Gabriela Lena Frank's energetic chamber works reveal her multi-cultural roots

January 19, 2011

Over the last 10 years, the Chicago Chamber Musicians has welcomed to its valuable Composer Perspectives series some of the leading figures on the American scene, from Ned Rorem, Gunther Schuller, William Bolcom, George Perle, John Harbison and John Corigliano to Aaron Jay Kernis, Bernard Rands and Augusta Read Thomas. These concerts have extended the group's artistic reach just as they have plugged salient gaps in our understanding of the amazing breadth of contemporary composition.

Chamber series pursues lofty mission in intimate space

January 16, 2011

Giving important push and exposure to deserving young classical musicians on the brink of major careers has been the shining mission of Music in the Loft for the last 17 years. It's gratifying to see the series going strong despite the bad economy. Bookings extend into 2013, and general director Elinor Olin and board president Lincoln Ellis have recently taken on new administrative and artistic duties.

Sizzling debut by violinist Renaud Capucon lifts CSO concert out of the ordinary

January 14, 2011

Falling roughly halfway through a season rocked by podium shifts at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the cancellation of Yannick Nezet-Seguin came as a particularly bothersome blow.

COT general director Brian Dickie to step down in 2012

January 13, 2011

With Lyric Opera engaged in a worldwide search for a new general director, the city's second opera company has gone into search mode. Chicago Opera Theater announced that Brian Dickie, the company's widely respected general director since 1999, will leave at the expiration of his contract in August 2012, and return home to London.

Pacifica, blackbirds traverse an intriguing spectrum of new music

January 12, 2011

Ganz Memorial Hall at Roosevelt University is fast becoming the go-to place for area concertgoers searching for aural adventure on an intimate scale, particularly when it comes to new and newer music. The historic auditorium served as a welcoming venue over the weekend when the Contempo series presented its resident ensembles, eighth blackbird and the Pacifica Quartet, in an intriguing program of instrumental and vocal chamber works spanning 39 years.

Longtime CSO harpist was known as a dedicated musician and superb colleague

January 10, 2011

Although he was a superb harp player and a consummate musician and teacher who held a degree in chemical engineering from Stanford University, Edward Druzinsky wore his many talents with exceeding modesty.

15th Chamber Music Festival to warm listeners at Northwestern

January 4, 2011

Wintertime, and the chamber music is easy. Also plentiful.

Season's strong lineup awaits

January 3, 2011

Do we really care how frightful the weather is outside when we have Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra inside? Or "La Fanciulla del West," "Lohengrin" and "Hercules" at Lyric Opera? Or that peerless Rossinian, Joyce DiDonato, singing Rossini?

From Muti to Mutter to 'Macbeth,' it was a very good year in classical music

December 29, 2010

Any way you look at it, 2010 was a momentous year for classical music in Chicago.

Muti loomed over city's arts life

December 25, 2010

It speaks volumes for the impact Riccardo Muti had on the city in 2010 -- the year he made his official debut as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra -- that his absence generated at least as much attention as his presence.

From Muti to Mutter to 'Macbeth,' it was a very good year in classical music

December 23, 2010

Any way you look at it, 2010 was a momentous year for classical music in Chicago.

Muti explains his absence, looks forward to CSO return

December 15, 2010

At the other end of the phone, Riccardo Muti sounded relaxed and affable, like a man on top of the world. Which, in a manner of speaking, he is. Surely he must realize his absence has made Chicago's heart grow fonder.

MusicNOW composers in step with the pulse of the times

December 14, 2010

It is good to see the MusicNOW series breaking out of its old hidebound ways, getting down (and sometimes dirty) with vernacular musics that don't necessarily carry an academic stamp of approval. Mason Bates and Anna Clyne, the Chicago Symphony's hip young resident composers, have their feelers out everywhere and they were on hand Monday night at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance to introduce five recent works that reflect the stylistic openness among the younger generation of American art music composers.

A diva with many hats, Fleming delights fans

December 13, 2010

"I just want to tell you," Renee Fleming said with a knowing smile to her adoring audience Sunday at the Civic Opera House, "it's very challenging, this diva-glamour thing."

Renee Fleming takes major position at Chicago Lyric Opera

December 9, 2010

Earlier this year it was Yo-Yo Ma signing on with Riccardo Muti's team at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Now another classical music superstar has assumed a major role in the artistic leadership of the city's other blue-chip musical institution.

Lyric's mirthful 'Mikado' banishes the chill of winter

December 7, 2010

The tiresome old argument that the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas – poised as they are between grand opera and musical theater – don't belong in the repertory of "serious" opera companies still lingers in some snobbish quarters of the arts establishment. Lyric Opera of Chicago effectively demolished that canard with its successful treatments of "The Mikado" in 1983 and "The Pirates of Penzance" 20 years later.

