Playlist: 8 Popular Songs that Sample Classical Music

Musicians from rap to alternative to K-Pop and beyond look to classical music for inspiration! Here are just a few creative examples.

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Chicago Symphony musicians on strike after talks break down

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians say they are on strike after contract talks broke down. They say in a news release that picket lines will form starting at 8 a.m. Monday. They say management is still trying to reduce their pension benefits after nearly a year of negotiations. The musicians walked out after completing a Sunday afternoon concert ...

24-Hour Countdown for Impending CSO Strike Begins

Contract negotiations between Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) musicians and management have continued throughout the weekend to avoid a musicians’ strike, which would be the orchestra’s second in less than a decade. Last month, musicians voted to authorize a strike if a suitable three-year contract could not be reached by midnight this Sunday, March 10. According to a Chicago Federation of ...

Video: Cellist Hee-Young Lim performs music by Debussy and Massenet

Cellist Hee-Young Lim and pianist Kuang-Hao Huang performed in a WFMT Facebook Live from the Brennan Family Recital Hall at the DePaul University School of Music.

UChicago Presents Announces 2019-20 Season

Executive director Amy Iwano comments, “UChicago Presents’ 76th season welcomes world-renowned artists rarely heard in Chicago for fresh takes on masterworks and first performances of brand-new music.”

Pianist Jacques Loussier Dies at Age 84

The French pianist was known for his jazz interpretations of classical music, most famously, the works of Bach in his Play Bach record series.

Music of the Baroque Announces 2019-20 Season

The upcoming season, the company’s 49th, “will be a season of high drama, storytelling, virtuosity, and spiritual depth,” comments executive director Declan McGovern.

How to Make a Baroque Opera Work in the 21st Century

How does an opera written in 1735 hold up today? Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante presents a contemporary perspective on the nearly 300-year-old Baroque opera, with updated gender and sexual politics to boot.

Students Commemorate Matthew Shepard, LGBTQ Hate Crime Victim, Through Song

More than two decades after a tragedy catalyzed a generation of LGBTQ activists, Matthew Shepard's story is being shared with a new generation through music.

Bolshoi Ballet to Return to Chicago After 16 Years

The Bolshoi Ballet is returning to Chicago for the first time in sixteen years. The Russian ballet company will perform at the Auditorium Theatre in June 2020, which will be the only Midwest stop on their United States tour. The Bolshoi Ballet will perform Yuri Grigorovich’s Swan Lake, set to Tchaikovsky’s classic score. Grigorovich, who served as the Bolshoi’s director ...

André Previn, Oscar-winning composer, has died at 89

Previn was a child prodigy whose family fled Nazi Germany. As a teenager, he found work as a composer and arranger in Hollywood, mostly at MGM, winning four Oscars for his orchestrations of such stylish musicals as 1964's "My Fair Lady."

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