Over 16 days, there are scores of extraordinary events offered this year at the Chicago Humanities Festival. To help guide you, baiduhai arts critics have picked events that they are eagerly anticipating, but there are many, many more to choose from. Many events could be sold out, so it’s best to check with the festival at 312-494-9509 or at www.chfestival.org.
Critics’ picks include, in parentheses, the number of the event to help in ordering tickets.
LITERATURE
Hermione Lee: “Edith Wharton’s English Life” (708), noon, Nov. 12, Loyola University’s Rubloff Auditorium, 25 E. Pearson St. Writers you think you know all too well: These are Hermione Lee’s specialties. Instead of trying to find obscure literary figures to explore, this brilliant British biographer and critic plunges right into the familiar thickets of well-known scribblers such as Willa Cather, Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bowen and, most recently, Edith Wharton. Lee talks about her biography of Wharton, the very private author of such classic novels as “The House of Mirth” and “The Age of Innocence.”
— Julia Keller
Chang-Rae Lee: “From `Native Speaker’ to `Aloft Saturday'” (712), 12:30 p.m., Nov. 12, Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St. I only met Chang-Rae Lee once, when we attended the University of Oregon at the same time. He was a student and protege of poet Garrett Hugo; I was an aspiring journalist. He was this quiet, polite man — a few years older than me — and I never really got a sense of him. That changed when I fell in love with his language in “Native Speaker,” an amazing, award-winning debut novel. I’m no longer a fellow student, but an admiring reader — feeling no allegiance to our shared past, but to Lee’s fluid, poetic prose.
— Robert K. Elder
SOCIETY
Timuel D. Black and Eric Arnesen: “The Great Migration” (822), 3 p.m., Nov. 13, Rubloff Auditorium, Loyola University, 25 E. Pearson St. Between 1900 and 1980, millions of African-Americans fled the South for what they hoped would be greater freedom and opportunity in Chicago and scores of other Northern cities. Black, who took part in that migration, and Arnesen, a University of Illinois at Chicago history professor, have each written books on the quietly massive social movement.
— Patrick T. Reardon
Jeff Libman: “Immigrants and Identity in Chicago” (800), 10 a.m., Nov. 13, DePaul University (Lincoln Park campus) Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave. A seasoned English-as-a-second-language teacher at Truman College, as close as anything to an Ellis Island experience you can find in Chicago education, Libman has an excellent vantage point from which to discuss this topic.
— Mike Conklin
Sports panel: “Why Do We Care . . . . SO MUCH?” (509), 1 p.m., Nov. 6, Northwestern University (Chicago campus), Hughes Auditorium, 303 E. Superior St. Panelists include Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, an articulate observer with a meaningful view of the big picture, and former NFL star Mark Murphy, Northwestern athletic director. This season’s White Sox success should add plenty to the discussion.
— M.C.
David Gergen: “Leadership in America” (710), Noon, Nov. 12, St. James Cathedral, Wabash and Huron Streets. He’s here to discuss America’s future and the development of a new generation of leaders, but let’s hope he allows enough time for Q&A to get in some queries about the four U.S. presidents he’s advised.
— M.C.
Lester Munson: “Betting the House” (523), 3:30 p.m., Nov. 6, Northwestern University (Chicago campus), Hughes Auditorium, 303 E. Superior St. With sports gambling — and gambling in general — at all-time highs in the U.S., Munson, a legal analyst/writer for CNN/Sports Illustrated, takes a look at the impact it has on our lives. In the process, he’ll discuss the gambling habits of Michael Jordan, a topic that surely will startle some of his fans.
— M.C.
Rebecca Solnit: “A Field Guide to Getting Lost” (521), 3:30 p.m., Nov. 6, Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Washington St. I have no sense of direction. Literally. I carry a compass on my key chain. Getting lost makes me a good travel writer, because I see so much more than other people. Otherwise, it’s a pain. At Solnit’s talk, I’m hoping to meet some kindred spirits — if I can find the place.
— R.K.E.
JAZZ
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“The Seeds, Roots and Branches of Latin Jazz” (718), 2 p.m. Nov. 12, HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo Drive. Three leading figures in Afro-Caribbean music discuss the immense influence of Latin culture on an American art form. With perspectives from virtuoso reedist-composer Paquito D’Rivera, scholar-author Robert Farris Thompson and bandleader Ben Lapidus, who moderates, the discussion could be revelatory.
