American Railroad: Silk Road Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens/Photo: David Bazemore

1
American Railroad: Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens
(Harris Theater)
The unheard stories of the communities that shaped the Transcontinental Railroad, told through sound. The Silkroad Ensemble, led by Grammy-winning folk musician Rhiannon Giddens, will perform works that span “Chinese traditional music on instruments such as the suona and pipa,” an original song by Cécile McLorin Salvant, “the fiddle and banjo of Black musical traditions” and new music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Michael Abels, all on the northern edge of the former Illinois Central rail yard.
November 7

2
Tomeka Reid Stringtet
(Logan Center)
The jazz cellist and composer, described as a “new jazz power source” by the New York Times and named a MacArthur Fellow in 2022, leads a seventeen-member improvising chamber orchestra for the Chicago premiere of a new piece.
November 8

3
Muti and the CSO
(Symphony Center)
Riccardo Muti’s fall return continues with works by Falla and Chabrier meant to evoke southern Spain, plus an overture from “Don Pasquale,” ballet music by Verdi and the world premiere of Golijov’s “Megalopolis Suite,” composed for the recent Francis Ford Coppola film.
November 8-9

4
Dehd
(Thalia Hall)
The breakout Chicago trio celebrates the release of their fifth album, “Poetry,” written between a desert road trip and a Frank Lloyd Wright warehouse, with a three-night stand at Thalia Hall.
November 12-14

5
Front 242 – Blackout: The Final Shows
(Metro)
An unexpected fax began forty years of partnership between legendary Chicago industrial label Wax Trax! and the Belgian electronic body music outfit, inspiring them to play their final US shows at the Metro. Read Craig Bechtel’s story on how Chicago became their second home in these pages.
November 15-16