For this year’s list, we organize everything by category.

Music 45 2023: Who Keeps Chicago In Tune introduction
Music 45 2023: The Record Makers
Music 45 2023: The Venues
Music 45 2023: The Performers
Music 45 2023: The Media
Music 45 2023: The Educators and Supporters

Berto Solorio/Photo: Sandy Morris | Sally Blood Photo

Cole Bennett, Jake Millan and Berto Solorio
Founder, Lyrical Lemonade/Co-Founder, Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash Festival; and Executive Producer/President A&R, Lyrical Lemonade; and Founder, SPKRBX Presents/Co-Founder, Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash Festival
The Midwest’s premier hip-hop festival, Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash celebrated its fifth edition in June, which roughly coincided with the tenth anniversary of Lyrical Lemonade itself, which was celebrated on October 1 with a show at Salt Shed. And next summer’s festival neatly coincides with the tenth anniversary of the festival’s other co-founder, SPKRBX Presents. The principals are enthused and amazed by the milestones, each a firmly entrenched player. SPKRBX annually puts on thirty to forty shows, primarily in the Midwest, while Lyrical Lemonade focuses on both live events and music videos, as well as subsidiary content like its LL2 YouTube channel, which offers behind-the-scenes features on the videos featured on its main channel. Lyrical is also releasing its first album, “All Is Yellow.” “We’ve been known for a plethora of things over the years,” says Jake Millan, “but we’ve never actually entered the space of releasing music on our own. It’s a whole new world, with the business side of like, clearing all these songs. We have more than thirty artists on this project.” Meanwhile, Cole Bennett, a preeminent music video director who’s worked with Vin Mensa, Kanye West and Eminem, has ambitions to tackle feature films; according to Millan, he envisions this album and its accompanying videos as “his last movie in music.” Millan is quick to add that even so, the festival isn’t going anywhere: “We want to keep growing that, making it bigger and bigger.” (Robert Rodi)

Michael Berg and Pat Grumley/Photo: Sandy Morris | Sally Blood Photo

Michael Berg, Pat Grumley and Lucas King
Partners, Collectiv Presents
Collectiv Presents puts on a range of festivals and concerts each year, most notably North Coast, but also including Sacred Rose, The Miracle (Illinois’ first state-sanctioned cannabis consumption event), Radiance NYE at the Lake County Fairgrounds warehouse and Suwannee Hulaween in Florida. They program the music at Taste of Randolph Street and book venues across Chicago as well as in Atlanta, their second-largest market. Collectiv Presents was formed in 2019 from the ashes of React and Silver Wrapper, with fourth partner Chris Den Uijl, who is based in San Diego. Notwithstanding the purely dance North Coast, they see an intersection of rock, jam bands and dance when they book acts. They see it “as a Venn diagram,” Berg says, “like there’s shared space in the middle,” and with their multi-genre events they “find as much of that common ground space” in the “middle of it as possible.” (Craig Bechtel)

Severin Delabar and Joe Carsello/Photo: Sandy Morris | Sally Blood Photo

Joe Carsello and Severin Delabar
Senior Talent Buyer and Music Director, Metro/smartbar/Gman
Metro recently celebrated forty years, and between them, Joe Carsello and Sev Delabar have invested twenty-three years there. Carsello was a junior talent buyer for Metro for five years, and has been in a senior role for ten, and Delabar started working in the office in 2015, and was promoted to smartbar’s music director in 2020. Both are empowered to book all three of Joe Shanahan’s spaces in Wrigleyville, as are assistant talent buyers Jerry Cowgill (who focuses on Gman), Alejandro Zerah (assistant talent buyer for smartbar) and Jill Hopkins, who joined the staff in 2022 as media and civic events producer. Carsello says that being part of Metro’s legacy is “a real pleasure and honor for me.” Delabar, AKA DJ Sevron, takes pride in smartbar’s role as a home of underground dance music, but wanting to be selfless and objective, they include “as many perspectives as possible.” (Craig Bechtel)

Carlos Cuauhtémoc Tortolero and David Chavez/Photo: Sandy Morris | Sally Blood Photo

David Chavez and Carlos Cuauhtémoc Tortolero
Artistic Director/Festival Curator and Program Coordinator, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
“I think we’re both just super-happy,” says Carlos Tortolero of he and his colleague David Chavez, “that we experienced the return of pre-pandemic attendance levels and that there was such an appetite for live music” in the form of the city’s 2023 free programs. He cites the centennial tribute to Albert King, part of this year’s Blues Festival, as “one of my all-time favorite moments in my career.” Tortolero and Chavez both work on the World Music Festival, and they are proud of the “amazing groups” that participated in 2023. This year Chavez received more funding for Chicago’s Millennium Park music series which he says “helped elevate the series to a new level, both artistically and attendance-wise. We got to engage a lot of different communities and a lot of different partners in a way that elevated everyone together.“ (Craig Bechtel)

