Standing at the sticky lip of the stage is not the ideal vantage point for a Crystal Stilts show. No, you’re better off on one of the Empty Bottle’s stools, disappearing a Wild Turkey and wondering when the hell you’re going to leave that soulless day job.
Read MoreAfterwork Masterworks /
The programming may have appeared cobbled together by a conference room of ADHD-afflicted classical music junkies, but Wednesday’s “Afterwork Masterworks” performance at Symphony Center proved an animated antidote to the 9-to-5 grind. Divertissement is the term Zac and I arrived at over pints of Boddingtons during our post-mortem of this CSO–Hubbard Street Dance Chicago mash-up, agreeing that a variety show approach seems likely to attract high-art first-timers. Whether a clever development department conceit or an unintentionally brilliant bit of programming stitchery, this Frankenstein of early music and contemporary dance (and $5 preshow drinks at Rhapsody) proved 90 of the more imaginative minutes hosted on Michigan Avenue.
Read MoreEthan Wickman - Portals and Passages /
It’s been a sensational month for science geeks. First, the super moon, and now “Inside the Hubble Toolbox,” the centerpiece of the outstanding new Portals and Passages. A collaboration between composer Ethan Wickman and pianist Nicholas Phillips, the solo piano collection presents a remarkable dialogue between Wickman’s textural prowess and the likes of Bach and Beethoven.
Read MoreAmy Briggs - Tangos for Piano /
“How about that tango from Scent of a Woman?” may be one of the most commonly heard requests to Chicago piano freelancers. Had Al Pacino’s improbable footwork been set to a waltz, it’s likely “Por una Cabeza” would not be sitting atop wedding reception request lists. This enigmatic dance, with its passionate alternations of restraint and eruption, is instantly distinguishable, and the focus of Chicagoan Amy Briggs’ latest.
Read MoreKodo at Symphony Center /
Classical can always use a hand in the sex appeal department. Lithe men in loincloths might sound like a billing for a show farther uptown, but for the indefatigable drummers of Kodo, the costume is more functional than libidinous. The Japanese percussion masters descend on Symphony Center this Monday, carting their arsenal of taiko—skin and wood drums ranging in size from salad bowls to hot tubs. The famed group pounds out ancient rhythms collected from Shinto shrines and folk traditions as well as new works by members and mentors.
Read MoreAlex Ross - Listen To This /
“I hate ‘classical music,’” Alex Ross provocatively opens in his latest opus, Listen to This, “not the thing but the name.” It’s a grumble heard among musicians, but to witness The New Yorker’s music critic shout it out loud is an exhilarating validation.
Read MoreMitsuko Uchida - Interview /
After she codirected the Marlboro Festival in Vermont this past summer, we briefly chatted with Mitsuko Uchida. The extraordinary and intensely private pianist agreed to a rare interview. Finally, two weeks ago, following some lo-fi communication with fax machines, we again made contact with the 62-year-old, who spoke to us over the phone from London. The world-renowned performer opened up about her diplomat father, a sublime Schumann album she recently recorded for Decca and her admiration for the CSO, with whom she will be performing two of Mozart’s greatest hits this week, the Concerti Nos. 11 and 21.
Read MoreSir John Eliot Gardiner Conducts the CSO /
After being knighted by the Queen of England, after having been ordained Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, after winning more Gramophone Awards than anyone else, there are few challenges left to a musician. But endeavoring to perform the entirety of Bach’s nearly 200 church cantatas—all in just one year—is an audacious next step. This is what Sir John Eliot Gardiner did in 2000. Fortunately for those not present to witness it, the quixotic project was painstakingly documented.
Read MoreAndrew Bird - Useless Creatures /
It’s fitting that Useless Creatures opens with the clip-clop of hooves given that the mention of his name instantly calls to mind Andrew Bird perched delicately atop a saddle, his riding crop embroidered with some synonym for “ennui.” A rerelease of the once-limited-edition bonus CD to 2009’s Noble Beast, these nine instrumental tracks are decidedly less precious than their counterpart, due primarily to the absence of lexical drive-bys like the rhyming of “plecostomus” with “posthumous.”
