John Von Rhein

As you leave Des Moines and head south for about 18 miles along U.S. Highway 65/69, past vast green fields of corn and soybeans baking in the summer sun, you...

All performing and creative artists who hold complex identities also face complex journeys. Certainly, classical musicians of Middle Eastern heritage and/or Muslim faith often find themselves navigating very complex spaces...

Ryan Speedo Green: The rising young bass-baritone makes his Ravinia Festival recital debut in a program of songs by Schubert, Wolf, Liszt, Mahler and African-American composers. Pianist Adam Nielsen is...

"Johnny Johnson" was Kurt Weill's first work for the American theater, written for New York's Group Theatre in 1936, only three years after the German-Jewish composer managed to escape Nazi...

Although it isn't billed as such, the weekend Chicago Symphony Orchestra subscription program has the feel of a gala, the sort of festive affair you would expect Riccardo Muti to...

Chicago Folks Operetta: The troupe turns its attention from its usual European light opera repertory to Americana, with the Chicago premiere of "Johnny Johnson" (1936), an anti-war musical by two...

Contemporary operas about ordinary people crushed by powerful forces they are helpless to control mark another venturesome festival season of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. Both "The Grapes of...

Chicago Opera Theater has appointed Lidiya Yankovskaya as its music director, effective immediately. She will work with COT general director designate Douglas Clayton this summer in support of the company's...

With two weeks remaining in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra subscription season, classical music fans attending Wednesday's opening concert of the 83rd Grant Park Music Festival may have felt trapped in...