John Von Rhein – Page 3

Review: Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the CSO in an eloquent Mahler Ninth Symphony

May 13, 2019 at 2:16 p.m.

Gustav Mahler assumed his Symphony No. 9 would be his farewell symphony. It didn’t turn out that way, although the fatalistic composer succumbed to heart disease, at 50, not long...

Violinist Pinchas Zuckerman, center, and Daniel Barenboim, on piano at Symphony Center in Chicago in 2005.

Recommended Chicago classical concerts for May 18-24

May 13, 2019 at 2:16 p.m.

Pinchas Zukerman: The famed violinist is joined by his colleagues of the Zukerman Trio – cellist Amanda Forsyth and pianist Angela Cheng – for a program of Beethoven, Shostakovich and...

Nick Cave has been singing about mortality for decades, and he's really good at it. Whether the narratives are biblical or pulpy, the victims innocents or death row convicts, the circumstances comprehensible or cruelly random, Cave's songs are on intimate terms with the infinite ways a life can be extinguished. And yet, "Skeleton Tree", his latest album with his estimable band, the Bad Seeds, is a relatively concise song cycle shadowed by death that feels different than all the rest. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/kot/sc-music-nick-cave-skeleton-tree-ent-0916-20160916-column.html" target="_blank">Read the full review.</a>

Honoring Pierre Boulez, the titan of modernism who opened the ears of Chicagoans to the music of our time

May 13, 2019 at 2:16 p.m.

Can we ever repay our enormous debt to Pierre Boulez? From 1991, when the eminent French composer and conductor began an annual series of residencies at the Chicago Symphony, he...

Violinist Faust, in a brilliant CSO debut, makes convincing case for flawed Schumann rarity

May 13, 2019 at 2:16 p.m.

In the absence of anything truly new, the programs that fill the remaining six weeks of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's subscription season include several works of lesser importance by important...

Recommended Chicago classical concerts for May 11-17

May 13, 2019 at 2:16 p.m.

Imani Winds: The wind quintet, celebrated for bringing diverse composers to classical audiences, gives the final concert of its UChicago Presents residency. The world premiere of a new work by...

Review: Chicago Composers Orchestra explores new music about war, the human spirit and hope

May 13, 2019 at 2:16 p.m.

Worldwide acknowledgment of the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending World War I will be reflected in thematic programming of several local musical organizations next season, including the Chicago Symphony...

Semyon Bychkov electrifies Orchestra Hall with blazing CSO account of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Manfred’

May 13, 2019 at 2:16 p.m.

There are the beloved symphonic warhorses, the kind plentifully represented on Chicago Symphony Orchestra programs. And then there are the perfectly fine but unfairly neglected orchestral pieces that have suffered...

Recommended Chicago classical concerts for May 4-10

May 13, 2019 at 2:16 p.m.

Elgin Symphony Orchestra: Andrew Grams conducts the season finale, which pairs the suite from Leonard Bernstein's "Candide" with Mahler's triumphant Symphony No. 5, one of Bernstein's signature works. The public...

A selective guide to U.S. summer classical music festivals

May 13, 2019 at 2:16 p.m.

Within a few weeks, hundreds of U.S. summer festivals of every description will begin to set out their most tempting wares to attract classical-music-loving travelers. Following is a selective guide...

Bella Voce looks back on its storied past, Bach Week projects spirit of its namesake forward

May 13, 2019 at 2:16 p.m.

As guest director Anne Heider pointed out in her remarks to the audience at the vocal ensemble Bella Voce's season finale, heard Saturday night in Buchanan Chapel at Chicago's Fourth...

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