Summer 2011 Issue of Clef Notes Chicagoland Journal for the Arts

Clef N tes Chicagoland Journal for the Arts Summer 2011

Lyle's Large Life The artist talks about his life, his roots, his Large Band, and their upcoming performance at Ravinia.

Paris Comes to Millennium Park

A preview of the historic Paris OpĂŠra Ballet as they kick off their American tour at Harris Theater.

+ 25 YEARS

& COUNTING

Chicago Shakespeare Theatre celebrates a quarter century celebrating the quintessential bard.

a Legacy unveiled

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art examines the impact of the Stein family and the passion they inspired in American appreciation for modern art.

2nd Anniversary Issue!

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Contents Summer 2011

32 CNCJA

FEATURES

25 In This Quarter Year

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre's amazing production of "Revelations," performed this spring at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University is just one of the many performances we review "In This Quarter Year."

35 Street Smarts Chicago Lakeview's Theatre Wit is making quite a name for itself serving up a bold brand of "smart art" in a fresh new take on the traditional Chicago storefront theater experience.

44 Science Lab 2.0 The Museum of Science and Industry is inspring young minds with a lab experience that takes them from the class room to the operating table. We take a look at the intriguing way MSI is using lab science to create a once-in-a-lifetime educational experience for Chicago students every day.

Above: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre's Glenn Allen Sims, Briana Reed, and Linda Celeste Sims in Alvin Ailey's "Revelations." Photo by Paul Kolnik.

52 Paris Comes to Millennium Park

Paris OpĂŠra Ballet Company kicks off an exciting American tour right in Chicago's backyard with a performance at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance.

Summer 2011CNCJAâ&#x20AC;˘5

From the Publisher’s Desk

Clef N tes

Photo courtesy of The City of Chicago

One of the things I love most about summer is the kind of inspiration it fosters, infusing everyChicagoland Journal for the Arts thing with new life and fresh energy—new life within nature, of course, but also with respect to Summer 2011 the arts and culture community. Chicago’s summers are a time of transition for culture lovers because the long cycle of events that span the cultural calendar comes to an end in June, inspiring Publisher us to venture outdoors to explore the incredible pairing of nature’s beauty and cultural excellence.

D. Webb For instance, on display this summer in Millennium Park is a striking new installation by Mexican-born artist Yvonne Domenge called Interconnected. It’s comprised of a dazzling series of sculptures that examines the organic fluidity of geometric shapes. One of its most impressive Editorial pieces is a vibrant, fluid sculpture called "The Tree of Life." Depicting life’s energy, and aptly Editor placed within Millennium Park’s beautiPatrick M. Curran II ful Boeing Gallery, the piece stands as a wonderful symbol of the power of pubEditorial Support lic art, something Chicago is a master of Christopher Hopper promoting. And summer is a time when Candice Tripp public art like Interconnected thrives like no other.

Staff Writers and Venezuelan artist and social advocate Vik Muniz, recent recipient of the USA Contributors Networks' "Character Approved Award," Fred Cummings is a huge proponent of public art and the Emily Disher transformative power that it can have in Dinah Grossman an urban setting. This spring, our Editor, Holly Huffstutler Patrick Curran, spent time with the soAlex Keown cially conscience artist and sought to disDavid Kulma cover his muse. What he uncovered about Karl Plath Muniz is remarkable.

Daniel Scurek Naturally, the biggest impact Myron Silberstein Chicagoland's characteristically long David Weiss winters have on our appetite for culture Alexandra Zajac is the need to enjoy arts amid nature and the beauty summer brings. And what better way to do that than on the gorgeous Graphics greens of Ravinia’s Highland Park camArt Director pus? We were fortunate enough to have a chance to talk with recording artist Lyle Phillip Carlton Lovett in advance of his 15th appearance "Tree of Life" from Interconnected by artist Yvonne Domenge. at the popular summer music festival.

Contributing Photographer A musician with a signature style, and Jason M. Reese an infectious love for his art, Mr. Lovett revealed some intriguing insights into his own inspirations and a passion for heritage and home Graphics & Design Specialists that goes deep into the grain of his life and work, and that resonates with fans here in the Midwest.

Chelsea Davis Of course, if you're talking summer and Chicago arts, there’s no better place to enjoy their Angela Chang interplay than on Chicago's historic Navy Pier. Standing at the very end of Navy Pier and gazing back at one of the nation’s greatest skylines is as breathtaking the first time as it is the next.

Combine that view with a Ferris wheel, fireworks, and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (CST) and Advertising you’ve really got something unique in the world. This summer, Barbara Gains, artistic director of Publisher’s Representatives CST, is preparing to celebrate 25 years of championing the bard on Chicago’s beautiful lakefront.

The Lyon Group, LLC With a star studded gala celebration and some amazing works on their calendar, it promises to be 847.853.7001 a wonderful new season.

And that’s one thing that the summer also brings, an opportunity to look at what lies beSponsorships fore us. Clef Notes is thrilled to look ahead to our third year of bringing you great coverage of Jason Montgomery Chicagoland’s outstanding arts and culture. It’s been a terrific ride for us. I, personally, would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our readers, for your avid support of our magazine.

Subscriptions Many thanks, Chicago. Have a great summer!

Clef Notes is published quarterly (March, June, September and December) each year. An annual Sincerely, subscription to the magazine may be purchased by mailing a check or money order for $18 to Clef Notes Publishing, Inc. 5815 N. Sheridan Road, Suite 1107, Chicago, IL 60660. Bulk rates are also available.

D.Webb Credit card purchases may be secured online at ClefNotesJournal.com or by calling 773.741.5502.

Publisher

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Copyright © 2011 Clef Notes Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the USA.

Contents Summer 2011

36 CNCJA

DEPARTMENTS

20 Curatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Corner: Americans In Paris

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exhibit explores the role one family of art lovers played in the development of Amerca's ever growing taste for modern art.

36 Cover Story: Conversation with Lyle Lovett In a conversation about his music and what drives his work, the artist opens up about his family's influence and a special place he calls home.

40 Shall We Dance?: Lightning in a Bottle Over the past 30 years, the Mark Morris Dance Group has built an extraordinary reputation of excellence based upon a deeply seeded passion for modern dance and all that it extols.

62 Preview: 25 Years and Counting On the Cover and Above: Singer, songwriter and Grammy winning recording artist Lyle Lovett. Photo by Michael Wilson.

Chicago Shakespeare Theatre gets set to celebrate a quarter-century of celebrating England's most revered playwright with a star studded season that includes Tony award winner and internationally celebrated actor Ian McDiarmid in the rarely produced Timon of Athens.

Summer 2011CNCJAâ&#x20AC;˘7

scuttlebutt Letters from our readers...

Finding Inspiration Thank you for sharing your beautiful article on Vivian Maier, the Northshore nanny, in your recent ("Finding Vivian Maier- Chicago Street Photographer" - Spring 2011) issue. The fact that her life's work in photography really didn't get revealed until after her death says so much about her love of photography. It was very inspiring to see such beautiful photos and know that she never once, with all her talent, really sought recognition.

Kitty Anderson Chicago - Streeterville

enjoy the entire

Photo from Finding Vivian Maier: Chicago Street Photographer (Photos by Vivian Maier and courtesy of The City Of Chicago).

Fanfare's Fanfare I'm glad (Clef Notes) published the recent article on Joan Harris and the benefit in her honor ("Uncommon Fanfare for an Uncommon Woman" - Spring 2011) and I was fortunate enough to attend the recent gala Harris Theater.

I don't think that arts philanthopy is really given the credit it is owed. We take a great deal for granted in Chicago. With institutions like The Chicago Symphony and Goodman Theatre as a mainstay of our city's arts calendar, people really don't understand just how much people like Joan Harris do to enhance the lives of those that live here in the city.

Their contributions to keep the high calibur of performances at our concert halls is invaluable.

Joan Harris (Photo courtesy of The Harris Theater for Music and Dance).

I honestly can't imagine how different our city would be without them. I hope I never have to know.

Daniel Dykstra Chicago - Lincoln Park

Sweet Review (or not)

Readers may submit letters to Feedback, Clef Notes Publishing, Inc. 5815 N. Sheridan Road, Suite 1107, Chicago, IL 60660 or via E-mail to Feedback@ClefNotesJournal.com.

No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the express written consent of the publisher. Clef Notes Publishing makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the magazine’s content. However, we cannot be held responsible for any consequence arising from errors or omissions.

8•CNCJASummer 2011

I thought that your review of the Garfield Park Conservatory's Sweet Saturdays exhibit missed the whole point of the exhibit. Yes, there may have been docents that weren't as knowledgeable as others, and perhaps there could have been more information about the plants featured in the exhibit, but the artcle missed exactly what the photos it featured showed: the interest it inspired in the children who attended.

Every exhibit can't be Sue the Dinosaur, but every one should inspire a genuine interest in their subject matter.

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November 5 & 6 2011

HALLELUJAH BROADWAY September 17 2011

Photo courtesy of BAD BOYS of DANCE

ON STAGE WITH… SUSAN WERNER

AXIS DANCE COMPANY

November 19 & 20 2011

AXIS Dance Company in ‘Vessel’ choreographed by Alex Ketley. Dancers Alice Sheppard, Rodney Bell, Janet Das, & Sonshéree Giles. Photo by Andrea Flores.

Photo by Asia Kepka.

BATSHEVA DANCE COMPANY March 17 & 18 2012

DRUMLINE LIVE October 29 & 30 2011

‘MAX’ by Ohad Naharin. Photo: Gadi Dagon.

BOSTON POPS ESPLANADE ORCHESTRA WITH ROCKAPELLA

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE GISELLE March 22 – 25 2012

Keith Lockhart.

Photo by Michael Lutch.

Julie Kent in Giselle. Photo by Fabrizio Ferri. © American Ballet Theatre. All rights reserved.

November 30 2011

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Out and About

T

The Music Institute of Chicago, now in its 81st year, welcomed nearly 520 guests to its annual gala Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago, 120 East Delaware Place.

The Music Institute of Chicago is the oldest community music school in Illinois and one of the three largest community music schools in the nation.

Chaired by Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols, the evening included cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, followed by an elegant dinner, live scholarship auction, and awards presentation. The prestigious Dushkin Award, established 25 years ago and named for the Music Institute of Chicago’s visionary founders Dorothy and David Dushkin, honors those who exemplify the spirit of the award as exceptional artists, music educators, and role models for young music students. This year’s recipient was internationally renowned conductor and Chicago Symphony Orchestra Music Director Riccardo Muti, who has conducted many of the world’s greatest orchestras during an extraordinary career spanning more than 40 years.

Honorary Chairs for The Music Institute’s 81st Anniversary Gala included John H. Bryan, Joan W. Harris and Cindy Pritzker, all of whom received the inaugural “Cultural Visionary Award for Chicago.” The event raised nearly $1.4 million from a combination of table sponsorships, ticket sales, auction proceeds, and outright contributions.

The Okemo String Quartet—Music Institute of Chicago Academy students Hansuh Rhee, Adé Williams, Josiah Yoo, and Mira Williams—performed a movement from the String Quartet No. 8 by Dimitri Shostakovich. Photo by Jennifer Girard.

Sandra and Jack Guthman (Chicago) were the recipients of the Music Institute of Chicago’s 2011 “Cultural Visionary Award for Chicago.” Photo by Jennifer Girard.

Members of the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy Chamber Orchestra interact with Maestro Riccardo Muti, who received the Music Institute’s distinguished Dushkin Award at the organization’s 81st Anniversary. Photo by Jennifer Girard.

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(Above) Joan Harris and Cindy Pritzker (both Chicago) were Honorary Chairs of the 81st Anniversary Gala. Photo by Robert F. Carl. (Left): Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association President Deborah Rutter (Chicago). Photo by Robert F. Carl; Lyric Opera Board Executive Vice President Kenneth Pigott (Chicago); 81st Anniversary Gala Chair and Music Institute of Chicago Board of Trustees Chair Alexandra C. Nichols (Winnetka); Jane DiRenzo Pigott (Chicago); and Peter Ellefson (Chicago). Photo by Jennifer Girard.

O

n Saturday, May 7, 2011, more than 550 guests attended Steppenwolf ’s Theatre Company’s Gala 2011, which kicked off at Steppenwolf Theatre Company with a showcase of scenes from Steppenwolf ’s recent production of The Hot L Baltimore. Guests were then shuttled two blocks south to Blackhawk on Halsted Street—a 15,000 square-foot space decked out in theatrically-inspired décor by Event Creative.

The evening continued with a cocktail reception and gourmet dinner prepared by Food for Thought Catering. The annual live auction featured once-ina-lifetime adventures with Steppenwolf ensemble members and artists, conducted by Chicago auctioneer Michael Davis of Hart David Hart Wine Co. Guests wrapped up the evening with dancing and live entertainment by Steppenwolf Co-Founder Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band and a late night DJ set with Toast & Jam. The star-studded event raising nearly $1 million for Steppenwolf ’s artistic and community programming.

Steppenwolf Co-founder and ensemble member Gary Sinise entertains with his Lt. Dan Band at Steppenwolf’s Gala 2011. Photo by Kyle Flubacker.

Gala Co-Chairs Michael R. Salem, Stephanie B. Smith, Carole L. Brown, Steppenwolf Board Chair Nora Daley Conroy and Kenneth J. Porrello.

Photo by Joan Hackett.

Steppenwolf Board Chair Nora Daley Conroy, Steppenwolf ensemble member Martha Plimpton and Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel. Photo by Joan Hackett.

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk and Steppenwolf Artistic Director Martha Lavey.

Photo by Joan Hackett.

Steppenwolf Trustee Sarah Beardsley and Steppenwolf ensemble member Amy Morton. Photo by Kyle Flubacker.

Summer 2011CNCJA•11

Photo courtesy of The City of Chicago

around town

"Wind Waves," "Coral," and "Tabachin Ribbon," from Interconnected by artist Yvonne Domenge in the Boeing Gallery of Millennium Park in Downtown Chicago.

12â&#x20AC;˘CNCJASummer 2011

I

Interconnected, sculptures of acclaimed Mexican artist Yvonne Domenge, is currently on view in Millennium Park’s Boeing Galleries through October 2012. The new installation frames the dramatic art and architecture of the park, enhancing one of Chicago’s most popular public spaces.

Presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in cooperation with Millennium Park, Inc., Interconnected is comprised of three fluid sculptures that examine Domenge’s fascination with organic shapes, form and geometry.

The largest piece, a bronze sculpture painted bright red entitled "Tree of Life," measures approximately 16 feet tall and sits in the North Boeing Gallery, along with two companion seeds measuring four feet wide by nine feet long. An age-old concept, the tree of life is a symbol of the connection between the underworld, the sky, and the terrestrial world in preColumbian cultures. The tree symbolizes life’s energy, and the seeds scattered beneath represent the beauty and fragility of new life.

The South Boeing Gallery boasts three steel spheres, "Tabachin Ribbon," a 13 foot tall yellow sculpture; "Wind Waves," a white sculpture measuring approximately 11 feet high; and "Coral," in blue, approximately 10 feet high. Domenge’s spheres defy gravity and space, conveying a rhythmic beauty and a sense of a larger universal order.

Born in Mexico City in 1946, Yvonne Domenge studied plastic arts at the Outremont School in Montreal, Canada, the Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D.C., and in Mexico City. Working in materials as diverse as wood, stone, clay, marble, cement, steel, and porcelain, Domenge has had more than 40 solo shows and participated in nearly 200 group exhibitions in cities across Mexico, the United States, Canada, Europe, and China, including the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

Her sculpture "Lily" recently won a gold medal at the Olympic Landscape Sculpture Design Contest in Beijing, China, and her work was selected to represent Mexico for the International Sculpture Biennale in Vancouver, Canada.

Summer 2011CNCJA•13

Unconventional Character

By PATRICK M. CURRAN II

Awards were presented in architecture, writing, food, and film. Brazialian artist Vik Muniz—now a resident of Brooklyn, New York—received the evening's award for art. Muniz is best known for his use of unconventional objects—such as chocolate syrup, trash, and threads—to recreate some of the

Artist Vik Muniz

14•CNCJASummer 2011

art world's most famous works. One such work was his 1999 recreation of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa in both Peanut Butter and Jelly.

However, it was Muniz's 2010 Oscar nomination for Best Documentary in Waste Land, that led others outside the art world to recognize his social awareness and artistic impact on popular American culture. I recently had the honor of interviewing this intruiging artist and found his passion for authenticity to be infectious.

Photo by Barney Kulok

T

his past March, the USA Networks honored 12 men and women in its first ever "Character Approved Awards" ceremony. The awards honored each individual's artistic impact on American culture and society.

PMC: You were recently awarded the USA Network’s Character Approved Award. What kind of impact do these types of awards have on you as an artist?

Approved) allows people to check out your work and see it for themselves and find out for themselves what they think about it.

VM: Well, I think, personally, it’s rewarding to know that what you’ve been working for, and in my case, that happens to be a hybrid between art and social progress, you know… To know it gets to be acknowledged outside the sphere of art is gratifying. I’ve been working with people in Brazil doing projects with youth that have been in danger of being recruited by drug traffickers. And also, recently, I’ve been working with other types of marginalized segments of society, and every time you hear that you get an award or a prize, I mean it’s a very rewarding. On the other hand, I do these things for people, but, somehow, it becomes a reward in and if itself. You know, you want to leave a legacy.

PMC: I know that at from an early age, you read Ovid’s Metamorphosis. What is it about that work that intrigued you most?

I have children and I see this as a very personal journey.

And for my children, I want to be an example. To realize that what you’ve been doing can attract the same passion that you get when you do it, and that you can make a change in people’s lives, and that that may inspire other people to do the same. For me, that’s very important.

PMC: Well, on the other hand, the work of artists like yourself is always subject to criticism. What impact does criticism have on your path?

VM: Oh, yeah. Well, that goes for regular media. It also goes for regular people. For instance, when I go to Brazil and there’s a guy in a pizza parlor and says, ‘Hey, we like your work. We like what you’re doing.’ This is all part of it. It gives you a sense that maybe you’re on the right track. You’re doing things that are recognized. And with television, especially in the case of Character Approved, you know, it’s a highly publicized event. It’s something that has a reach, has a public. It may inspire people that don't necessarily go to museums or galleries to share their own opinion because in the end, contemporary art is not just for the elite. It’s not a privilege. It’s a right. And anybody can get something out of it.

PMC: So you take criticism from art critics as well as you might someone off the street.

VM: Well, for me it’s all the same. And today, criticism has become very polarized. Everybody’s an editor, everybody’s a critic. That happens a lot. The way information gets diffused now, everyone is a blogger. Everybody has a some way to share their own opinion. It’s a completely different situation. And I think projects like (Character

VM: Yeah. Well, I like the idea of change. And that’s pretty much what Ovid’s book is about.

