From friendship to music: Stephen Williamson premieres Christopher Theofanidis’s clarinet concerto at the CSO

On a summer day in 2022, Stephen Williamson stood outside with his clarinet in Aspen, Colorado. Surrounded by an endless blue sky, mountains and the sun, Williamson – the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s principal clarinetist – worked through intricate passages of a new concerto. Its composer, Christopher Theofanidis, was there with Williamson, shaping the music in real time. ‘Playing it outside in the fresh air, with the mountains around us, brought a whole new dimension to the sound’, Williamson recalls.
After almost three years of anticipation – due in part to an unexpected health setback – Williamson is finally set to premiere the concerto, Indigo Heaven, which was written specifically for him.