Grant Park Orchestra, Chorus in season finale with firmly grasped Verdi
Carlos Kalmar's final program of the Grant Park season confirmed one of the major strengths of the year: large-scale choral/vocal works,...
Get the full story >>The joyous jazz of Sheila Jordan
She has to be the hippest 82-year-old in America.
Get the full story >>Concert review: For Kid Rock, the simpler '70s rule
The calendar says 2011, but for Kid Rock, it's forever the 1970s. Friday at a nearly packed First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, the Detroit...
Get the full story >>Chicago camp teaches kids Blues 101
If you didn’t know better, you’d think Lady Gaga was in the house and the kids were piling in to catch a glance.
Get the full story >>CSO journey: One orchestra, five countries
When the Chicago Symphony Orchestra traveled to Europe a few years ago, it returned home smitten with one of the world's greatest...
Get the full story >>Heath Brothers take a gentle approach to the art of bebop
At this late date, precious few working musicians can claim – truthfully – to have shared a stage with Charlie "Bird" Parker.
Get the full story >>Aleks Tomaszewska slows down, finds Magic Key to a new sound
Aleks Tomaszewska has always been a band leader — in her previous duo, Aleks and the Drummer, and in her new, more elastic ensemble,...
Get the full story >>Pick of the week
Grant Park Music Festival: The 77th season comes to a rousing conclusion with the monumental Verdi Requiem. Carlos Kalmar leads the...
Get the full story >>Bluesman Gary Clark Jr. groovin' on the move
Like just about every other kid who wanted to play the guitar, Gary Clark Jr., of Austin, Texas, started begging his parents to buy him...
Get the full story >>Classical Corner
Chicago Symphony Orchestra: In its final local appearance of the summer, the CSO will perform the "live" soundtrack to the Tolkien-...
Get the full story >>Jimmie Vaughan the ultimate team player
Jimmie Vaughan is one of the great guitarists of the last 30 to 40 years, though you might not know it — he's not about calling...
Get the full story >>'Groove Interrupted' goes inside New Orleans music -- after the storm
Years from now, it's easy to imagine the history books dividing New Orleans music into two categories: Before Hurricane Katrina and after.
Get the full story >>Lil Wayne thrives, celebrating pleasures, excesses and freedoms
Forget the news about housing foreclosures and economic recession. The American Dream is alive and well in the form of the heavily tattooed,...
Get the full story >>Rare Piazzolla revival sounds better than it looks
By now, anyone even vaguely familiar with tango music must know the name of Astor Piazzolla. The Argentine composer and bandoneon master,...
Get the full story >>Kalmar, Grant Park Orchestra in ardent account of 'Seven Seals'
Carlos Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra have been successful at presenting pieces unlikely to be performed at a summer music festival....
Get the full story >>Haymarket Opera to address need for a 'period' opera company in Chicago
How does it happen that a city now widely recognized as the Midwest hub for historically informed performances by period instrumentalists...
Get the full story >>A rare revival of Astor Piazzolla's tango opera
The tango music of Astor Piazzolla sways to a seductive beat, its rhythms unhurried but relentless, its harmonies yearning for resolution.
Get the full story >>Top rock shows
Steely Dan: Donald Fagen, Walter Becker and another of their typically excellent sets of collaborators return for two nights, playing...
Get the full story >>Dawn Golden and Rosy Cross: A guy who makes delightful dance music
This weekend, Dexter Tortoriello will make his live debut as Dawn Golden and Rosy Cross. It's easy to imagine Dawn Golden and Rosy Cross are...
Get the full story >>Female rock group took time to group
Traci Trouble and Meg Thomas had been bumping around the Chicago scene for several years in separate bands when they finally saw each...
Get the full story >>A love letter to Charlie Parker from saxophonist Donald Harrison, Jr.
Most jazz clubs don't last as long — or even half as a long — as the Jazz Showcase has been celebrating the music of Charlie...
Get the full story >>Stone Temple Pilots: Future is on the road
This spring, Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland released a ridiculously readable, warts-and-all memoir, "Not Dead & Not for...
Get the full story >>Taylor Swift's songs powerful on their own
Taylor Swift has perfected the art of feigning surprise. At a packed Allstate Arena Tuesday night, the first of two shows, she paused...
Get the full story >>Savvy Brad Paisley rides line between pop, populism
If success in mainstream country music means finding the right mix of hokum and heart, man, has Brad Paisley got that formula down. "It ain'...
Get the full story >>Conductor McGegan brings Handel's Orlando to Ravinia
Of the conductors who bestride the realms of modern and period orchestral performance, Nicholas McGegan may truly be said to command the...
Get the full story >>Five-pianist concerto makes an enjoyable premiere at Ravinia
This is the week when the Ravinia incarnation of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra gets down with the worlds of pop and crossover.
Get the full story >>Stormy weather
When a torrent of rain and gusts of wind ripped through the South Shore JazzFest late Sunday afternoon, it looked as if the event was...
Get the full story >>Lollapalooza Day 2: Going back in time
It’s unofficially ‘80s day at Lollapalooza Saturday, as if every band or artist is under strict orders to play an...
Get the full story >>Tweets, texts not for everyone in arts world
Like performing arts organizations everywhere else, the heavy hitters of classical music in Chicago are desperately seeking new ways to...
Get the full story >>He's the hottest young composer around. But catching Nico Muhly isn't easy.
Nico Muhly apologized for missing our phone interview. By an entire day, as it turned out.
Get the full story >>Lollapalooza Day 3: Rain and mud can't keep Cool Kids, Damian Marley or fans down
Strong rains gave Lollapalooza a late-afternoon shower Sunday, turning Grant Park’s softball fields into muddy ponds and compelling...
Get the full story >>Bryn Terfel's artful song recital captivates at Ravinia
Bryn Terfel can command a stage whether he's thundering as Wotan, king of the Wagnerian gods, in "Die Walkure," or singing a lullaby from...
Get the full story >>Sade's secret weapon at United Center: restraint
Sade's "Soldier of Love," the British act's first album in over a decade, sold nearly half a million copies its first week, topping the...
Get the full story >>Muti book a compelling saga of a rich life lived in music
As he approaches his 70th birthday on Thursday, Riccardo Muti is entering a phase of his international career in which consolidation is...
Get the full story >>Lollapalooza Day 3: Rain, more rain, and a Foo Fighters finale
Lollapalooza 2011 is a wrap with record daily attendance (90,000), adding up to the most populated festival in North America (270,000)...
Get the full story >>Lollapalooza: Early good vibes and expansion announced
The biggest Lollapalloza ever marked its 20th anniversary Friday in Grant Park with birthday cake, a record attendance of 90,...
Get the full story >>Jill Scott: Full of fearlessness and passion
Brimming with fierce independence, soul singer Jill Scott came out firing Sunday at a packed Charter One Pavilion and didn't let up for 90...
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