Sunday, April 12, 7:30pm
Grainger Ballroom, Symphony Center
In partnership with:
Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Midwest Fine Arts Society
Phoenix Sustainability Initiative
Program
Midwest String Orchestra
Eun Kim, conductor
In Our Hands Scholars
Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra
Taka Matsunaga, conductor
Introduction by Phoenix Sustainability Initiative
ANTONIO VIVALDI
"Winter" from the Four Seasons
arr. Jones
SUSAN H. DAY
After the Rain
FRANZ SCHUBERT
String Quartet No. 14 in D minor "Death and the Maiden"
I. Allegro
Landon Thompson and Cora Jopa, violins
Mason Spencer, viola
Civic Orchestra of Chicago
Vivien Lo, cello
PAMELA SKLAR
Green Awakening
Andie Luangrath, flute
Charles Konczal, oboe
Ian Kim, clarinet
Shane Cheskis, bassoon
Erin Harrigan, horn
Civic Orchestra of Chicago
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
String Quartet No. 4 in C minor
I. Allegro ma non tanto
Harune Nagaya, violin 1
Jenny Choi, violin 2
Civic Orchestra of Chicago
Dhruv Patari, viola
Jack Ho, cello
Intermission (15 min.)
Remarks
SAMUEL SHARP
Optimism of the Will, Pessimism of the Intellect
Meet the Participants
Matthew Nowlan
Project Coordinator
Matthew Nowlan (he/him) enjoys a multifaceted career as a performing arts administrator, professional violist, and political scientist. He is currently a regular member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Sinfonia da Camera. Matthew has also served as a section violist of the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra from 2022-2026 and has previously won Principal Viola positions in the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra. Under the baton of renowned conductors, Matthew has performed at internationally acclaimed venues including Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center in Chicago, Carnegie Hall in New York City, Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna, Austria, and Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria. As a member of the Bravura String Quartet from 2016 to 2020, he performed at the Chicago Symphony Center, the Hemmens Cultural Center, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in Chicago, in addition to numerous recitals, weddings, and community events. Matthew started learning the violin at age 5 with the late Anne Donahue and Takaharu Matsunaga before becoming a full-time violist in high school. He continued his viola studies with Professor Liz Freivogel and chamber music with Professor Daniel McDonough, both from the renowned Jupiter String Quartet in residence at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Other notable mentors include Teng Li, Kirsten Docter, Members of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Salley Koo, Denise Djokic, Nelson Lee, Rudolf Haken, Ken-David Masur, Carolyn Watson, Stephen Alltop, Ian Hobson, and the late Matthew Mantell to name a few. In addition to his music studies, Matthew holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with research concentrating in World Politics and Global Business. As a passionate music educator, Matthew has privately taught violin, viola, and chamber music, and also currently serves as the Marketing and Events Director of the Midwest Fine Arts Society, Administrator of the Midwest Conservatory of Music, and has previously worked at the Bowdoin International Music Festival and Institute in Brunswick, Maine. In 2025-26, he will serve as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Arts Administration Fellow, supporting programs of the Negaunee Music Institute. With his interdisciplinary backgrounds as a political scientist, professional musician, and a strong advocate for music education and administration, Matthew approaches every project with creative ambition and a deep commitment to expanding access to the arts. Besides his love for music, Matthew avidly travels, enjoys cooking, and loves spending time with his cat Louie.
Erin Harrigan, horn
Erin Harrigan is a horn player from Trumansburg, New York. She holds a Bachelor’s in Music from the State University of New York at Fredonia. Erin is a current Master’s student at Northwestern University. Outside of school, she is a Regular Member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and enjoys teaching and mentoring.
Mason Spencer, viola
Erin Harrigan is a horn player from Trumansburg, New York. She holds a Bachelor’s in Music from the State University of New York at Fredonia. Erin is a current Master’s student at Northwestern University. Outside of school, she is a Regular Member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and enjoys teaching and mentoring.
Jenny Choi, violin
Erin Harrigan is a horn player from Trumansburg, New York. She holds a Bachelor’s in Music from the State University of New York at Fredonia. Erin is a current Master’s student at Northwestern University. Outside of school, she is a Regular Member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and enjoys teaching and mentoring.
