RECOMMENDED
The brainchild of longtime Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist Blair Milton, the Winter Chamber Music Festival is now in its ninth year, offering chamber music lovers an opportunity to savor musical intimacy throughout January, traditionally one of the most static months of the music season. Past guest artists have included Daniel Barenboim, Gil Shaham, Menahem Pressler, Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell and Janos Starker, among others, and this year’s lineup includes violinist Joseph Silverstein, the Pro Arte Quartet, cellist Zuill Bailey, the Lincoln Quartet as well as members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and faculty from Northwestern University’s school of music in programs that include Haydn, Shostakovich and Schubert (January 11), Debussy, Brahms, Massenet and Brahms (January 13), Brahms, Prokofiev and Spohr (January 18), Mozart, Shostakovich and Brahms (January 20), Hindemith, Tsontakis, Schubert and Poulenc (January 25) and Beethoven, Frank and Brahms (January 27). (Dennis Polkow) Friday, January 11 and Sunday, January 13 at Northwestern University’s Pick Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, (847)467-4000. 7:30pm. $10-$22.
Related Stories
Defiantly Undefined: A New Music Festival Flouts Categorization For Resonant Bodies, a fest of experimental vocal music that has done well in New York and now arrives in Chicago, singer and producer Lucy Dhegrae has chosen a handful of wildly creative vocalists and given them complete freedom. Creativity is baked into the model… which doesn't happen as often as you might think.- Jerusalem on Lake Michigan: Chicago’s Birthright Claim To Gospel Music Festival With the occasional exception of crossover artists like Sir the Baptist at Lollapalooza—gospel isn't going to make a significant showing at any festival that’s not exclusively gospel-dedicated. Fortunately for Chicago, the gold standard in that regard occurs annually on our lakefront.
- Still Breathtaking: A Preview of Sting at Ravinia Festival Sting's solo catalog boasts more than a dozen studio albums. He may not rack up the hit singles like he once did, but he remains a compelling writer, musician and performer.
- Dance This Mess Around: A Preview of the B-52s at Ravinia Festival These days the group functions more as a legacy/nostalgia act than a creative going concern, but there’s not a thing in the world wrong with that.
- Walking the Walk: Thirsty Ears Festival Reinvents Itself The reorganization of the concert is just half of the reimagination of the festival. There’s also an entirely separate component: an audio walking tour of the Ravenswood neighborhood.
