Plantasia/Photo: Joel Meinholz

1
Sound & Gravity Festival
(Various Venues)
Mike Reed’s second act as festival producer builds the artistic vision guiding venues like Constellation and Hungry Brain into a five-day festival across Bricktown.
September 10-14

2
The CheckOut Opening Festival
(The CheckOut, 4116 North Clark)
Access Contemporary Music’s festival marks the completion of their new Lakeview chamber music venue, The CheckOut, created in a former 7-Eleven across from Graceland Cemetery.
September 13-28

3
Hyde Park Jazz Fest
(Various Venues)
A fitting way to celebrate the year of Gertrude Abercrombie, the surrealist painter known as Hyde Park’s jazz witch— this free festival honors the South Side’s central history to the genre through a smartly curated weekend of performances across a constellation of Hyde Park venues.
September 27-28

4
Plantasia
(Garfield Park Conservatory)
The ambient and electronic festival blooms over the grounds of Garfield Park Conservatory, with headliners like Tim Hecker and Suzanne Ciani along with projection-mapped visuals by Reflections.
September 14-15

5
The Chicago Water Music
(Chicago Riverwalk)
Last September Music of the Baroque debuted a performance of Handel’s “Water Music,” its orchestra playing atop a boat floating down the Chicago River from its mouth to the Merchandise Mart. This year it becomes a tradition.
September 10