PMC: Is this where you developed your interest in Medusa?

VM: Well, that’s the funny thing. It would be easier to talk about what does not inspire me than what does.

Actually, my work is a very complex weave of references that cross each other. So, most of the time I use an icon. I use an archetype and that has a lot to do with recognition.

I use the Medusa for instance as a reference that causes a response to both beauty and ugliness at the same time.

PMC: So, you spent some time here in Chicago. I believe it was back in the 80s?

VM: Yeah, yeah. I lived in Northbrook.

PMC: Can you tell me a little about what inspirations you gleaned from living here in the Midwest?

VM: My first visit to America, I stayed about 8 months in Chicago. I really found it to be quiet. My intention was to come and learn English. And I ended up staying a little bit longer than I originally expected. And I came back to Chicago so many times. It really is a city that I love, doing fairs and spending time. And I had the opportunity to come back even recently, and for me, what’s important about it is the emphasis on public art. You know, I am now working with public art, and so I am making a link between government and you know public opinion. And so I’m trying to make art more accessible, you know, for everyone.

One thing I am trying to develop is a festival in Rio that’s going to develop public art. And Chicago has been an example of how democracy can impact public beauty.

How you can come up with a city that just gets more and more beautiful? It’s an example for public policy of art and architecture. I have always asked myself, “How can you work to create space within the city that reflects the city’s interests and enriches the city—how important art is toward that?" And that’s what is going on now, especially in Brazil. Chicago is such a great example of that. I would love to be able to bring that to Rio.

Summer 2011CNCJA•15

Tower of Flowers Macys' 2011 Flower Show the biggest in the company's history

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PhotoCourtesy of Macys

T

This spring, Macy’s Downtown State Street Store was all abloom with botanical beauty with its annual Flower Show. And in honor of this year’s theme, "Towers of Flowers," Macy’s created a floral replica inspired by Chicago's own Hancock Tower inside its flagship store. The structure towered 41 feet tall (or 3 stories high), the tallest flower show structure the annual event has ever seen. From 20-foot Bamboos to Quaking Aspen, Crab Apple and Hornbeam trees, Macy’s 2011 show featured a host of foliage that drew the eye onward and upward in a feast of the fragrances of spring.

In addition to serving as the official celebration for the start of the season, the Flower Show typically showcases some of Chicago’s most talented floral designers. These décor wizards bring to life a rotating Flower Show favorite—the Bouquet of the Day. The one-of-kind centerpiece creations convey the personal style of their designer. Whether traditional, contemporary, or abstract, these limited-time floral masterpieces are the highlight of the show.

Special events for the celebration included a March 28th pastry demonstration with Paula Haney of Hoosier Mama Pie Company, cooking up a feast of comfort food in Macy’s lower level culinary kitchen; performances by The Chicago Opera Theater's Young Artist Program; and a short performance of Working, the new musical adapted by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) and Nina Faso, and based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Chicago’s own Studs Terkel, all courtesy of Broadway In Chicago.

Attractions for this year’s show were highlighted by a gorgeous Waterford Crystal Bowl called Florology that played centerpiece to a spray of crab apple trees creating a lush, living arbor on the main floor; a 6th floor tablescape featuring bold floral patterns based on designs by Marchesa from The Lenox Couture Collection, and a stunning display in Macy’s famed Walnut Room featuring a dramatic bamboo structure serving as focal point in place of the restaurant’s famous fountain.

It all came courtesy of the Green View Companies, a landscape, nursery, and design group established in 1955 and based in Peoria, IL. Green View was awarded the Illinois Landscape Contractor's Association Excellence in Landscape Gold Award and the Grand Award at the 40th Annual Environmental Improvement Awards Program for their work in the 2009 Macy's Flower Show.

According to executive producer for the event, Robin Hall, this year’s show was the largest and most ambitious effort in Macy’s history.

Summer 2011CNCJA•17

ROMANCE for the culture fanatic

Flowers

For the average Chicagoan, turning the city’s famous summers into a simmering romance is as easy as 1-2-3. For the culture addict it’s pretty much the same. You simply start out with a few flowers, throw in something tantalizingly sweet, add a little dance, some poetry, and cap it all off with moonlight. Here’s how culture seekers set the mood in Chicago’s sizzling summers.

From the Lincoln Park Conservatory on Chicago's north side to the Morton Arboretum in Lisle and the glorious Botanic Gardens along the Northshore, there's no shortage on ways to get your romance on using flower power. Cozy, aromatic, and a beauty to behold, these horticultural museums are idyllic for fostering summertime amore with someone special.

Just remember that love will bloom faster if you bring some of their bounty home with you.

Something Sweet

There’s nothing sweeter than listening to the classics performed by world class artists underneath a Chicagoland summertime sky. For many years, devotees have flocked to the lawns of Ravinia in Highland Park and Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival in stunning Millennium Park to hear great music. But if you intend to make this a summer a romantic one, a little chocolate and bubbly will enhance the effect dramatically.

Poetry

Get close on the dance floor of Chicago's lakefront. The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture, offers one of the best ways to weave some romance into your relationship with its 15th annual Chicago SummerDance festival. Each Thursday through Sunday from July 7 – September 18, the Spirit of Music Garden in Grant Park transforms into an urban dance center. Stop by and enjoy an hour-long dance lesson by professional instructors and stay for two hours of live music and dancing under the Chicago summer time sky. What more can you ask for?

Moonlight

18•CNCJASummer 2011

What better way to set the mood than by moonlight? And what better way to observe it than with an evening of discovery at Chicago’s Adler Planetarium. This summer, our nation’s first planetarium will launch a new, immersive space experience like nothing you’ve ever seen. Adler’s new film Deep Space Adventure takes visitors aboard the observation deck of a futuristic starship, where they will be surrounded by the larger-than-life phenomena of our dynamic universe. During the show, the Grainger Sky Theater will project the largest single seamless digital image in the world, giving you get the chance to look at that special someone in the moonlight, up close and personal.

The spoken word has a way of giving you goose bumps, and when the words are written by William Shakespeare, you can be sure you’ll end up on a journey that will intrigue the mind and sooth the spirit. Navy Pier sets the stage, Ferris wheel and all, for an evening of love, literature and wonder as the home for Chicago’s Shakespeare Theatre.

With programming throughout the summer, CST offers a great way to stimulate the mind and the senses all in one fell swoop. Their upcoming 25th year anniversary celebration opens the door to enjoying a romantic night of fantasy and fun on Chicago’s Lakefront.

Photo © Leah-AnnE Thompson/Fotolia

Dance

Clockwise from Top: The Beuhler Enabling Garden in spring (Photo by Robin Carlson © Chicago Botanic Gardens); Couple enjoying a picnic on the lawn of Ravinia Festival in Highland Park (Photo courtesy of Ravinia); Scene from Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's As You Like It. (Photo by Liz Lauren). Scene from Deep Space Adventure at The Adler Planetarium. (Photo © The Adler Planetarium ); Dancers enjoy live music and dance at SummerDance festival (Photo courtesy of the City of Chicago).

Summer of

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hubbardstreetdance.com Above: Jacqueline Burnett and Jesse Bechard in Malditos. Left: Ana Lopez and Kevin Shannon in Arcangelo; Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in Too Beaucoup. Photos

by Todd Rosenberg.

Summer 2011CNCJA•19

curator’s corner

Americans In Paris An Overview of The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian AvantGarde at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

By ALEXANDRA ZAJAC

I

In 1900, masses of people flocked to Paris to witness Vallotton’s Reclining Nude (1904). Not a famously wealthy famthe World’s Fair. Full of evolving cultural ideals and ily—at least in comparison with other American art collectors in fresh, burgeoning concepts, the fair was the epitome of Paris at the time—the Steins lived modestly off of family money innovation and change. and stayed within their means. In fact, for their earlier acquisiIn the summer of 1900, Americans Gertrude Stein and her tions, Gertrude and Leo actually pooled their savings in order to brother Leo arrived in Paris to experience the innovation and exaquire a single purchase. citement of the World’s Fair firsthand. Swept up by the culture of However, through their combined passion for art, the Steins the city, Leo opted to stay on in Paris, while Gertrude eventually managed to make a name for themselves and for the artists whom returned to the states. However by autumn, she would again join they touted. While Leo was keen on the works of Cézanne, and him in Paris. Their brother, Michael and his wife, Sarah, would later Renoir, Gertrude was a big fan of Picasso, and Michael and follow soon thereafter.

Sarah became devoted patrons of Matisse. In fact, Sarah even In Paris, the Steins were at the forefront of the revolutionary helped Matisse open his own school and eventually became a art scene taking the city by storm. The tenets of traditional art student there. were being challenged by young, relatively unknown artists such As their collections grew, so did the popularity of the artists as Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso, causing conthey supported. Through their connections in Paris and abroad, troversy and piquing interest among those in the art world as well the Steins became the driving force behind the demand for avantas the general public. And the Steins were there at every step, garde work outside of the City of Lights. In fact, it was Michael collecting countless pieces of extraordinary art, all the while supand Sarah who, in 1906, brought the first Matisse painting to porting the artists with their patronage and their friendship.

America. Soon, interest in modern art heated up so intensely that This May, the renowned San Francisco Museum of Modern the Steins were in danger of being priced out of the very market Art (SFMOMA) will be exhibiting the extraordinary art collecthey had established. tion amassed by the Steins. The Still, their loyal patronFull of color, character and charisma, The Steins Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, age continued, and individuand the Parisian Avant-Garde als flocked to them for guidCollect has pulled together an astounding catalog showcases over two hundred ance and support. Eventually, of works that really illustrate how important the paintings, drawings, prints, the foot traffic at Leo and sculptures and books that come Gertrude’s studio became too Steins were to the art world in Paris and abroad. from both private and public much of a distraction. And collections the world over. The soon Gertrude's wrting sufThey helped define avant-garde taste and define art represents the entire colfered, so the Steins decided the modern art market. According to SFMOMA lecting history of the Steins, that only on Saturday eveand includes around 60 pieces nings, by the din of candleDirector Neal Benezra, “The Stein family legacy is

by Matisse, 40 by Picasso, and light, would they open their proof that individual collectors make a huge impact flat to visitors. Michael and others by notable artists such as Paul Cézanne, Henri Manguin, Sarah followed suit. on art history.”

Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Once a week, Leo and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, to Gertrude at rue de Fleurus, name a few. and Michael and Sarah at rue Madame, would open their homes Part of what makes this exhibit so remarkable, and indeed into individuals interested in viewing their art collections. Their spirational, are the sheer number of significant works the Steins evening viewings gained notoriety far and wide for the unparalwere able to accrue, including Matisse’s sketch for The Joy of leled novelty that rivaled even what museums had to offer.

Life (1905-1906), Cézanne’s Bathers (1898-1900) and Félix The works by Matisse and Picasso proved to be the biggest

20•CNCJASummer 2011

Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, 1905–06; oil on

canvas; 39 3/8 x 32 in. (100 x 81.3 cm); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, bequest of Gertrude Stein, 1946; © Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Summer 2011CNCJA•21

curator’s corner

draw to the Steins' viewing parties. Picasso, the passionate Spaniard, was determined to outdo the Fauve master, Matisse, both in number of compositions and the amount of acclaim they achieved. Ultimately, their artistic battle served to fuel both of their careers and further propagate the fame of the Steins.

The exhibit at the SFMOMA houses some of the Steins' most famous acquisitions, such as Picasso’s Portrait of Gertrude Stein (1905 -1906) and his Boy Leading a Horse (1905-1906), as well as Matisse’s Blue Nude: Souvenir of Biskra (1907) and his controversial Woman with a Hat (1905), the painting that solidified the Steins' reputations as serious avant-garde collectors. It is fascinating to see the works of the masters as they evolved through their career, but it’s also interesting to see how some of the artists influenced one another's work.

Full of color, character and charisma, The Steins Collect has pulled together an astounding catalog that really illustrates how important the Steins were to the art world in Paris and abroad. The family helped define avant-garde taste and the modern art market. According to SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra, “The Stein family legacy is proof that individual col-

lectors make a huge impact on art history.”

“It’s really impossible to overestimate the role of this eccentric American family as patrons of visual art in early 20thcentury Paris,” said co-curator Janet Bishop of SFMOMA. “The Steins were true champions of modernism, embracing and defending new art as it was first being made and before it was met with widespread acceptance. They not only avidly collected works when the artists most needed support, but also enthusiastically opened their modest Left Bank homes to anyone wishing to see the most radical art of the day.”

More than just an art collection, The Steins Collect showcases an array of personal affects, such as family albums, film clips, photographs, and letters. The exhibition offers the viewer insight into the eccentricities and nuances of this influential twentieth century family.

Although the Steins eventually fractured and their collection divided, it is wonderful that such an exhibit finally brings together such turnkey pieces from this family’s priceless collection. It puts the importance of the Steins into perspective and the result is quite startling.

The Steins Collect premiered at SFMOMA on May 21 and runs at the museum through September 6, 2011, before traveling to Paris and New York. Its Bay Area origin underscores the important connection the Steins had to the city. For example, 1935 was not only the year the SFMOMA was founded, it was also the year that Michael and Sarah returned to San Francisco with a caravan of Matisse creations, influencing the appetite for modern art on the West Coast and providing works for the museum’s early collection.

Along with the exhibition, SFMOMA’s Live Art program will be staging a production of Four Saints in Three Acts (1934), an experimental opera by composer Virgil Thomson, based on the play originally written by Gertrude Stein. Performances will take place August 18, 19 and 20 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. There will also be a companion exhibition, Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories, at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, May 12 through September 6, 2011.

(Left) Henri Matisse, Woman with a Hat, 1905; oil on canvas; 31 3/4 x 23 1/2 in. (80.7 x 59.7 cm); SFMOMA, Bequest of Elise S. Haas; © Succession H. Matisse, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS),

New York; photo: Ben Blackwell. (Inset) Henri Matisse, Sketch for Le Bonheur de vivre, 1905–6; oil on canvas; 16 x 21 1/2 in. (40.6 x 54.6 cm); SFMOMA, bequest of Elise S. Haas; © Succession H. Matisse, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; photo: Ben Blackwell

22•CNCJASummer 2011

Standing 40 stories tall and stretching over 150 meters into Chicago’s striking skyline, the building’s lobby is accented by polished black granite, which covers its base and gives way dramatically to a deep green terra cotta, giving the

landmark a façade unique to the structures typical of the Art Deco era. Legend has it that the design of the building is reminiscent of a champagne bottle, its granite base corresponding to the bottle’s body stretching upward to a brilliant golden tower similar to the shiny foil that serves as the bottle's crown.

How fitting it is, then, that the building should now house the iconic Hard Rock Hotel. Since making the historic landmark its home in 2004, the Hard Rock has taken painstaking measures to fully restore the Carbide and Carbon to its original splendor. On November 16, 2007, the City of Chicago officially recognized the building’s contribution to the rich architectural legacy of Chicago’s skyline by permanently illuminating its golden tower, one of the few Chicago skyscrapers receiving this distinction.

Photo courtesy of The Hard Rock Hotel Chicago

Landmark Status Rocks!

P

roduct of Daniel and Hubert Burnham, sons of the famed architect and city planner Daniel H. Burnham, Chicago’s historic Carbide & Carbon Building was completed in 1929 and first intended to house offices of the subsidiaries of the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation. On May 9, 1996, the building was given Chicago Landmark status, representing one of the finest examples of Art Deco construction the city has to offer.

Summer 2011CNCJA•23

Grease Comes Home

tidbits

Brazilian Summer Jam The Chicago Chamber Musicians (CCM) will be celebrating summer with a program of culturally blended Baroque and Brazilian-inspired works on the Free First Monday concert, June 6, 2011. Guest artists Mark Brandfonbrener, Jennifer Guinn, and Fareed Haque join CCM ensemble member Dennis Michel on a collection of lively works by Villa-Lobos and Vivaldi.

Author Jim Jacobs brings his hit Broadway musical Grease back to its home with a revival of the 1959 work.

Based on Jacob’s tale harkening back to the tumultuous CCM’s monthly lunch-hour concerts at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston and steamy years in the 1950s attending Chicago’s Taft Bradley Hall (78. E. Washington Street) have been drawing avid chamber music High School, Grease has garnered loyal fans across two lovers since they began in 1987. Brazilian born composer Heitor Villa-Lobos Hollywood films and three productions on Broadway. (1887-1959) is regarded by scholars as the most significant Latin American comJacobs brings the original racy script to the American poser to date. Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) is perhaps best known for his elegant Theatre Co. in Chicago’s Lakeview this summer, where series of violin concertos The Four Seasons. The blending of their works in one it runs through June 26th. “Summer Lovin,” and the Pink chamber music program promises to be a wonderful introduction to anyone who Ladies are all in fine form and come by way of never-be- has not had the pleasure of hearing the weekly series live. fore-heard music, lyrics and scenes in this new produc- Class Is In Session tion. Hear for yourself and reminisce by visiting American To enhance the experience of concerts at Ravinia for classical music aficionados, the Music Institute Theatre Co. online at actweb.org of Chicago presents “Ravinia Highlights Preview,” led by faculty member Stephanie Ettelson. The Jake and Elwood Make their Return “The All New Original Tribute to the Blues Brothers,” the smash hit featuring cast members from the original London run, will make its U.S. debut at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University for three weeks, July 6 – July 24, 2011. Tickets range from $25-$55 and go on sale March 1, 2011.

eight-week class costs $192.00 and runs June 9–July 28, every Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m., at the school’s Winnetka campus, 300 Green Bay Road.

Focusing on “The Art of Listening,” classes will explore selected symphonic fare on Chicago Symphony Orchestra programs at the Ravinia Festival prior to their performance. Recorded illustrations will include works by Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Liszt (commemorating his 200th birthday), Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky. There are no prerequisites and all are welcome to attend, novice and experienced concertgoer alike.For more information or to register, visit musicinstituteofchicago.org.

Foxx to be Honored

Presented by the Auditorium Theatre, the show is a joint production by Charles Aerts Theatre Productions and EJB Entertainment. Jake and Elwood Blues will once again be donning their iconic hats, sunglasses and suits to bring to life a host of the duo’s most memorable hits, including “Shake A Tail Feather,” “Think,” “Respect,” “Gimme Some Loving” and the toe-tapping classic “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love!” This brand new reworking of the celebrated show is directed

by Brad Henshaw—an established name on the international music stage, who will also star in the show as Jake. The hit West End show is being upgraded for Jake and Elwood’s return to Chicago with a brand new set, updated choreography and new songs. For tickets or more information visit auditoriumtheatre.org.

