The concert I attended was held on 18^th September 2014 in Chicago, and the event venue was the Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center.Besides, the soloists for the symphony orchestra included Riccardo Muti who was the conductor,Camilla Nylund sang thesoprano voice,Ekaterina Gubanova sang the mezzo-soprano voice, Matthew Polenzanisang tenor voice,Eric Owen sang thebass-baritone voice, and lastly, Duain Wolfe was the chorus director.

The first performance was the Allegro ma non troppo, unpocomaestoso (D minor) which involved the instrumentalists playing their musical instruments continuously. The instrumentalists were seated in the hall with their instruments held in their hands. Riccardo Muti could also be seen conducting the song at the front. The movement of his hand seems to correspond with the instrumentals although he could not hear them. The first performance ended with the sound of the instruments diminishing, and Riccardo Muti could be seen swaying his hands in slow motion.

After that, a second performance called the Molto vivace – Presto (D minor) followed. Like the first performance, it involved the pure playing of the symphony and other musical instruments. Riccardo Muti continued with his conducting task. He seemed to be following a song in his book as he could be seen opening it every time he changed the style of conducting. The instrumentalists also seemed deeply captured in the act, and anyone could easily tell that whatever song they were playing had a deep meaning. Unlike in the first performance, Riccardo ended the second performance in an aggressive way, and the instrumentalists stopped to play their instruments abruptly.

After about fifteen seconds of silence, the third program was known as Adagio molto e cantabile – Andante moderato – Tempo primo – Andante moderato – Adagio – Lo stesso tempo (B-flat major)began. It was soft and slow than the previous performances. Besides, the sound of symphonies was different from the previous ones. As the performance continued, the sound of the instruments kept rising. Riccardo Muti conducted in a soft way, and even his face and those of the instrumentalists showedthat the song being performed was emotional or touching. Finally, the performance ended when Riccardo strangely swayed his arms as a sign of informing the instrumentalists to stop.

The fourth performance was known as Finale: Ode to joybegan abruptly after ending the third one. It started at a high pitch with the instrumentalists taking turns to play their instruments. As the performance continued, a man startedsinging in a rough voice ad he was then joined by other singers who were all standing at the back with manuscripts containing the song they were singing. As the performance approached the end, the singing stopped, and pure playing of symphonies and other instruments followed. Riccardo Muti conducted aggressively towards the end and then ended the session. Everyone stood up as he walked off the stage.

According to me, the concert was lively and captivating keeping in mind that Riccardo Muti, a man who could not speak and hear, was conducting very well. The symphonies were also played continuously with many skills. However, I can say that the performances became boring as time went by due to too many repetitions. I think the symphonies were overused instead of incorporating continuous singing in each performance. Still, the ending was awesome as it involved a combination of singing and playing of instrumentals. I liked the way Riccardo Muti conducted the performances since it was my first time to watch such a concert. I would consider attending such concerts in the future if other skills apart from playing instrumentals are incorporated from the beginning.

 
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