Chicago Philharmonic focused most of its 2021-22 season on great composers—such as Mozart, Copland, Brahms, Dvorak and Respighi—featured by most classical ensembles. But more than most orchestras, Chicago Philharmonic […]
The crowd at Makaya McCraven’s Friday night show at Lincoln Hall was as varied as the hometown artist’s take on jazz. The first of a two-night stint at the venue […]
I think no matter how you try to measure it, the Mountains Goats’ success over the past few decades is undeniable. Originally the solo project of John Darnielle, the Mountain […]
One of the leading incubators of new music in Chicago is housed at the Chicago Center of Contemporary Composition at the University of Chicago in Hyde Park. The 13-member Grossman […]
What kind of concert starts with an 11-minute introductory piece that ends up getting two ovations? A Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert that opens with Brio by Chicago-based composer Augusta Read […]
June Sawyers wrote this poem—as a way to record her experience— after listening to a musician named Andrew perform in Printers Row. It came out of nowhereAt first we barely […]
Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood has a new performance space, and a four-day chamber music festival will take place there this weekend. Described as “a sleek, minimalist space offer[ing] luscious acoustics […]
Last Thursday was undoubtedly a treat. The middle of some blisteringly warm days with temps in the 90s, the sun out and shining bright, and of course and amazing lineup […]
The Aznavoorian Duo gave a marvelous performance at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston on Sunday afternoon. The concert was a celebration of their excellent new […]
Chicago-based composer Augusta Read Thomas has issued a new release comprised of several recent compositions. Bell Illuminations has a wide variety of ensemble configurations and illustrates the breadth of her […]
No musical techniques benefit more from visual performance than percussion. The number of ways that percussionists can produce sounds is limited only by the number of objects humans and nature […]
It is always a good sign to find myself perspiring in the middle of a performance in a venue with a working air conditioner. This is exactly what happened during […]