Maurizio Pollini: Lovely playing and rote readings
Maurizio Pollini, a legend at the piano for more than half a century, began the fall season of recitals at Orchestra Hall on Sunday afternoon with a familiar pattern of...
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Vinikour ideal to begin Bach Keyboard Festival
Series of complete works of composers are encountered much more frequently on recordings than in concert halls. But last year WFMT radio presented a series of live events encompassing all...
Grant Park ends season with a flourish
Carlos Kalmar has ended recent seasons of the Grant Park Music Festival with large works for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra that otherwise are seldom played. Friday night's penultimate concert...
Review: Grant Park Orchestra shows again why it’s vital
The titles of the pieces on Friday night's concert of the Grant Park Music Festival may have suggested a kinship where none exists. But both works – Joseph Haydn's "Harmoniemesse"...
Review: Grant Park Orchestra moves indoors for Lollapalooza
Whenever Lollapalooza displaces the Grant Park Music Festival to the Harris Theater for Music and Dance something interesting happens. Always the indoor acoustic enables listeners to hear more detail and...
Review: Grant Park Orchestra presents a courageous pairing
Johannes Brahms' "A German Requiem" is in seven movements that last approximately 68 minutes. For lazy conductors and musical organizations, that's enough for a full concert. Not at the Grant...
Grant Park Symphony shows off an English masterpiece
The affection Americans have for English literature and theater rarely has carried over to English painting and music. This is difficult to understand insofar as these arts often share in...
Review: Baroque Band struggles in season-ending concert
It is as simple as what pianist Rudolf Serkin once told a student: Before interpreting music, you have to be able to hit the notes. Often on Friday night's season-ending...
Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche’s extravagant ‘Wild Sound’ a spectacle at the MCA
As each ticket was torn to give entry to Thursday night's concert at the Museum of Contemporary Art, each bearer received what looked like miniature chopsticks joined at a serrated...
Music of the Baroque ended its season with style
Music of the Baroque ended its season at Evanston's Pick-Staiger Concert Hall Sunday night with choral compositions that gave the evening's theme of war and peace. As has happened frequently...