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Like John Adams’ ‘Chairman,’ the CSO dances (and Stravinsky’s fiery Violin Concerto sizzles)

Dec 21, 2019 – 11:31 am
feature image John Adams Chairman Dances

Review: With the bubbling impertinence of John Adams’ foxtrot for orchestra, “The Chairman Dances,” the air turned absolutely electric in the holiday crowd at Orchestra Hall, which was stacked with a younger than usual audience mix on Dec. 19 for a fabulous throwback concert that offered some mid-20th century moments to remember. Rarely has the first half of any concert delivered a more exhilarating blast.

Renée Fleming brings glowing voice to a mom shielding her daughter in ‘Light in the Piazza’

Dec 17, 2019 – 4:07 pm
Solea Pfeiffer, Renée Fleming 'The Light in the Piazza' Lyric Opera House (Liz Lauren) feature img

Review: A familiar face and voice in many roles at the Lyric Opera of Chicago over the years, the legendary soprano combines warm singing and strong acting in her role as an American mother on holiday in Florence with a daughter who’s ready for love but is more fragile than she knows. The new production of this 2005 Tony Award winner started out in London and moves on to Sydney, Australia in the New Year. ★★★

‘Oedipus Rex’ at Court: The eternal conflict of fate versus free will, held up to drama’s glass

Dec 5, 2019 – 10:04 am
Kelvin Roston, Jr. Court Theatre Oedipus (Michael Brosilow)

Review: As we sit in Hyde Park’s Court Theatre arena, where Sophocles’ ancient drama “Oedipus Rex” unfolds, the audience becomes part of an urgent thriller. Actors prowl the aisles, murmuring that our city Thebes is sinking under “waves of death.” The explanation for this plague and pestilence? Unknown. The king accepts his citizens’ desperate plea to figure out what’s going on, but as he looks into it, he finds evidence pointing to himself. ★★★★

Haymarket snares a fire-breathing send-up of Handel in naughty (and smart) Baroque farce

Nov 1, 2019 – 11:39 am
Dragon of Wantley David Govertsen ATCPhoto - HOC-9

Review: John Frederick Lampe’s opera “The Dragon of Wantley” is a double send-up, which makes it ancient kin to Broadway’s “Spamalot.” The 1737 comic opera was based on a rustic Yorkshire legend about a dragon that devours children “as one would eat an apple,” and the monster’s slaying by a Falstaffian braggart and boozer who gets lucky with a sword. But “The Dragon of Wantley” is also a deadpan musical spoof of Handel, who was huge in London opera at the time. The droll burlesque bubbled out of the pit in a superb revival by Chicago’s vest-pocket Haymarket Opera Company. ★★★★

With a recital beyond ambitious, series opens celebrating Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas

Oct 16, 2019 – 11:27 am
Kirill Gerstein Marco Borggreve

Review: Hard to know if it was in the spirit of the Chicago Marathon or what, but the Russian-American pianist Kirill Gerstein opened the Chicago Symphony Center’s nine-part season-long Beethoven 250 celebration of the composer’s 32 piano sonatas with a recital Oct. 13 that definitely went the extra mile. Having delivered a fresh, rhythmically electric and often playful account of five relatively early Beethoven sonatas, Gerstein unleashed – as an encore, no less – Beethoven’s formidable “Eroica” Variations.

It’s two years until he takes Lyric Opera reins, but Enrique Mazzola already feels like family

Oct 11, 2019 – 3:15 pm
Enrique Mazzola Jean-Baptiste Millot feature image

Interview: The year 2019 has been for Enrique Mazzola an intense and rewarding breakthrough year he’ll remember for the rest of his life. Named music director designate at Lyric Opera of Chicago, effective with the 2021-22 season, Mazzola talks about learning the ropes in Berlin, Sazburg, New York and Paris and his desire to bring all that experience “energetically to the Lyric,” which he envisions as “a big music home for everybody.”