Clockwise from left: Cast of the Broadway Company of The Blues Brothers (Photo courtesy of The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University); Couple enjoys a picnic on the lawn of Ravinia's Highland Park campus (Photo courtesy of the Ravinia Festival); Screen actor Robert Downey Jr. (Photo by Dave Factor courtesy of Warner Brothers Pictures) and Academy Award winning actor Jamie Foxx (Photo by Warwick Saint).

24•CNCJASummer 2011

The Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) proudly presents “A Night With Jamie Foxx” for its annual benefit in honor of Academy Award winning actor Jamie Foxx on Saturday, June 4, from 6 to 10 p.m. at The Ritz-Carlton (160 E. Pearson Street). 2010’s Renaissance Award-winner, Robert Downey, Jr., will return to Chicago to fete and lead a conversation with Foxx, a close personal friend who co-starred with Downey in the films The Soloist and Due Date.

A highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the Gene Siskel Film Center Renaissance Award to Foxx by Robert Downey, Jr. and SAIC President Dr. Walter E. Massey, and a career-chronicling discussion between the two stars, featuring clips from Foxx’s career and questions from event attendees. Tickets, on sale now, are now available by calling (312) 846-2072.

In This Quarter Year

Centered: Linda Celeste Simms of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company (Photo by Paul Kolnik). Clockwise from top: Vince Nappo and Melissa Miller in Merchant of Venice (Photo by Gerry Goodstein; Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Photo by Todd Rosenberg); Mezzo-soprano Patricia Risley in Death and the Powers at Chicago Opera Theater (Photo by Jill Steinberg); Allison Torem, deAdre Aziza, and Steppenwolf ensemble member Jon Michael Hill in Steppenwolf's Hot L Baltimore (Photo by Michael Brosilow); (L-R) Keith Kupferer, David Pasquesi, Beth Lacke, and Mary Beth Fisher in Goodman Theater's Gods of Carnage (Photo by Eric Y Exit); Eifman Ballet in "Don Quixote" (Photo courtesy of The Eifman Ballet); Susan Philipz, artist in We Shall Be All at The Museum of Contemporary Art (Photo courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art); Tadhg Murphy in Ireland's Druid Theatre Company's The Cripple of Inishmaan (Photo by Roz Cavanaugh).

THEATER REVIEW

Photo by Joan warren

Tresnjak's Merchant Nuanced and Thoughtful

F. Murray Abraham and Melissa Miller in Merchant of Venice.

March 15, 2011 - Too often it feels as if modern productions of Shakespeare’s plays expend all their energy trying to distract audiences from the fact that they are, in fact, Shakespeare’s plays.

Elaborate sets, unconventional costumes and wild directorial conceits can start to feel like desperate overcompensation, as if someone offstage had decided that the bard’s words were too oldfashioned to be exciting on their own. How refreshing, then, to witness Darko Tresnjak’s potent new take on The Merchant of Venice, in which every thrill, surprise, and innovation has been drawn directly from Shakespeare’s subtle and complicated text.

Though set in “the near future” and filled with cell phones and laptops, this is a thoughtful production in which the big budget is made to serve the story—not the other way around.

Further distinguishing the production is the passionate and nuanced central performance by F. Murray Abraham as Shylock.

By DAVID WEISS

Dancing through the moneylender’s complex monologues with aplomb, Abraham creates a rewarding portrait of a devout, essentially decent, man who is relentlessly twisted by the cruelty of others until he can no longer bring himself to feel pity or compassion. The transformation is made all the more believable because Abraham treats it as flip sides of the same coin: his likable wit, pride, and intellect are on display from his very first scene, yet one can feel the warmth slowly begin to drain out of his smile until, by the final act, every quip cuts like barbed wire. The result is a thoroughly sympathetic—yet undeniably villainous—rendering of the character.

But in this Merchant, it’s not just Shylock’s machinations that jeopardize the other characters’ happiness; as Tresnjak presents it, the protagonists may have more to worry about from each other than from their common enemy. Nerissa (Christen Simon Marabate) is clearly regretting her engagement to Gratiano (Ted Schneider, amusingly intoxicated and impulsive). Lorenzo (Vince Nappo) is starting to realize that converting and wedding Shylock’s daughter Jessica (played with dignity and assurance by Melissa Miller) might have more emotional fallout than expected. And saddest of all is Portia (the very strong Kate MacKluggage), who discovers that her husband’s relationship with the titular merchant is not strictly plutonic. These separate threads of discord grow slowly, often almost imperceptibly, until finally they threaten to overwhelm everything else.

However, these choppy marital waters are not merely a gimmick thrown in to up the stakes. Tresnjak has plunged deep into the subtexts that have always pulsed beneath Merchant’s surface and emerged with a substantial, comprehensive reinterpretation of the play’s final half. Entire scenes between these couples take on startling, yet organic, new meanings; one never senses the actors fighting the text, yet their relationships veer into exhilaratingly unexpected territory. By the time the final curtain falls, all certainty has been stripped away, and in its place are three young couples stumbling blindly ahead— and a mournful merchant standing alone.

THEATER REVIEW

McDonagh's Inishmaan A Hauntingly Sweet Tale

By DAVID WEISS

Photo Courtesy of Ireland's Druid Theatre Company

has surrounded Billy with a host of brazenly broad side characters, each March 16, 2011 - Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan is a play played to the hilt by the fearless ensemble. As Billy’s aunts Eileen and that presents an especially unique set of challenges: though filled to the brim Kate, Dearbhla Molloy and Ingrid Craigie handle with bold, broad characters, it somehow manages McDonagh’s expansive language with merriment to embrace ambiguity at every turn. Yet, to see and old-fashioned sincerity, effortlessly drawing the Druid and Atlantic Theater Company’s current the audience into the play’s slightly mad dimension. staging (in association with Chicago Shakespeare Clare Dunne proves herself a comedic force to be Theatre), one might think the play as clear and cohesive as an unusually dark bedtime story. With reckoned with as the violent and foulmouthed girl practiced ease and plentiful artistry, the touring Slippy Helen (whose rough-hewn manners have, Irish company dexterously negotiates Inishmaan’s naturally, captured Billy’s heart). Also wonderful are Liam Carney as the hard-skinned, soft-heartgray areas between truthfulness and deception, ed fisherman BabbyBobby, Dermot Crowley as kindness and cruelty, comedy and tragedy.

Leading the way in the title role is the excepJohnnyPateenMike (a man who treats his position as town gossip like a full-time job) and Nancy E. tional Tadhg Murphy as Billy (or, as everyone in Carroll as his understated but hilarious mother. town calls him without hesitation, “CrippleBilly”).

To begin, Murphy’s physical commitment to the All the while, McDonagh’s story toys mercirole is truly a remarkable sight; his folded, shuflessly with the audience’s perceptions and emotions fling stride is so convincing that many in the au(especially in its final act), piling reversal upon reversal with the speed and cleverness of a first-rate dience audibly gasped at his first appearance. But thriller. But the brilliance of Inishmaan is that every his impressive physical work aside, Murphy also excels at embodying Billy’s good heart, his sly inthwarted assumption only serves to make the characters clearer, deeper, more satisfyingly human; as tellect, and his near-unbearable yearning for a life uncertainty mounts, they become the audience’s more fulfilling than his current small-town existence on the island of Inishmaan. Indeed, despite anchor. Soon Billy is no longer a lone protagonist but merely one sympathetic character among a band his malformed body, Murphy’s Billy comes across as the most approachable, most “normal” character of many. Together, the cast creates a distinctively charming, yet persuasively dark, world filled with in the play.

Tadhg Murphy in Ireland's Druid Theatre Company's The pathos, sweetness, and mystery. A big reason for this is that McDonagh Cripple of Inishmaan 26•CNCJASummer 2011

CLASSICAL CONCERT REVIEW

Muti and CSO Make Compelling Case for Nonstaged Operatic Performance

By MYRON SILBERSTEIN

Photo by todd Rosenberg

April 12, 2011 - A concert performance of an opera is often a bit like an audio broadcast of a play. The performers’ delivery of the material may be impeccable, but the experience as a whole is not necessarily complete. Great musicianship is, of course, the cornerstone of a successful operatic performance, but it is far from the only element of success. Opera is a form of theater. It is a form of theater in which the primary mode of expression is musical, but it is a form of theater nonetheless. It cannot achieve its full impact without movement, costumes, and props. Why, then, have non-staged performances of complete operas historically been a highlight of orchestral seasons? One strong argument in favor of operatic concert performance is that the emotional weight of an opera is often to be found in the interplay between voice and orchestra. Verdi’s Otello, thus, is an excellent choice for such a concert program. The orchestration is sumptuous, elegant, and virtuosic. Indeed, a visual feast is to be had simply from observing the extraordinary battery of percussion that takes place and the furious bowing of Chicago Symphony Orchestra Music Director Riccardo Muti conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. the orchestra’s strings.

Likewise, Maestro Riccardo Muti’s choice to perform the work most arresting and expressive playing this season. Vocally, there was with Verdi’s rarely-heard revised Act Three finale, a Chicago premuch to praise in this concert. Tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko vividly miere nearly 120 years after the fact, offers listeners an opportunity conveyed the title character’s tender yearning as well as his jealous not to be missed. As a drama, though, Otello is an intensely visual rage with a voice that was powerful but lyrical, though it occasionally opera. For instance, the handkerchief on which Otello’s suspicions of showed some strain. He went sharp at a number of climactic moments Desdemona’s infidelity rest is nearly a character in and of itself. In lisand frequently overbalanced soprano Krassimira Stoyanova, whose tening to a recording of the opera, one's imagination gladly provides delicate rendering of Desdemona was full of pathos, particularly in it; its absence in a live concert performance is sorely missed. These Act Four’s Willow Song. Bass-baritone Eric Owens sang Lodovico general complaints notwithstanding, Riccardo Muti’s interpretation with power and resonant warmth. And tenor Juan Francisco Gatell, of Otello is simply spectacular. whose voice was consistently crisp and buoyant, offered a most symHis approach is passionate and subtle. He articulates the harmonpathetic Cassio. The overwhelming star of CSO's Otello, however, ic tensions of Verdi’s score masterfully, stretching phrases to highwas Riccardo Muti, whose rendering of the opera ranks with the very light dissonances, bringing crescendos to sudden dramatic pauses, best. and coaxing a full range of dynamics and colors from the Chicago If the CSO releases a recording of this week’s performances, it Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra itself was more than up to the will be a must-have on any serious Verdian’s shelf. A full-scale prochallenges of Verdi’s complex score and Muti’s impassioned readduction of the work with Muti at the helm must be stunning indeed.  ing, treating the Symphony Center audience to some of the CSO’s Summer 2011CNCJA•27

THEATER REVIEW

Hilarity Reigns in Goodman's Carnage

By DAVID WEISS April 7, 2011 - Armed with cutting rhetoric, pretentious coffeetable books, and a healthy helping of Scotch, the Goodman’s spry new staging of Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage thoroughly and hilariously dismantles the fragile wall separating courtesy from chaos. Working from a generally effective translation

by Christopher Hampton, director Rick Snyder has fashioned a night of comedy that feels alternately sophisticated, sophomoric, and sadistic. The simple plot—two married couples meet to

Photo by Eric Y. Exit

(he’s constantly stepping away to yammer into his cell phone), and soon he and Michael have formed an alliance of merry indifference. Wonderfully loose and fiendishly amusing, Pasquesi makes Alan a first-rate troublemaker, a man who happily provokes others and then sits back in glee as the conversation veers further into destructive territory.

Watching him, one might make the mistake of thinking that the women are unfairly outgunned—at least for the first half of the show. When we first meet her, Michael’s wife Veronica (Mary Beth Fisher) seems little more than a caricature of pretentious, controlling passive-aggression: occasionally funny, but mostly flat. And Alan’s wife Annette (Beth Lacke) is timid, mousy and polite, barely registering onstage. But as tempers flare, alcohol flows, and the evening spins everfurther out of control, there’s a gradual shift in the balance of comedic power.

Veronica throws pretense to the winds in increasingly entertaining displays of id run amok, and Annette joyously discovers how emVeronica (Mary Beth Fisher) and Michael (Keith Kupferer) try to mind their manners while speaking with the parents of a child who hit their son powering drunkenness can feel. Fisher discuss a schoolyard fight between their sons—is merely a coat and Lacke have a ball with these charming transformations and hanger for Reza’s droll escalation of arguments about violence, provide many of Carnage’s most satisfying belly-laughs in the art, marriage, and ultimately the very soul of modern society. process.

One of the play’s more delightful conceits is that a majority The evening’s myriad insanities are nicely complemented by of the conflict isn’t between the two couples at all, but rather Takeshi Kata’s clever set design (neat piles of books, carefully between the husbands and wives. The women both want acarranged flowers, and bare—infuriatingly sterile walls—quickly countability, punishment, and growth for their sons, while the have you itching for chaos to erupt) and Birgit Rattenborg Wise’s men slowly unite in favor of dismissing the encounter altogethcostumes (cleverly hinting at each character’s neuroses without reer, agreeing that “boys will be boys.” sorting to anvil-dropping). Indeed, the entire production has been At first, Michael (Keith Kupferer) attempts to toe the line skillfully polished to a mirror shine—and in that mirror we see our for his wife; using his gruff, working-class accent and burly own desire to shuck off civility, say whatever we want, and genframe to phenomenally ironic effect, Kupferer recites middleerally run mad. It’s a thoroughly bizarre kind of escapism, but it class platitudes about nonviolence in tones that wryly suggest makes for an unquestionably enjoyable time. just how little he actually cares. On the other hand, Alan (David Pasquesi) makes little secret of his disdain for the proceedings 28•CNCJASummer 2011

OPERA REVIEW

Tod Machover's Opera Death and the Powers Extends Genre to Powerful Effect

By MYRON SYLBERSTEIN

April 2, 2011 - Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers, which received its Midwest premiere this spring at Chicago Opera Theater, is a different kind of opera than Le Nozze di Figaro or La Traviata. On one level, this is simply to state the obvious: contemporary music is written in an idiom markedly different from that of the most beloved operas.

On another level, though, Death and the Powers extends the genre of opera to something in which the audience, immersed in a world of sound and light, experiences its impact more directly than is typical in most theater.

The experience begins the instant the audience enters; low electronic rumbles reverberate throughout the theater during seating. The curtain’s opening reveals robots, whose voices are projected through triangular faces that flicker with light as they speak. They are honoring the memory of the “Organic Age” with a ritual performance of texts bequeathed by their human creators. The robots, though, don’t understand one of the text’s central concepts: death. In the ensuing story performed by human singers, Simon Powers—dying—uploads his consciousness to the fixtures throughout his home, leaving his family to interact with his essence in this inorganic, digitized state. Performed with sensitivity and flawless virtuosity by James Maddalena, much of Simon’s singing occurs offstage. Projected by complex sensors and amplification techniques developed specifically for this opera by Mr. Machover, Maddalena’s voice is given an otherworldly, sonic quality and visualized as projections of light from the set’s fixtures.

The libretto, by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, sparkles with wordplay. Simon thanks his protégé Nicholas for expediting his transfer of consciousness: “In the stroke of time, in the nick of time,

Nick will rescue me from my stroke.” Similarly, he claims that the body is not needed for selfhood to continue: “It’s never the matter that matters.” Moments of touching simplicity are equally prominent, as in Simon’s daughter Miranda’s aria, I miss having a father.

Machover’s score communicates the libretto’s full emotional range with passion and elegance. The electronic sounds, mingling with a small acoustic ensemble, sometimes evoke technological estrangement, sometimes ethereal lyricism. Perhaps inconsistent with most people’s impression of contemporary writing, Machover’s score is consistently melodic; Miranda’s laments are memorable and lend themselves well to humming. Likewise, Evvy’s sensual duet with her disembodied husband (projected through a chandelier, whose filaments she strums and which, unsettlingly, embraces her) recalls the hedonistic coloratura of Bellini, Giannini, or Turnage.

Nicholas’s paean to the wonders of technology is engagingly rhythmic, with harmonies reminiscent of the best of Americana.

These many virtues more than compensate for the opera’s few weaknesses. The light effects are occasionally bright to the point of discomfort. The philosophical exchanges scattered throughout the body of the opera tend to interrupt the emotional flow of the piece.

And the final duet between Simon and Miranda, in which he attempts to persuade her to join him in incorporeal consciousness, is perhaps a bit too lengthy and static to provide an emotionally satisfying culmination to the opera. Such complaints, though, do not detract from the overall effect of the work, which warrants multiple hearings. 

Photo by Jonathan Williams

James Maddalena, baritone as Simon Powers

Summer 2011CNCJA•29

CLASSICAL CONCERT REVIEW

Soli Deo Gloria Launches Glorious, New Chicago Tradition

Photo courtesy of soli deo gloria

By MYRON SYLBERSTEIN

Soli Deo Gloria ensemble featuring conductor John Nelson bows to a standing ovation following the inaugural performance of Chicago's Bach Project.

April 21, 2011 - It is rare that one leaves a concert feeling gratitude toward the organization presenting it. A good performance might inspire satisfaction. One might be glad to have attended it. But gratitude is unlikely to enter the concertgoer’s thoughts even after the most superb of concert experiences.

The inaugural event of Soli Deo Gloria’s Chicago Bach Project—a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, conducted by John Nelson at St. Vincent de Paul Parish and performed by a double orchestra and choir—provided a reason for this most unusual of musical emotions. Such a response comes not because the performance was flawless; though it was very good, it was not flawless.

But it was an experience worthy of gratitude to be present at the birth of what could become an important, long-standing Chicago tradition: Soli Deo Gloria plans to present one of Bach’s three greatest choral works—the two Passions and the Mass in B Minore—each year during Holy Week.

Maestro Nelson is no stranger to Bach’s choral trilogy. As Directeur Musicale of the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, he conducted the works in annual rotation from 1998 to 2008. This effort won praise from the mayor of the City of Lights, France’s Minister of Culture, and former archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger. Nelson’s love for these masterpieces extends beyond their musical significance. Nelson is Artistic Director and cofounder of Soli Deo Gloria, which takes its name from the Latin inscription (“Glory Solely to God”) with which Bach signed a number of his works. The organization has commis-

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sioned nearly twenty new sacred vocal and instrumental works since 1993 and is dedicated to promoting sacred music. In bringing the St. Matthew Passion to St. Vincent de Paul, Maestro Nelson’s intent, according to his program notes, was to attempt “to capture the original atmosphere and purpose of Bach’s musical setting of the Passion story.”

