Hailed by the Chicago Classical Review as being “among Chicago’s finest and most adventurous chamber groups,” the Civitas Ensemble presents recently discovered works by two 20th-century composers. Béla Bartók’s Piano Quintet in C Major is full of spirit, lovely tunes and rich sonorities. Written by longtime Chicago resident Florence Price, the Piano Quintet in A Minor draws on the musical language of African American spirituals and hymns, reworking elements of the juba dance, which was brought to the American South by enslaved Africans and popularized by Black performers.

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Civitas Ensemble Plays Bartók & Price

Symphony Center

Since 2011, Civitas Ensemble has combined the outstanding collaborative musicianship of multiple top Chicago Symphony Orchestra string chairs with a thirst for interdisciplinary exploration of new and traditional chamber music, including pairings with dancers, visual artists, and poets. Their Alla Zingarese project, released on Cedille in 2018, leaped to the whirlwind crossroads of Western classical and Romani folk traditions, creating “a trip through history … and a venture into new musical territory with surprises aplenty” (Chicago on the Aisle). In their first appearance at Ravinia as Civitas—though all veterans of the festival’s stages—the core trio of CSO Asst. Concertmaster Yuan-Qing Yu, CSO Asst. Principal Cellist Kenneth Olsen (an early 2000s alum of Ravinia’s Steans Institute), and Chicago College of Performing Arts Piano Program Head Winston Choi bring a program of Turina and Tchaikovsky headed up by a picturesque recent work by longtime Chicagoan Stacy Garrop.

Civitas Ensemble

Apr 5, 2025