Sarah Curran/Photo: Sandy Morris | Sally Blood Photo

Sarah Curran
Executive Director, UChicago Presents
The esteemed UChicago Presents has shone brightly since its beginnings in 1943. The academically supported and curated concert series is a unique marriage of intellectual and artistic prospecting, sifting for a conversation about the intersection of art and life. World-class performers have delighted audiences and then stuck around for face-to-face conversations in the form of masterclasses and lectures. As executive director of this venture, Sarah Curran brings staggering qualifications and experiences to the table. Curran set out to be a playwright, but that slipper wasn’t a perfect fit. She was on the ground in New York City after 9/11, creating studio space for artists and conversations that invited the citizenry back into their lives. But she found her “sweet spot” with Stanford Arts as the Director of Programming and Partnerships, and then as the first associate director of the Stanford Arts Institute. Curran says “It is no secret; things are hard right now for all arts organizations. We can talk about what happened before, but maybe we need to talk about what’s happening right now.” Student attendance for UChicago Presents quadrupled last year, and ticket sales for this year remain on an uptick. (Aaron Hunt)

Kate Dumbleton/Photo: Sandy Morris | Sally Blood Photo

Kate Dumbleton and Dave Rempis
Artistic Executive Director and Operations Director, Hyde Park Jazz Festival
Hyde Park Jazz Festival has helped celebrate jazz’s South Side legacy since 2007 as well as advance its future. Rempis and Dumbleton are both one-person jazz renaissance forces, constructing bridges between artistic and organizational worlds. Dumbleton, director of the Fest since 2012, has helped it expand to thirty-seven free programs in fourteen diverse venues on and around the Midway and Hyde Park. She’s also an SAIC professor who combined research and reality, directing and collaborating on multidiscipline improvisational musical and artistic works (such as the “Hypocrisy of Justice: Sights and Sounds of the Black Metropolis” text, art and music project). Rempis, an internationally acclaimed saxophonist, improvisor and composer, has also spent the last twenty-plus years building and nourishing the North Side jazz community (Hungry Brain, Constellation, Hideout, Elastic Arts) on top of his searing sax performances. (Bart Lazar)

Carlos Hernandez-Falcon
Founder/Executive Director, Puerto Rican Arts Alliance
Since Carlos Hernandez-Falcon founded the organization in 1996, Puerto Rican Arts Alliance has been an energetic presence on the cultural scene, with programs and events throughout the year. PRAA’s concerts and music festivals are its most high-profile endeavors; most recently, as part of its year-long residency at Millennium Park, it hosted the twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the Annual National Cuatro Festival, held at the Harris Theater and devoted to the string instrument known “as the national instrument of Puerto Rico.” Guest artists included acclaimed cuatristas Emma Colón Zayas, Fabiola Méndez and Maribel Delgado. Hernandez-Falcon is able to maintain the organization’s pace and presence thanks in part to some municipal recognition: in 2021, the group was a recipient of Chicago’s Cultural Treasures grant. (Robert Rodi)

Declan McGovern
Executive Director, Music of the Baroque
It says everything about Declan McGovern that when Music of the Baroque’s founder and conductor laureate Thomas Wikman passed away in October, the organization that Wikman had led for thirty years, but which had virtually ignored him since his 2001 departure, was finally given his due. The Irish-born McGovern is himself a harpsichordist and a jazz lover—improvisation has always been central to Baroque music—and his programming and leadership style show immense aesthetic sensitivity. While attendance at concerts has returned to pre-pandemic levels, McGovern also makes the performances available on demand and for broadcast on WFMT. There is also a return to community concerts in neighborhoods as well as annual appearances in Millennium Park and Ravinia. Although music director Dame Jane Glover is now in her twenty-first season and is contracted to stay on through the 2025-26 season, a keen eye has been kept on the future by attracting international conductors and soloists. (Dennis Polkow)

Andy Cirzan and Nick Miller/Photo: Sandy Morris | Sally Blood Photo

Nick Miller and Andy Cirzan
Talent Buyers, Jam Productions, Ltd.
Jam celebrated fifty years in 2022, and Nick Miller and Andy Cirzan have been there thirty-six years and thirty-five years, respectively. Jam can book shows anywhere, but they own The Riviera, Park West, The Vic Theatre, The Uptown Theatre in Chicago, and in the Twin Cities they co-own the Palace Theatre and partner with First Avenue. Miller books talent for nightclubs, whereas Cirzan books shows for 3,500 attendees and up. Of Jam being one of the last full-service independent companies in the business, Cirzan says “we punch above our weight” and “that’s the thing that keeps us going.” When asked how they know what will sell tickets six months or a year in advance, Miller says “it’s a mix of what metrics you can see and your gut and what you’ve experienced in the past, and the experience you’ve built over the years of seeing how artists grow.” (Craig Bechtel)