Soli Deo Gloria’s choice of setting was a tremendous asset. The St. Vincent de Paul cathedral in Chicago’s Lincoln Park is acoustically suited for Bach’s music. The sound of the two small orchestras filled the space with surprising richness, reverberating palpably throughout the wooden pews and floor tiles without obscuring the graces of the vocalists. The breadth of the altar allowed for a full antiphonal experience of the two choirs, joined at crucial moments by the Anima-Young Singers of Greater Chicago.

Tenor Stanford Olsen delivered an earnest and warm reading of the Evangelist, narrating the Passion story with a light, but full voice that navigated Bach’s treacherously high writing with aplomb. Tenor Nicholas Phan sang Picander’s commentary on the Passion with an immediacy and fervor that contrasted superbly with bass-baritone Stephen Morscheck’s dignified and serene portrayal of Jesus. And Maestro Nelson’s conducting was sensitive but precise. His tempi highlighted the majesty of Bach’s vision but never dragged, and his use of rubato underlined the poetic undercurrent to both the Biblical and secular texts. With this initial presentation, it is hoped that Soli Deo Gloria will become an indeliable part of the musical landscape of Chicago’s Easter-season offerings.

DANCE REVIEW

Eifman Ballet's "Don Quixote" Charms

By EMILY DISHER April 21, 2011 - The Eifman Ballet brought the much-beloved work “Don Quixote, or Fantasies of a Madman” to Auditorium Theatre this spring.

A bittersweet tale of the power of imagination and the restraining force of stark reality, Boris Eifman’s vision of Don Quixote proved enchanting and funny, though marked by pangs of sorrow.

The ballet opens in a asylum, where patients in tattered and dirty white clothes dance with the simplest of objects. The choreography evokes both comedy and tragedy, marked by exaggerated expressions and movements.

The patients move with bumbling, flailing limbs, and their movements sometimes parody familiar dance staples, like the out-of-sync kick-line or a man dancing while wearing one pointe shoe.

The quirky choreography that marks the dancing of the asylum’s patients is accentuated by Eifman’s clever use of props. In fact, Eifman is a master at this, using props in the most ingenious ways throughout the ballet to punctuate the elements of dance at work. For instance, a hoop characterizes a heartbreaking duet in which the doctor reigns in the madman’s imagination, while a giant pole serves as a staff; a sword; a see-saw; and a climbing pole, in turn. Each prop takes on myriad meanings, showcasing Eifman’s creativity, but also underscoring the importance of the imagination within that asylum.

The Eifman Ballet’s Sergey Volobuev, dancing in the role of the patient imaging himself as Don Quixote, proved as impressive an actor as dancer. All of his movements were infused with emotion; he was an ideal communicator of the most touching, humorous, and disturbing moments within the ballet. Despite demanding choreography (which he executed

beautifully), Volobuev inspired a wealth of empathy for his character.

In the role of Kitri, Natalia Matsak embodied the vibrant world of the patient’s imagination, a colorful world staged to contrast the drab confines of the asylum. Matsak performed crisp turns, and her energy impressed, particularly in the demanding and crowd-pleasing fouetté series.

The duets between doctor (danced by Yulia Manzheles) and patient emerged as the ballet’s most poignant scenes. Volobuev and Manzheles were tragically romantic as she seduced him out of his imagination, enchanting him with a simple gray ball as they danced to the score’s most romantic piece. Manzheles struck just the right balance between seduction and severity while showcasing unbelievable extensions and gorgeous lifts with Volobuev.

Anastacia Sitnikova’s performance as Dulcinea, the tavern girl, was the only disappointing performance of the night. Rather than movements of smooth seduction in a bar scene that is otherwise quite sexy, her interactions with Volobuev seem stilted and awkward. Additionally, the unfortunate use of a poorly supported table upon which she danced in the bar made for a gasp-inducing moment when she stumbled backward and nearly slipped off.

Overall, Eifman's brillant imagining of this time honored classic makes this highly theatrical ballet a feast for the eye. Of course, Eifman does not allow the viewer to forget that the story is no fairy tale. His bal-

let concludes on a bittersweet note (as does Cervantes’ novel), and so the adventure ends back where it began—in the stark, drab confines of the asylum.

Photo Courtesy of The Eifman Ballet

The Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg performs "Don Quixote."

Summer 2011CNCJA•31

DANCE REVIEW

Alvin Ailey Dazzles with "Revelations"

By EMILY DISHER

choreography seemed fashioned for AAADT’s impressive athleticism.

The second Chicago premiere, “The Evolution of a Secured Feminine” (2007), proved sexy and fun, danced by Rachael McLaren.

She showed a keen sense of her character, and entertained through her flirty performance. Only the costuming proved a bit distracting.

Battle’s “The Hunt” (2001), another Chicago premiere, emanated masculine energy. The piece featured six male dancers (Clifton Brown, Antonio Douthit, Yannick Lebrun, Kirven James Boyd, Glenn Allen Sims and Jamar Roberts) in a piece that is at once bold and beautiful.

Fighting and violence are orchestrated in an invigorating work that again highlights the dynamism of the Ailey dancers.

Alvin Ailey’s seminal work, the adored “Revelations,” closed the evening. A timeless favorite that has endured for generations, “Revelations” celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Ailey dancers continue to bring this suite of spirituals to life, illustrating extremes of grief and joy. Sims wowed again in “Fix Me, Jesus,” with her rock-solid balances in difficult promenades and ponches. Jamar Roberts, Clifton Brown, and Kirven James Boyd impressed with their spins and leaps in “Sinner Man.” As a whole, the company showed prowess throughout the work, ending with the comedic and celebratory church-going scenes at the end of the production.

Members of the house were treated to a spirited encore of “Rocka My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham."

The spirit, energy, and personality of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater shone brilPhoto By Paul Kolnik

May 18, 2011—Tuesday evening marked Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s (AAADT) 140th performance at Auditorium Theatre, and that was merely one reason to celebrate. The company’s week-long Chicago engagement paid tribute to exiting Artistic Director Judith Jameson and welcomed her successor, Robert Battle. Alvin Ailey kicked off its sevenday run with three Chicago premieres and one beloved classic.

The program opened with Christopher L. Huggins’ “Anointed” (2010), an homage to the company’s past, present, and future leaders, marked by stunning use of bold colors and invigorating choreography.

The initial scene featured Linda Celeste Sims and Jamar Roberts in a lovely duet. Sims, whose dancing proved extraordinary throughout the

The company of Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre in Alvin Ailey's "Revelations."

evening, exhibited gorgeous, fluid turns, and emotional moments with Roberts. Yet, in the next scene, it was her authoritative dancing, filled with confidence that enlivened the stage. Sims and the four women performing with her (Ghrai DeVore, Rosalyn Deshauteurs, Demetia Hopkins and Constance Stamatiou) filled the stage with vibrancy and energy. The dancing in this scene was so exciting and passionate, one could scarcely resist the urge to jump out of their own seat. The dancing seemed to keep growing in intensity as more of the company joined. The 32•CNCJASummer 2011

liantly throughout, but the final moments of “Revelations” seemed to fully embody these characteristics. It was a joy to witness the evening, echoing the celebratory close of Judith Jameson’s tenure with the company.

EXHIBIT REVIEW

MCA Exhibit Explores the Artistic Impact of Sound

By ALEXANDRA ZAJAC

Photo Courtesy of the Museum of COntemporary Art

May 12, 2011 - Though most think of art as a traditionally visual experience, seeing a physical work—such as a Monet, or Michelangelo’s Renaissance sculpture of David—the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) is currently hosting an exhibit by Susan Philipsz, winner of the 2010 Turner Prize, presenting art in the form of sound.

(Main and Inset) Images from Lowlands, part of Susan Philipsz' new exhibit, We Shall Be All at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Inspired by Chicago’s rich labor and political history, as well as its expansive musical scene, Glasgow-born Philipsz’ exhibit explores the historical association between the International Workers of the World (IWW) and the infamous Haymarket Square riots of 1886. The site-specific installation, We Shall Be All, along with the installation projected through the main lobby, The Internationale, vocally depict the story of workers’ collectives and their subsequent struggle for sufficient wages and proper working conditions throughout the 1880s and '90s.

Hauntingly projected from the second-floor atrium and down into the lobby of the MCA, The Internationale features Philipsz, herself, singing an a cappela version of the famous workers’ rights anthem of the same name. The recording, although created in 1999, is meant to commemorate the Chicago Haymarket riots almost a century before. Playing on a continuous loop every ten minutes and piercing through all other diegetic sound in the vast lobby,

Philipsz's voice is simultaneously stark and soothing, betraying a sorrowful but optimistic call-to-arms.

While The Internationale greets guests throughout the expansive MCA lobby, Philipsz’s, We Shall Be All—the title work of the exhibit—is revealed in the gallery space on the fourth floor of the museum. Devoid of visual effects, the installation calls out from a dark, cavernous room. Philipsz’s voice is projected through speakers set around the acoustically sound space as she pays tribute to those who have fought for labor reform. As she recites the Scottish folk song, “Annie Laurie," as well as a poem commemorating those who perished in the Haymarket riots, various sequences of bagpipes playing and crowd noises compete in the background with overlapping periods of white noise resembling waves lapping at a shoreline.

P h i l i p s z ’s soundscape within this confined space is quite dramatic. The layers of sound follow you like a shadow throughout the dark room, at times appearing close and at others as distant voices. Her voice pierces the otherwise silent space, bouncing off the floor and walls. It’s remarkable how crowded the dark, open gallery feels with so much sound infiltrating its space. Walking around the emptiness feels strangely tedious. The resulting effect, however, is very intimate.

Even when other visitors enter the room, one feels more concerned about literally "bumping" into a disembodied voice than into an actual human being.

Artistically bringing voice to the human passion and pain within Chicago’s labor past, Susan Philipsz’s We Shall Be All can be experienced at the Museum of Contemporary Art through June 12, 2011.  Summer 2011CNCJA•33

THEATER REVIEW

Steppenwolf Makes Poignant Point with Hot L

Photo by Michael Brosilow

By DAVID WEISS

Ensemble members Kate Arrington and Jon Michael Hill in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s production of The Hot L Baltimore by Lanford Wilson, directed by ensemble member Tina Landau.

March 28, 2011 - Despite its crumbling ornate façade and water-stained walls recalling the majesty of a time long past, the Hotel Baltimore, as envisioned by author Lanford Wilson, remains a fascinating place. Its character, its very soul as a living, breathing community of individuals: sometimes sleeping, sometimes howling, sometimes lurching about in confusion, remains very much alive and well in Steppenwolf’s impressive mainstage production of Wilson’s The Hot L Baltimore.

As the wrecking ball looms ever closer to dismantling the proud building (gorgeously realized by James Schuette’s richly textured scenic design), the tapestry of interlocking storylines, as each of the hotel’s inhabitants moves in and out of focus, unwinds on the Steppenwolf stage.

Wilson’s play is a true ensemble work (no one artist could qualify as the “star”), and under the confident direction of Tina Landau, Baltimore showcases a variety of exceptional performances from Steppenwolf ensemble members and newcomers alike.

Kate Arrington and de’Adre Aziza are delightful as a pair of call girls who use the hotel as a base of operations; their frequent humor and easy empathy are like a gust of fresh air through the musty lobby. Equally impressive are Samuel Taylor as Paul, a determined young man searching for his missing grandfather, and Jon Michael Hill as the hotel’s beleaguered— but good-natured—desk clerk Bill. Molly Regan is quietly spectacular as Millie, an eccentric tenant whose unconventional worldview often proves a source of striking insights. Regan brings such complexity and heart to

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the role that you may find yourself wishing Wilson had given the character more stage time.

But the most thoroughly engrossing performance in Steppenwolf’s staging comes courtesy of Sean Allan Krill as the mysterious, nameless figure who spends the entire evening wandering unnoticed throughout the hotel. Drifting though rooms and walls with a graceful, almost dreamlike gait, Krill remains onstage for the entire play, forever observing the other characters with a tranquil, yet unnerving intensity. Never speaking (but sometimes singing), his unwavering focus creates a haunting presence that is capable of being many things to many people: the ghost of Paul’s grandfather, the spirit of the dying hotel, the embodiment of nostalgia itself. It’s a tour-de-force physical performance, and Krill produces many of the evening’s most indelible images, perfectly encapsulating Baltimore’s sweet, dark charm.

Though some of the plot threads end in ambiguous (or even unsatisfying) ways, they illustrate one of Wilson’s saddest, subtlest points: that not all endings serve as new beginnings—sometimes things just end. This twinge of finality reverberates throughout the show, creating a depth that gradually transcends the individual struggles of the hotel’s inhabitants. They are all part of a larger fight for survival, and victory is not always guaranteed—a fact underscored by the terrifying and unstoppable roar of the wrecking ball as the curtain closed on the Steppenwolf stage.

Street Smarts

Jeremy Wechsler has carved out a fitting niche in the crowded Chicago storefront theater realm that has made his Theater Wit the fastest growing grass

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roots theater in the city.

By DAVID HENLEY

Photos Courtesy of Jeremy Wechsler

hicago may not be the the sole proponent for genuine at Theater Wit, storefront theater, but it most certainly offers the best and and Wechsler and constituent most authentic storefront experience around the globe. his And leading that movement is Theater Wit, located on theaters get to exBelmont Avenue in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. periment in ways Started in 2003, Theater Wit was the brainchild of artistic director Jeremy only a storefront Wechsler, who wanted to build a home for an authentic, grass roots compa- theater can. Its all ny that could explore new works as only a Chicago theater company could. part of that sense community What started out as a small, itinerant group renting out space in the old of Wechsler’s so Theatre Building on Belmont Avenue is now the proud home of the Theater fond of.

Wit Arts Center, bringing Chicagoans what Wechsler likes to call “smart In fact, it was art.”

What’s so smart about it? Well, one can start with the name. Wit is the importance community literally what they do. When Wechsler first looked at ways he could distin- of that helped drive guish his company amongst the city’s numerous theaters, his mind quickly the construction gravitated toward the idea of dramatic comedy. The clever moniker was a way of cementing an identity with its audience and developing a brand for of Theater Wit's his work.

But as Wechsler points out, when you’re an itinerant theater company in Chicago, “Every show is potentially your last show.” And so it became all the more important that he find that permanent home he’d been looking for from the beginning.

After a couple of successful years of producing projects close to his heart, and renting space smart, new space. While he admits in Chicago’s vibrant Lakeview neighborhood, that the building does owe some if Wechsler got the opportunity of a lifetime when its quirky design to his own personBailiwick Theatre vacated their own space just a few ality, one thing Wechsler insisted doors down. upon from the very beginning was Wechsler pounced and quickly began building an openness that lent itself well to a stylish arts center that could give him the much the sense of closeness common to a needed stability any itinerant group craves.

Another smart move Wechsler made since Theater Wit's has a quaint, open lobby (inset) perfect for mingling storefront space.

Wechsler’s collaboration with arlaunching his new space in 2010 was opening his with audience members of the company's three theaters. chitect Richard Kasemsarn created doors to resident theater companies. Along with a sleek new home that sports three a slew of smaller companies that rent space for their own productions, Theater Wit takes on residencies that help build, in Wechsler’s own words, modest theaters with just enough room to create the sense of community storefronts encourage (without causing claustrophobia); a quaint, rough“that kind of community” endemic to the basement theater experience.

What Wechsler gets out of the relationships are added productions that hewn lobby that keeps the storefront storefront; and a curious catwalk hovdraw crossover audiences to the arts center, along with a much needed ering above the entry that allows actors and directors to easily traverse behelping hand in running the space. (Each resident group has to contribute tween the three theaters without breaking the continuity of a performance. a minimal number of man hours every month to support the building’s up- But what was most important to Wechsler was removing those barriers one keep.) In return, the resident theaters get the sense of stability a homebase typically encounters in an unorthodox performance space. It’s those barriprovides and an increasingly prominent identity within the neighboring ers, in Weschler’s opinion, that interfere with the relationship between the audience and the actors, that get in the way of the great work directors and community Wechsler is strict about ensuring that his residents have an identifiable their cast do in so many storefronts around town. But he had to keep the footprint of solid work product behind them. He admits it’s important for experience authentic. After all, as Wechsler puts it, “Part of being an audience member in Chicago is getting to see great new theater in a basement him to “cultivate” a level of quality in the programming at Theater Wit. Producing bold, new works like Will Eno's Thom Pain (based on noth- space.”

Having now played to more than 21,000 patrons, with attendance up ing), and Qui Nguyen's Men of Steel has earned his group artistic respect more than 70%, and boasting an arts center that cranks out a staggering and valuable audience trust.

And that’s probably the smartest thing about Wechsler’s business plan. 3-6 performances a night, Wechsler’s Theater Wit is undeniably the fastCreating a sense of trust in his patrons helps support one central facet est growing storefront in the city. And there’s no doubt that his commitstorefront theaters are best known for: building a platform for new works. ment to quality new theater and passion for community will keep him at Audiences place confidence in the programming they can expect to see the forefront of Chicago’s grass roots theatrical scene, what Wechsler calls, “unquestionably, the strongest storefront theater experience in the world.”

Summer 2011CNCJA•35

Artist Conversational

Singer and Songwriter

Lyle Lovett

O

By MYRON SYLBERSTEIN Photos by MICHAEL WILSON

n August 21, 2011, Lyle Lovett and his Large Band will perform at Ravinia’s annual festival of star-studded music and all things wonderful. The four-time Grammy winner has appeared at the festival almost every summer since 1995. And, as he told me during a recent conversation, Ravinia is one of Lovett’s favorite venues to play. Appearing there, he said, is “almost like somebody in the neighborhood has invited you to their grand backyard and let you set up and play. It’s a very comfortable at-home feeling.”

Themes of home, neighborhood, and community— qualities that first drew Lovett to Ravinia—were prominent throughout our conversation. His deep-rooted ties to his hometown of Klein, Texas are well-known. The town is named in honor of his great-great grandfather, Adam Klein. Emigrating from Stuttgart, Germany in the mid-1800s, Klein and his wife were among the first Germans to settle there in north Harris County. They and a handful of other German settlers soon established Trinity Lutheran Church, which remains a thriving center of community in Spring, Texas today. Lovett continues to make his home in Klein, living in the house his grandfather built in 1911—a house that the artist repurchased after it and the surrounding property had been sold following his grandfather’s death. Lovett’s stewardship of his family’s property is a conscious act of preservation and restoration, both of the integrity of a parcel of land and of the personal and historical meaning of that land.