— Howard Reich
Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks (733), 8 p.m. Nov. 12 in Thorne Auditorium of Northwestern University, 375 E. Chicago Ave. Giordano has dedicated himself — and his Nighthawks band — to re-creating the style and ambience of pre-bebop jazz. Listeners may recognize this music from Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator,” which used a great deal of Giordano’s work in its soundtrack.
— H.R.
MUSIC
“Get Happy: Celebrating the Music of Harold Arlen” (303), 8 p.m. Nov. 4, Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave. The centenary of songwriter Arlen has been celebrated around the world this year, but this one should rank among the biggest: an evening-length, revue-style homage — featuring Leslie Uggams and pianist Dick Hyman — to the composer of “Over the Rainbow,” “Blues in the Night,” “Stormy Weather” and, of course, “Get Happy.”
— H.R.
A French and American Evening of Words, Music and Video (608), 7:30 to10p.m. Nov. 11, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E Chicago Ave. The melding of literature and music can be a dicey marriage. But the match between novelists Rick Moody and Mark Z. Danielewski and a handful of French electronic and video artists has me intrigued, primarily because it offers a rare opportunity to see and hear Richard Pinhas. Whether they know it or not, virtually all of the electronic music artists of today owe a debt to Pinhas’ groundbreaking work with Heldon in the 1970s.
— Greg Kot
VISUAL ARTS
Stephen M. Salny: “The Avant-garde Interiors of Frances Elkins” (402), 10 to11 a.m. Saturday, Loyola University, Rubloff Auditorium, 25 E. Pearson St. Frances Elkins, the sister of architect David Adler, was a pioneer in interior decoration for her use of bold colors and mixing of period styles. Neither was fashionable when she did them, but she made them so while including furnishings by such giants as Alberto Giacometti and Jean-Michel Frank. The author of a recent book on Elkins will examine works from 20 of her commissions.
— Alan G. Artner
Susan Meiselas: “Collecting Visual Histories” (522), 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Nov. 6, Loyola University, Rubloff Auditorium, 25 E. Pearson St. Susan Meiselas, for 25 years a member of Magnum, the famous photography collective, is renowned for her work in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Chile. Here she will speak on more recent projects on the people of Kurdistan and the Balien Valley, Indonesia.
— A.G.A.
Alex Katz: “Home Truths” (715), 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave. Alex Katz has exhibited his paintings for more than 50 years, and, unlike some visual artists, he is both down-to-earth and entertaining when he talks about them. His interlocutor here will be no less than the director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Adam Weinberg.
— A.G.A.
Robert Rosenblum: “Picasso — A Spaniard in Paris” (801), 10 to 11 a.m., Nov. 13, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave. Art historian Robert Rosenblum consistently has viewed art of the 20th Century with fresh eyes that usually have enabled him to see even the most popular artists differently. This time he turns to the most popular modern artist of all, examining his early life as an expatriate. The theme is how Picasso and nostalgic colleagues depicted their homelands.
— A.G.A.
Joseph Losey: “Don Giovanni,” 6 p.m. Nov. 17, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, 500 N. Michigan Ave. Complementing the Nov. 6 talk by Witold Rybczynski on the architecture of Andrea Palladio (518) is a series of four films shot in and around Palladian villas. The third of them is Joseph Losey’s only filmed opera, an appropriately chilly realization of the Mozart-da Ponte opus on the most enduring womanizer in history. Seldom has the work of any major architect been used as brilliantly; it is almost as important as any of the protagonists.
— A.G.A.
ARCHITECTURE
Robert Venturi: “Mies is More — Learning from Mies” (604), 6 p.m., Nov. 9, Crown Hall, Illinois Institute of Technology, 3360 S. State St. The Pritzker Prize-winning Philadelphia architect, who once declared “less is a bore” (he later took it back), explores how an architect can learn from Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s evolution.
— Blair Kamin
Shigeru Ban: “Giving Shelter, from Kobe to Rwanda” (713), 12:30 p.m., Nov. 12, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave. The award-winning Japanese architect, renowned for designing refugee housing that consists of little more than cardboard tubes, discusses his ingenious use of materials.