Taka Matsunaga
MPO Music Director
As the recipient of the 2021 Conductor of the Year granted by the Illinois Council of Orchestras as well as the third-place winner of the 2019 and 2021 American Prize in Orchestral Conducting, Taka Matsunaga is currently serving as a Music Director of the Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also the Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Orchestras at Elmhurst University, where he conducts the University Philharmonic Orchestra. Matsunaga came to the U.S. in 1998 to pursue his violin studies with David Taylor, Joseph Golan and Robert Chen while attending Roosevelt University and Northeastern Illinois University, where he received his master’s degree in music. From 1999-2001, Matsunaga was a regular member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, a training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In March 2000, he performed at Carnegie Hall under the baton of Maestro Daniel Barenboim. While playing in the Civic Orchestra, Matsunaga has played with world-renowned conductors including Neeme Jarvi, Christoph Eschenbach, Osmo Vanska, Pierre Boulez and Pinchas Zukerman, to name just a few. Matsunaga has studied at the National Orchestral Institute at University of Maryland as a full-scholar musician under the direction of Gerard Schwarz, a former music director of the Seattle Symphony, and Lan Shui, a conductor laureate of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Matsunaga went on to join the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, South Bend Symphony Orchestra and the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, where he served as an Assistant Concertmaster. As a conductor, Matsunaga made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2018 with the Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra. He has conducted in Vienna, Salzburg, Detroit and at Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center in Chicago. Matsunaga is a member of the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and American String Teachers Association (ASTA). He lives with his oboist wife, Naomi, and three little children, Edward, Cecile and Felix.
Eun Kim
MSO Music Director
Eun Kyung Kim holds a bachelor’s degree in cello performance from Seoul National University in South Korea. She then pursued her graduate study at Temple University in Philadelphia and obtained her master’s degree in cello performance and string pedagogy. As an active performer, she has performed in the Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra in South Korea from 1986 to 1990. Eun then joined the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 1996 to 1998 as a regular member. She currently serves as the Music Director of the Midwest String Orchestra in Schaumburg, Illinois, and also teaches at Schaumburg High School and Fremd High School as a cello technique class coach. She also enjoys teaching the cello at Midwest Conservatory of Music. Each summer, she coaches at the Summer Chamber Music Camp at Midwest Conservatory. Eun continuously performs in the Clematis Cello Quartet, the Harper Symphony Orchestra where she is currently the principal cellist, and the Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra.
Samuel Sharp
Composer
Eun Kyung Kim holds a bachelor’s degree in cello performance from Seoul National University in South Korea. She then pursued her graduate study at Temple University in Philadelphia and obtained her master’s degree in cello performance and string pedagogy. As an active performer, she has performed in the Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra in South Korea from 1986 to 1990. Eun then joined the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 1996 to 1998 as a regular member.
Phoenix Sustainability Initiative
University of Chicago
The Phoenix Sustainability Initiative is an award-winning student-led organization at the University of Chicago seeking to improve sustainable practices on campus and in the greater Chicago area.
Midwest Fine Arts Society
Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra
Midwest String Orchestra
Established in 2007, the Midwest Fine Arts Society (DBA Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra) has rapidly grown from a small group in the suburbs to one of the region’s premier youth orchestras, attracting students from all over Chicagoland. The MPO now tours internationally every few years and hosts up to five concerts and events per season at the Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel at Elmhurst University and Armerding Center for Music and the Arts. Committed to diversity and accessibility of music education, the MPO is home to one of the lowest tuition costs among competing regional youth orchestras. As a result of the program’s attention to quality music-making and collaboration, alumni of the program have become global leaders in music education and performance. The orchestra has performed at numerous prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Zankel Hall in New York City, Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center in Chicago, Peoria Civic Center as part of the 2022 Illinois All-State Conference (IMEC), the TODAY Show in New York City, Detroit’s “Summer in the Park,” and overseas in Austria in the cities of Vienna, Salzburg, and Hallstatt. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the orchestra was scheduled to embark on an international tour through Prague, Budapest, and Bratislava, and host its first concert in Downtown Chicago at the Chicago Cultural Center. The group regathered in its 2021-2022 Season “Reimagined, Reignited” and presented its first community pop concert sponsored by Northern Trust Bank, which was featured in the Chicago Tribune.
MPO Musicians
MSO Musicians
Negaunee Music Institute
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association
The Negaunee Music Institute connects people to the extraordinary musical resources of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Institute programs educate audiences, train young musicians and serve diverse communities, across Chicago and around the world.
Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra
Erin Harrigan is a horn player from Trumansburg, New York. She holds a Bachelor’s in Music from the State University of New York at Fredonia. Erin is a current Master’s student at Northwestern University. Outside of school, she is a Regular Member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and enjoys teaching and mentoring.