Lovett’s passion for place made him a natural guest artist with the Kansas City Symphony in its 2010 Symphony in the Flint Hills concert. Since 2006, Symphony in the Flint Hills has hosted an annual summer performance of the Kansas City Symphony as a culminating event in a day featuring nature walks, historical presentations, and barbeque dinners. In honor of the organization’s fifth annual performance, a long-time friend of Lovett’s, Edward Bass, hosted the event on his Chase County ranch. It was the first time that Bass’s ranchlands had been open to the public. In a program including Morton Gould’s Cowboy Rhapsody and Aaron Copland’s Saga of the Prairie, Lyle Lovett performed three songs, including the thoughtful title track from his latest album, Natural Forces. The program ended sentimentally with a rendition of “Home on the Range.”

Lovett has long been an advocate for restoration of the tallgrass prairie. He provided a spoken introduction and conclusion, and also contributed songs to the 2001 television special Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie.

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By MYRON SILBERSTEIN

Photos by Summer 2011CNCJA•37

Artist Conversational Lovett subsequently wrote the foreword to the film’s companion book.

His knowledge of and passion for this unique, yet increasingly threatened, ecosystem is palpable and infectious. “What a magical part of our country the tallgrass prairie is,” he told me. “It’s just a very small part of what it once was, but when you go there and you stand out in the middle of it, you really get a sense of what it must have been like.” The statement gives you a sense of Lovett’s appreciation not just for its natural beauty but also for its history.

I asked Lovett how his sense of place—both his appreciation for his own geographic roots and for the value of geographic rootedness— manifests itself in his work. With a natural, humility, his answer related back to his surroundings.

“People write about what they know about,” he told me. “Even though a place is specific, what a place represents is universal.” He went on to convey a hope that his evocation of place inspires similar feelings of connectedness between a listener and his or her own surroundings: “By referencing … where I’m from, if I do that properly, someone who’s from a place … that my place reminds them of will feel the emotion of that passage.”

Fundamental to Lovett’s sense of connection to place is the deep pride he shows for his German heritage and the love he has for his family. These sentiments directly influenced the singer’s education and early career.

Lovett graduated from Texas A&M University in 1979. Unlike many college-educated musicians, though, his degrees are not in music; rather he elected to double-major in journalism and German. His own pursuit of a college degree was in large part an expression of his admiration for his parent’s own commitment to demonstrating the importance of an education.

“My parents both went to night school, and it took them eight years to finish college,” he explained. “I attended both of their graduations.

So, seeing how hard they always worked to give me the opportunities they gave me, it was important to me to go to school for them. That was probably a bigger motivation than seeking a career path through school.”

Though Lovett’s deepest interest has always been music, he embraced academic studies with enthusiasm. As to why he chose to major in German and journalism, and to the larger question, how he chooses any of his pursuits in life, Lovett explained that he simply “find(s himself) doing things that (he) enjoys.” His study of the German language was motivated by his family.

His grandparents spoke German at home, and the language “was very much a part of (his) heritage.”

Lovett’s interest in journalism developed from his affinity for writing. Having begun college as a history major—he had always been interested in history—he came to question whether “a life in academia” was a good fit for him.

History soon became his minor, and a brief survey of his other interests immediately led him

down the path to journalism. He admitted, “I liked to write. I liked writing songs. I always enjoyed writing papers. So I transferred into the school of journalism.”

As for the pursuit of his music, he maintained more than just a passing interest in performing. Throughout college, Lovett played up to four times a week at local venues. Still, it would be a while before he would begin to see the field as a viable career path. For a time, local perception would help relegate the pursuit to, “a closeted aspiration." Lovett explained that, while the Houston area of his youth had a vibrant music scene and was home to well known groups like ZZ Top and Archie Bell and the Drells,

As it remains to this day, the driving force behind (Lovett's) developing “As long as I (had) a job booked somewhere,” he stressed, “then I (was)

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music as a business was far less active there than in New York, Nashville or even Los Angeles. Likewise, Lovett didn’t grow up thinking of singing and writing songs as a “real” job. His parents were both employed in more traditional careers at Exxon. One gets the sense that his own opinion of the viability of a music career is something he would have to grapple with. As he told me, “Growing up (in Houston)… people worked for

a living,” His eyes would soon be opened on his first trip to Nashville.

There, he observed a different mindset that perhaps played a part in his own developing sense of what could develop from his playing. He had seen several performances and had met a wide range of professional musicians there. He explained his astonishment at the fact that people in Nashille “would just say they were a songwriter and … didn’t seem to be embarrassed by it.”

Lovett’s own first professional performances took place at the age of 18 in the summer of 1976 as part of a duo he’d formed with a high-school friend. His first recording, the self-titled album Lyle Lovett, was released

Lovett also shared his 1994 Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group with another Grammy for Best Pop Vocal collaboration, “Funny How Time Slips Away,” a duet with legendary R&B artist Al Green. While his musical career has, by all appearances, taken on the twang of a country artist, Lovett’s music uniquely assimilates a wide range of genres from country to folk to gospel to blues, while retaining a uniquely identifiable sound of its own.

Lyle Lovett’s Large Band, with whom he will perform at Ravinia this summer, was first heard on the singer’s 1988 album Pontiac. Its name and instrumentation hearken back to the great big bands of the swing era.

The Large Band’s nearly twenty musicians include a horn section, a cellist, pianist, a dazzling percussion section, and a wonderful group of back-up vocalists. This summer’s vocalists will include Willie Green, Jr., Sweet Pea Atkinson—former lead singer of the funk group Was (Not Was)—R&B vocalist Harry Bowens, and venerable blues singer Francine Reed, who has sung with the likes of Miles Davis and Smokey Robinson.

Though the ensemble shares the ethos of big-band sophistication and camaraderie, its musical profile is wholly Lovett’s own. Lovett makes playful acknowledgement of this fact with the title of his 2007 album It’s Not Big It’s Large. The massive forces of the band allow each song to take on a unique orchestral color appropriate to its own emotional and stylistic character. The song “Church” features gospel harmonies and hand claps with a jazzy piano and bass accompaniment, while “She Makes Me Feel Good” boasts a bluesy guitar solo and a synthesized Hammond organ.

“What Do You Do” colors its traditional blues harmonies with a full complement of horns. And Lovett’s gentle vocals on his famous ballad, “If I Had a Boat” are accompanied simply by his own acoustic guitar picking, strings, and light percussion.

With such a wide range of styles, it’s highly unlikely that there won’t be something in Lovett's Ravinia date that won't get you moving. I asked him about his varying stylistic influences and his response, unsurprisingly, harkened back to his youth and to the musically nurturing environment his parents provided: “My parents’ record collection was really diverse...

They had Lefty Frizzell records; and they had Ray Price records; and they had that great Herb Alpert record with the whipped cream on it; and they had Glenn Miller records; and they had Nat King Cole records and they had Ray Charles records.”

The Houston Texas of Mr. Lovett’s youth, moreover, “had every kind of radio station you could imagine.” And, as he told me, he listened to them all voraciously.

Lovett’s genre-hopping has never been something he consciously set out to do. Rather, for him, writing begins with the lyrics, when the pencil hits paper. The words to a song, he told me, “quickly suggest a musical feel,” His knowledge of and appreciation for a wide range of musical traditions gives him keen access to an equally wide range of emotions.

The need and desire to communicate those emotions comes first. “It’s not a conceptual approach,” he elaborated. “I don’t sit down and think, ‘I’d like to write a gospel song or a blues album.’” Once the feel of the song has been established, “it’s really just a matter of being able to follow my natural inclinations and… my own interests in music.”

These interests, inspired by family, home, and place—and influenced by the expansive array of musical artists and traditions he has encountered—filter through Lovett’s own work, producing music that appeals to audiences of staggeringly diverse backgrounds around the globe. It’s that same music that has moved audiences at Ravinia in more than a dozen

career was simply to continue doing what he loved. doing it. And so I just never stopped playing.” ten year later in 1986. In that transformative decade, Lovett emphasized that he “took very small steps and received enough encouragement with each step to want to take the next one.” His earliest engagements were at the local Holiday Inn's happy hour. Within a few years he’d been invited to play at Anderson Fair, one of the most prominent original-music venues in the Houston area. From there, Lovett went on to perform at similar venues throughout the state, eventually progressing to Nashville and that 1986 debut recording. As it remains to this day, the driving force behind his developing career was simply to continue doing what he loved. “As long as I (had) a job booked somewhere,” he stressed, “then I (was) doing it.

And so I just never stopped playing.”

Lovett’s first performances of his own songs were in original-music rooms with limited capacity. An audience of 75 was a very good showing, he told me. Such venues were not equipped for bands; shows consisted of one or two singers playing acoustic instruments. His proficiency on acoustic guitar and the easy rapport with audiences he’d come to develop had occasionally prompted some to think of him as a folksinger. But Lovett points out the distinction between folk music and “the acoustic music tradition of singer-songwriters,” such as fellow Texans Townes van Zandt and Guy Clark as well as luminaries like Randy Newman, Tom Waits and Bonnie Raitt. Lovett admires the folk tradition; he grew up singing traditional folk songs and listening to albums by folk icons like Peter Paul & Mary. But he found “something personable about the singer-songwriter who spoke between his songs and talked to the audience during the performance,” and this was the model on which his early concerts were based.

Today, it‘s as tempting to pigeonhole Lovett as a country singer as it is to mislabel him as a folksinger. Three of his four Grammy Awards are for country music: he won Best Country Duo/Group with Vocal in 1994 for “Blues for Dixie” with the Texas swing group Asleep at the Wheel; Best Country Album in 1996 for The Road to Ensenada; and Best Country Male Vocal in 1999 for his album Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. Even on his latest album, Lovett continues to sing of horses, collard greens and his beloved Texas plains. But

summer concerts over the past 15 years. And its that music that will ensure that Lovett’s return to Ravinia this summer—to that grand backyard of his good friends from Chicago—will be just as satisfying for its audience as it will be for Lovett and his Large Band.

Summer 2011CNCJA•39

Lightning Bottle in a

Over the last 30 years, the Mark Morris Dance Group has built an extraordinary reputation of excellence based on a deeply seeded passion for modern dance and all it extols.

Shall We Dance?

By EMILY DISHER

40â&#x20AC;˘CNCJASummer 2011

three years at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. The company returned to the U.S. in 1991, and has since collaborated with renowned artists like cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who worked with MMDG in the film Falling Down Stairs. (Yo-Yo Ma and MMDG will, yet again, collaborate this June at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Mass.)

The group has also worked with visual artists including Isaac Mizrahi, Howard Hodgkin, and Charles Burns.

To grasp the genius that makes Mark Morris Dance Group so impressive, one need look no further than the company’s prolific founder and director, whose name the company bears. Mark Morris’s love of music, passion for literature, extreme intelligence, and unforgettable personality have made the dance group the illustrious company that it has become over its lifetime.

As for music, Morris’s dedication to the medium is as evident as his passion for dance, and his eclectic tastes emerge in his ever-expanding body of works. Morris has choreographed music spanning from the 17thcentury through present day, including operas, ballets, and beyond.

The music, Morris explains, is the source of the dance. When discussing “Petrichor,” a dance for eight women that premiered in October, I asked Morris whether there were other artists or experiences in his life, or some other external influences that impacted his choreography for this piece. “No,” he said.

“I study the music. The dance comes from the music.”

And Morris would have me understand that this study is crucial. I wondered if, after all this time, Morris could even listen to a piece of music without choreographing in his head. He laughed aloud in response to the notion: “No, I don’t see dances in my head when I’m listening to music at Photo by Stephanie Berger

Photo by Amber Darraugh

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his year marks the 30th anniversary of the acclaimed Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG). And as the celebrated company commemorates this significant milestone, they stand at the top of the modern dance world. Over the years, they have become the preeminent modern dance company in the U.S. and have achieved international renown. When the group closes its anniversary season this December, they will have toured more than 20 cities across the U.S., and will have performed over 20 Mark Morris works, in only 17 months. The season’s performances include strikingly brilliant world premieres like “Petrichor” and “Festival Dance,” as well as beloved Mark Morris classics like “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato” and “The Hard Nut.” Over the past 30 years, MMDG has accrued a long list of notable accomplishments, propelling the group to the top of the field of modern dance. In 1988, less than a decade after its Choreographer Mark Morris founding, the company was invited to take up residence as the national dance company of Belgium, spending

(Left):The Company of the Mark Morris

Dance Group performing "The Mozart Dances." (Above:) Mark Morris.

Summer 2011CNCJA•41

ily. In speaking with Morris about this family of artists, one gets the sense that the group really knows how to have enjoy their time together away from the stage.

Of course, the group ought to have some fun, because they work hard. Just looking over their jam-packed anniversary schedule can be exhausting.

When I asked Morris about what I dubbed a “grueling” schedule, he quickly corrected me. “It’s not,” he asserted. “It’s what we do. It’s better to be working than not.”

And continue to work is what they’ll do, as MMDG closes out its anniversary season with many more performances throughout California and Massachusetts. This summer, the company has yet another world premiere up their sleeves—Stravinsky’s Renard, a piece Morris staged with singers at Tanglewood Music Festival last year, but has added choreography for this June’s performance. A piece based on a fable of a fox, a rooster, a cat, and a ram, Morris describes the piece as “primitive and funny.”

“It’s very violent,” he adds, “but cartoons are violent. It’s about cunning, greed, and selfishness.” Those attending Tanglewood in Lenox, MA will have the chance to see how Morris has envisioned Renard.

The works displayed this season, whether tragic or funny, touching or frightening, celebrate the genius of Mark Morris and the talent of his company.

When reflecting on the past 30 years of MMDG, Morris expresses pride and gratitude for his dancers. It's something he doesn't take for granted after all this time. “I didn’t know I would have some of the best dancers in the world. It was something I always wanted, but I didn’t know I’d have that.

There’s nothing like my dancers.” Photos by Stephanie Berger

Shall We Dance?

all. I wish I did! That would be so much easier.”

The influence of music on the MMDG seems more pronounced than with most other dance companies. Whether in class, rehearsal, or on stage, Morris’s dancers practice and perform to live music. He employs his own ensemble of professional musicians, the MMDG Music Ensemble, who perform with the company both at home and on tour—something practically unheard of in the dance world. The ensemble has helped the company achieve an incredible streak of nearly 800 performances set to live music.

And this is, at every step, as important for the dancers as it is for the audience. One reason for this, as Morris pointed out, is that “The music is never exactly the same the way it is with a recording.” As a result, the dancers come to study and rediscover the specific composition on which their choreography is based repeatedly as they rehearse. Morris likens this process of adjusting to the development of the costuming and sets as a work evolves.

There is always an element of rediscovery.

When you attend a MMDG performance, though, rest assured that Morris is not trying to “teach” you something about the music, or cause you to experience it in some particularly novel way. Morris explained, “I don’t know what people’s perceptions of pieces of music are. And I’m not in this for educational purposes. I work with familiar and unfamiliar work. If someone sees a dance of mine and they are not scared of a piece of music anymore, great! But I don’t know, they could see one of my pieces and then become scared of the music. I just present this event.

Take it or leave it.”

In addition to its commitment to live music, MMDG has long been distinguished by its strong sense of community, a community Morris once described in an interview as “hippieesque.” A small company of only 18 dancers practicing, performing and touring together, the group must feel like a fam-

Photos: Scenes from Mark Morris Dance Group performing "The Mozart Dances."

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Chicago arts and culture.......... ♪

Clef N tes Concert Journal for the Arts SUMMER 2009

Mozart’s Letters A candid look at the composer through his writings

THE ADDAMS FAMILY SINGERS

Clef N tes

Clef N tes

Winter 2010

SPRING 2010

Concert Journal for the Arts

Chicagoland Journal for the Arts

Bringing Broadway to chicago

CHOPIN’S BICENTENNIAL Why after two hundred years, Chopin still reigns as one of the most beloved classical composers. By Clara Salomon

Mayor Daley’s grand vision for a revitalized Chicago Theater District has been a long time coming, and Broadway In Chicago has had a significant role in making that a reality.

THE ART OF CONSERVATION How new conservation techniques are aiding art restoration efforts on some of the great masterworks, and what they mean for future conservationists.

By Jennifer Yang

By Patrick M. Curran II

Bringing Iconic Television to the Musical Stage

LIFE LESSONS WITH BRIAN DENNEHY

Chicago’s Harris Theater Celebrating Five Years of Investing in Chicago’s Culture

ON TOUR!

Jazz Sensation Joshua Redman Talks About His Recent Album, Touring and, of All Things, Beethoven

JOFFREY Reinvented

MILLENNIUM PARK’S RARE GEM

The Tony Award winning actor talks with Patrick Curran about his poignant, Broadway-bound dual role recently run at the Goodman Theatre. By Patrick M. Curran II

A ProgrAm of merit

the Uncommon DivA

Stirring UP LAUghter

Merit Music’s incredible contribution to the city’s music education legacy

A look at opera star Frederica von Stade as she prepares for her last staged Chicago performance

Chicago’s 2009 Humanities Festival and its celebration of the many sides of laughter

Chicago’s preeminent ballet company finds its own identity through the same process of self-discovery that its founders followed

By Anna Marks

DANCER ERIN MCAFEE FROM THE JOFFREY BALLET COMPANY PHOTO BY ADAM DANIELS

Clef N tes Chicagoland Journal for the Arts

Clef N tes

SPRING 2011

SUMMER 2011

Chicagoland Journal for the Arts

River of Change

Actress, director, and playwright Regina Taylor brings Dallas’ Trinity River straight through Chicago with her riveting trilogy that explores the powerful cycles of change in one woman’s life. David Weiss sits down in a conversation with the playwright.

Lyle's Large Life The crooner talks life, music and bringing his Large Band to Ravinia

Paris Comes to Millennium Park

A preview of the historic Paris Opéra Ballet as they kick off their American Tour at Harris Theatre.

Finding Vivian Maier: Chicago Street Photographer

+

25 YEARS & COUNTING

The Sacred and The Sublime

Chicago Shakespeare Theatre celebrates a quarter century celebrating Shakespeare.

Soli Deo Gloria debuts in Chicago with Bach's monumental St. Matthew Passion.

a Legacy unveiled Regina Taylor on the set of her new stage play trilogy The Trinity River Plays at Goodman Theatre. Photo by Jason M. Reese. Styling by George Fuller.

A Dance of Madness Preview of The Eifman Ballet's spring production of “Don Quixote” at The Auditorium Theatre.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art examines the impact of the Steins Family and and the passion they inspired in the appreciation of modern art.

.......... is Chicago at its best!

Thanks, Chicago, for another great year!

Clef N tes

Chicagoland Journal for the Arts

Summer 2011CNCJA•43

Science Lab 2.0

By KARL PLATH

T

Photos Courtesy of The Museum of Science and Industry

here’s much, much more than meets the eye in the and hear the questions they ask the surgical team."

