Each February for the past 27 years, Dennis Northway has convened musicians to perform the work of George Frideric Handel in Oak Park. Not the Messiah that appears with metronomic regularity each Christmas, nor even the Water Music or Royal Fireworks that surface on classical radio, but the unfamiliar catalog that gradually receded from public memory after Handel’s death. Even after relocating from Chicagoland to the Pacific Northwest, Northway has returned annually to sustain this unlikely tradition.
That there is a Handel Week Festival at all feels something like a miracle. The composer who once dominated European musical life now occupies a peculiar position: universally recognized for a single oratorio, largely unknown for everything else. Yet here, in the sanctuary of Pilgrim Congregational Church, the thread holds.
Joyce DiDonato and Time for Three perform Emily — No Prisoner Be this week in Chicago. Kevin Puts composed this evening-length song cycle specifically for these artists, weaving together 26 movements that create a continuous, immersive journey through Emily Dickinson’s poetry. With Puts’ prior collaborations with both DiDonato and Time for Three, this promises to be something truly special. Ticket and concert information.
Oak Park’s Handel Week Festival kicks off this Sunday, February 15, at Pilgrim Congregational Church, just a few blocks from my house. I had no idea this festival existed until recently, and I’m genuinely surprised to find it practically in my backyard. Not sure what to expect from a mid-February dose of baroque music, but I’m counting on it to chase away the winter blues.
The same weekend Chicago City Opera presents Massenet’s Cendrillon at The Checkout. It’s a gem that doesn’t get performed as often as La Bohème or Carmen. Its melodies are accessible and moving, the story is timeless, and it’s a genuine treat for anyone who loves beautiful music.
At the end of the month, Klaus Mäkelä returns for what promises to be a concert you won’t want to miss. Mäkelä’s program pairs Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen Legends with Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben. His approach to Sibelius has divided critics, but having a music director genuinely invested in the Finnish master bodes well for Chicago. Just as Muti shaped the CSO’s lyrical sensibility, Mäkelä’s understanding of Sibelius may bring new shading to the orchestra’s collective sound.
Seattle Opera has announced its 2026/27 season. Staying true to its recent tradition of one concert performance per season, the company will present Léo Delibes’s Lakmé in concert. They’ll also stage Gabriela Lena Frank’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego, an opera that Lyric Opera of Chicago presents this spring. Seattle Opera’s latest concert performance was Strauss’s Daphne, reviewed by Lisa Hirsch here and Thomas May here. Meanwhile, San Francisco Opera’s 2026/27 season brings Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and Wagner’s Das Rheingold, the latter launching a complete Ring cycle that culminates in 2028.
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: a citywide singalong.
The program follows the same winning formula: highlights from Handel’s Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks, plus choral favorites, but adds “Hallelujah, Chicago,” inviting the entire city to join in singing the “Hallelujah” Chorus from Messiah.
In the lead up to Music of the Baroque’s emerald anniversary season, they are making last season’s performances free to view for a limited time. This week, Handel’s Theodora is on offer.
Handel’s Theodora isn’t one of his most frequently performed works, but those who know it tend to hold it close. Premiered in 1750 and largely overlooked in its day, this oratorio trades the grandiosity of Messiah for something more poignant and intimate. It tells the story of a Christian martyr and her Roman lover, not with bombast, but with music of startling tenderness and quiet strength. Music of the Baroque’s performance invites a fresh hearing of a work that Handel himself considered one of his best.
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 its growth. But beyond entertainment, these stories also offered allegory and moral lessons, appealing to audiences seeking philosophical themes. This realm of gods, myth, and magic formed a loose programmatic thread through the January program of Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. The evening in Harris Theater off the city’s Michigan Avenue featured three pieces from different music “gods” and Marc Minkowski’s debut with the orchestra.
Gathering Note 