— B.K.
Roberta Feldman:”Re-Placing Home” (810), 1 p.m., Nov. 13, Alliance Francaise de Chicago, 54 W. Chicago Ave. Feldman, co-director of the City Design Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, discusses the meaning of “home” in the U.S., where the average resident is said to move every 5 to 7 years. How has this mobility effected the architecture of where we live?
— B.K.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
AND OPERA
Bright Sheng, David Henry Hwang: “The Silver River” (429), 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Thorne Hall, Northwestern University (Chicago campus), 375 E. Chicago Ave. Composer Sheng and playwright Hwang discuss “The Silver River,” a chamber opera that combines Western and Chinese musical and theatrical traditions in absorbing new ways. The discussion includes a live performance of traditional Chinese instruments and a video of excerpts from the opera.
–John von Rhein
“The Stranger in Opera” (527) 4 to 5 p.m. Nov. 6, Roosevelt University’s Ganz Hall, 430 S. Michigan Ave. Past and present members of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists present arias and scenes sung by operatic characters linked by their being outsiders, to one extent or another, in their communities.
— J.V.R.
Cedille Records Chicago Musicians Showcase (607), 7 to 9 p.m. Nov. 11, Thorne Hall, Northwestern University (Chicago campus), 375 E. Chicago Ave. Tickets, $10. To honor the Chicago-based classical label, the festival presents an intimate evening of performances by local artists who are Cedille mainstays — including violinist Rachel Barton Pine and pianist Jorge Federico Osorio..
— J.V.R.
Ars Antigua: “In Mozart’s Footsteps” (721), 2 to 3 p.m. Nov. 12, Quigley Memorial Chapel, Rush and Pearson Streets. Free, reservations required. The Chicago early music ensemble Ars Antigua celebrates Mozart’s 250th birthday by comparing works he composed at home in Salzburg and Vienna with pieces inspired by his European travels.
— J.V.R.
“Handel at Home” ( 826), 7:30 to 9 p.m. Nov. 13, Field Museum, Simpson Theater. The entrancing soprano Elizabeth Futral presents vocal works composed by George Frideric Handel in the various countries he called home. Cori Ellison, New York City Opera dramaturge, traces his remarkable journey.
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— J.V.R.
FILM
Jan-Christopher Horak: “German-Jewish Filmmakers in Hollywood Exile,” (503), 11:30 a.m., Nov. 6, Alliance Francaise de Chicago, 54 W. Chicago Ave. Silent film star Mary Pickford lured German filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch to Hollywood in the early 1920s. In subsequent years, Lubitsch’s colleagues came to this country under less-desirable circumstances, fleeing Nazi persecution. Among them were Fritz Lang, Otto Preminger and Billy Wilder. They weren’t alone, according to Horak, who writes that more than 1,500 German-Jewish filmmakers were forced into exile after 1933.
— R.K.E.
CHILDREN
Jon Scieszka: “Science Verse,” (409) 12 to p.m., Saturday, Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St. Amid all the adult authors and musicians, one could get the impression that the Humanities Festival is strictly a grown-up thing. Fear not. There’s a whole side program of humanities for the underage, as this event featuring the author of “The Stinky Cheese Man” attests. Scieszka, one of those rare children’s book writers whose work — including post-modern anarcho-comic deconstructions of classic tales — also strikes a chord with mommy and daddy, will read from his recent output, including his opposites-attract book of poems about science. For more on the children’s side of the festival, dig up, in print or online, Thursday’s At Play section.
— Steve Johnson
ETC
Tim Cahill: “Our Death Race with the Legendary Jungle Leper Army!” (504), 11:30 a.m., Nov. 6, Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St. As the title indicates, Cahill is an odd bird. He’s a founder of Outside magazine, and he has a wonderfully askew way of looking at nature. In one of his books, he writes, “I’m the guy who spent twenty sleepless hours being so terrified of a grizzly bear that when I finally saw him, I fell asleep.” This was a bear, by the way, which had eaten, quills and all, a porcupine. In this lecture, he’s talking about the history of adventure/travel writing.
— P.T.R.