Read MoreVicarious at Congress Theater /
If Andrew Bird is the porcelain teacup of violin playing, Chuck Bontrager is the pewter beer stein. With a devilish bifurcated beard, the Humboldt Park metalhead shreds Tool guitar solos on his Viper, a V-shaped, fretted seven-string fiddle. On Saturday 20, New Millennium Orchestra’s Bontrager and his side band, Vicarious, perform one of their highest-profile gigs to date, the eclectic Ripple Effect festival, a sort of Burning Man circus.
Read MoreA Blush with Infamy /
Before each of her performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, cellist Katinka Kleijn applies makeup. A good amount, as it is for the stage. In February, the South Loop resident, overwhelmed by the growing number of friends being diagnosed with cancer, began researching cosmetic ingredients on a database from the Environmental Working Group. “On the EWG website, I found an oil-free blush I had been using for ten years,” Kleijn says. “It was rated a nine out of ten for most hazardous.”
Read MoreTed Hearne - Katrina Ballads /
Like the Ground Zero chamber-music impromptus by Juilliard students during the September 11 rescue operations, composer Ted Hearne’s Katrina Ballads is an act of artistic empathy. Whereas the former sought simply to offer solace, Hearne’s song cycle serves as an exquisitely written, if caustic, reminder of the inert and fatuous responses by government officials in the wake of the hurricane.
Read MoreÓlöf Arnalds at Schubas /
Ólöf Arnalds’s sophomore album, Innundir skinni, generated fan anxiety with the news that it would incorporate more elaborate, nonacoustic orchestrations. For Arnalds, the departure was a risk, given the acclaim lavished on her spare folk debut, Við Og Við.
Read MoreStatus Update /
The name Seraphic Fire was likely new to most outside of southern Florida, when, on August 23, the choir shot to the top of the iTunes classical charts with Claudio Monteverdi: Vespers of the Blessed Virgin 1610. The collection of 17th-century sacred work even unseated Lady Gaga, if temporarily, at position No. 27 in the overall iTunes sales rankings.
Read MoreArvo Pärt - Symphony No. 4 /
Considering all the Botox, paparazzi and Mel Gibson, calling L.A. the “City of Angels” seems a stretch. But for Arvo Pärt, the nickname seemed serendipitous. The composer had been contemplating writing a piece based on Church Slavonic texts pertaining to guardian angels before the L.A. Philharmonic and its then music director Esa-Pekka Salonen came calling for a new work.
Read MoreNico Muhly - I Drink the Air Before Me /
Tearing the air open with a shveee…GUNNGGG, composer Nico Muhly launches his latest, I Drink the Air Before Me, like a bottle rocket on “Fire Down Below.” A whip of flute streaks skyward into bursts of piano and trombone.
Read MoreIf You Like... /
If you like…
Brian Eno
Check out Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich ($18, amazon.com). Like Eno’s Music for Airports, this album by one of the granddaddies of minimalism offers a mood rather than a melody, inducing trancelike states of euphoria and introspection. Recordings abound, but the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble CD ($20, amazon.com) is particularly arresting. Just make sure you’re not operating heavy machinery while listening.
Cool and Composed /
ACCESSIBLE CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
THE SKYSCRAPER RECONSTRUCTIONISTS
Founder Seth Boustead and company have made a name for themselves through weekly readings of hot-off-the-PDF-file scores as well as commissioning works by foreign composers, which they then perform in the composer’s home country.
Concerto Inferno /
Cal-der! Cal-der! Cal-der!” the crowd chants rapturously, inky sweat blooming on their T-shirts after storming the stage for rock berserker Andrew W.K.’s irrepressible “Party Hard.” But on this October night in 2009, the Lakeshore Theater horde is cheering not for W.K., but for the L.A.-based Calder Quartet—bow-wielding men decked out in J. Lindeberg duds who have proven Philip Glass’s String Quartet No. 2 is a perfect complement to W.K.’s anthemic rock number “I Get Wet.”
Read MoreLeila Josefowicz at Ravinia /
A still-stagnant economy is forcing music lovers to trade beloved LPs for rent money. So a night out at Ravinia may seem extravagant after parting ways with one’s von Karajan collection. But on Wednesday 25, the festival serves up seats—not lawn—to one of the most exceptional concerts of its season…for $10.
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