Michael Petryshyn
Founder, Riot Fest and Riot Fest Presents
Riot Fest had “the best year ever this September” and “Riot Mike” (as Michael Petryshyn is affectionately known) says “one of the accomplishments that we are stoked to continue to expand in the coming years is our Beyond the Fest initiative,” which includes vendor workshops and provides a community zone at the fest for food and book sellers. Riot Fest also offered paid internships to young people from the surrounding neighborhoods, “to learn about production and behind the scenes activities with every department, and to get a sense of how it all comes together.” Riot Fest is developing a curriculum at two academies, focusing on music business and production. Riot Fest Presents continues to bring bands from every genre to Chicago, at venues around town, because, as Riot Mike says, “we need something to keep us busy year-round.” (Craig Bechtel)

Mark Riggleman/Photo: Sandy Morris | Sally Blood Photo

Mark Riggleman
Executive Director, Classical Music Chicago
For music lovers who liked to pack their week with a regular dose of daytime music, the beloved noontime Dame Myra Hess concert series. formerly at the Cultural Center, was an exquisite side to their PB&J. And the corollary Rush Hour concert series at St. James Cathedral offered a musical respite during the workday. The Hess concerts at the 17th Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago (55 East Wacker) continue weekly, and the Rush Hour series continues in summer at St. James (June-August). Mark Riggleman leads Classical Music Chicago, the organizing body of these concert series, and is expanding programming to reach even more people. The Hess concerts bring in top musicians from all around the globe, offering Chicagoans an opportunity to experience the highest-caliber performance—all for free. Says Riggleman, “It’s so fulfilling to bring world-class musicians to Chicago and offer them to our city. Music is for everyone, and our commitment to open, accessible and free music makes it so.” (Sara Stern)

Heather Ireland Robinson/Photo: Sandy Morris | Sally Blood Photo

Heather Ireland Robinson
Executive Director, Jazz Institute of Chicago
The Jazz Institute of Chicago has played a vital role since its 1969 inception in programming, promoting and preserving jazz in Chicago, booking the Chicago Jazz Festival and fostering jazz education. Roseland native Heather Ireland Robinson took over as executive director in 2018. She brings experience in both arts administration at venues like the South Side Community Arts Center and Gallery 37, as well as performing at venues like The Peoples Jazz Theater. “Being able to multiply the arts became my life’s passion,” Ireland Robinson says. “The ability to set up structure and create resources so all artists have to do is create art, really became my guiding philosophy, and landing at the Jazz Institute just brought it all home.” Robinson also hopes to use her position to drive jazz into the future. “Of course, we want to talk about the originators and the giants, but we also have to hear what the young artists have to say, and what they have to say is incredible and amazing.” (David Witter)

Jake Samuels and Brent Heyl
Co-Directors of Music, 16″ On Center
If you attended a Chicago concert in the last decade, there’s a good chance it was programmed by one or both of these talent-buying gurus. Synergistically sharing booking roles at Thalia Hall and now Salt Shed, Heyl, Samuels and the teams they oversee have “established venues where people trust the programming.” Their magic helped morph Morton’s Elston facility into the indoor-outdoor riverside space Chicago never knew it always needed. Operating six venues allows Samuels and Heyl “the trajectory to build bands,” starting at Space and Empty Bottle and growing with the band to Thalia and Salt Shed. But wait, there’s more. Heyl oversees booking the Bottle and produces unique events such as Plantasia (Garfield Park Conservatory), Beyond the Gate (Bohemian National Cemetery) and Frozen Dancing (on the street outside the Bottle) while Samuels handles Space and Out of Space. Given Salt Shed’s size and versatility and Heyl and Samuels’ prowess, expect the creation and curation of many mini-festivals and more in 2024. (Bart Lazar)

Adam Vida/Photo: Sandy Morris | Sally Blood Photo

Adam Vida
Managing Director, Experimental Sound Studio (ESS)
ESS was founded in 1986, and has called Edgewater home since 2006. Adam Vida, hired as the studio manager at ESS in 2008, is now one of three co-directors alongside development and outreach director Olivia Junell and technical director and chief engineer Alex Inglizian. ESS is a nonprofit dedicated to artistic evolution and the creative exploration of sound. As an international hub for sonic experimentation, ESS nurtures artists, heralds new works, and builds a supportive community of makers, enthusiasts and creative partners through production, presentation, education and preservation. In March 2020, during pandemic lockdowns, ESS launched a virtual performance series, enabling artists to perform live from their homes and receive viewer donations. They presented over a thousand artists, raising $90,000 for participants. This year ESS presented and produced performances all around Chicago, and future plans include an Artist Retirement Fund Initiative, Creative Audio Archive Performance Series, and a new website. (Craig Bechtel)

The Programmers
Hall of Fame

Alan King
Vice President, Chosen Few DJs

Jerry Mickelson
CEO/President, Jam Productions

Matt Rucins
Senior Talent Buyer, Auditorium Theatre