Rising conductor shows his mettle with CSO in Shostakovich symphony, concerto premiere

Oct 6, 2019 – 10:49 pm
10/3/19 8:33:24 PM -- Chicago, IL USA
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
James Gaffigan conductor
Cynthia Yeh percussion

Dorman Eternal Rhythm [United States Premiere]
Shostakovich Symphony No. 8


© Todd Rosenberg Photography 2019

Review: James Gaffigan, winner 15 years ago of the Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition at age 25, is checking off debuts with the world’s major orchestras and opera companies with work that is typically vibrant and rhythmically vigorous. As the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first guest conductor this season, Gaffigan displayed his musical authority in two substantial and challenging works – Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8 and the U.S. premiere of Avner Dorman’s “Eternal Rhythm,” a percussion concerto with CSO principal Cynthia Yeh as soloist.

CSO percussionist needs fast hands, and feet, to cover the challenge of a wild new concerto

Oct 2, 2019 – 2:47 pm
6/18/18 5:31:36 PM

Cynthia Yeh Photography in Studio

Hair by Alex Brown
Makeup by Stephanie Jeong

© Todd Rosenberg Photography 2018

Interview: If there is anyone in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra whose onstage attire should include a pair of sneakers, it is principal percussionist Cynthia Yeh, who will be at the center of attention for three concerts Oct. 3-5 as the soloist in the widely anticipated U.S. premiere of Avner Dorman’s free-wheeling concerto “Eternal Rhythm.”

‘Barber of Seville’ at Lyric Opera: Girl power prevails amid vocal fireworks, lots of laughs

Sep 30, 2019 – 6:43 pm
9/25/19 2:03:44 PM -- Chicago, IL USA
Lyric Opera of Chicago
The Barber of Seville Dress Rehearsal
Rossini 
Sir Andrew Davis conductor

© Todd Rosenberg Photography 2019

Review: In love and determined to get her way, an awesome spitfire turns to Figaro, the barber, for assistance in Rossini’s gleefully funny opera buffa, “The Barber of Seville.” It’s now playing at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in a Broadway style production, with sun-drenched Moorish touches, roving set pieces on wheels, and a motley crew of singing comedians. ★★★★

Muti, poised to lead CSO in Beethoven cycle, hears symphonies as nine cosmic questions

Sep 25, 2019 – 5:08 pm
Riccardo Muti on Beethoven feature image

Interview: Fresh from Italy’s Ravenna Festival, where he conducts and teaches every summer, Riccardo Muti, music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, is plunging into a season-long cycle through Beethoven’s symphonies in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 1770. “It will be a document of my admiration and love for the Chicago Symphony,” Muti says. The venture begins with the First and Third Symphonies in concerts Sept. 26-28 at Orchestra Hall.

Muti and CSO open with calm Mendelssohn, suppressed cry of pain from Shostakovich

Sep 21, 2019 – 2:19 pm
9/19/19 8:13:20 PM -- Chicago, IL USA
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, Conductor
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano

Mendelssohn Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Overture
Grieg Piano Concerto
Scriabin Rêverie
Shostakovich Symphony No. 6

© Todd Rosenberg Photography 2019

Review: Riccardo Muti launched the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s new season with a fresh revival of Shostakovich’s dark Stalin-era Sixth Symphony, which seemed relevant and contemporary under his command. Then Grieg’s Piano Concerto sparkled anew with Leif Ove Andsnes’ light keyboard touch.

Even as Muti cast his light on Verdi’s ‘Aida,’ unplanned drama ruled over the CSO stage

Jun 26, 2019 – 10:34 am
6/21/19 7:52:10 PM -- Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti conductor
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe chorus director
Krassimira Stoyanova soprano (Aida)
Anita Rachvelishvili mezzo-soprano (Amneris)
Francesco Meli tenor (Radamès)
Kiril Manolov baritone (Amonasro)
Ildar Abdrazakov bass (Ramfis)
Eric Owens bass-baritone (The King)
Issachah Savage tenor (Messenger)
Kimberly Gunderson soprano (The Priestess)
Tasha Koontz soprano (The Priestess)


© Todd Rosenberg Photography 2019

Review: The soprano in the title role of Verdi’s “Aida” struggled with illness, only to be replaced in the second of three performances by a young singer who jumped in without rehearsal. And still the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus led by Riccardo Muti scored a general triumph in their season finale – thanks in no small part to mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili’s brilliant singing as Amneris.

