Meet Chicago's finest pre-college classical musicians.

Rebroadcast: Music Institute Academy Chamber Orchestra

Tchaikovsky in his teens

Listen to the Music Institute of Chicago Academy Chamber Orchestra in the Waltz from Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings:

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A rebroadcast from May of 2009, our live program from Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston featuring the MIC Academy Chamber Orchestra had a couple of listeners calling in to say that they thought we were playing professional CDs instead of the show! My favorite story about this program is that Tchaikovsky told his publisher, while supposedly on a composition "break," that he wrote the Serenade for strings "by accident!"

Violinist Natsuki Kumagai of the orchestra assured us that she never practices "by accident."

And when I asked violist Matt Lipman if there was a piece that he perhaps wasn't a fan of at the beginning, but then grew to like, he said that it was the Bartok Divertimento!

Listen to the full program here:

Download MP3 (right click and "save link as" to download)

Program:

Music Institute of Chicago Academy Chamber Orchestra
Roland Vamos, Conductor

Tchaikovsky: Serenade for String Orchestra
I. Pezzo in forma di Sonatina
II. Walzer

Bartok: Divertimento for String Orchestra
I. Allegro non troppo
III. Allegro assai