Review: Evren Ozel Wows with Refined Restraint
In listening to Evren Ozel’s excellent piano recital Wednesday afternoon, two words came to mind over and over: refined restraint. That is how this young artist approached each of the […]
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 […]
Review: An Evening of Amazonian Beauty with Third Coast Percussion
Philip Glass is considered one of the greatest living composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. His spare and layered compositions can be interpreted in many ways other than as […]
Review: Grant Park Festival Closes with a Great Performance of Haydn’s The Creation
There are few pieces of music that satisfy me more thoroughly than Franz Josef Haydn’s oratorio, The Creation. Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus performed it for a rousing sendoff to […]
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 […]
Preview: Music Institute of Chicago to Host 34th Duo Piano Festival
The 34th installment of the Music Institute of Chicago’s Duo Piano Festival will take place in person at Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston. Starting this Friday evening, July 8, and […]
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 […]
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 […]
Review: Anne-Sophie Mutter and Lina González-Granados Exhibit Brilliance With the CSO
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra succeeded in a tall order on Thursday night: turning a major work that has often left me wanting into a thing of abject beauty. To accomplish […]
Review: Kontras Quartet’s Premier of Amy Wurtz’ Third String Quartet Is Worth the COVID-19 Wait
The Chicago-based Kontras Quartet performed several string quartets by American composers at Roosevelt University’s Ganz Hall yesterday. Hosted by the American Music Project, the program included works by five contemporary […]
Review: Grossman Ensemble Gives a Dull Performance
One of the leading incubators of new music in Chicago is housed at the Chicago Center of Contemporary Composition at the University of Chicago in Hyde Park. The 13-member Grossman […]
Review: The CSO Under the Baton of Karina Canellakis Delivers the Goods
What kind of concert starts with an 11-minute introductory piece that ends up getting two ovations? A Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert that opens with Brio by Chicago-based composer Augusta Read […]