Commentary: The emergent paradigm of inclusion, this new arts-wide acknowledgement of stage and concert hall as Everyperson’s forum and welcoming agora for all who wish to assemble there, was on manifest display in recent Chicago Symphony performances at Orchestra Hall. The repertoire showcased its fresh profile in brave new works or just unusual music by a broad range of composers, served up by a wide spectrum of artists. It was a mix highlighted by the CSO subscription debut March 23-26 of an elegant veteran, the African American conductor Thomas Wilkins.
Read the full story »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.
Protecting the old neighborhood, but redefining the threat
“Clybourne Park” at Steppenwolf. Bias on the block. 5 stars!
Worth A Visit
Recent Posts
- As arts groups aim at winning audience back, CSO hits the target in back-to-back programs
- ‘Carmen’ at Lyric Opera: Love and death in old Seville, ups and downs in a muddled retelling
- As meteoric young conductor returns to CSO, young listeners roar promise at Orchestra Hall
- Chicago Symphony to open Carnegie season
as Riccardo Muti era closes with long goodbye - In dazzling debuts with Chicago Symphony, conductor and pianist renew Russian masters
Most Commented
- Role Playing: Janet Ulrich Brooks on nailing the style of a wily Russian in 'A Walk in the Woods'
- Role Playing: City boy Michael Stegall ropes wild cowboy in Raven Theatre’s ‘Bus Stop’
- Role Playing: Sadieh Rifai zips among seven characters in one-woman ‘Amish Project’
- Role Playing: Kirsten Fitzgerald inhabits sorrow, surfs the laughs in ‘Clybourne Park’
- Role Playing: Brent Barrett’s glad he joined ‘Follies’ as that womanizing, empty cad Ben