Ars Viva presents Vaughan Williams, Beethoven, Prokofiev with David Taylor, Charles Pikler and Chicago Master Singers

The Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, winner of the 2013
Skokie Fine Arts Award for
Excellence, continues its 2013-2014 season at the North Shore Center for
the Performing Arts in Skokie on March 16th at 3:00 p.m. 
Music Director Alan Heatherington, recipient of Chicago Classical Review’s 2013 Distinguished Achievement Award is known for his creative programming
and entertaining comments to the audience, illuminating the music.  This
concert will be no exception. 



 Ars
Viva’s concertmaster David Taylor (also associate concertmaster of the Chicago
Symphony) will open the program with his signature piece, Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending. Ars
Viva/CSO principal violist Charles Pikler is long overdue for a performance of
the serenely exquisite Flos
Campi, based entirely on texts from Solomon’s Song of Songs.  This work
will also include a chorus drawn from the Chicago Master Singers, and Evanston
conductor and artist Harold Bauer will provide readings from the Biblical texts
depicted in the music. Two wondrous classical symphonies, Beethoven’s Symphony
No. 8 and Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, will round out this incredibly varied
and appealing program. 

 

Maestro Heatherington explains, “Ars Viva is blessed with exceptional
artists and we are proud to feature two of them, David Taylor and Charlie Pikler,
on this program. Audiences will love hearing the Beethoven and Prokofiev but
they will go away awed by The Lark Ascending with David Taylor and Flos Campi
with Charles Pikler.  A unique concert experience awaits.”

Founded
in 1995 by Music Director Alan Heatherington, the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra
is composed of the finest professional musicians in the Chicago metropolitan
area, including many members of the world-renowned Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  Thoughtful, challenging programming
demonstrates a commitment to excellence and artistic vitality that sets Ars
Viva apart from other orchestras.  With
diligent attention to detail and a profound knowledge of style and musical
history, Maestro Heatherington commands a wide variety of repertoire ranging
from Baroque to contemporary music.  It
is the goal of Ars Viva not only to present an interesting variety of music at
the highest level of performance quality, but to help audiences engage with the
music in new ways. 

The
popular Music for Life program accompanies
each of Ars Viva’s concerts.  The program
concept is simple:  parents (or
grandparents) bring their children to the concerts and sit together in the
audience to hear the orchestra. After the first piece on the program, children
ages 4 to 7 leave the auditorium with professional educators from the Music
Institute of Chicago to go to their classroom right in the building.  At intermission, the older children (8 to 11)
go to their classroom. The children learn more about the music they have heard,
the composer or the historical and cultural setting.   Instructors use visual arts, drama,
storytelling, and movement to stimulate the children’s imagination and
creativity.  With an accompanying adult,
the children are admitted to the concert and Music for Life free of charge.

Single
tickets are $36–70 with discounts for seniors and youth.  The concert and the Music for Life program begin at 3:00
p.m. on Sunday, February 9, 2014 at the North Shore Center for the Performing
Arts in Skokie.  Ample free parking is available and the
building is handicapped accessible.  For
complete information, call 855 ARS-VIVA (277-8482) or purchase tickets at http://www.arsviva.org.