Museum of Science and Industry’s Educational Kowrach notes the museum and Advocate Christ have platforms, some even setting the stage for future been working together on Live ... from the Heart about sevcareers in medicine and science. Students aten years now. Although heart surgery is performed continutending Learning Labs at Chicago's Museum of ally by many surgeons and staff at the hospital, a small team Science and Industry participate in everything from observing has been selected to participate in the museum's sessions, and questioning medical staff during a live open heart surgery with members rotating during the year. They have received to applying forensic science training from the museum at a simulated crime scene—a on additional skills such as sort of CSI/MSI. conducting video conferenc"Live ... from the Heart" is ing and speaking with high one of the most popular of the school students with the goal 15 Learning Labs offered to of maximizing their interest groups in grades 3 to 12, says and comprehension. Patients Nicole Kowrach, the museum's undergoing the procedure director of teaching and learnhave agreed to participate. ing. "The kids can talk to the Sessions are scheduled surgical team during the opto run up to two-and-a-half eration, the doctors, the scrub hours. "We don't know how nurses..." Kowrach says stulong it will take," Kowrach dents typically ask questions says. "Complications make that probe how members of the come up; the doctors may team became involved in medihave to try something else. cine and specifics about the opIt can take as little as 75 eration in progress. minutes."

"It's such a fascinating proIn addition to Live ... cedure to watch," Kowrach from the Heart, the museum says. "They're just completely also offers a recorded verengaged through the whole sion, "Heart Surgery 101," process." for students in grades 7-12.

Live ... from the Heart is Schools can also purchase conducted through video cona DVD kit that includes stuferencing during an actual dent workbooks and a teachsurgery at Advocate Christ ing guide. Heart Surgery 101 Medical Center in south suband the DVD are recorded urban Oak Lawn. Sessions are versions of a Live ... from the scheduled every Wednesday Heart session, complete with for school groups in grades the questions students asked 8-12 at a cost of $275 per during those classes. group. Schools register assemAlso among the most popblies of up to 35 students for ular of the Learning Labs are High-school students watch a live videoconference of open-heart surgery as they a specific date, and slots are talk with operating room personnel about medical careers and the procedure during two forensic science classes: usually taken early on in the the Museum’s popular Live… from the Heart program.

Museum Crime Lab for grades registration process that be4-8, at a cost of $100 per gins in May for the following school year. Schools that find group; and Evidence Lab for grades 8-12, $120 per group. a full slate may also sign up for a waiting list in hopes of In Museum Crime Lab, students are presented with a simcancellations. ulated crime scene and four "suspects." Their task is to examIn addition to the onsite class, another school is also conine evidence left at the scene and match it to characteristics nected to the hospital through video conferencing. and other information they have learned about the suspects "We have kids here at the museum in our video conferthrough photos and videos. Procedures may include dusting encing center, kids who are in a classroom somewhere else, for fingerprints and matching them with the suspects at hand; and both sets of those students are connected to the hospital," examining the ink on a scrap of paper and, through chromaKowrach says. "What's also neat about that is the kids here at tography, determining whether it is the same as that in pens the museum and the kids at the remote school see one another used by the suspects; or even collecting fibers and shoe prints 44•CNCJASummer 2011

that may incriminate a suspect.

128 teachers of grades 4-8 are Older students in the selected for a program designed Evidence Lab also use more to improve their science skills in advanced procedures, such as the classroom. The objective is to DNA extraction, analysis of build on their science knowledge, blood splatter and ballistic comenhance their classroom strategy parison of bullets. to include as much hands-on exOf both age groups, Kowrach periences as possible, and to teach says: "They love it. Sometimes them how to best use the museum the students who are a little oldas an extension of the classroom er have this 'aw-this-isn't-real' for their students. While the baattitude. But they immediately sic course is free, teachers may get caught up in the story when elect to receive graduate credit they are actually doing the scithrough the Illinois Institute of ence—the same kind of techTechnology by paying a reduced niques that real forensic investuition rate. tigators use. They completely Whether for students or get wrapped up in the pursuit of A student analyzes white powder found at a “crime scene” in a hands-on activity that’s part teachers, the Museum of Science of the Museum Crime Lab educational program at the Museum of Science and Industry, figuring it out."

Chicago. and Industry's programs are built In addition to heart surgery around the same premise: a practiand forensic topics, the museum cal, hands-on approach to learning. conducts Learning Labs on issues as diverse as physics, electromag"We want people to learn about science by doing science," netism, chemistry, biology, environmental science and alternative fuel Kowrach says. "They are performing experiments; they are getting technologies. their hands on things; they're trying things out. It's really operating Individuals may also have similar practical learning opportunities in the same way a scientist would in a lab environment. The museum through the many sessions of "Live Science Experience" conducted is doing some really great work in supporting science in schools. It's daily throughout the museum at no additional charge. great to be at an institution that values that so much."  And the museum's programs are not only for students. Each year

Summer 2011CNCJA•45

Destination ARTS Tokyo

The devastating earthquake that hit northeastern Japan in March claimed a major victim in the international cultural community: Muza Symphony Hall in Kawasaki, more than 300 kilometers from the earthquake’s epicenter.

According to the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (TSO), which has called Muza Symphony Hall home since it opened its doors in 2004, the earthquake left 80 percent of the building’s structure nonviable. The symphony has since had to cancel 20 of the concerts it had planned there this year.

The news comes as a blow to the symphony which is currently in the midst of its 65th anniversary celebrations.

Having relocated many of their performances to nearby halls, the TSO is looking to the power of their art to bring the organization through this difficult time. In the words of Junji Ohno, TSO managing director, "We will continue performing to see us through this disaster."

Sydney

Paris

This fall, the Vienna Philharmonic returns to Australia following the Orchestra’s first ever Australian concerts at Sydney Opera House in 2006. The Vienna Philharmonic can trace its origins back to 1842 and is probably the one musical ensemble most consistently and closely associated with the history and tradition of European classical music. They will bring that tradition to the home of the Outback in September, 2011.

The highly anticipated Australian concerts will be led by guest conductor Christoph Eschenbach, music director for both the National Symphony Orchestra (USA) and the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C. Eschenbach’s career has seen him take the helm of the Houston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and from 1995-2005 he served as music director of The Ravina Festival.

During their upcoming tour of the region, the Vienna Philharmonic will make stops in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney.

The City of Lights is discovering the bright lights of Broadway by way of Stephen Sondheim. In a city where musical theater really doesn’t stand much of a chance (competing with the many celebrated French cabarets and luminous cancan shows), Sondheim’s 1979 Sweeney Todd is thriving on the Paris stage.

The play owes its run to the director of the Theatre du Chatelet, Jean-Luc Choplin, where the Sondheim classic is now in the midst of a successful run. Since he began his work at the theater in 2006, Choplin has been on a quest to engage Parisians in a presentation of some of the best quality live theater he can attract, presenting such Broadway classics as Showboat, The Sound of Music, and My Fair Lady.

Even Les Miserables, the global sensation that actually had its origin in France only made two short runs in Paris. So, perhaps Choplin has actually turned the tide with Sondheim. Only time will tell.

Toronto

Rio de Janeiro

The 32nd Festival International de Jazz de Montréal (Montreal International Jazz Festival) will take place from June 25 to July 4, 2011.

As in years past, this year's festival offers an eclectic program that features some of the world’s finest artists, including Diana Krall, Robert Plant, Paco de Lucia, Sade and John Legend. The festival's calendar will also feature artists like Milton Nascimento, Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman, Youssou N’Dour, Peter Frampton, Return to Forever IV with Chick Corea, and Pink Martini…and that’s just the tip of the ice berg of this year’s lineup.

The festival will also share billing with the Montreal Guitar Show’s 5th edition from July 1 to 3. Guitar lovers, will have the chance to admire, testdrive and even purchase beautiful guitars hand-made by 130 exceptional guitar luthiers hailing from Canada , the United States and France .

If you’ve ever wondered about the phrase poet Austin Dobson is famous for, "All passes - art alone endures." This may give some credence to the line. According to Bloomberg Press, a $24 million investment fund based in Brazil has gained increased attention for a fund developed to attract wealthy collectors of the nation’s fast rising art market.

Brazil Golden Art: BGA Private Equity Investment Fund is offered by Plural Capital based out of Rio de Janeiro and Sau Paulo.

Brazil’s thriving auction market, up 38 percent this year, is the basis for the fund’s growth and popularity. It’s just one of many capitalizing on the boom—and one of few investment vehicles in recent years that has risk averse investors calling in droves since 2008.

The fund, worth 40 million reais (about $24 million in US currency at time of publishing), elects to buy contemporary art pieces from Brazil and other similar markets. Similar funds have also cropped up in developing regions of Russia and India as well as China.

Photos from left: The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (Photo by Getty Images The Sydney Opera House (Photo by Getty Images); Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim (Photo by Jeremy Jackson); Singer Sade (Photo by Getty Images); The Christ The Redeemer Statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro.

46•CNCJASummer 2011

Summer 2011

Photo © Andrejs Pidjass - Fotopia

Cultural Almanac

Summer 2011CNCJA•47

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Symphony Center w/Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Tel. 312.294.3000, cso.org) Haitkink Conducts Mahler 9 Symphony Center's Jazz at Symphony Center (Tel. 312.294.3000, cso.org) Charles Lloyd and Zakir Hussain

Ravinia (Tel. 847.266.5100, ravinia.org) Chicago Children's Choir - Pavilion Concert Dance, Inc - Bennett Gordon Hall The Judds - Pavilion Ko-Thi Dance Company - Martin Theatre The Moody Blues - Pavilion Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis - Pavilion Robert Plant - Pavilion Steans Music Institute Jazz Showcase - Bennett Gordon Hall Go-Go's and The B-52s - Pavilion Deep Purple - Pavilion Dirty Sock Funtime Band - Pavilion Dave Brubeck & Sons - Pavilion k.d. lang and The Siss Boom Bang - Pavilion Piano Prowess: Beethoven and Lizst - Martin Theatre Miriam Fried and Friends - Martin Theatre A Prairie Home Companion wth Garrison Keillor - Pavilion Daryl Hall & John Oates "Do What You Want, Be What You Are" Tour 2011 - Pavilion Steins Music Institute Master Class - Bennett Gordon Hall Maroon 5 - Pavilion

Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University (Tel. 312.922.2110, auditoriumtheatre.org) The Beach Boys Baroque Band (Tel. 312.235.2368, baroqueband.org) Handel's La Resurrezione Chicago Chamber Musicians (Tel. 312.819.5800, chicagochambermusic.org) The Coming of Light: Spohr, Peter Lieberson, Barber and Dvorak Music of Villa-Lobos Harris Theater for Music and Dance (Tel. 312.334.7777, harristheaterchicago.org) Mayfair Academy's annual dance concert - "A Force of Nature" Grant Park Music Festival and The Grant Park Orchestra (Tel. 312.742.7638, grantparkmusicfestival.com) Opening Night: Symphonie Fantastique and Ravel Piano Concerto with Jean-Philippe Collard, piano Mendelssohn and Peace on Earth Regina Carter Reverse Thread Project Latin Works for Orchestra American A Cappella: American Works for Chorus Museum of Contemporary Art (Tel. 312.280.2660, mcachicago.org) ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble): ICE Lab Old Town School of Folk Music (Tel.773.728.6000, oldtownschool.org) Leo Kottke Stacey Earl & Mark Stuart Southern Culture on the Skids Booker T. Herb Alpert & Lani Hall Tribute to Big Bill Broonzy Jonny Astral Weeks Michael J. Miles Jimmie Dale Gilmore & The Wronglers Group Doueh

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The CNCJA Cultural Almanac listings are representative of schedules from participating institutions available at time of publication.

Photos from left: Pianist Vladimir Feltsman, Maroon 5, Students from Ravinia's Steins Institute; Robert Plant and Chicago Children's Choir (Photos courtesy of Ravinia Festival).

Music & Dance

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JUNE 2011

Apollo Theatre (Tel. 773.935.6100, apollochicago.com) Million Dollar Quartet Biograph Theatre (773.871.3000, victorygardens.org) Dot & Ziggy Victory Gardens Theater (Tel. 773.549.5788, victorygardens.org) A Gospel According to James Broadway In Chicago (Tel. 312.977.1700, broadwayinchicago.org) Working Peter Pan Chicago The Musical Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (Tel. 312.595.5600, chicagoshakes.com) The Madness of George III Murder for Two-A Killer Musical One Thousand and One Nights Circle Theatre (Tel. 708.771.0700, circle-theatre.org) A Little Night Music The Women Court Theatre (Tel. 773.702.7005, courttheatre.org) The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess Goodman Theatre (Tel. 312.443.3800, goodmantheatre.org) Stage Kiss Yellow Face Chinglish The House Theatre of Chicago (Tel. 773.251.2195, thehousetheatre.com) The Magic Parlour Lifeline Theatre (Tel. 773.761.4477, lifelinetheatre.com) Watership Down Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights (Tel. 847.577.2121, metropolisarts.com) Nunsense Northlight Theatre in Skokie (Tel. 847.673.6300, northlight.org) The Outgoing Tide Profiles Theatre (Tel. 773.549.1815, profilestheatre.org) Fifty Words RedTwist Theatre (Tel. 773.728.7529, redtwist.org) Bug Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Tel. 312.335.1650, steppenwolf.org) Where We're Born Venus Animals Out of Paper Middletown Timeline Theatre Company (Tel. 773.281.8463, timelinetheatre.com) The Front Page Writers Theatre in Glencoe (Tel. 847.242.6000, writerstheatre.org) Heartbreak House The Detective's Wife 3

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Photos from left: Scene from Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's The Madness of George III (Photo by Liz Lauren); Entire cast of Milliion Dollar Quartet (Photo by sarah Vohn); Leigh Silverman, Director of Chinglish (Photo courtesy of Goodman Theatre); Jenny Bacon and scott Jaeck in Goodman Theatre's Stage Kiss (Photo by Eric Y. Exit); Steve Scott Director of Yellow Face by silk road project (Photo courtesy of Goodman Theatre).

Theaters

Art Exhibits

The Art Institute of Chicago (Tel. 312.443.3600, artic.edu/aic) Caricatures from the World's Columbian Exposition Altered and Adorned: Using Renaissance Prints in Daily Life Hyperlinks: Architecture and Design Uta Barth Galleries of African Art and Indian Art of the Americas Avant-Garde Art in Everyday Life Japanese Kimono, 1915-1940: From Tradition to Ready-to-Wear Eija-Liisa Ahtila: The House Arms and Armor: Highlights of the Permanent Collection BIGsmall Chagall's America Windows Return Cy Twombly: Sculpture Selections, 1948-1995 Fujinuma Noboru: Master of Bamboo Neither Man Nor Beast: Animal Images on Ancient Coins Pae White The Touch Gallery What's Greek about Roman Copy?

Museum of Contemporary Art (Tel. 312.280.2660, mcachicago.org) Susan Philipsz: We Shall Be All MCA DNA: Thomas Ruff Emerge Selections 2011 Mark Bradford UBS 12x12: New Artists/New Work: John Henderson Pandora's Box: Joseph Cornell Unlocks the MCA Collection National Museum of Mexican Art (Tel. 312.783.9740, nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org) La Nación Huichol - from the sea to the desert Intermission: Benito Huerta Claro y Obscuro Smart Museum of Art University of Chicago (Tel. 773.702.0200, smartmuseum.uchicago.edu) The Tragic Muse: Art and Emotion, 1700-1900 Warhol at Work: Portrait Snapshots, 1973-1986 Go Figure Adler Planetarium (Tel. 312-922-78278, adlerplanetarium.org) Cyber Space From Earth to the Universe Galaxy Wall Hidden Wonders: Preserving the Night Sky Our Solar System Planet Explorers Telescopes Shoot for the Moon Universe In Your Hands Chicago Architecture Foundation (Tel. 312.922.3432, architecture.org) Chicago Model City Chicago: You Are Here Neighborhoods Go Green Chicago History Museum (Tel. 312.642.4600, chicagohistory.org) Out In Chicago Abraham Lincoln Chicago: Crossroads of America Facing Freedom Lincoln Park Block by Block Lincoln's Chicago My Chinatown Sensing Chicago The Dioramas Treasures Unexpected Chicago

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Photos from left: Galileo from Beyond at the museum of Science and Industry (Image courtesy of the Museum of Science and Industry);DEARBORN TELESCOPE 1864 (G-33) FROM TELESCOPES: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ADLER PLANETARIUM); Éduard Manet, The Tragic Actor (RouviÉre as Hamlet) 1866, Oil on Canvas. Courtesy of the National museum of Art, Washington.; Anna Le Merrit, Ophelia,1880,Oil on Canvas. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago. Bequest of Robert Coales, 2007.

Museums

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DuSable Museum of African American History (Tel. 773.947.0600, dusablemuseum.org) Africa Speaks A Slow Walk to Greatness: The Harold Washington Story Red, White, Blue & Black: A History of Blacks in the Armed Services The Freedom Now Mural Thomas Miller Mosaics Field Museum of Natural History (Tel. 312.922.9410, fieldmuseum.org) Ancient Americas Design for a Living World DNA Discovery Center Evolving Planet Grainger Hall of Gems Hall of Jades Inside Ancient Egypt Man-eater of Mfuwe Nature Unleashed Sue The T. rex The Horse The Romance of Ants Underground Adventure Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center (Tel. 847.967.4800, ilholocaustmuseum.org) Spots of Light: To Be a Woman in The Holocaust Karkomi Permanent Exhibition Legacy of Absence Gallery Make a Difference: The Miller Family Youth Exhibition The Zev and Shifra Karkomi Permanent Exhibition Museum of Science and Industry (Tel. 773.684.1414, msichicago.org) Body Worlds & The Cycle of Life Coal Mine Earth Revealed Fast Forwardâ&#x20AC;ŚInventing The Future Imaging: The Tools of Science NetWorld Petroleum Planet Science Storms Suited for Space The Great Train Story You! The Experience Shedd Aquarium (Tel. 312.939.2438, sheddaquarium.org) Amazon Rising Aquatic Show Caribbean Reef Oceanarium Reimagined Polar Play Zone Waters of the World Wild Reef Spertus Institue of Jewish Studies (Tel. 312.332.1700, spertus.edu) Uncovered & Rediscovered 2

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Ongoing Exhibit Opens May 13, 2011

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Photos from left: statuette revealing 16th Century horse armor from The Field Museum's Horse Exhibit (Photo courtesy of the Field Museum of Natural History); Science Storms at The Museum of Science and industry; Earth Revealed Exhibit at The Museum of Science and Industry (photos courtesy of the museum of science and industry); You the Experience exhibit at The Museum of Science and Industry.

(Photo by J.B. Spector).

Museums

Paris Comes to Millennium Park The famed Paris Opéra Ballet will make Chicago's Harris Theater the launching pad for its eagerly awaited American Tour.

