It has been all over the news since Monday, but the CSO is still buzzing with excitement after the announcement that Riccardo Muti will take over as Music Director in 2010/11. Andrew Patner was on WTTW talking about the appointment. Steve Lester from the CSO's bass section and chair of the Members Committee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra also discussed the partnership on NPR's Performance Today. Steve also talked about how fortunate we've been to also have established such a wonderful connection with Bernard Haitink. His leadership has been and continues to be rewarding and enriching for the orchestra and institution overall and the recordings we've made with Mr. Haitink document that great legacy. The CSO goes on tour with Mr. Haitink to Carnegie Hall next week and he will also take them to China for the first time in early 2009.

While great things are on the horizon, great things are happening right now.

The Chicago Symphony Chorus is turning 50! They are a remarkable group and the CSO will be celebrating with a program dedicated to this incredible ensemble of virtuoso voices. The performance has been sold out for quite some time as their loyal fan base has come out in force and extremely early to get tickets to this one-night-only event.

There is another opportunity to hear the Chorus in a more traditional role with the phenomenal Valery Gergiev conducting the CSO and Chorus for Berlioz' wonderful Romeo and Juliet.

I just returned from New York and had an opportunity to talk with my counterpart at the NY Phil about their performance in North Korea. While the general press has been great, they have been criticized in some circles, which is completely misplaced.

I lived in Romania for four years after the fall of communism. They had every bit as cruel a leader in Nicolae Ceausescu who in fact implemented many of his cruelist policies after a visit to Kim Il Sung, the former North Korean leader. I talked with many of my friends there about music and they shared stories about the bootleg Led Zeppelin albums among others that they kept hidden. It was to them just a taste of music and inspiration that was beyond their borders (a place very few of them had the opportunity to see).

I also had the pleasure of meeting many of the young musicians that comprise Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra when they came through Chicago. This is the youth orchestra of Arabs and Israelis that Barenboim established to bring together young people from these different cultures to show how music can truly bridge cultural chasms. Every one of them was delighted with the experience. To see a Lebanese violinist, a Syrian Clarinet player and an Israeli bass player play together in a late-night open jam session was something to behold. Making music together broke down all the perceived barriers and they all reveled in their new friendships.

I tip my hat to the NY Phil for reaching across the divide. Music can't solve the grand problems of our time, but it can be a way to bring people together, even if for a short respite.

The CSO released its Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago CD this week. It is the most recent release from CSO Resound, our in-house recording label. This recording helps to illustrate the full range of the CSO musicians, with music ranging from Prokofiev's Scythian Suite to Bloch's Schelomo, his cello concerto performed with Yo-Yo Ma. But it also includes Harrison's Pipa Concerto that was also featured during 2007's Silk Road Chicago collaboration between the CSO, the Art Institute, Silk Road Project and Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs.

I'm writing not just about this release, but the freedom that the current recording and distribution environment provides to all ensembles. With CSO Resound, we have been able to define our artistic priorities and record what the CSO feels is important. There are many examples of groups looking at music distribution differently. Radiohead's In Rainbows release is one that is often referenced, but it is an outstanding example.

The methods by which music will be distributed in the future are absolutely continually in flux, which makes it an exciting time. We all recognize the shift from physical to digital product, but the digital environment is shifting as well. Where will Rhapsody fit into the mix as its share of the market grows?

We feel there will always be interest in the highest fidelity sound, which is why we released our Bruckner 7 recording with principal conductor Bernard Haitink in SACD Hybrid format. In April, we will be releasing Mr. Haitink's Mahler 6 with the CSO, also in an SACD and traditional format. There may be some opportunities where we cannot have a physical product, such as our Shostakovich 5 conducted by Myung-Whun Chung. But there is still merit in making such an outstanding performance available to the public, which is why this was our first digital-only release. Digital buyers are much more interested in portability than fidelity. It doesn't mean that you have to give up fidelity for portability in all cases. The key is to reach out to as many potential listeners as possible in the formats that make sense to them.

While those strategic decisions need to be hashed-out, the freedom this new recording environment provides is incredibly exciting.

As I am new to the blogosphere, I felt that it was appropriate for me to begin with something incredibly current in this art form that I experienced last night.

This week, the CSO is performing Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar for the first time. It was such a mind-blowing experience that it motivated me to begin blogging about “Classical” music in Chicago here at CCM.

If you don’t know the background, Ainadamar (Fountain of Tears), tells of the story of the death of legendary Spanish poet Federico García Lorca through the eyes of Margarita Xirgu', Lorca’s favorite actress and friend as she approaches the final hours of her own life. Check out CSO program annotator Phillip Huscher’s program notes for more detail. He does a superb job giving additional context to the piece (as always).

It is a tragic tale; one that dives into politics, revolution, friendship and more. I’ve been a huge fan of Dawn Upshaw’s since she sang Golijov’s Ayre as part of the CSO’s MusicNOW series last spring. But Kelly O’Connor’s performance as Lorca was stunning, just like the piece.

What truly motivated me to write is the impact I believe a composer like Golijov can have on music overall. His influences certainly come from his Argentine and Jewish roots, but his works truly reach across the globe. His music is melodic and beautiful but absolutely unique to his own sound and innovations. He has established a new direction for music as it continues in its never-ending evolution. I feel that if the 2016 Olympic Bid team from Chicago is seeking a composer for a theme, they should look no further than the CSO’s Mead Composer-in-Residence.

Experience Ainadamar if you can. The CSO performs it again Friday (2/8), Saturday (2/9) and Tuesday (2/12).