During the 2017/18 season, the Pilgrim Chamber Players presented a concert of mostly Baroque music for the first time. Harpsichordist Jory Vinikour was joined by musicians who are Baroque specialists performing Bach’s great Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 and a Trio Sonata. Vinikour presented a mini recital of harpsichord solos by the French composer Jean Philippe Rameau. The program also included a rarely heard …

Pianist and conductor Vladimir Feltsman is one of the most versatile and constantly interesting musicians of our time. His vast repertoire encompasses music from the Baroque to 21st-century composers. He has appeared with all the major American orchestras and on the most prestigious musical stages and festivals worldwide. On June 8, 2018, Feltsman played at the Ravinia Festival’s Martin Theater with a …

This year’s Rush Hour Concert Series at St. James Cathedral wrapped up with the music of Leonard Bernstein, joining the worldwide celebration of his centennial in 2018. The program on August 28 opened with the Sonata, Op. 1, originally written for clarinet and adapted for viola by Raphael Hillyer, a friend and recital partner of Bernstein. Then, the Cathedral Choir and …

With unparalleled artistry and enduring vigor, the Juilliard String Quartet continues to inspire audiences around the world. Founded in 1946, and widely known as “the quintessential American string quartet,” the Juilliard draws on a deep and vital engagement to the classics, while embracing the mission of championing new works, a vibrant combination of the familiar and the daring. The quartet visited the Ravinia …

This week at St. James Cathedral’s Rush Hour Concert Series, the KAIA String Quartet performed a concert titled “Cuarteto” featuring music of José Bragato and Astor Piazzolla. KAIA is a Chicago-based ensemble devoted to capturing the essence of Latin American culture through the medium of the string quartet. It was the first ensemble-in-residence with WFMT where they performed, curated, and exposed audiences to new …

Acclaimed as “one of the pre-eminent period-instrument ensembles” (The Independent, London), Apollo’s Fire is named for the classical god of music and the sun. Founded by Jeannette Sorrell to revive the Baroque ideal that music should evoke the various Affekts or passions in the listeners, Apollo’s Fire is a collection of creative artists who share Sorrell’s passion for drama and rhetoric. The ensemble presented a program titled …

The Rush Hour Concert Series is presented every Tuesday evening during the summertime in downtown Chicago’s St. James Cathedral. The free series offers short, high-quality chamber music performances in an intimate and informal setting. This concert from August 14, 2018, was dedicated to the late founder and artistic director of the Rush Hour Concert Series, Deborah Sobol. The Avalon String Quartet and …

This week, we have more music from the 2018 North Shore Chamber Music Festival, located at the Village Presbyterian Church in Northbrook, Illinois. The NSCMF was founded in 2010 by violinist Vadim Gluzman and pianist Angela Yoffe in a quest to provide Chicago’s North Shore with musical experiences of the same caliber and quality as those found in Metropolitan Chicago and the …

In this concert from June 4, 2018, Francesco Lecce-Chong leads the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in “Jupiter” from Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite “The Planets.” American conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong has garnered acclaim for his dynamic performances, commitment to innovative programming, and profound engagement in community outreach. In the 2017-2018 season, he was appointed music director of the Eugene Symphony. In the same season, …

Many musicians dream to perform on the stage of Orchestra Hall with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The Crain-Maling Foundation Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition makes this dream come true for one young musician every year. On Saturday, March 3, four young pianists competed for the opportunity to perform with the CSO during a student concert in the 2018/19 season. For …

Third Coast Baroque is a versatile ensemble comprised of “Chicago’s most accomplished period instrumentalists and singers” (Chicago Tribune) under the artistic direction of conductor Rubén Dubrovsky. The ensemble seeks to take Baroque music to the people of Chicago and beyond by removing barriers of location and setting, focusing on accessibility, educating audiences about the diverse influences that underlie the Baroque …

The North Shore Chamber Music Festival was founded in 2010 by violinist Vadim Gluzman and pianist Angela Yoffe in a quest to provide Chicago’s North Shore with musical experiences of the same caliber and quality as those found in Metropolitan Chicago and the great halls of the world, but within a very intimate and welcoming environment. The Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky …

