also plays the trumpet and sings with the Barristers Big Band, in which he serves as the trumpet section leader.
Arthur is the general counsel and a product line manager for WebCE, Inc., a financial services training company based in Dallas, for which he helped establish its Chicago office. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, he graduated with a journalism degree from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and earned his law degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Arthur is grateful for his parents’ faith in his musical endeavors. Rather than rent a cornet for him to play in his grade school band class, his parents Arthur and Toni bought it outright, so certain were they that his interest in the instrument was sincere and enduring. Their support gave him the opportunity to perform in venues with talented musicians and conductors beyond any he imagined within reach in his lifetime. Yet among the many wonderful experiences he has enjoyed as a musician, he considers the most rewarding to be the many occasions on which he has performed for his parents’ listening and dancing pleasure.
Michael Poulos (left)
trumpet soloist
Michael D. Poulos is a founding member, principal trumpet, and assistant conductor of the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra. He is a general practice lawyer with the Evanston firm of Poulos Black P.C. He co-authored Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract 5.0 and Inside the Minds: Strategies for Family Law in Illinois. He is a “Distinguished Alumnus” of Ripon College and a member of ASCAP. Loyola Law School commissioned his portrait as a conductor for the cover of its alumni magazine.
As trumpet soloist he has performed the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, Copland’s Quiet City, Handel’s “Let the Bright Seraphim,” and Anderson’s A Trumpeter’s Lullaby (performed for the composer's widow) with the CBA Symphony and, in the case of the first two pieces, with other orchestras. He has played Handel’s "The trumpet shall sound” and Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Trumpets with other orchestras.
The CBA Symphony has performed a. number of his original pieces: Fanfare for the Common Law, Charter of Liberty, Canon of Ethics, Fanfare for a Winter Day, Fanfare for Judge Blanche Manning, his re-creation of the Mary Todd Lincoln Polka (the CBASO recording of which is part of the online Lincoln Collection), and his arrangement of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. His song No Turn on Red was debuted by the Barristers Big Band in October. He is now composing a setting of The Declaration of Independence for orchestra and chorus.
Michael and his wife Suzanne (who is a founding member and soprano section leader of the CBA Chorus and occasional percussionist with CBASO) were co-hosts of a program on Radio Earth broadcast to half the world for eight years. In 2017 they were honored by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois for service to the State of Illinois.
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And be sure to join the
Barristers Big Band
for this very special evening of performances at
Andy's Jazz Club!
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Remembering
CBA Chorus accompanist
Janet Eckhardt
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Janet Eckhardt, the founding accompanist of the CBA Chorus, died in November 2023, having served more than ten years in that capacity.
David Katz pays tribute:
“I knew Janet since we were students together at the Hartt School of Music of The University of Hartford in the 1970s. Many years later, when I wanted to found a chorus to perform with the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra, I was delighted to rekindle our friendship when Janet was hired to be the CBA Chorus's accompanist...We performed together many times and in many places. She was an extraordinarily generous, thoughtful, feeling musician and a kind human being, always compassionate, gifted...a lovely friend. I was so sad to learn this news but know that Janet's gifts are being celebrated not only here, but in the hereafter. God's speed, Janet, and thank you so very much for the love-through-music you shared with all of us.”
Rebecca Patterson, founding CBA Chorus conductor remembers:
“Janet was a frequent accompanist in concert and recital, but I knew her best in our work together for the CBA Chorus. When Janet first came on board as our accompanist, David asked, “Can she read minds?” She sure could. Every time a correction was needed during rehearsal, Janet’s hands were poised over the keys before the instructions were out of my mouth. She was a warm and supportive friend and a valued colleague. I will miss her very much."
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and to help CELEBRATE
The Chicago Bar Association's
150th
Anniversary in 2024:
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