ART
`LAURA LETINSKY’
Photographic still lifes and allegories of love; opens Sunday at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 5811 S. Ellis Ave.; free; 773-702-8670.
`SPLENDORS OF CHINA’S FORBIDDEN CITY: THE GLORIOUS REIGN OF EMPEROR QUINLONG’
Paintings, jewelry, furniture and other works, some exhibited for the first time; opens Friday at the Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive; $10; 312-665-7100.
–Alan G. Artner
CLASSICAL
STEWART GOODYEAR
The gifted young Canadian pianist returns to make his local recital debut. The program spans sonatas by Mozart and Rachmaninoff, along with Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit” and Barber’s “Excursions”; 3 p.m. Sunday at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; $9-$18; 312-294-3000.
ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC
The orchestra’s first appearance at Orchestra Hall since 1998 will bring principal guest conductor Yoel Levi to the podium and pianist Andre Watts to the piano bench as soloist. The concert pairs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Emperor”) with Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony; 8 p.m. Wednesday at Symphony Center; $30-$67; 312-294-3000.
NETHERLANDS BACH SOCIETY
As part of its first U.S. tour, the Dutch vocal and instrumental ensemble, playing on period instruments, performs a Bach “Brandenburg” concerto and a Bach cantata, along with cantatas by his Dutch contemporaries Buxtehude and Schelle. Marion Verbruggen is recorder soloist; 8 p.m. Thursday at Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut St.; $25-$35; 312-981-3595.
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ARS ANTIGUA
Noted for its imaginative programs, the excellent Chicago period-instruments ensemble performs rarely heard works from the Mexican Baroque; 2 p.m. Saturday at Quigley Chapel, Rush and Pearson Streets; free; 312-415-2391.
CUBE CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE
This enterprising group launches its fourth annual South Loop Spring Festival of New Music with a concert of newly commissioned works featuring oboist and co-director Patricia Morehead. Illinois composers represented on the program include Stacey Garrop, Marta Ptaszynska, Larry Axelrod and Timothy Bowlby; 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Columbia College Concert Hall, 1014 S. Michigan Ave.; $8 and $15; 312-554-1133.
–John von Rhein
JAZZ
TOM HARRELL
The exceptional trumpeter and bandleader — who has achieved some of his greatest distinction as composer — leads a quintet; Tuesday through March 14 at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave.; $20-$25; 312-670-2473.
PETER BERNSTEIN
The noted guitarist is joined by organist Melvin Rhyne’s quartet; 9 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Green Mill Jazz Club, 4802 N. Broadway; $8-$15; 773-878-5552.
–Howard Reich
ROCK
WRENS
The seven-year wait between albums was well worth it, as this New Jersey punk-pop quartet returns with the slower-burning beauty of “The Meadowlands”; Friday at Logan Square Auditorium, 2539 N. Kedzie Ave.; $12-$14; 773-276-3600.
MAVERICKS
Singer Raul Malo takes the plaintive croon of Roy Orbison to the country-soul saloon; Saturday at Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave.; $22.50; 312-559-1212.
–Greg Kot
MOVIES
EUROPEAN UNION FILM FESTIVAL
The three-week festival of 36 new features from 16 countries begins. Recommended this week are Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s French romance-comedy-adventure “Bon Voyage,” with Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani (3 p.m. Sunday); Sarah Garron and Rosemary Kay’s British hospital drama “This Little Life” (3:15 p.m. Sunday and 6:15 p.m. Wednesday); Paul McGuigan’s medieval English mystery “The Reckoning,” with Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe (8 p.m. Monday); Nils Malmros’ Danish autobiographical drama “Facing the Truth” (8:15 p.m., Monday and 6 p.m. Wednesday); Gabriele Salvatores’ Italian suspense movie “I’m Not Scared” (6 p.m. Thursday) and Alexandre Aja’s French slasher thriller “Haute Tension” (8:15 p.m. Saturday); at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute, 164 N. State St.; 312-846-2600 or www.siskelfilmcenter.org.
`M. IBRAHIM’
Omar Sharif gives one of his best performances in this lively adaptation by Francois Dupeyron of Eric Emmanuel Schmitt’s play: a poignant, brightly sensuous film about ’60s Paris, rock ‘n’ roll, Rue Bleue hookers — and friendship between a Jewish teenager (Pierre Boulanger) and an old Muslim grocer (Sharif). In French and Turkish, with English subtitles; MPAA rating: R.; at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave.; 773-871-6604 or www.musicboxtheatre.com.
— Michael Wilmington
THEATER
`AMERICAN DEAD’
What outlet can grief find in a small town already grieving its own demise? That’s the question posed by playwright Brett Neveu in this quietly compelling drama. Years after the murder of his police officer sister, Lewie (James Leaming) has lost his bearings. At the local tavern he meets a mysterious man (David Parkes) harboring information about the unsolved murder. The American Theater Company world premiere is excellent — eight fine, nuanced performances out of eight; through March 21 at 1909 W. Byron St. (off Lincoln Ave); $20-$30; 773-929-1031.
`FAR AWAY’
Under an hour in length, but an apocalypse in breadth, Caryl Churchill’s short, sharp shock of a play imagines a totalitarian world in the making. At her aunt’s farmhouse, a young girl witnesses something sinister involving so-called revolutionaries and so-called traitors. Years later, in a nation under siege, the girl has grown up into a hat-maker whose creations are shown off in an equally sinister sort of parade. The Next Theatre production staged by Lisa Portes is a little wobbly. But Wendy Robie and especially Karen Aldridge get a lot out of this fascinating text; through March 14 at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., Evanston; $18-$29; 847-475-1875.
–Michael Phillips
`BURYING THE BONES’
Margaret Lewis’ intensely serious and ambitious new play takes place during and around the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the noble effort set up in South Africa during the 1990s to deal with the innumerable grievances following the collapse of the apartheid system. Some dramaturgical contrivances aside, it’s literate, complex and provocative; through April 3 at Stage Left Theatre, 3408 N. Sheffield Ave.; $10-22; 773-883-8830.
`DOORS OPEN ON THE RIGHT’
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Joshua Funk’s stellar, daring and frequently hilarious new revue on the Second City mainstage blames poor Steve Bartman (of Cubs’ choke infamy) for everything from fire to the lack of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The cast is young but the material is hot, and Funk’s formative mastery of the Second City genre is without recent peer; open run at Second City, 1616 N. Wells St., $17-19; 312-337-3992.
`THE KILLER ANGELS’
A single set and nine actors re-create the Army of Northern Virginia, the Army of the Potomac, Gen. Robert E. Lee, Gen. John Buford and all the other deadly detritus of the battle of Gettysburg in 1863 as imagined by novelist Michael Shaara, but darned if they don’t make you believe. Thoughtful performances abound in Ned Mochel’s dignified and imaginative production; through April 18 at Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave.; $10-20; 773-761-4477.
`SOME AMERICANS ABROAD’
Richard Nelson’s caustic, cynical play goes after the more troubling tropes of the academy with all the bitter relish of a hard-working assistant professor denied tenure on the whim of a false friend. Borrowing from David Lodge, Henry James and David Mamet, Nelson has university life down cold. “Some Americans” gets a sharp revival by Remy Bumppo Theatre Co.; through March 21 at Victory Gardens Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.; $18-43; 773-871-3000.
–Chris Jones