Stories

US artist Leigh recasts colonial imagery at Venice Biennale

Simone Leigh’s 16-foot bronze bust of a Black woman, titled Brick House, presides over the entrance.

Michael San GabinoMay 25, 2016

Stanisław Moniuszko: The Most Famous Polish Composer You Don’t Know (But Should)

Stephen RaskauskasMay 16, 2016

How Grammy Award-Winning Jazz Singer Kurt Elling Developed His Chops Singing Motets by J.S. Bach

Michael San GabinoMay 12, 2016

5 Rising Stars in Classical Music Who Got Their Start in Chicago

Grant Park Music Festival’s “Pastoral Picnic in White” in Pictures

Michael San GabinoJuly 29, 2019

A flurry of white dresses and shirts, white tablecloths and candelabras sprinkled the Great Lawn in Millennium Park as patrons celebrated the Grant Park Music Festival’s annual “Pastoral Picnic in White” on Saturday, July 27. Originally inspired by a 1988 gathering at the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, the Grant Park Music Festival joins thousands of similar “Dinners in White” ...

the mcgill brothers pose in front of the strikingly modern pritzker pavilion in millennium park

Video: The McGill Brothers Return Home for Grant Park Music Festival Debut

Keegan MorrisJuly 26, 2019

The Chicago-born brothers reflect on their first forays into music, their ongoing support of young arts organizations, and their debut performances at their hometown Grant Park Music Festival.

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Maestro Mariss Jansons (Photo: Bayerischer Rundfunk)

Conductor Mariss Jansons on Shostakovich’s “Leningrad” Symphony, Music, and Politics

Michael San GabinoApril 10, 2016

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7, titled “Leningrad,” was written during one of the most horrific sieges in history. From 1941 to 1944, Hitler’s army surrounded Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and over one million civilians died. Conductor Mariss Jansons, renowned for his interpretations of Shostakovich symphonies, has a particularly interesting connection to Leningrad. Jansons was born in Soviet-controlled Latvia. Later, he would ...

Leif Ove Andsnes (Photo: Gregor Hohenberg)

Leif Ove Andsnes on Becoming Beethoven, Brahms

Stephen RaskauskasApril 8, 2016

"I just finished a four year Beethoven journey where I immersed myself in the music of this great composer, especially his five piano concertos," says Andsnes. "I basically just played Beethoven for years."

The Truth About the “Worst Singer of All Time,” Florence Foster Jenkins, Told by Her Accompanist

Stephen RaskauskasMarch 30, 2016

Florence Foster Jenkins couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. Yet, she made her Carnegie Hall debut to a completely sold-out house on October 25, 1944.

Through the Night with Peter van de Graaff