By EMILY DISHER

A

fter a decade away, one of the finest ballet companies in the world is returning to the U.S., and Chicago will be the first destination on its American tour. The famed Paris Opéra Ballet will perform a series of three programs at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance next season from June 26—July 1, 2012. The series, which includes Petipa’s classical masterpiece “Giselle,” as well as 20th century modernist works from an array of choreographers, will reflect the wide repertoire of the Paris Opéra Ballet, the company that brought the world classical dance.

The historic Paris Opéra Ballet began developing and perfecting the fundamental principle techniques of ballet in the 16th century.

In 1661, King Louis XIV inaugurated the company, then called the Royal Academy of Dance, which became Europe’s first professional dance troupe. A dance school followed in 1713. During the 19th century, the company continued to forge the way for ballet, creating such hallmark works as “La Sylphide” (1832) and “Giselle” (1841).

During the 20th century, the company could boast of such dancers as Albert Aveline, Carlotta Zambelli, Lycette Darsonval and Yvette

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Chauviré, as well as Rudolph Nureyev—who served as ballet master and director of the Paris Opéra Ballet from 1983 to 1992—and famous choreographers like Serge Lifar.

With such a rich history and vital role in the evolution of ballet, it is no wonder Michael Tiknis, president and managing director of the Harris Theater, is so excited to host the renowned company in Chicago. Tiknis explains, “There is only one Paris Opéra Ballet. This engagement offers the opportunity of a lifetime to see the world’s finest company perform ‘Giselle’—a trademark of their repertoire since 1841….This will be the highlight of Chicago’s dance season.”

“Giselle” will open the company’s Chicago series, and run June 26—28, 2012. This quintessential “ballet blanc” masterpiece tells the tale of a peasant girl who falls in love with a nobleman visiting her village in disguise. After her premature death, her ghost protects her lover from the evil Wilis, spirits who seek vengeance on men by literally dancing them to death. The Royal Academy of Music first performed “Giselle” on June 28, 1841, and it remained a staple with the company through 1868. In 1884, Marius Petipa revived the pro-

PhotoS by Christian Leiber

“There is only one Paris Opéra Ballet. This engagement offers the opportunity of a lifetime to see the world’s finest company perform ‘Giselle’—a trademark of their repertoire since 1841….This will be the highlight of Chicago’s dance season.”

—Michael Tiknis, President and Managing Director Harris Theater for Music and Dance

duction for the Imperial Russian Ballet. Petipa made changes to the ballet in 1899, and again in 1903, when he staged it for the debut of iconic ballerina Anna Pavlova. It is Petipa’s “Giselle”—the definitive version of the ballet—that the Paris Opéra Ballet will perform at Harris Theater.

While the Paris Opéra Ballet maintains a vast and reputable repertoire of historic works like “Giselle,” Company Director Brigitte Lefèvre has continued to diversify the company’s productions, celebrating 20th century dance and the development of contemporary pieces. The Paris Opéra Ballet’s repertoire includes a formidable array of works from many periods, including romantic, classical, modern, neoclassical, and contemporary. Thus, the company will follow “Giselle,” with something completely different—a mixed program of 20th century modernist works (June 30—July 1, 2012).

This second program will open with Serge Lifar’s “Suite en blanc” (1943), an abstract work set to the music of Lalo. Roland Petit’s “L’Arlésienne,” set to Bizet, is a narrative ballet illustrating a tragic love story and demanding sophisticated acting of its dancers. Maurice Béjart’s “Le Boléro” closes the program. Béjart’s cho-

reography concentrates on a single soloist surrounded by a group whose movements interpret Ravel’s music.

The Paris Opéra Ballet’s Chicago engagement will close with a third, gala program on Friday, June 29, 2012.

Chicago’s Grant Park Orchestra will accompany the Paris Opéra Ballet in their first collaboration with Harris Theater. President of the Grant Park Orchestral Association Board Beth Clark Rodriguez notes, “The Grant Park Orchestra is thrilled to have this wonderful opportunity to accompany one the world’s finest companies and looks forward to our first ever collaboration with our friends and neighbors, the Harris Theater.”

To be sure, it's a collaboration you won't want to miss. For the full schedule of the Paris Opéra Ballet’s 2012 Chicago performances, visit HarrisTheaterChicago.org. (Above) Paris Opéra Ballet performing "Suite en Blanc."

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Pacifica received an Avery Fisher Career Grant, making them only the second chamber music ensemble in the program's 30-year history to receive the award.

The quartet’s 2006 Gramophone magazine cover hailed the group as one of “five new quartets you should know about,” the only American quartet on the list. Their residencies are too many to name, but if you’re looking for a highlight among them, a 2009 appointment as quartet-in-residence at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art—following in the footsteps of the Guarneri String Quartet, which held the position for 43 years—is not too shabby a start. The Pacifica’s tours take them throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. They are ardent advocates of contemporary music, commissioning and performing new works regularly. In 2009, their recording of Carter’s Quartets Nos. 1 and 5 earned them a Grammy Award in Best Chamber Music Performance.

Photo Courtesy of The Pacifica Quartet

The CNCJA Cultural Almanac listings are representative of schedules from

participating institutions available at time of publication.

amed Musical America’s 2009 Ensemble of the Year, the Grammy-winning Pacifica Quartet—violinist Simin Ganatra, violinist Sibbi Bernhardsson, violist Masumi Per Rostad and cellist Brandon Vamos—has achieved international stature as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant style, and daring programs, the wildly acclaimed chamber ensemble is currently Faculty Quartet in Residence at the University of Illinois, and also resident performing artists at the University of Chicago and the Longy School in Boston.

Shortly after the group’s formation in 1994, the Pacifica won top prizes in leading competitions, including the 1998 Naumburg Prize. The Quartet has gone on to claim many more honors, including the appointment to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s program for gifted young musicians and Chamber Music America’s coveted Cleveland Quartet Award. In 2006,

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The Pacifica Quartet

THEATER REVIEW

Goodman's Kiss Delights in its Revelations

Photo BY LIZ lauren

By LAURA LEWIS-BARR

HE (Mark L. Montgomery) and SHE (Jenny Bacon) rehearse a scene from One Last Kiss.

A frothy spoof on the inelegant backstage world of actors, Sarah Ruhl’s newest play, Stage Kiss, demands countless kisses from its actors. Some are seemingly welcomed, others detested. The comedy takes us into rehearsals for an outrageously bad 1930s melodrama. From the start, Jessica Thebus directs her cast to deliver an exaggerated, over-the-top acting style. As such, the play within-a-play performances are designed to be dismal. Many opening night patrons found them hilarious.

Jenny Bacon anchors the chaos with her long suffering and melodramatic “SHE,” an actress returning to the stage after a long absence. In the first scene (SHE’s horrific audition for the appalling play), Bacon’s wild expressions and physical dexterity recall Lucille Ball. Bacon expertly negotiates the changing tones of the play. She finds the truth in the backstage scenes (we feel SHE’s fear and pain) while playing histrionic in the rehearsal scenes. Bacon also propels her lips into 2-plus hours of kissing almost everyone in the production.

As expected, the entire cast is stellar. Mark L. Montgomery (SHE’s former lover, “HE”), performs an impressive range—love sick co-star, abusive partner, and self-destructive colleague. Ross Lehman’s flamboyant Director raised guffaws with his neverending array of fussy and melodramatic gestures. Sarah TolanMee delivers a stunning diatribe as Angela, SHE’s bitter 16-yearold daughter. Jeffery Carlson (the play’s understudy) and Erica Elam (HE’s girlfriend) also delighted, with Elam finding a sweet spot just shy of caricature. Scott Jaeck keeps the pathos believ-

able in the more somber role of SHE’s stoic Husband.

Stage Kiss is both a lighthearted, titillating comedy and a deeper exploration of identity and the way our performance in one area of life can trickle into others. The performances are both truthful and extravagantly “false.” But how do we completely discriminate between truth and deception? By allowing a melodramatic style to seep into the backstage scenes, Thebus and Ruhl blur the distinctions and show the fluidity of our identities.

The production also revels in exploring “theatrical truth.”

When SHE and HE practice a choreographed fight and then slip into a very “real” brawl, the audience has to remember that this second fight is also choreographed and not “real.”

But what of all those kisses? As we watch the kissing rehearsals we’re uncomfortable for Bacon. But do we forget that the backstage kisses are also pretend?

While the farcical sections are fun, the repeated “what a bad actor” jokes begin to wear over the course of the performance.

One begins to long for more of the soulful wisdom hidden within the play. Ruhl’s lovely observations and comic epiphanies are the greatest joy of Stage Kiss. Some of these are hidden within the “bad play,” such as “You can’t live on champagne all your life, you need bread.” This lovely theme proves central to the work.

While Stage Kiss may risk being dominated by overblown farce in this production, it still offers many delights for all to enjoy. Summer 2011CNCJA•55

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Music and Dance

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Penderecki Conducts Penderecki Kwame Ryan conducts Libermann, Ravel and Schumann Choral Masterpieces: Bernstein and Faure Prokofiev Symphony No. 7 Rachmaninoff and Sibelius Brahms and Britten - Jennifer Koh returns to perform the Britten Violin Concerto Harris Theater for Music and Dance (Tel. 312.334.7777, harristheaterchicago.org) Muntu Dance Theatre - "This Far By Faith" Music Institute of Chicago (Tel. 847.905.1500 ext. 108, musicinst.org) Chicago Duo-Piano Festival Old Town School of Folk Music (Tel. 773.728.6000, oldtownschool.org) Chicago Folk & Roots Festival Ravinia (Tel. 847.266.5100, ravinia.org) Maroon 5 - Pavilion Tom Chapin & Friends - Pavilion Joshua Bell IU Centennial Concert - Pavilion Ralph’s World - Pavilion The Music of ABBA as performed by Arrival from Sweden - Pavilion Evening with Peter Frampton - Pavilion Emerson String Quartet - Martin Theatre Lang Lang, Liszt & Friends w/CSO - Pavilion CSO: Rite of Spring - Pavilion Justin Roberts & The Not Ready for Naptime Players - Pavilion CSO: Voigt's Fidelio, Salome & more - Pavilion Ramsey Lewis Trio | Pink Martini - Pavillion Piano and Strings featuring Mendelssohn's Octet - Bennett Gordon Hall Zukerman ChamberPlayers - Martin Theatre Emanuel Ax joins Zukerman ChamberPlayers - Martin Theatre CSO: Dohnányi and Ax play All-Brahms Evenings - Pavilion Jennifer Hudson - Pavilion Piano and Strings Chamber Concert featuring Brahms's Sextet - Bennett Gordon Hall Wind Soloists from the CSO Serenade 75th Anniversary - Martin Theatre Lisztian Loves: A Theatrical & Musical Portrait of Franz Liszt - Martin Theatre Rare & Ravishing Rachmaninoff - Pavilion Five for Fighting - Pavilion

By George! The Great Gershwin Gala - Pavilion CSO: Brahms and Beethoven - Pavilion Conlon Showcase - Martin Theatre Songs by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff - Martin Theatre Vocalist Sylvia McNair - Bennett Gordon Hall Misha and Cipa Dichter and The Harlem String Quartet - Martin Theatre BoDeans - Pavilion CSO: Puccini's Tosca The Mariachi Divas - Pavilion Tchaikovsky Spectacular - Pavilion Woodstock Mozart Festival (Tel. 815.338.5300, or mozartfest.org) Peter Hörr conducts and plays Jarnach, Duport, Barber and Mozart

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Chicago Chamber Musicians (Tel. 312.819.5800, chicagochambermusic.org) First Monday Concert at The Chicago Cultural Center The Grant Park Music Festival and The Grant Park Symphony (Tel. 312.742.7638, grantparkmusicfestival.com) Mahler: Songs of the Earth

Independence Celebration: Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture and other 4th of July Celebration Works

American and Russian Landscapes: Borodin, Copeland and Tchaikovsky Spanish Guitar and Alondra del Parra: Marquez, Rodrigo and Dvorak Broadway Rocks: Blockbusters from musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, The Wiz and more

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The CNCJA Cultural Almanac listings are representative of schedules from participating institutions available at time of publication.

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Theaters

Art Exhibits

JULY 2011

Pinkalicious West Side Story Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (Tel. 312.595.5600, chicagoshakes.com) One Thousand and One Nights The Adventures of Pinocchio Circle Theatre (Tel. 708.771.0700, circle-theatre.org) The Women Goodman Theatre (Tel. 312.443.3800, goodmantheatre.org) Yellow Face Chinglish The House Theatre of Chicago (Tel. 773.251.2195, thehousetheatre.com) The Magic Parlour Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights (Tel. 847.577.2121, metropolisarts.com) Fleetwood Mix: The Fleetwood Mac Tribute Silver Screen Gold Featuring Peter Oprisko The Wizard of Oz RedTwist Theatre (Tel. 773.728.7529, redtwist.org) That Face Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Tel. 312.335.1650, steppenwolf.org) Middletown Stations Lost Jeff Garlin: No Sugar Tonight Timeline Theatre Company (Tel. 773.281.8463, timelinetheatre.com) The Front Page Writers Theatre in Glencoe (Tel. 847.242.6000, writerstheatre.org) The Detective's Wife The Art Institute of Chicago (Tel. 312.443.3600, artic.edu/aic) Caricatures from the World's Columbian Exposition Altered and Adorned: Using Renaissance Prints in Daily Life Hyperlinks: Architecture and Design Uta Barth Souvenirs of the Barbizon: Photographs, Paintings, and Works on Paper Ralph Eugene Meatyard: Dolls and Masks Windows on the War: Soviet TASS Posters at Home and Abroad, 1941–1945 Belligerent Encounters: Graphic Chronicles of War and Revolution, 1500–1945 Museum of Contemporary Art (Tel. 312.280.2660, mcachicago.org) Susan Philipsz: We Shall Be All MCA DNA: Thomas Ruff Emerge Selections 2011 Mark Bradford Pandora's Box: Joseph Cornell Unlocks the MCA Collection Motor Coctail: Sound and Movement in Art of the 1960s Mark Handforth Plaza Project National Museum of Mexican Art (Tel. 312.783.9740, nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org) La Nación Huichol - from the sea to the desert Intermission: Benito Huerta Smart Museum of Art University of Chicago (Tel. 773.702.0200, smartmuseum.uchicago.edu) Warhol at Work: Portrait Snapshots, 1973-1986

Apollo Theatre (Tel. 773.935.6100, apollochicago.com) Million Dollar Quartet Broadway In Chicago (Tel. 312.977.1700, broadwayinchicago.org) Beauty and the Beast The All New Original Tribute to the Blues Brothers™

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Permanent or ongoing exhibits at all museums listed within the Cultural Almanac are available on pages 50 and 51.

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EXHIBIT REVIEW

Artists Blend Visions of Color at Thomas McCormick Exhibit

Photo Courtesy of Thomas McCormick Gallery

By ALEXANDRA ZAJAC

The Thomas McCormick Gallery in Chicago's River North is exploding with color! Located just west of Chicago’s Loop, the gallery is currently displaying on its clean white walls the exaggerated, colorful works of artists Michael Hedges and Nicole Northway.

Aptly exhibited in the same space, the aesthetics of these two young artists complement one another well. While both artists play with contrasting colors, Hedges amps up the dichotomy between white and color in a much more evident fashion than Northway.

Whereas Hedges’ paintings are saturated with white, Northway uses white mainly to create intricate details and web-like structures.

Hedges’ works explore the balance between texture, color and shapes. Using oil paint and various media such as cardboard and cloth, the result is a collage-like effect that contrasts bursts of color against white, which is painted over the majority of the canvas. At times, the colors peeking through the white are screaming and bold; and at other times, they are more of a whisper, subdued and muted.

For example, Hedges’ Square One can offer the impression of being in a stark white room while peering out of the window to take in the dramatic, colorful world outside. While on the other hand, his Bookshelves #1 makes viewers feel as though they are outside looking at a busy street with buildings and street vendors.

The psychedelic yin to Hedges’ more structured and traditional yang is Nicole Northway’s use of thin oil paints on canvas with spray enamel to create a very stellar, visually arresting effect.

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(Main) Michael Hedges, Square One oil on canvas, 2010 (48 x 48 inches); (Inset) Nicole Northway, Climax oil, spray enamel and glitter on canvas, 2010 (78 x 68 inches).

Drawing inspiration from nature, her works carry a heavier message about society and culture.

I am an Island (slipping into the sea) depicts thin, white lines representing an iceberg at sea set against a backdrop that seems to mimic the Northern Lights. The image of the iceberg composed of such an intricate web of lines lends an architectural effect, as if it is actually a blueprint for a sculpture. Rendering such an ancient, natural object as a manmade structure serves to remind viewers, although it was originally born of nature, the majestic iceberg is now reshaped and defined by the human race.

Another of Northway’s works, Climax, features a dark background with scattered, glowing orbs. In the center of the canvas is a large, amorphous web-like structure that emanates with pink and yellow hues. One is forcibly drawn to the colors juxtaposed against a deep navy and purple background. As it turns out, Northway's painting was actually inspired by glowworms and the way other insects are lured into their bright, glowing webs.

After learning of the inspiration behind the piece, one can’t help but sympathize with the unsuspecting insects. It’s as if you too have fallen victim to the strange, intoxicating beauty of the work.

Hedges’ and Northway’s works will be on exhibit at the Thomas McCormick Gallery through June 4th. 

EXHIBIT REVIEW

Shedd Aquarium's Jellies a Hypnotic Experience

By DAVID HENLEY

Photo Courtesy of The Shedd Aquarium

Jellies are some of the most beautiful and mesmerizing examples of aquatic life—so simple, they survive (even thrive) without bones, blood, or brains; so complex that scientists develop energy efficient sea vessels based on their system of propulsion. Jellies, the new exhibit at The Shedd Aquarium, examines these beguiling creatures, their impact on the world, and the world’s impact upon them.

Cyanea Capillata (Moon Jelly) one of the From the moment you starts of The Adler Planetarium's new exhibit, enter the exhibit, you’re enJellies. gulfed within the psychology of the jelly “effect.”

The space is framed organically with undulating walls that encase glass tanks, each housing a distinct species of jelly. This structure, combined with muted lighting and ambient song, creates a very calming, hypnotic ambiance not dissimilar to the effect one experiences simply watching these graceful creatures swim.

Visually arresting, Jellies doesn’t overwhelm you with encyclopedic diatribes about these beautiful creatures.

Instead, it weaves its content unobtrusively between stations along the narrow, curvilinear walls of the exhibit.

These “lessons” appear as intermittent flashes of details on the creatures’ anatomy, motions, blooms (reproduction) and environmental impact.

