A lover of music his whole life, Louis Harris has written extensively from the early days of punk and alternative rock. More recently he has focused on classical music, especially chamber ensembles. He has reviewed concerts, festivals, and recordings and has interviewed composers and performers. He has paid special attention to Chicago’s rich and robust contemporary art music scene. He occasionally writes poetry and has a published novel to his credit, 32 Variations on a Theme by Basil II in the Key of Washington, DC. He now lives on the north side of Chicago, which he considers to be the greatest city in the country, if not the world. Member of the Music Critics Association of North America.
Having delivered and recorded excellent concerts for many years, Grant Park Festival is dipping into its archives to offer Festival Remixed, a virtual season comprising performances from past seasons. Starting […]
Third Coast Percussion is livestreaming Danny Elfman’s Percussion Quartet this Friday evening. In the 1980s Elfman was the frontman and songwriter for the new-wave band Oingo Boingo. He has gone […]
Chicago composer and pianist Amy Wurtz will be offering a livestream performance from the comfort of her living room this Thursday evening. The program includes fiery Preludes and Etudes by […]
Sidelined by COVID-19 concert cancellations, Third Coast Percussion took their vibraphones and marimbas into their audience’s living rooms last Friday night with a live broadcast concert over YouTube. They will […]
I approached Monday’s Symphony Center concert of Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma performing Beethoven piano trios by with some trepidation. For nearly 20 years those piano trios have […]
What’s a reviewer to do when he walks in to review a performance of his favorite symphony and the orchestra delivers a magnificent rendition? For one thing, don’t take notes—just […]
The Beethoven 250 celebrations shifted to Symphony Center Monday night where Emanual Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma put the more genteel side of Ludwig van Beethoven on display. Much […]
The Beethoven 250 Festival at the Harris Theater continued on Saturday night with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique offering excellent performances of Ludwig van Beethoven’s […]
The Beethoven 250 Festival at the Harris Theater got a rousing start on Thursday night with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, and the Monteverde Choir offering […]
The Beethoven 250 Festival opens this week at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance with all nine symphonies and other important orchestral works in five concerts spread over six […]
Dudok Quartet Amsterdam returned to the Northwestern Winter Chamber Music Festival on Sunday evening with a program of music from France, with a work by the Austrian Franz Joseph Haydn […]
In honor of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th Birthday, the 2020 Northwestern Winter Chamber Music Festival starts this weekend with violinist James Ehnes and pianist Andrew Armstrong continuing their performance of Beethoven’s violin […]