Founded in the fall of 1990, Rembrandt Chamber Musicians features six of the most highly accomplished musicians in the Chicago area, including principal members of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The ensemble’s expansive repertoire, ranging from historically informed performances of Baroque classics to contemporary works by local composers, has consistently garnered high praise and recognition. Hear the Rembrandt Chamber Musicians play …

Praised for their “high level of musicality and technical ability” and for their “clean, clear and precise sound,” the award-winning Axiom Brass Quintet has quickly established itself as “one of the major art music groups in brass chamber music.” The ensemble performed at the Rush Hour Concert Series on July 17, 2018, at St. James Cathedral in downtown Chicago. The program “Limitless” journeyed through time and space, visually …

A rite of spring in the Chicago area, Bach Week Festival was founded in 1974 by Karel Paukert, then associate professor of Organ and Church Music at Northwestern University and Organist/Choirmaster at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Mr. Paukert combined St. Luke’s renowned choirs with professional instrumentalists from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera Orchestra and Northwestern with a mission in mind – to …

This Rush Hour Concert from July 3, 2018, at St. James Cathedral was an all-American program with members of the Fifth House Ensemble – Charlene Kluegel, violin; Herine Coetzee Koschak, cello; and Katherine Petersen, piano. They played Amy Beach’s Piano Trio and Paul Schoenfeld’s Café Music. Fifth House Ensemble taps the collaborative spirit of chamber music to create engaging performances and interactive educational programs, forging meaningful partnerships with …

The Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra is the largest performing arts organization in Chicago’s southern suburbs, providing professional orchestral music of beauty and excellence to the region. The IPO’s repertoire ranges from Baroque and Classical masterpieces, to world premieres and modern favorites. The concert on October 14 at Trinity Christian College’s Ozinga Chapel not only opened the orchestra’s main series for the 2017-18 season, …

Combined ensembles from Northwestern University presented this program on May 26 & 27 in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. “Twilight of an Empire” featured two distinctly different Russian composers whose music exemplified the end of the Romantic era and the dawn of the next. Rachmaninoff’s The Bells was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem of the same name. Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 2 in D …

Throughout the year, St. John Cantius Church in Chicago offers music events as well as sacred music for the church’s various masses and devotions. Sunday masses regularly feature Gregorian chant and musical offerings from several choirs, ranging from the Renaissance period and the Viennese choral tradition to modern choral works that are consonant with the Roman tradition of sacred music. …

The Chicago Duo Piano Festival was founded in 1988 by Music Institute of Chicago faculty members Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem. Its mission is to foster a deeper interest in the repertoire, performance, and teaching of music for piano, four hands and two pianos, in a fun and supportive atmosphere. The Festival offers summer and winter events which include coachings, …

The Kruger Brothers teamed up with the Kontras Quartet on January 9th, 2018, at the Athenaeum Theatre for an evening of collaborative classical and folk music. Composed in 2010, the Appalachian Concerto is a work for banjo, bass, guitar, and string quartet. It was composed in the form of a classical concerto, and was written to reflect the cultural history of …

Winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, flutist Demarre McGill is acclaimed for his “richly saturated tone, spirited technique and expressive warmth” and has quickly become one of the most sought-after flutists of his generation. He enjoys an active career as a leading soloist, recitalist, artistic director and chamber musician. McGill performs Wilhelm Popp’s Rigoletto Fantasy for Flute and Piano …

Rush Hour Concerts at St. James Cathedral in Chicago were founded by Deborah Sobol in 2000. The series aims to reinvent the traditional classical music concert format by presenting short, high-quality chamber music performances in an intimate and informal setting. Each free 30-minute concert is performed by world-class musicians from Chicago ensembles including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of …

Founded in 1919, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago has trained thousands of the nation’s finest emerging professional musicians while presenting free concerts at Symphony Center and in schools and other neighborhood venues throughout the Chicago area. On January 21, 2017, the Civic Orchestra was led by Rossen Milanov in Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.