Gathering Note

Tag: Chicago

  • Fall highlights from Chicago’s 25/26 classical music season

    Fall highlights from Chicago’s 25/26 classical music season

    Labor Day has passed, taking with it the last illusions of summer leisure. What follows, as reliably as the shortening days, is the arrival of a new classical music and opera season. Chicago’s 2025–26 offerings promise the usual abundance of repertoire and revivals, along with a handful of events that seem more like occasions than…

  • Experience Handel’s Water Music on the Chicago River

    Experience Handel’s Water Music on the Chicago River

    After last year’s debut, Music of the Baroque is bringing back The Chicago Water Music to the Chicago River on Wednesday, September 10th. Dame Jane Glover will once again lead the ensemble from aboard the “Bright Star” as it travels from Ogden Slip to Merchandise Mart, but this year comes with an ambitious new twist:…

  • Jaap van Zweden returns with a blazing Mahler Sixth

    Jaap van Zweden returns with a blazing Mahler Sixth

    Jaap van Zweden returned to Orchestra Hall this week to lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in two commanding performances of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony. Whether by design or coincidence, this symphony has become something of a calling card for the Dutch maestro during his visits to Chicago. Van Zweden was on the podium the last two…

  • CMS musicians bring warmth and vitality to Harris Theater performance of Schubert, Mozart and W.F. Bach

    Originally published on Seen and Heard International Chicago’s classical music scene is undeniably shaped by the towering presence of the Lyric Opera and the Chicago Symphony, institutions that draw crowds with their scale and prestige. Against this backdrop, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s series at the Harris Theater stands out as a quieter,…

  • Remembering Charles Ives with the Chicago Sinfonietta

    Charles Ives, one of America’s most adventurous composers, pushed the boundaries of classical music with his polytonal chaos, dissonances and American echoes. Yet, despite these innovations, he remains underappreciated compared to figures like Aaron Copland. In celebration of Ives’ 150th birthday last year, historian Joseph Horowitz is leading a campaign to elevate his legacy. Through…

  • Christian Tetzlaff dazzles in Sibelius Violin Concerto; Afkham and the CSO bring Schoenberg to life

    Christian Tetzlaff dazzles in Sibelius Violin Concerto; Afkham and the CSO bring Schoenberg to life

    Originally published on Seen and Heard International Violinist Christian Tetzlaff and guest conductor David Afkham headlined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s concert series this weekend. The German duo presented a program of works by Richard Wagner, Jean Sibelius, and Arnold Schoenberg – three selections that highlight the shifting landscape of classical music at the turn of…

  • Sibelius, Schoenberg, and the CSO — a must-hear concert this week

    This week, Chicago audiences will have the chance to hear one of the world’s foremost violinists, Christian Tetzlaff, take on Sibelius’ haunting Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Under the baton of David Afkham, the program also features Schoenberg’s Pelléas und Melisande, a lush, late-Romantic tone poem that offers a fascinating contrast to the…

  • Esa-Pekka Salonen and organist Iveta Apkalna bring Sinfonia concertante to life in Chicago debut

    Originally published on Seen and Heard International The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has returned home to Orchestra Hall after a successful tour through Florida, New York and Oklahoma, launching an anticipated two-week residency with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Salonen, a dynamic force in contemporary music, steps onto the Chicago podium at a transitional moment in his career,…

  • Minkowski Takes Leap from Baroque to Classical with Jupiter and Les Boréades

    Originally published on Seen and Heard International Gods and mythology long influenced music, especially during the Baroque and Classical periods. This era saw a cultural shift, drawing greater and greater inspiration from pre-Christian societies. The larger-than-life characters of mythology offered spectacle and theatricality, especially for Baroque opera. They provided dramatic material for the genre, fueling…

  • “Let the door be shut and bolted”

    Esa-Pekka Salonen joins the CSO for a two-week residency focusing on Bartók. In week one, Salonen pairs the Concerto for Orchestra with his own Sinfonia Concertante for organ and orchestra, while in week two Bluebeard’s Castle shares the stage with Beethoven’s Second Symphony. As of this afternoon, there are still ample tickets available for Bluebeard’s…