Bob Benenson
Review: The High Art of Bach’s Passion of St. Matthew
There are many excellent classical music concerts presented in Chicago every year. But Music of the Baroque’s performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s The St. Matthew Passion—conducted by Dame Jane Glover, […]
Review: Lyric’s Carmen Features Strong Performances, But the Plot Can Be Troubling
Georges Bizet produced some of opera’s most memorable music for Carmen, his 1875 composition, set in Spain and sung in French, about a wildly free-spirited woman whose fickle and domineering […]
Review: Handel, Hadyn, a Little Mozart Propel Music of the Baroque’s London Calling Concert
Music of the Baroque’s enjoyable London Calling concert was performed at the Harris Theater on February 27 after opening the previous night at Skokie’s North Shore Center for Performing Arts. […]
Review: Improv Adds Zing to Music of the Baroque’s Mozart Birthday Concert
Each January, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque orchestra celebrates Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was born on January 27, 1756. This “birthday” concert is reliably excellent, as the ensemble has gained […]
Review: Christmas Concert Puts Fresh Bloom on Music of the Baroque Chorus and New Director
Music of the Baroque‘s Holiday Brass & Chorale Concert, staged over four days in four Chicago-area churches, is the biggest annual star turn for the ensemble’s chorus. And the performance […]
Review: Itzhak Perlman and Klezmer Fill Symphony Center with Tradition and Joy
Bands playing klezmer, the distinctly Jewish and mostly joyous music genre, get to play on many stages. Add Itzhak Perlman—one of the great concert violinists of our era—and you get […]
Review: Two Winners in the Nutcracker Ballet Relay
My interest in classical music was weaned on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker ballet. So I leapt at the opportunity to do a Nutcracker relay last Saturday: the matinee opening […]
Review: Gender Bends in Midsommer Flight’s Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a mistaken-identity rom-com designed as a frolic to entertain at the end of the holiday season (there is nothing about Christmas in this play itself). […]
Review: Countertenor Mobley Hits the High Notes as Music of the Baroque Guest Soloist
Reginald Mobley is a world-renowned countertenor. If you did not know this in advance, you might be surprised when he begins to sing in crystalline high notes, in a range […]
Review: Rousing Chicago Reunion for Irish Trad Legend Altan
Chicago played a crucial role in the survival of traditional Irish music. Our city in the 19th and early 20th centuries became home to a huge influx of Irish immigrants […]
Review: Beausoleil’s Cajun Charms Prevail Despite a Trimmed Lineup
Beausoleil has been the premier Cajun music recording and touring band for 45 years, and I have seen them so many times I’ve lost count. Every one of their past […]
Review: Chicago Philharmonic Season Opener Swings into Diversity
The decision by Chicago Philharmonic to open its 2022-23 concert season Thursday with a program focused on diversity was well within character for the orchestra. Diversity had long been a […]