‘Killing Game’ at Red Orchid: They’re dropping like flies in a wacky plague on all their houses

May 15, 2019 – 4:40 pm
Ionesco Killling Game feature image

Review: Eugène Ionesco’s “Killing Game” won’t solve life’s Big Riddle – why we’re here at all – for you. But this imaginative production directed by Dado will provide you with acidly brilliant company at A Red Orchid Theatre, where 13 skilled actors play many, many roles – because otherwise their parts would have been exceedingly brief. The citizens are dropping dead in dizzying succession, and in often ridiculous fashion, of an unknown cause. ★★★★

‘Moby-Dick’ at Chicago Opera Theater: Condensing the scope, cranking up the power

Apr 29, 2019 – 4:24 pm
Moby-Dick Press feature image Selects Michael Brosilow 15

Review: When Jake Heggies’ opera “Moby-Dick” had its world premiere in Dallas in 2010, everything about it was gargantuan and cutting edge technically, with enormous set pieces, elements flying in and out, lighting sufficient to evoke boat-swallowing storms at sea, and whale-size computer graphics. But a new and nifty mid-size design concept, seen at Chicago Opera Theater at the Harris atop Millennium Park, was just as thrilling, even more intense, as it zoomed in on the swirling human action and lurking danger in the vast surround. ★★★★

CSO strike ends with 5-year contract accord; musicians accept phased change in pensions

Apr 27, 2019 – 10:54 am
Feature image Steve Lester 4.24.2019 IMG_2712

Report: The striking musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra voted April 27 to approve a new five-year contract that compromises on pensions and projects wage increases totaling 13.25 percent. The agreement was reached April 26, the day Mayor Rahm Emanuel stepped into a contentious dispute between the musicians and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association that had led to the strike March 11. Under the new agreement, the pension plan will be frozen after the 2022-23 season and transition thereafter to a model that shifts the future investment burden to the musicians themselves. Unanimous approval by the musicians came hours before the Association board of trustees also voted to approve the contract.

Chicago Symphony throw-down is private: musicians and trustees only; all others beat it

Apr 14, 2019 – 9:13 pm
Strike Commentary feature 1

Commentary: The strike by musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, now entering its second month, has brought into focus some realities about high-level orchestras in our time, the nature of work stoppages such as this one and the framework of negotiations between musicians and management. Perhaps the first point to be made is the inappropriateness of outsiders to presume to judge how an impasse in negotiations should be resolved.

Chicago Symphony contract talks to resume; events canceled by strike extended to April 9

Mar 27, 2019 – 10:22 pm
IMG_2531r fMarch 22 2019 (NMalitz)

April 3 Update: The musicians of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra had expected to play Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony on March 26 at Orchestra Hall. Instead, with the Chicago Symphony on strike, the visiting musicians took to the streets — one could almost say the barricades — in solidarity with their Chicago colleagues. Brass players from the two orchestras played briefly on the sidewalk in front of Orchestra Hall amid signs proclaiming their unity.

Lyric Opera’s small-scaled ‘American Dream’ reflects supersized bid to stretch the art form

Mar 24, 2019 – 6:36 pm
3/14/19 11:10:42 AM -- Lyric Opera Chicago
Lyric Unlimited
AN AMERICAN DREAM
Music by Jack Perla
Libretto by Jessica Murphy Moo

So Young Park, Setsuko Kobayashi
Ao Li, Makoto Kobayashi
Nina Yoshida Nelsen, Hiroko Kobayashi
Christopher Magiera, Jim Crowley
Catherine Martin, Eva Crowley

Matthew Ozawa Director


© Todd Rosenberg Photography 2019

Commentary: The pool of grand opera subscribers  may be slowly shrinking nationally, but one can’t help feeling optimistic about Lyric Opera of Chicago’s long-term prospects as the company continues to refine and redefine itself. The Opera’s nimble branch – Lyric Unlimited – attracted two crowds of 1,100 each to the Harris Theater on March 15 and 17 for its latest chamber opera presentation, “An American Dream.” A loudly enthusiastic audience was the latest evidence of the hard work that Lyric has put into its own expanded vision.