The exhibit first shows the distinction between the various species of jelly, like the fascinating Moon Jelly (Aurelia aurita), native to coastal waters of the northwest Atlantic Ocean and one of the many jellies whose sting is not harmful to humans; or the Upside-Down Jelly, which can survive in areas of low oxygen due to the symbiotic algae living on their tissues. It then begins to focus on the simple biological structure jellies and the fascinating pulse by which they swim.

One of the finest aspects of the exhibit, the portion that examines conservation, is also its most impactful. Because as beautiful as jellies are, their over proliferation within the world’s oceans means those oceans are troubled. As pollution of our waters increases, predators decrease, leaving jellies to reproduce unchecked. They need very little to survive. And they can feed off of the few other aquatic life also able to endure dead zone waters—all allowing them to serve as virtual barometers for conservationists, signaling that our oceans need help.

To further dramatize the danger of pollution to our waters, the Shedd’s Fabrication Team created a swarm of jellies made of plastic soda bottles, all hovering above the end of the exhibit. (Following the exhibit, they will all be recycled, so that they don’t end up in our ecosystem). They look harmless, even cute. But left to fill our oceans, they can become a dangerous poison. It’s a startling symbol.

Jellies the exhibit is as mesmerizing as the jellies themselves. But the light it shines on our planet’s delicate balance is an even more compelling reason to visit and to take note. Jellies will be on display at the Shedd through May 28, 2011. Corporate Sponsor Partner for Crowns

Owen Season Sponsor

Principal Support of Artistic Development and Diversity Initiatives

Exclusive Airline of Goodman Theatre

Summer 2011CNCJA•59

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Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 Closing Night: Verdi Requiem Museum of Contemporary Art (Tel. 312.280.2660, mcachicago.org) Chicago Human Rhythm Project: JUBA! Ravinia (Tel. 847.266.5100, ravinia.org) Bryn Terfel Recital - Martin Theatre Orsorio's A-Liszt - Martin Theatre Perlman Plays Beethoven - Pavilion CSO: Yo-Yo Plays Tchaikovsky CSO: Pearlman Conducts Fleisher - Pavilion Highland Park Strings - Martin Theatre Jackie Evancho and Ravinia Festival Orchestra - Pavilion American Songs in Recital - Bennett Gordon Hall The 5 Browns World Premiere - Pavilion Los Lonely Boys and Los Lobos - Pavilion Handel's Orlando - Martin Theatre Steely Dan - Pavilion Rufus Wainwright CSO Debut - Pavilion Takรกcs String Quartet - Martin Theatre Italian Songs Vocal Concert - Bennett Gordon Hall Barto's Liszt - Martin Theatre Christopher O'Riley's Covers of Lisztg - Bennett Gordon Hall CSO: The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring - Pavilion From Liszt to Listsa - Bennett Gordon Hall The Lincoln Trio - Bennett Gordon Hall Anne, Anton, Angel and Air - Bennett Gordon Hall Lifehouse - Pavilion Lyle Lovett & His Large Band - Pavilion Jazz pianist Eldar Djangirov - Bennett Gordon Hall Return of the Knights - Martin Theatre Gipsy Kings - Pavilion Tony Bennett's 85th Birthday Concert - Pavilion Vocalist Laura Benanti - Bennett Gordon Hall Chicago - Pavilion Bailey's Bach - Bennett Gordon Hall An Evening with Mandy Patinkin and Nathan Gunn - Pavilion Woodstock Mozart Festival (Tel. 815.338.5300, or mozartfest.org) Liszt Bicentenial Celebration Arthur Arnold conducts Prokofiev, Mozart and Beethoven

The Grant Park Music Festival and The Grant Park Orchestra (Tel. 312.742.7638, grantparkmusicfestival.com)

Brahms and Britten - Jennifer Koh returns to perform the Britten Violin Concerto Ryan Opera Center: Mozart, Donizetti and Rossini Mozart and Strauss The Book with Seven Seals by Franz Schmidt

Chicago Chamber Musicians (Tel. 312.819.5800, chicagochambermusic.org) First Monday Concert at The Chicago Cultural Center

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The CNCJA Cultural Almanac listings are representative of schedules from participating institutions available at time of publication.

Photos from left: Cellist Yo-Yo Ma (Photo courtesy of The Ravinia Festival); The Woodstock Mozart Festival Ensemble (Courtesy of the woodstock Mozart festival); Singer-Songwriter Lyle Lovett (Photo by Michael Wilson); Highland Park Strings (Photo Courtesy of The Ravinia Festival); The Five Browns (Photo Courtesy of the Ravinia Festival); Pianist Frederico Osorio (Photo courtesy of the ravinia festival).

Music & Dance

Summer 2011CNCJA•61

Theater

AUGUST 2011

Apollo Theatre (Tel. 773.935.6100, apollochicago.com) Million Dollar Quartet Broadway In Chicago (Tel. 312.977.1700, broadwayinchicago.org) Beauty and the Beast Pinkalicious West Side Story Chicago Shakespeare Theatre (Tel. 312.595.5600, chicagoshakes.com) The Adventures of Pinocchio Circle Theatre (Tel. 708.771.0700, circle-theatre.org) The Women Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights (Tel. 847.577.2121, metropolisarts.com) The Second City's Sex & The Second City: A Romantic Dot Comedy RedTwist Theatre (Tel. 773.728.7529, redtwist.org) That Face Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Tel. 312.335.1650, steppenwolf.org) Middletown The Art Institute of Chicago (Tel. 312.443.3600, artic.edu/aic) Uta Barth Souvenirs of the Barbizon: Photographs, Paintings, and Works on Paper Ralph Eugene Meatyard: Dolls and Masks Windows on the War: Soviet TASS Posters at Home and Abroad, 1941–1945 Belligerent Encounters: Graphic Chronicles of War and Revolution, 1500–1945 Museum of Contemporary Art (Tel. 312.280.2660, mcachicago.org) Mark Bradford Pandora's Box: Joseph Cornell Unlocks the MCA Collection Motor Coctail: Sound and Movement in Art of the 1960s Mark Handforth Plaza Project National Museum of Mexican Art (Tel. 312.783.9740, nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org) La Nación Huichol - from the sea to the desert Intermission: Benito Huerta Smart Museum of Art University of Chicago (Tel. 773.702.0200, smartmuseum.uchicago.edu) Warhol at Work: Portrait Snapshots, 1973-1986 Process and Artistry in the Soviet Vanguard

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Soprano Ashley Brown, who originated the title role of the musical Mary Poppins on Broadway in 2006, will debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago as Magnolia Hawks in the company premiere of the classic American musical, Show Boat, Lyric’s general director William Mason announced in late May. Brown, who received Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Drama Desk nominations for best actress for Mary Poppins, also portrayed the airborne English nanny throughout the U. S. (including performances at Chicago’s Cadillac Theatre in 2009). Lyric Opera’s new premiere of Show Boat, based on the music of Jerome Kern and the lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II, will run in 12 performances from February and March 2012.

Photos from left: Entire cast of Million Dollar Quartet (Photo by Sara Von); Brian Hill, Author of The adventures of Pinocchio (Photo courtesy of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Neil Bartram, composer and lyricist for The adventures of pinocchio (Photo courtesy of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Uta Barth. German, born 1958. ... and to draw a bright white line with light (Untitled 11.2), 2011. Inkjet prints, diptych; each panel 37 x 56 in. Courtesy of the Artist; 1301 PE, Los Angeles; and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York. © Uta Barth, Courtesy Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, and 1301PE, Los Angeles.

Permanent or ongoing exhibits at all museums listed within the Cultural Almanac are available on pages 50 and 51.

Art Exhibits

Photo by Peter Bosey

25 Years and Counting!

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O

ver the past 25 years, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre has brought us their “uniquely American” brand of Shakespeare and shared a vision with the city and the world of a broad spectrum of wildly superior theatrical experiences that engage and enlighten, all while paying reverent homage to the bard and England’s most profoundly venerated playwright. Artistic Director Barbara Gains and Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin have worked to make CST’s home at Chicago’s Navy Pier a model for what a cultural institution can bring to a world class city.

Establishing a reputation for bold interpretations and insightful readings, CST has become a mainstay in Chicago’s cultural season. Boasting a remarkable 48-week season, comprised of more than 600 performances and engaging the largest number of Chicago actors in the city, CST has become a mainstay in Chicago’s rich tapestry of cultural endeavors.

In celebration of their stunning silver anniversary, the theater company will be bringing their big guns, drawing artists from across the Arabic-speaking world to Chicago for a spectacular Dash Arts' production of One Thousand and One Nights. Also included in the season will be the company’s rarely produced Timon of Athens, featuring Tony award winner and internationally celebrated actor Ian McDiarmid. Associate Artistic Director Garry Griffin (celebrating 10 years with CST this season) will be bringing the company’s first full-length production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in over a decade; and will continue the company’s tradition of exploration of the Stephen Sondheim canon with an extravagant presentation of Sondheim and James Goldman's Follies. And that’s just for starters.

On June 6, 2011, CST launches its 25th Anniversary celebration with a Silver Jubilee Gala at its home on Navy Pier. The sterling celebration will include an inaugural "Spirit of Shakespeare Awards," honoring those who keep the spirit of Shakespeare alive through artistic and community service. This year's celebration honors Sir Peter Hall, founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Sir Derek Jacobi, internationally renowned stage and film actor; and civic honorees John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe, committed leaders in civic, education and cultural activities. Here’s to another quarter century of wildly wonderful Shakespeare at Chicago’s Navy Pier.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin and Artistic Director Barbara Gaines in CST's Courtyard Theater.

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Cultural Almanac Pick Lists

Jacqueline Carter’s Exhibit Picks

The Field Museum of Natural History Grainger Hall of Gems Explore the natural beauty of Earth’s gemstones along with stunning gems crafted by artisans at The Field Museum’s renovated exhibition, Grainger Hall Gems.

Unusual natural formations, dazzling cut gems, incomparable jewelry settings await you. Discover beautiful Tiffany & Co. pieces from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, exquisite rare stones and gold objects from around the world, and never-before-seen creations from top jewelry designers. For more details on this permanent exhibit, visit FieldMuseum.org or call 312.922.9410.

t o and it is Photo by J.B. SPECTOR, MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, CHICAGO

The Museum of Science and Industry Smart Home + Green Wired The "Greenest Home in Chicago" is back with new gadgets and inventive ways live green! The Smart Home, a fully functioning, eco-friendly home on the Museum’s grounds, is a must-see exhibit for anyone who wants their home, life, to be smarter, more efficient and more in tune with the environment than today. For more details on this ongoing exhibit, visit MSIChicago.org or call 773.684.1414.

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The Smart Home: Green + Wired House has welcomed more than 250,000 guests on guided tours since its debut in 2008.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Mark Bradford This exhibition is the first survey of the artist Mark Bradford’s work to date. Spanning the years 2001 to 2010, it examines Bradford's work in all media, beginning with early sculptural projects, and culminating in a number of new commissions. Deeply influenced by his experience growing up in South Central Los Angeles, the titles of his works often allude to stereotypes and the dynamics of class, race, and gender-based economies that structure urban society in the United States, specifically those of Los Angeles where he lives and works. Mark Bradford runs at the MCA through September 18, 2011. Visit MCAChicago.org or call 312.397.4010.

Ed Richter’s Theater Picks

Writer’s Theatre The Detective’s Wife Three of Chicago’s finest talents come together to create a tour-de-force evening of theatre: playwright Keith Huff, fresh from his box office record breaking Broadway debut of A Steady Rain and writer for the award-winning drama Mad Men; Broadway director and multi award-winning favorite Gary Griffin and Barbara Robertson, one of Chicago’s greatest actresses, bring you this exclusive limited engagement.

Photo courtesy of Goodman Theatre

Alice Conroy is the mother of two grown children, owner of a frame store and wife of a Chicago homicide detective. When her husband is gunned down on the job, she sets out to find out who did it...and why. The Detective’s Wife runs at Writer’s Theatre through July 31, 2011. Visit WritersTheatre.org or call 847.242.6000 for more details.

David Henry Hwang, writer of Chinglish.

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Goodman Theatre Chinglish The truth is lost—or concealed—in Chinglish, a new comedy by Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly). When an American businessman arrives in China hoping to make an important deal, he finds himself enmeshed in a system that he doesn't understand-and is more complex than he ever imagined. Chinglish runs at the Goodman Theatre from June 18 – July 24, 2011. Visit GoodmanTheatre.org or call 312.443.3800 for more details.

Red Twist Theatre Bug Director Kimberly Senior returns to Redtwist after her blockbuster production of The Pillowman. She teams up with scenic designer, Jack Magaw, as directors/designers of this explosive drama: A gritty and darkly funny tale of love, alienation, fear, paranoia, and government conspiracy. Dark secrets emerge from the walls of a seedy motel room as two lonely souls take aggressive solace against the ever-encroaching outside world. Bug runs at Redtwist through June 26, 2011. For more details, visit Redtwist.org or call 773.728.7529.

Fred Cummings' Classical Music & Dance Picks

Photo Courtesy of Ravinia

Ravinia Dohnányi and Ax play All-Brahms Evenings with The CSO Celebrated conductor Christoph von Dohnányi returns for only his second festival season to lead four of Brahms’s most beloved works. Ravinia favorite Emanuel Ax performs Brahms’s first piano concerto, whose middle movement is an expansive and meltingly beautiful Adagio that Brahms himself identified as a tender portrait of his beloved Clara Schumann. The sunniest of the four symphonies Brahms composed, the second symphony is imbued with a spacious lyricism.

The performance is scheduled for July 14, 2011. Visit Ravinia.org or call 847.266.5100.

Grant Park Music Festival Kwamé Ryan Conducts Schumann and Ravel Schumann’s grand, romantic symphony shares this Grant Park Orchestra program with Ravel’s Conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi stirring suite written to commemorate friends killed during WWI and a recent work by Swiss composer Rolf Liebermann. Concert takes place July 20, 2011. Visit grantparkmusicfestival.com or call 312.742.7638 for more details.

Photo courtesy of the Woodstock Mozart Festival

The Museum of Contemporary Art ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble): ICElab Ensemble-in-residence ICE brings four Chicago premieres to the MCA Stage, featuring works commissioned as part of ICElab, an initiative that brings the musicians in close collaboration with emerging composers. ICElab also aims to captivate you, the listener, with concerts and talks characterized by unusual formats, locations, and ingenious uses of popular technology. Performance takes place June 4, 2011. For more details, visit MCAChicago.org or call 312.397.4010.

Woodstock Mozart Festival Peter Hörr Conducts and Performs Echo Klassik (European Grammy Award) award-winning cellist Peter Hörr plays and conducts from his instrument on a program including Jarnach’s Musik zum Gedächtnis der Einsamen; Duport’s Cello Concerto No. 6 in D Minor; Barber’s Adagio for Strings; and Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 in G Minor, K. 183. Performances scheduled for July 30 and 31, 2011. For more details, visit mozartfest.org or call 815.338.5300.

Members of the Woodstock Mozart Festival Ensemble.

Photo by Dan Rest/Lyric Opera of Chicago

The Museum of Contemporary Art Lucky Plush Productions with 500 Clown: Work-in-progress showing of The Better Half Go behind-the-scenes with choreographer Julia Rhoads of Lucky Plush and theater director Leslie Buxbaum of Danzig of 500 Clown, and their performers as they work on creating The Better Half, a new commission by MCA Stage. This work-in-progress showing is a rare glimpse at the creative process while the artists learn and adapt each other's different techniques. Performance is scheduled for June 30, 2011. For more details, visit MCAChicago.org or call 312.397.4010.

Grant Park Music Festival Ryan Opera Center: Scenes from Donizetti, Mozart & Rossini The talented young singers of the Lyric Opera’s training program return to Millennium Park for an evening of great operatic scenes. Hear the most beloved operatic classics from today’s brightest young stars. Performances take place August 5 and 6, 2011. For more details, visit GrantParkMusicFestival.com or call 312.742.7638.

Members of Lyric Opera of Chicago's Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center.

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Editor’s Picks

Photo by Liz Lauren

Chicago Shakespeare Theatre The Madness of George III Tony Award-winning British playwright Alan Bennett (The History Boys) has garnered worldwide acclaim as "arguably the best playwright in England" (The New York Times). This sharply witty, surprisingly heartfelt story chronicles the palace intrigue surrounding King George III's struggle to maintain political power, aided by the love of his devoted queen. The monarch's endearing exultations and fiery rage evoke an 18thcentury King Lear. Celebrated director Penny Metropulos, who spent 19 seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, stages this marvelously intelligent masterpiece. See the Madness at Shakespeare Theatre through June 12, 2011. Call 312.595.5600 or visit ChicagoShakes.com for more details.

King George III (Harry Groener) embraces his straitjacket as he struggles to regain control of Harris Theater for Music and Dance his mind in Chicago Shakespeare Theater's The Madness of George III, playing through June Muntu Dance Theatre 12, 2011.

This Far By Faith Muntu will present an evening of work that celebrates the resiliency of the human spirit. The concert will feature new pieces by guest choreographers, featuring Reggie Wilson, founder and artistic director of Fist and Heel Performance Group in New York, and Theo Jamison.

The choreographers will draw from personal and collective experiences to create vignettes that express our common will to keep moving forward despite difficult circumstances. Performance scheduled for July 16, 2011. Visit HarrisTheaterChicago.org or call 312.334.7777 for more details.

Publisher’s Picks

Photo Courtesy of Ravinia

Ravinia Lisztian Loves: A Theatrical & Musical Portrait of Franz Liszt André Watts, piano Michael York as Franz Liszt Written and conceived by Harry Clark After the death of Richard Wagner, an aging Franz Liszt in reverie recounts his many loves -- parents, piano, composing, conducting, lovers, children, students, priesthood, his native Hungary, and in the telling prepares himself for his own death: "The artist is a bearer of the beautiful, he is like a priest ministering to his congregation." Music selections include a broad spectrum of the virtuosic Liszt to some of his most intimate late period works, and the rarely heard melodrama for speaker and piano, The Sad Monk.

Performance takes place June 20, 2011. For more deatils, visit Ravinia.org or call 847.266.5100.

Chicago Shakespeare Theatre One Thousand and One Nights Dramatized and directed by Tim Supple, who enchanted Chicago audiences with his Indian A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of CST’s 2008 World’s Stage Series, and adapted by the acclaimed Lebanese novelist Hanan al-Shaykh, the U.S. premiere of One Thousand and One Nights is told over two compelling parts with projected English translation, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in these remarkable tales. Nights runs June 25 through July 23, 2011. For more details, visit ChicagoShakes.com or call 312.595.5600.

Pianist André Watts

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