Whether or not you’re heading back to school, these books are sure to delight any music lover
Reynaldo Hahn and Guy Ferrant
Reynaldo Hahn’s world was the Paris salon, where he reigned supreme with his songs and went about in his full‐length opera cape. Though not too many of his works are that familiar to us today, he was quite well firmly established in French culture during his lifetime. In the first half of the twentieth century and particularly between the world wars, he was a composer, conductor, music critic, theatre director, voice teacher, and singer...
Recalling Gian Carlo Menotti
In the early 1990s, the famed composer and librettist Gian Carlo Menotti came to Chicago as the guest for a black-tie event for Chicago Opera Theater. “This could be fun!,” I thought. A rare opportunity to spend time with a world-famous musician and composer. Who could pass up a chance like this? I volunteered.
Digital Pina Bausch Archive Announced
June 30 will mark the 10th anniversary of the death of German choreographer and contemporary dance pioneer Pina Bausch. And with the commemoration of her death comes the announcement of a birth. In June 2020, the thousands of documents, videos, photos, and more held by the Pina Bausch Foundation in Wuppertal, Germany will be available online. Bausch’s son, Salomon, the ...
Music Director Andi Lamoreaux Reflects on 50 Years with WFMT
This month, Music Director Andi Lamoreaux passed a remarkable milestone — 50 years with WFMT. Since her arrival as a station librarian in 1969, Andi has been a vital presence at the station and has witnessed key moments in WFMT’s history — the visit of Dmitri Shostakovich in 1973, the first live Lyric Opera of Chicago radio broadcast, and two ...
Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has heart operation
NEW YORK (AP) — Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has undergone a heart operation at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. His representative, the public relations agency of Shuman Associates in New York, said Tuesday that doctors called the operation a success and said his heart is performing at 100%. Tilson Thomas is recovering at the clinic and will spend the summer ...
The Microphone in the Closet: Studs Terkel and LGBTQ Voices
The historian Timothy Stewart-Winter wrote in his introduction to the Studs Terkel Radio Archive’s LGBTQ Culture & Rights section, “Among the eminent broadcast journalists of his generation, Studs Terkel may well stand alone in his consistent compassion for lesbian and gay people and curiosity about their lives.” Here are just a few testaments to that compassion. Leonard Matlovich talks with Studs about ...
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma Performs Bach’s Cello Suites in Free Concert for Chicago
Even though the evening of Thursday, June 20 felt more like autumn than summer, the cool weather did not deter thousands from attending cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s performance of Bach’s six cello suites at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. The free concert, presented by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association in partnership with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and ...
Get to know the musicians — and music — behind VOLTA, Cirque du Soleil’s latest show
"I saw my first Cirque du Soleil show when I was about 10 years old," recalls percussionist and band leader Ben Todd ahead of a recent performance. "I'd already been playing drums for quite a while before then, but something about seeing a live band with the acrobatics on stage and being in this unique environment of a Big Top, ...
Finding the Details in Grand Opera — Muti, CSO, and CSO Chorus Present Verdi’s Aida
Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida is the apotheosis of grand opera: a story about forbidden love, with one of the most famous triumphal marches in the repertoire – horses and elephants included. The pomp and circumstance of this epic tale set in ancient Egypt has enchanted audiences for well over a century. But as Riccardo Muti, often considered the world’s leading Verdi ...
Closets Are For Clothes — Celebrating Pride Month through Musical “Coming Out” Stories
“As an adult, knowing that music and my identity as a gay man have always been so closely intertwined, I’ve decided that my mission as a professional musician is to find ways to give back to my LGBTQ community through music and offer my community the safety and healing that music has shown me,” expresses John Heffernan, a violinist and ...
