Chicago Classical Review

28/06/2025

Giancarlo Guerrero and the Grant Park Orchestra went underground Friday night for a bracing performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 at the Harris Theater.

One repeat on Saturday.

Giancarlo Guerrero has not put a foot wrong in his early weeks as artistic director of the Grant Park Orchestra. A tempest couldn’t dampen the exuberance of his debut in Mendelssohn and Bernstein, and he led a rousing Mahler 1 last week. 

28/06/2025

Jonathan Burton's powerful performance as Canio led an impressive production of Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" by Opera Festival of Chicago Friday night in Skokie.

One repeat 2 p.m. Sunday at North Shore Center.

https://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2025/06/opera-festival-of-chicago-caps-fifth-season-with-an-impressive-pagliacci/

26/06/2025

The Imani Winds performed Valerie Coleman's "Phenomenal Women" Wednesday night at the Grant Park Music Festival, with Giancarlo Guerrero also leading music of Mozart and Vaughan Williams.

https://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2025/06/guerrero-gpo-and-imani-winds-serve-up-variety-celebrate-women/

21/06/2025

Giancarlo Guerrero and the Grant Park Orchestra made a convincing case for the original version of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 Friday night. A trumpet concerto by Arturo Marquez highlighted the Latin-American first half.

One repeat Saturday night.

If Giancarlo Guerrero’s first concert as artistic director and principal conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival was impressive as much for perseverance as musical results—during a virtual monsoon—on Friday night, the Costa Rican conductor gave notice that he truly has the podium bona fides...

20/06/2025

Riccardo Muti led the CSO in an intense and dramatic account of the Verdi Requiem Thursday night to close the orchestra's season.

Three repeats through Tuesday.

When the current Chicago Symphony Orchestra season was announced last year, there was much excitement that Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust would be presented, conducted by Riccardo Muti. Many subscribers were looking forward to Berlioz’s légende dramatique with anticipation in what would be th...

19/06/2025

Wednesday night's deluge failed to dampen the exuberant performances of the Grant Park Orchestra in Giancarlo Guerrero's first appearance of the summer as the lakefront festival's new artistic director and principal conductor.

Conductor Giancarlo Guerrero was being ironic in his spoken remarks Wednesday evening at Millennium Park. For awhile it looked like the day’s rain was going to clear up in time for Guerrero’s first appearance in his role as the Grant Park Music Festival’s new artistic director and principal co...

14/06/2025

Christopher Bell led the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus in a satisfying journey from Earth to the cosmos with music of Boulanger, Jake Runestad and Gustav Holst Friday night.

One repeat on Saturday.

For many local devotees of the Grant Park Music Festival, the real symphonic action begins the first weekend of the summer series. That’s when the programming often kicks into a higher gear, striking a more adventuresome balance between popular classics and unfamiliar music. It’s a winning formu...

13/06/2025

Riccardo Muti is back in town to lead the final two weeks of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra season. And principal trumpet Esteban Batallán has returned to the fold as well, making his CSO solo concerto debut in works by Telemann and Michael Haydn Thursday night.

https://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2025/06/a-trumpeter-returns-to-sound-again-with-muti-cso/

12/06/2025

The Grant Park Music Festival opened Wednesday night with excellent performances and some logistical disarray.

https://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2025/06/grant-park-orchestra-launches-summer-with-musical-excellence-logistical-challenges/

11/06/2025

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is putting its MusicNOW series "on pause" for the 2025-26 season, leaving the future of the orchestra's new-music series in doubt.

https://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2025/06/cso-puts-musicnow-on-pause-leaving-future-of-new-music-series-in-doubt/

09/06/2025

Víkingur Ólafsson returned to Chicago on Sunday, drawing a packed audience to Symphony Center for luminous performances of music of Bach, Beethoven and Schubert.

The three-week Van Cliburn Competition reached its climax Saturday night with Aristo Sham of China winning the Gold Medal.

07/06/2025

The North Shore Chamber Music Festival marked its 15th anniversary with a program of romantic works Friday night in Northbrook.

The series closes with a final program Saturday night.

The North Shore Chamber Music Festival (NSCMF) is celebrating its 15th anniversary this season, once again offering its customary three-concert series at Northbrook’s Village Presbyterian Church during the first week of June.