Thursday Plans: John Adams, Fulcrum Point

By Alexander Hough in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 11, 2009 4:40PM

We've timed the walk between the Art Institute and the Harris Theater, and you can definitely attend both of these events. You'll even have enough time to grab a cup of coffee in between (unless you go to Intelligentsia, of course).

• John Adams

  John Adams, one of the most renowned living composers, makes an appearance at the Chicago Humanities Festival, giving a lecture about how listening to music is described in works of fiction. Adams, a smartypants with two Harvard degrees, will spend most of his time on the novels of Thomas Mann and Marcel Proust.
  Rubloff Auditorium in the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan, tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m., $10, students and educators FREE

• Fulcrum Point's "Inner Torments"

  As we promised, here's your reminder about the third Fulcrum Point film concert (we're always thinking of you, dear readers). All the music in "Inner Torments" will include a visual element. Two pieces were performed on Fulcrum Point's preview concert: "Holding Fast" by Fulcrum Point composer-in-residence Randall Woolf and "Grab It!" by Jacob TV. Quick refresher: "Holding Fast" is a short documentary about a Tibetan refugee camp that was created by 1.) filmmakers Mary Harron (director of "American Psycho") and John C. Walsh recording the village's sights and sounds, 2.) Harron and Walsh giving Woolf the raw material from which Woolf produced an electronic audio track to accompany a live violin part, and 3.) Woolf giving the finished music back to Harron and Walsh, at which point they edited their footage to best fit the composition. Ta-da! Collaboration. "Grab It!" is another live music/recorded track combo, with a saxophone playing to spliced material from "Scared Straight!"

  The concert will also include a handful of selections from Nico Muhly's soundtrack for "The Reader," as well as Béla Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, which is the music in “Craig’s Dance of Disillusionment and Despair” from "Being John Malkovich." The music will be accompanied by the corresponding scenes from the respective movies.
  Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph, tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., $30, $15 students and seniors