Pianist Aimard more than equal to the virtuoso tasks he set for himself

December 6, 2010

Pierre-Laurent Aimard has long prided himself on doing things his own way, from his stimulating programs that put old music and new music in lively dialogue with one another, right down to his unconventional concert attire. I've heard the brilliant French pianist numerous times since his Chicago debut in 1988 and each time the sovereign command of his playing have left me with senses refreshed. To judge from the prolonged ovation that erupted at the end of his recital Sunday afternoon at Orchestra Hall, many others were experiencing a similar reaction.

Find finest classical in a box

December 4, 2010

Of the boxed bounty released this year, here are seven collections I recommend without hesitation. May they provide comparable cheer to the classical music lovers on your holiday shopping list.

Chopin to Schuman, it was a very good year

December 4, 2010

It was another banner year for classical recordings. Of the new issues I returned to again and again these past months, here are 10 that I found both exceptional and important:

Boulez captures raw power, driving vitality of Janacek's 'Glagolitic Mass'

December 3, 2010

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra could not have asked for a nicer confluence. The same week that the orchestra, Chicago Symphony Chorus and Pierre Boulez were nominated for Grammy awards in various categories, there they were on stage at Orchestra Hall, giving their all to Leos Janacek's "Glagolitic Mass," a 20th century choral masterpiece that is still too seldom heard. The weekend concerts conclude the conductor emeritus' residency for the season and are not to be missed.

Here's a howdy-do: 'The Mikado' is back at Lyric Opera of Chicago

December 1, 2010

When Lyric Opera of Chicago audiences last heard "The Mikado," back in 1983, the "innocent merriment" came courtesy of that bad boy of opera directors, Peter Sellars. He transported the Gilbert and Sullivan favorite to modern-day Tokyo where our hero was a motorcycle-riding rock star and the "gentlemen of Japan" were a pack of corporate clones. His sly updating gave then-general director Ardis Krainik the first big success of her young administration.

CSO's Muti 'too busy' to accept Rome opera offer

November 27, 2010

Riccardo Muti has denied published reports that he has signed a contract to become artistic director of Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. Combining the Rome job with his responsibilities as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra would be too demanding, the Italian maestro said at a press conference this week in Rome.

Boulez introduces CSO audience to a gnarly modernist classic

November 27, 2010

At a time of year traditionally devoted to giving thanks, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has many blessings to count, not the least of which is the fact that conductor emeritus Pierre Boulez remains, at 85, a vital force in the artistic life of the institution. Boulez may have mellowed in some respects, but his questing mind and eagle ear remain as acute as ever, and he still has much to teach orchestral musicians and engage audiences.

Pianist embraces the unexpected

November 27, 2010

Some of the most deeply satisfying experiences I have taken away from more than three decades of attending concerts at Orchestra Hall have been provided by Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

Dal Niente, Fifth House groups take listeners to places they're never been before

November 20, 2010

Davis does British countrymen proud in his concert with CSO

November 19, 2010

There is something about Andrew Davis' periodic forays across town from his fulltime duties at Lyric Opera to guest engagements with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra that releases the twinkly adventurer in him. He is back this weekend at the podium of Orchestra Hall where he is wearing his "Sir Andrew" hat, arguing the case for two powerful if puzzling pieces from his native England, both of them new to the orchestra's repertory.

Blythe enjoys double-barreled challenge of her Lyric Opera debut

November 17, 2010

Stephanie Blythe is sitting on top of the world – at least the operatic portion thereof. And she's particularly enjoying the double-barreled opportunity Lyric Opera is giving her to prove what critics have been writing about her almost from the outset of her career – that she's a knockout in just about everything she performs, whether it's opera, concerts or recitals.

Blythe's triumphant debut helps stir the passions of Lyric's 'Ballo in Maschera' – 3 stars

November 16, 2010

The return of "Un Ballo in Maschera" ("A Masked Ball") to the Lyric Opera repertory will gladden the hearts of all who adore Giuseppe Verdi's melodious, middle-period masterpiece, a favorite around the Civic Opera House since its company premiere 55 years ago.

Despite Kleijn's valiant performance, new cello pieces don't add up to much

November 15, 2010

Sometimes the premise behind a brand-new piece of music can be of greater worth than the music itself. Such is the case with "Oil-Free Blush," a co-commission by Katinka Kleijn and the Chicago Humanities Festival that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra cellist premiered as part of the final weekend of festival events Sunday at Francis Parker School.

Pappano needs speed check at concert with the CSO

November 12, 2010

There is no energy crisis on the podium this weekend at Orchestra Hall, where Antonio Pappano is presiding over a mostly standard-repertory program with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. An infrequent guest here since his CSO debut in 1994, the British-based conductor, who serves as music director of London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, seemed in a hurry to make up for lost time.

