The Days Keep Getting Shorter

By Justin Sondak in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 16, 2006 11:45AM

Marshall Fields’ loyalists still stewing at Macy’s takeover now have another reason to boycott or reluctantly patronize the newly rebranded stores. Macy’s has taken over sponsorship of Symphony Center’s Day of Music, and the results are rather dubious.

The annual event used to go overnight and into Sunday. But in recent years the mondo free celebration couldn’t even outlast a Field’s 13 Hour Sale, and today’s event is an hour shorter than last year’s.

Still, the CSO has crammed a few impressive offerings into those nine hours. Contemporary music heavyweight Patricia Barber presents her Mythologies song cycle twice and a bevy of Silk Road Celebration performers will introduce Symphony Center attendees to Indian, Japanese, Balkan, and West African musical traditions. Tonight is also your last chance to see a free Chicago Symphony performance for quite a while, as they reprise Thursday night’s fantastically diverse World Music Fest Opening Night concert with Yang Wei's virtuosity, Yat-Kha’s creepily delightful throat singing, and Radio Maqam’s hypnotic compositions. The musicians don’t seem to care about the title sponsor. And for a few hours, we’ll respect the gift horse no matter which banner it’s flying.

The Macy’s Day of Music is at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave, today from 1 – 10 p.m. All events are free, and the schedule of events is at www.cso.org.

Image via Symphony Center