Review: In a concert that turned out to be a memorial to the eminent conductor Bernard Haitink (1929-2021), who was long and closely associated with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon led Shostakovich’s somber Chamber Symphony, an arrangement of his Eighth String Quartet. The effect was wrenchingly beautiful, the experience cathartic, a fitting remembrance of Haitink, who had led his CSO colleagues at Orchestra Hall, at Ravinia, and throughout Europe and Asia on tour.
Read the full story »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.
Sondheim’s ‘Follies’ at CST: Broadway glitz and glamour, with all the endearing bruises
At Chi. Shakespeare Theater. 5 stars!
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.
After slaughter and heartbreak, radiant grace
Jessica Dickey’s “The Amish Project,” echoes of a massacre at ATC. 5 stars!
CD review: Back-country music, toned up with Kodaly
This off-beat CD takes the Russian-born violin virtuoso Viktoria Mullova back to her ancestral roots in the Ukrainian outback, in the traditional music of gypsies and other rural folk. 3 stars
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.
Chicago’s fast burn is a dramatic flame-out
John Musial’s “The Great Fire” flames up at Lookingglass. 2 stars
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!
TimeLine gets Theatre Wing grant as one of nation’s Top 10 emerging companies
Company to get check for $10,000.
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.”
Images of Rothko, on canvas and in the mind
“Red” paints a master-apprentice face-off at the Goodman. 5 stars!
John Malkovich stalks sopranos who suffer in song
John Malkovich plays a modern-day Jack the Ripper who has come back from death to make a charmingly creepy case for himself in “The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer.”
Role Playing: Janet Ulrich Brooks on nailing the style of a wily Russian in ‘A Walk in the Woods’
Portraying an experienced arms negotiator during the 1980s missile crisis for TimeLine, Brooks manages to be sly, funny and serious — in precisely accented English she learned from an interview with a Russian opera star.
In Lisztian fireworks, pianist’s future looks sky-high
In her Liszt debut CD, Khatia Buniatishvili reveals the heart of an old-school romantic virtuoso. Though she’s still little known in the U.S., the 24-year-old Georgian’s schedule is packed with European concert dates.
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.”
CST will stage remixed ‘Othello’ in London at Cultural Olympiad
“Funk It Up About Nothin'” team creates work for pre-Olympics festival.
Amid flounces and bustles, good vibes bring rosy cheeks
High-voltage effects “In the Next Room” at Victory Gardens. 4 stars
Art, and artists, mined from an unsuspected vein
“The Pitmen Painters” at TimeLine is a charming mine of creativity. 4 stars!
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.
Love, reality and other disquieting intrusions
In “The Real Thing” at Writers’ Theatre, love’s a moving target. 5 stars!
CD review: Beethoven sonatas, with polish and affection
Ingrid Fliter’s fresh take on three favorite masterpieces. 4 stars!
A journey into the daunting forest of arms diplomacy
“A Walk in the Woods” at TimeLine.
Cold War contretemps. 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.
Worth A Visit
Recent Posts
- James Conlon, remembering Bernard Haitink, leads CSO concert of solemnity and brilliance
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- Verdi opera, Beethoven 9th top Muti’s agenda as CSO unveils plan for season’s second half
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- Lyric spirits meet at last: Riccardo Muti leads CSO in poetic turn through music by Mazzoli
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