It all began with the march from Wagner's opera "Tannhauser" on July 1, 1935.
Chicago's Grant Park Music Festival, America's only municipally funded free outdoor classical concert series, continues its 75th anniversary season this weekend with works by Bernstein, Shostakovich and Mussorgsky. This season is also the 10th for principal conductor Carlos Kalmar, who has shaped the world-class Grant Park Orchestra into a tight yet extremely adaptable ensemble.
Tony Macaluso, Director of GPMF marketing and patron services, tells of the festival's beginnings in the new 250-page book "Sounds of Chicago's Lakefront: A Celebration of the Grant Park Music Festival."
The driving force behind the series was James C. Petrillo, head of the Chicago Federation of Musicians and newly appointed park district commissioner. His motivation was two-fold.
For one, the Great Depression had put paid concerts of great music beyond the reach of many Chicago area residents. For another, the advent of sound films, the growth of radio and the recording industry had decreased employment opportunities for musicians.
According to a 1975 interview quoted in "Sounds of Chicago's Lakefront," city leaders did not take kindly to Petrillo's vision.
"The first time I mentioned park concerts, they laughed in my face. The park employees hadn't been paid for 21 months. Where are you going to get money for park concerts when the policemen aren't being paid?"
Eventually Park District officials agreed to sponsor a concert series if Petrillo could guarantee large crowds.
Within a few weeks, the first season of 64 concerts from July 1 to Labor Day attracted 30,000 to 35,000 at each concert and an estimated total of 1.9 million.
According to the Chicago American, a "surging mass of 330,000 Chicagoans" (the largest crowd in GPMF history), attended the 1939 return engagement of soprano Lily Pons.
"Built on a shoestring budget in just three weeks in 1931 for a shorter series of concerts," the original unnamed bandshell lasted until the Petrillo Bandshell opened in 1978. The visually stunning and acoustically top-of-the-line Jay Pritzker Pavilion took the GPMF to new heights in 2004.
Perhaps the most memorable concerts took place in July 1958 with pianist Van Cliburn. His two concerts attracted a total of 100,000 to 150,000 people, Macaluso says.
Upcoming festival highlights:
*June 19 and 20: Premiere of Michael Torke's oratorio entitled "Plans" for Soprano Solo, Tenor Solo, Chorus and Orchestra. Also on the bill is Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3.
* June 24: Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán
* June 26 and 27: The orchestra plays American music from the 1930s, including William Grant Still's "Afro-American Symphony." Tim Samuelson, cultural historian for the City of Chicago, guides listeners through this musical retrospective.
* June 30 and July 2: "Exploring Music with Bill McLaughlin: Made in America"
* July 1: The Gala 75th Season Concert recreates the very first GPMF program given on the same date 75 years ago.
* July 10 and 11: Selections from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance" and "The Mikado"
* July 22 and 24: Brazilian jazz singer Luciana Souza and Chicago's Luna Negra Dance Theater join the Grant Park Orchestra in Spanish and Latin-flavored works.
* July 25: Venetian Night features opera arias sung by soprano Nicole Cabell and tenor Russell Thomas.
* Aug. 14 and 15: Beethoven's galactic 9th Symphony concludes the season.
