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Bob Benenson

ARTICLES: 95
Classical, Dance, Reviews

Review: Patrick Dupre Quigley Entertains at Music of the Baroque’s Baroque Heroes Concert

An entertaining evening is virtually guaranteed whenever Patrick Dupre Quigley visits Chicago to conduct the Music of the Baroque orchestra. This was again the case this week when he was […]

Bob Benenson /
Classical, Reviews

Review: Music of the Baroque Opens Season With a Highly Polished Hidden Gem by Handel

The best-known of George Frideric Handel’s compositions—his Messiah oratorio and his Water Music suites, for example—are recognized by millions beyond the niche of classical music aficionados. But Handel wrote hundreds […]

Bob Benenson /
Music, Reviews, Venues

Review: Now Stars, Brandi Carlile and Her Band Renew Their Chicago Bonds

When Brandi Carlile and her band last played Chicago in June 2019, they were riding a breakthrough high. Carlile and twin bandmates Phil and Tim Hanseroth had spent nearly two […]

Bob Benenson /
Classical, Music, Venues

Review: Grant Park Chorus Turns 60 in Full Voice

“The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but it is the most difficult to play,” said the late Austrian composer Richard Strauss. And the beauty of classical […]

Bob Benenson /
Uncategorized

Review: A Night of Heroes at the Grant Park Music Festival

Eroica, meaning heroic in Italian, is the name Ludwig van Beethoven gave to his 3rd Symphony. That famed work was the featured piece at the Grant Park Music Festival this […]

Bob Benenson /
Uncategorized

Review: A Mostly Enchanting Evening at Grant Park’s Broadway Revue

The Grant Park Music Festival‘s annual revue of Broadway show tunes is always a crowd pleaser. But this year’s version, titled Lights on Broadway on Friday and Saturday, was a […]

Bob Benenson /
Classical, Music

Review: Stirring Vocals and Rhetorical Fireworks at Grant Park Celebration

One of the principles we celebrate on Independence Day is freedom of speech. And some of the principals participating in the Grant Park Music Festival‘s Independence Day Salute Saturday exercised […]

Bob Benenson /
Classical, Music

Review: New Conductor, Different Program, No Problem for Grant Park Orchestra 

For the second time in a week, a Chicago orchestra’s conductor was suddenly sidelined due to a positive COVID-19 test just hours before a concert. Last Thursday, this happened to […]

Bob Benenson /
Music

Review: Chicago Philharmonic’s Aretha Rising Paid (and Played) Respect  

Chicago Philharmonic focused most of its 2021-22 season on great composers—such as Mozart, Copland, Brahms, Dvorak and Respighi—featured by most classical ensembles.   But more than most orchestras, Chicago Philharmonic […]

Bob Benenson /
Classical, Reviews

Review: Music of the Baroque’s Easter Oratorio Program Shines with a Few Bumps

The Music of the Baroque concert this week at the Harris Theater, with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Easter Oratorio as its featured piece, was excellent—I’ve never seen the ensemble give a […]

Bob Benenson /
Stages, Theater

Review: Hamilton Star Goldsberry Doesn’t Throw Away Her Shot at Auditorium Theatre Concert

Renée Elise Goldsberry is a charismatic entertainer with a big musical theater voice, and she was well-received as she sang her way through a variety of musical genres at the […]

Bob Benenson /
Classical, Music, Reviews

Review: Soprano Soloist Lets Her Coloratura Burst at Music of the Baroque

Watching the audience’s effusive response to soprano Amanda Forsythe’s blazing coloratura at the end of Music of the Baroque’s Classical Heroines concert Monday at Chicago’s Harris Theater, it is easy […]

Bob Benenson /