With expert leadership and bracing performances, life begins at 40 for MOB

November 10, 2010

It has been nearly a decade since Music of the Baroque named Jane Glover and Nicholas Kraemer as its music director and principal guest conductor, respectively. Since 2002, these superb British musicians have expanded the repertory while infusing their interpretations with bracing vigor and a keen sense of style that makes early music leap off the page in a wonderfully immediate manner.

Pianist Hamelin thunders through Alkan rarity

November 8, 2010

The brilliant Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin is best known for blazing an individual path through little-known and unusual repertory that's made to order for a virtuoso of his digital prowess. But his musical appetite extends to more standard works as well. The recital he gave Sunday at Orchestra Hall as a replacement for Murray Perahia contained examples of both mainstream and unfamiliar fare, and it was the latter that emerged more successfully.

Those foolish mortals are back, courtesy of Britten and the Bard

November 7, 2010

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Lyric Opera of Chicago is a bit slow to find its comic rhythm, the early scenes suggesting someone awakening from deep slumber who needs a jolt of black coffee before facing the day. But give it a chance. By the time the mismatched lovers are going at one other in full squabble mode, their senses hopelessly addled by Puck's magic herb, Benjamin Britten's delicate, otherworldly music has worked its wonders, the show comes alive and we are transported.

Creating a 'sensual dreamscape' for Britten's retelling of the Bard's beloved comedy

November 3, 2010

What fascinates Neil Armfield about Benjamin Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," he says, is its perfect symmetry of construction. The opera is at once a dream about a dream and a play about putting on a play.

Pacifica brings electric intensity to round two of its Shostakovich quartet cycle

November 1, 2010

The hottest ticket in Chicago classical music at the moment? That's an easy one. It is the Pacifica Quartet's Shostakovich string quartet cycle at Roosevelt University's Ganz Hall.

Van Zweden, CSO deliver searing Shostakovich

October 29, 2010

Perhaps no guest conductor in recent years has connected with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and its audience as impressively as Jaap van Zweden. This intense bundle of podium energy seems utterly incapable of giving a thoughtless or under-realized performance. So it was Thursday night when the Dutch conductor began a brief weekend engagement at Symphony Center.

Northbrook's Rapchak goes where others fear to tread

October 27, 2010

Even when the economy was in decent shape, Lawrence Rapchak never saw any sense in giving his audience the same sort of safe, predictable, greatest hits-oriented programming just about every other suburban orchestra in the area was playing.

'American Four Seasons' is entertaining but musically it's a Glass half empty

October 25, 2010

If you think the Xeroxed arpeggio died out with Antonio Vivaldi, you haven't been following very much of Philip Glass' music over the last 40 years or so. Actually, the master of Italian Baroque music and the comparably prolific grand old man of American minimalism have even more in common than you might think.

A corrupt dictator falls, and so does the opera

October 24, 2010

MILWAUKEE — It's hard to fathom what prompted the Florentine Opera, one of the nation's oldest and most respected regional opera companies, to throw its resources behind so flimsy and misbegotten a work as "Rio de Sangre" ("River of Blood"), which had its world premiere here on Friday night at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Remaining performances were Saturday and Sunday.

Muti cancellation a wake-up call for CSO

October 4, 2010

Whenever a high-profile music director of a major institution withdraws from his commitments to that institution, such as Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti did over the weekend, the cancellation can have far-reaching effects and implications for the institution.

Muti knocks debut out of park

September 19, 2010

The official launch of the Riccardo Muti era at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra called for a lot more than a nice little concert in the park.

Fall music preview: Classical

September 10, 2010

Big deals

Nally steps down from Lyric chorus post

July 27, 2010

Donald Nally, chorus master of Lyric Opera of Chicago since 2007, will leave the company following the 2010-11 season to concentrate on non-operatic choral conducting and new music.

Back to nature with Haitink, CSO

June 12, 2010

Much as Bernard Haitink loves Chicago, you didn't catch him wearing a Blackhawks jersey while leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the Stanley Cup-winning team's goal chant song, "Chelsea Dagger," at his concert Thursday night at Orchestra Hall. Not his style. After all, another triumphant local team was being celebrated on this occasion, along with another victorious hero: a guy named Beethoven.

Pinnock transfers his mastery of Classical style to a chamber-sized CSO

May 1, 2010

Trevor Pinnock is the latest early music specialist the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has engaged to take charge of one of its periodic sorties into the chamber orchestra repertory. The British conductor and harpsichordist, who was making his CSO debut Thursday night at Orchestra Hall, managed the leap more adroitly than some of his colleagues from the historical brigade.