Striking CSO musicians to give free concerts; Barenboim, Pelosi send messages of support

Mar 11, 2019 – 8:50 pm
Feature 1

Updated March 20: The striking musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will give two free performances they have dubbed “From the Heart of the Orchestra – Free Concerts for Chicago.” The two programs, announced as the first events in a projected series of free presentations, will feature a small ensemble playing chamber music March 22 and the full orchestra in works by Beethoven and Mozart on March 25. The musicians also made public letters of support from former CSO music director Daniel Barenboim and Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. 

In remembrance of Italian massacre in WWII, Muti and CSO turn to an American’s lament

Feb 24, 2019 – 11:51 am
Roma-fosseardeatine feature image (Wiki)

Review: The Ninth Symphony of American composer William Schuman, which Chicago Symphony music director Riccardo Muti conducted for the first time, commemorates a painful moment in modern Italian history – the systematic murder of 335 Italian civilians, with one shot each to the back of the head, by German soldiers in the last weeks of World War II.

In Chicago visit, Royal Concertgebouw unfurls colors, legacy in a grand tour of ‘Heldenleben’

Feb 14, 2019 – 1:50 pm
Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest staatsieportret

Review: One of the world’s preeminent orchestras, the Amsterdam-based Concertgebouw is accustomed to touring, tallying 40 concerts away from home each year. But the brief U.S. tour included Chicago among only four cities treated to its renowned specialities. Richard Strauss’ highly personal 1897 fantasy for enormous orchestral forces “Ein Heldenleben” (A Hero’s Life) exploded with sound reverberating from the depths, gloried in woodwind sparkle and boasted the awesome grandeur of the Concertgebouw’s brass and battery.

In CSO’s new season, Muti and galaxy of stars offer a prodigious tribute to Beethoven at 250

Jan 29, 2019 – 11:55 pm
1/26/12 8:30:51 PM -- Chicago Symphony Orchestra Riccardo Muti Music Director. Schubert  Symphony No. 3 in D Major  . © Todd Rosenberg Photography 2012

Report: A monumental tribute to the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth highlights the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2019-20 season, its 10th under the stewardship of music director Riccardo Muti. In a season-long Beethoven immersion, Muti will conduct all nine symphonies and six different pianists will make their way collectively through the 32 sonatas. Muti will also preside over four world and U.S. premieres.

Lyric announces plans to crown ‘Ring’ cycle, begin Verdi series and tap into ‘42nd Street’

Jan 24, 2019 – 6:53 pm
Götterdämmerung_feature image (LyricOperachicago)

Preview: The consummation of a four-year project to produce Wagner’s “Ring” cycle and the beginning of a “five- or six-year” exploration of early Verdi highlight plans for the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2019-20 season, which also marks the 20th anniversary of Andrew Davis’ tenure as music director. After annual creations of Wagner’s “Das Rheingold,” “Die Walküre” and “Siegfried,” the Lyric will cap the “Ring” cycle with “Götterdämmerung” in April 2020, then pull the whole enterprise together with three turns through the complete tetralogy.

