A lover of music his whole life, Louis Harris has written extensively from the early days of punk and alternative rock. More recently he has focused on classical music, especially chamber ensembles. He has reviewed concerts, festivals, and recordings and has interviewed composers and performers. He has paid special attention to Chicago’s rich and robust contemporary art music scene. He occasionally writes poetry and has a published novel to his credit, 32 Variations on a Theme by Basil II in the Key of Washington, DC. He now lives on the north side of Chicago, which he considers to be the greatest city in the country, if not the world. Member of the Music Critics Association of North America.
On Thursday and Friday evenings, the Boromeo Quartet brought to Guarneri Hall an innovative performance of the music that, in my humble opinion, is the greatest ever written: the late […]
For the second year in a row, Music of the Baroque was blessed with wonderful weather as the orchestra and chorus, led by Dame Jane Glover, cruised down the Chicago […]
This weekend, Chicago’s north side will welcome a new performance space intended for contemporary classical chamber music. Formed by Access Contemporary Music, The CheckOut is turning a long-vacant 7-Eleven into […]
The American Chamber Music Society introduced its second season with a radiant concert at PianoForte Studio in the South Loop on Saturday night. Headed by Chicago-based violinist Eric Gratz, ACMS […]
The Grant Park orchestra played an excellent concert at Jay Pritzker Pavillion on Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, the ambient noises were worse than ever, with several sirens blaring, motorcycles screaming, and […]
With violin extraordinaire Joshua Bell headlining, the Grant Park Orchestra gave an outstanding performance at Jay Pritzker Pavillion on Wednesday evening. Giancarlo Guerrero conducted a program of works by 19th […]
It was a dark and stormy night. … Well, it seemed like it was going to be, but the Grant Park Orchestra managed to perform its regularly scheduled concert at […]
With Marin Alsop conducting, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra continued its summer residency at Ravinia late Sunday afternoon with a passionate performance of two classical chestnuts, Felix Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony, No. […]
With Marin Alsop at the helm, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus gave a huge performance of a gargantuan symphony in the Pavilion at Ravinia on Friday night. The chorus […]
The Grant Park Orchestra gave another lovely concert on another lovely evening at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park on Wednesday. This time, however, it was led by Osmo […]
In a day-long festival of new music, Grammy Award winner Third Coast Percussion celebrated 20 years of making magical music in Chicago. In hosting Rhythm Fest, this percussion quartet of […]
“Oh, the joy to being bathed in beautiful music,” I wrote while listening to Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major in the Martin Theatre at Ravinia on Wednesday. At many […]