Chicago Music and Theater

SEPTEMBER BRINGS SCINTILLATING MUSIC AND THEATER
By Joseph Cunniff
 

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SEPTEMBER BRINGS SCINTILLATING MUSIC AND THEATER
By Joseph Cunniff

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    Following is a look both forward and back to some of the best in Chicagoland music and theater.

 

    CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AT RAVINIA: As recently as the 1960s, Mahler was a relatively rare name on symphony programs. Starting in the 1970s, he has become nearly as popular as Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. 

 

    From the Solti years forward, hearing the CSO play Mahler has been something special. Mahler loved nature,and incorporates feelings and sounds of nature in his music.  It follows that hearing the Mahler Sixth at Ravinia, in the woods with the lake and its air nearby, is something special indeed, and thus it was, with Marin Alsop on the podium.

 

    Two of the most eagerly anticipated CSO programs of the Ravinia season were Music Director Designate Klaus Makela’s two concerts. The first featured Richard Strauss’s sprawling 50-minute “An Alpine Symphony” n a majestic performance that brought forth an ovation. Adding well to the nature-inspired ambience was Swedish violinist Danniel Lokakovich’s passionate reading of the Sibelius violin concerto, breathing deeply of Scandinavian air.

 

    One evening later Makela changed gearswith a French and

Russian program beginning with a delicate Debussy “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” guest principal flutist Kayla Burggraf playing the exquisite solos.

 

    While Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite” is often played, less so is the complete “Firebird” ballet. I remember that Leonard Slatkin conducted it years ago at Grant Park. Makela’s performance was filled with both beauties and high drama: the Orchestra clearly pays close attention to and respects the young Finn, whose future looks most exciting.

 

    September treats at Ravinia include pianist Olga Kern in music including Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, and Gershwin. Visit Ravinia.org.

 

    GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL: On a beautiful Wednesday night, the internationally renowned pianist Garrick Ohlson revealed again why he is one of the world’s most respected Chopin pianists with a dazzling rendition of that composer’s Piano Concerto No. 2, conductor Giancarlo Guerrero and the orchestra providing solid accompaniment.

 

    The program opened with an infectiously rhythmic 10-minute “Mariachitlan” by composer Juan Parblo Contereras, who was born in 1987, and inspired by the mariachi music of his native state of Jalisco. The concert closed with an exhilarating Tchaikovsky “Capriccio Italien,” with Guerrero exuberantly dancing on the podium to convey the irresistible rhythms.

 

    The final program of the season was something most memorable: a stirring, resplendently realized Beethoven 9th symphony, the orchestra and soloists at their best and the chorus, prepared by Christopher Bell, absolutely terrific.

 

    The program opened with “Liberty Bell,” a clamorous, boisterous 10-minute work by Julia Wolf, born in 1958, and continued with “Mount Rushmore,” a lyrical 32-minute work for orchestra and

chorus by Michael Daugherty, born in 1954.

 

    JOFFREY BALLET will perform “Liliom,” a ballet by John Neumeier, base on the story that inspired Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” September 17-27. The show will feature a score by the multi-Academy Award-winning composer Michel Legrand, performed live by members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra. Visit JOFFREY.ORG. (312) 386-8905. 

 

    CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER presents “Play On!”, with Duke Ellington’s timeless jazz songs in a musical inspired by Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “Twelfth Night” Sept. 11-October 18. Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand. (312) 595-5600.chicagoshakes.com

 

    THEATER WIT is presenting what looks like a hit: “Adolescent Salvation.” Written by Tim Venable, and partially based on his teenage years, the show has a great feel for teen language, with all its “OMG,” “I’m bored,” and “amazing” repetitions as well as the meanness and group manipulation that can mar those years.

 

    At first I thought it was a light comedy, but the play later evolves into much more, described by its perceptive director Guiiermo Cienfuegos as “a dark comic thriller.” I loved the performances of Piper Jean Bailey (Natasha), Jordan Levene (Taylor), Barandon Acosta (as another Taylor), and Maura Kidwell as a most believable mom, Victoria. Through Oct. 3 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont. boxoffice@theaterwit.org. (773) 975-8150.