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 […]
Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood has a new performance space, and a four-day chamber music festival will take place there this weekend. Described as “a sleek, minimalist space offer[ing] luscious acoustics […]
The Aznavoorian Duo gave a marvelous performance at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston on Sunday afternoon. The concert was a celebration of their excellent new […]
Chicago-based composer Augusta Read Thomas has issued a new release comprised of several recent compositions. Bell Illuminations has a wide variety of ensemble configurations and illustrates the breadth of her […]
No musical techniques benefit more from visual performance than percussion. The number of ways that percussionists can produce sounds is limited only by the number of objects humans and nature […]
It is always a good sign to find myself perspiring in the middle of a performance in a venue with a working air conditioner. This is exactly what happened during […]
Music of the Baroque finished their 2021-22 season at Harris Theater on Monday with The Brothers Haydn, a program centered on Joseph Haydn and his younger brother Michael. The older […]
Chicago’s classical music label Cedille Records has continued to release compelling CDs highlighting our city’s deep musical talent, both performers and composers. Two recent Cedille releases include compositions inspired by […]
Russian-born American cellist Ian Maksin will be joining Ukrainian pianist and vocalist Sofi Fraser and other friends in Cello for Peace, a concert to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. In […]
The 49th annual Bach Week Festival will feature a series of concerts running three weeks in Chicago and Evanston starting this Sunday, April 24. Last year’s festival was my first […]
It’s always a great sign when I exit a concert mumbling “wonderful,” but that’s what I was saying Wednesday night after cellist Oliver Herbert and Pianist Xiaohui Yang finished their […]
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 […]