Three Free Classical Music Options Today
By Alexander Hough in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 5, 2010 2:40PM
Panel by Ezra Claytan Daniels from Fifth House's "Black Violet"
Chicago Chamber Musicians is celebrating Samuel Barber's as-of-yet under-celebrated centennial. Truth be told, we didn't realize it was the 100th anniversary of his birth until we heard about today's free concert at the Cultural Center. And you know what? It's a borderline travesty. Barber is best known for his "Adagio for Strings," made famous in Oliver Stone's "Platoon" (or that one episode of "Seinfeld" where George's dad remembers giving food poisoning to his fellow troops in Korea). That piece is actually just one movement from his String Quartet, which in turn is just one piece from a wonderfully unique (even if not groundbreaking) oeuvre. So basically, Chicago classical music scene, give us some damn Barber! CCM will play "Souvenirs" for piano and his Cello Sonata.
Today at 12:15 p.m., Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, FREE
Chicago Civic Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is one of the best orchestras in the world, but one day those musicians and the members of other orchestras will retire, and young bucks will take their place. The CSO's training orchestra for 22- to 30-year-olds has many of those future orchestra members. Tonight they'll play the Overture to "A Midsummer's Night Dream" by Felix Mendelssohn, Igor Stravinsky's "Song of the Nightingale," and "Gaspard of the Night" by French impressionist composer Maurice Ravel.
Tonight at 8:00 p.m., Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan, FREE (but you'll still need a ticket)
Fifth House Ensemble
If you'd told us before the start of Fifth House's season-long Black Violet that we'd be this excited about seeing the conclusion of a story centered around an anthropomorphized cat, we'd have looked at you like this. But hey, time makes fools of us all. Time, and local chamber group Fifth House Ensemble, who have collaborated with artist Ezra Claytan Daniels to create an experience somewhere between a concert and a comic book, using live performances of chamber music to accompany Daniels's panels to tell the story of Violet, a black cat left to fend for herself during the 1665 London plague outbreak. Tonight, as well as Thursday night at SPACE in Evanston, they'll wrap things up with the final act, "The Un-Natural Order." If you missed the first two acts, you can catch up at Fifth House's YouTube page.
Tonight at 7:00 p.m., Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, 7:00 p.m., FREE; Thursday, April 8, at SPACE, 1245 Chicago Ave., Evanston, 8:00 p.m., beer and food at 7:30 p.m., $25 reserved table seat, $15 general admission, $12 students
