Spring is struggling to take hold here in the Midwest. Just when you think warm temperatures and sunshine are here to stay, a cold spell with rain arrives to dampen the mood. Still, the weather won’t stop the summer classical music season from arriving in mid-June.
Classical music sounds better in the summer, at least to my ears. And it’s not just the music—it’s where it’s played: outdoor bandshells, rural hideouts, rustic auditoriums, and expansive lawns. Freed from the formality of the great concert halls, the music breathes differently, more freely, even when the conditions are less than ideal.
I’ve been fostering a side hustle as a part-time freelance music critic since the late ’90s, when I was slogging through law school. Writing about music in Iowa and the Quad Cities helped me survive those grueling academic years. But when summer arrived, everything changed. I stopped using music as a means of escape and started experiencing it as a source of joy. Completely. Whether it was chamber recitals at the local Unitarian church or evenings at Ravinia in Highland Park, those concerts—and the many that followed—came to define summer for me.
The summer of 2025 will be my first full summer in a new city. Last year was all about settling in, arguably the worst part of any move. But this year, I’m ready to see what the area has to offer classical music lovers like me. Here are a few events I’m especially looking forward to.
Des Moines Metro Opera Festival
Held annually in Indianola, this festival remains one of the most rewarding ways to experience opera. While its higher-profile siblings—like the Santa Fe Opera—tend to grab national attention, the intimacy of the Pote Theater offers something rare: immediacy. In a medium that can feel distant or overly grand, this venue brings the drama right to your seat. Last season even drew praise from New Yorker critic Alex Ross. This season’s lineup is especially compelling, with The Rake’s Progress, The Cunning Little Vixen, and The Flying Dutchman anchoring the season. Together, they make a strong case for a summer road trip to Indianola.
Presented by Classical Music Chicago, the free Rush Hour Concerts are a warm-weather counterpart to the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts. Designed to give downtown office workers a midweek musical reprieve, the series offers 45-minute chamber programs on Tuesday evenings throughout the summer. It’s an ideal way to wind down after work. This season includes the Kontras Quartet performing Ives’s First String Quartet, violist Matthew Lipman in Brahms’s two viola sonatas, and the Chen String Quartet premiering a new piece by Augusta Read Thomas for strings and percussion.
This year marks Giancarlo Guerrero’s debut as Music Director of the Grant Park Music Festival. Whether you opt for a reserved seat near the bandshell or a picnic spot on the lawn, each program offers something to savor. Among the highlights are Guerrero’s June performances of Mahler’s First Symphony, a work whose earthy grandeur feels perfectly suited to open-air listening. The program also includes the Chicago premiere of Arturo Márquez’s Concierto de Otoño, featuring trumpet virtuoso Pacho Flores, its dedicatee, as soloist. Later in August, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges performs Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs—a modern classic—paired with Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration.
The early music specialists at Haymarket Opera present Leonardo Vinci’s rarely performed Artaserse at DePaul’s Holtschneider Performance Center. The 4-hour Italian drama will also be the company’s second recording project with Chicago classical label Cedille—a treat for fans of Baroque opera.
This year’s Ravinia lineup includes standout concerts from both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Haymarket Opera. For the CSO’s residency, American music and Tchaikovsky share the spotlight. On July 12, the orchestra performs Gershwin’s Concerto in F with Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist, paired with Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony. On July 27, principal clarinetist Stephen Williamson takes center stage for Copland’s Clarinet Concerto. Then, on August 3, cellist Zlatomir Fung joins the CSO for Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations and Fourth Symphony. Marin Alsop conducts all three programs. On August 24, Haymarket Opera makes its Ravinia debut with Handel’s Alcina, a work rich in fantasy and magic.
This local organization nurtures emerging singers through intensive vocal coaching and opportunities to perform in fully staged productions with orchestra. Throughout the summer, it presents both familiar and lesser-known works in the intimate setting of Roosevelt University’s Ganz Hall. This season’s highlights include a double bill of Gianni Schicchi and The Medium, as well as a production of Ariadne auf Naxos—offering opera lovers plenty to savor while awaiting the Lyric Opera’s return in the fall.
Pacific Northwest Honorable Mention: Music on the Strait
While preparing this blog post, co-directors James Garlick and Richard O’Neill announced details for their 2025 festival, which will run from August 30th to September 6th. The duo launched the festival in 2018 to bring chamber music to their hometown of Port Angeles. In its early years, performances rotated between a local church and college. Today, half the concerts take place in the town’s new Field Hall, a striking venue perched at the edge of town overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Composer Gabriela Lena Frank will serve as composer-in-residence, and Reynaldo Hahn’s Piano Quintet is featured on the September 1st program. Hahn also makes a brief appearance in The First Homosexuals exhibit at Wrightwood 659, which is well worth a visit if you’re in Chicago.
Discover more from Gathering Note
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Gathering Note 