Articles in Classical + Opera
Chicago Symphony MusicNOW opens season with ping-pong balls and rhythms a-tumble
Review: MusicNOW, the contemporary series of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, began its 2011-12 season alive with the music of ping-pong balls, marimba, country fiddle and eerie vocals. Composers converged from Dublin, Connecticut, Minnesota and London to hear their works performed.
What’s under that skirt? Chicago Lyric Opera’s coloratura Anna Christy kicks Olympia into top gear
Lyric Opera close-up: We had to know. How is it that soprano Anna Christy is able to zip around like a hovercraft while pinging those sparkling high notes as Olympia, the mechanical doll, in “The Tales of Hoffmann”?
Finnish conductor answers every question in CSO debut
Susanna Mälkki, the 42-year-old music director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris, made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Oct. 13 with a program of Charles Ives and Richard Strauss that, in every way, placed her among the most important conductors of her generation.
Riccardo Muti receives Birgit Nilsson Prize of $1M
Video: In acceptance speech, he stresses social commitment thru music.
With new honors falling like autumn leaves, Riccardo Muti reflects on the conductor’s art
In Part 2 of an interview with Chicago On the Aisle, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s music director extols Italian training, calls Toscanini his hero and admits impatience with routine effort – and prima donnas.
Lyric Opera’s ‘Lucia’: New production casts a shimmering light on tale of love and madness
Donizetti’s bel canto dazzler. 5 stars!
From ‘naughty’ composer, young Baroque troupe gets a nice boost
It’s the phone call all struggling musicians hope for — the announcement of a competition prize complete with recording contract. For Wayward Sisters, a Baroque ensemble specializing in 17th-century music, the news lit up lines in Chicago and three other locales where its four members reside.
Riccardo Muti unearths gem in Mahler tribute
Mahler conducted the world premiere of Busoni’s “Berceuse élégiaque” at the last public performance of his life, with the New York Philharmonic in 1911. At the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s re-creation of the event, the nine incredible minutes of the “Berceuse” alone are sufficient reason to attend.
Sidestepping Mahler, Muti points toward Bruckner and plans that will stretch the CSO
In an exclusive interview with Chicago On the Aisle, Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti explains his limited enthusiasm for Mahler and reflects on a lifelong struggle with the immensity of Beethoven.
A portrait of Mahler as maker of worlds and emblem of ours
Fischer’s landmark bio of the great symphonist is now in English. 4 stars!
Lyric love and fractured hearts in the mirror of Offenbach’s time
Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffmann” opens Lyric Opera of Chicago season. 4 stars!
CSO marks Liszt bicentenary with an epic and a romp
Celebrating the bicentenary of Liszt’s birth, music director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra forged a sublime performance of Liszt’s epic “Faust Symphony.”
Light the lights! Lyric Opera stirs a musical into the mix
Eight operas for 2011-12 include new productions of “Showboat,”Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” and Handel’s “Rinaldo.” The new season opens Saturday night with Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann.”
Our hit list for the Chicago Symphony’s 2011-12 season
It’s tough to choose amid the bounty and variety that music director Riccardo Muti and guest conductors will offer in the coming months, but we’ve assembled an alluring 12-pack. The envelope, please… …
CD reissues point up Riccardo Muti’s early mastery
Complete Beethoven and Tchaikovsky symphonies are among the many major works in recordings from the 1970s and ‘80s by the CSO’s conductor with the Philadelphia and Philharmonia Orchestras.
From a long life in the opera world, Muti brings Chicago Symphony gifts of drama and poetry
The distinctive qualities of Riccardo Muti’s genius as a conductor, above all a lyrical sensibility cultivated through decades in the opera house, will shape his tenure as music director of the Chicago Symphony.
CD review: Beethoven sonatas, with polish and affection
Ingrid Fliter’s fresh take on three favorite masterpieces. 4 stars!
As the Lyric Opera’s poster girl, Fleming proves pitch-perfect
In a chat with high school singers picked for a new Lyric collaboration with the Merit School of Music, the soprano diva Renée Fleming admits she struck out twice competing in the Met auditions — and taking her driver’s exam.