‘Il trovatore’ at the Lyric Opera of Chicago: Vital foursome re-energizes a Verdi classic

Nov 21, 2018 – 2:28 pm
Il trovatore feature image (Lyric Opera of Chicago)

Review: When people talk about high-energy spectacle and romantic intensity in Italian opera, “Il Trovatore” is the classic Exhibit A. An instant hit when it opened in Rome, it’s still a winner. Lyric’s three-way production with the San Francisco Opera and the Met is a concept that remains dynamic and fresh, from the flash and wham of gypsy smithies hammering away at their swords in the extravagant Anvil Chorus, to the tragic love triangle that complicates a civil war unfolding. ★★★★

In jewel-box setting, Chicago Opera Theater polishes rare Tchaikovsky treasure ‘Iolanta’

Nov 16, 2018 – 5:35 pm
COT 'Iolanta' 14 feature image Michael Brosilow

Review: It’s not often that you can pull a forgotten gem out of the trunk, showcase it in a tasteful setting, and reveal it for the magnificently neglected thing that it is. Chicago Opera Theater has succeeded in doing us that favor with Tchaikovsky’s dreamy, naturalistic 1892 opera “Iolanta” – the composer’s last – performed by able forces at the Studebaker, a lovingly refurbished 740-seat jewel-box on Michigan Avenue that also dates from that same last decade of the 19th century. ★★★

Maestro, father, grandfather: Muti dedicates CSO’s Verdi Requiem to massacre victims

Nov 10, 2018 – 2:00 pm
CSO181108_192 Feature image (Todd Rosenberg)

Review: In the aftermath of a California gunman’s rampage, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus delivered heart-stirring performance, resplendent with awe and penitence, delicately threaded with human doubt, and led by the world’s finest living interpreter of this work.

‘Siegfried’ at Lyric Opera: Amid witty optics, short-pants hero meets gravitas of Eric Owens

Nov 6, 2018 – 2:14 pm
Siegfried Lyric Chicago 2018 (Todd Rosenberg)

Review: The first sign of the enemy in “Siegfried” was a shiny-red three-toed claw, beckoning from under Lyric Opera curtain, as if to say, “I’m Fafner the Dragon, and I’m ready to rumble.” The crowd rippled with mirth and stayed on top of the details in Wagner’s lively saga about the great god Wotan, played by bass-baritone Eric Owens, and the brash young Siegfried, whose help is needed if Wotan’s plan to save the gods has half a chance. ★★★

Strike settled, Lyric Opera set to raise curtain on Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo’ and Part 3 of ‘Ring’

Oct 15, 2018 – 4:20 pm
Feature 1

Report: After the brief, harrowing intermission of a strike by its orchestra, the Lyric Opera of Chicago is back in business. Members of the Chicago Federation of Musicians ratified a new contract Oct. 14, ending a five-day walkout and clearing the way for the Lyric to declare Oct. 18 as the deferred opening night of Mozart’s “Idomeneo.” The Lyric Opera House actually re-opens its doors Oct. 17 with a performance of Puccini’s “La bohème,” which launched the current season.

Lyric Opera, striking orchestra reach accord, ending walkout; musicians ratify agreement

Oct 13, 2018 – 7:36 pm
sub feature

Update: Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Federation of Musicians Local #10-208 (CFM) have reached a multi-year labor agreement extending through the 2020/21 season. On Oct. 14, the Chicago Federation of Musicians voted to ratify the tentative agreement reached one day earlier. No further details or comments were available. The musicians went on strike Oct. 9 in response to cuts in compensation and work weeks sought by management.

In single soft flourish of Rossini ‘Stabat Mater,’ Muti effect tells in Chicago Symphony, Chorus

Jun 27, 2018 – 3:27 pm
Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus undertake Rossini's "Stabat Mater" with soprano Krassimira Stoyanova, mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, tenor Dmitry Korchak and bass-baritone Eric Owens. (© Todd Rosenberg)

Review: If there was a moment during the season-ending concert that summed up the singular achievement of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under the long-term influence of Riccardo Muti, it came near the end of Rossini’s “Stabat Mater,” a Catholic hymn to Mary that pulls the listeners into the mother’s grief at the foot of the cross and offers transcendence. The three-line prayer “Quando corpus morietur” (“When my body dies, let me live in Paradise, too”) is so very human and humble that the listener might not notice how treacherous it is to sing. The Chicago Symphony Chorus imbued it with a powerful emotion that filled the hall, yet with sound so soft it barely hung on a thread.