LAST CHANCE: Magical Musical Showcase Concludes Tonight

By Sarah Cobarrubias in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 27, 2010 5:40PM

Tonight is the last installment of this season’s Tuesday Evenings in the Café, presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art. The program has offered free events every Tuesday night since October and will conclude with the last Magical Musical Showcase, which has taken place the last Tuesday of each month since the program began. For each showcase, a Chicago venue selects their favorite local act for an hour long performance, giving some of Chicago’s lesser known artists some much needed exposure.

For tonight's showcase, UnTwelve collaborates with New York contemporary collective Vox Novus to present a 60x60 mix, which is a collection of 60 works by 60 composers in a continuous hour long concert. UnTwelve is a local collective whose mission is to explore the dimension of pitch beyond the standardized 12-note tuning system. And so, in the UnTwelve 60x60 mix, each of the 60 selected pieces will experiment with microtones and focus on a method of tuning that expands the 12-tone standard system. UnTwelve has a tough job ahead of them; fitting 60 songs into an hour seems pretty tricky, so we’re a little curious to see how UnTwelve puts this mix together. Luckily, there will be a huge wall clock present counting down the hour.

This is sure to be an intense hour and a unique experience. Plus, it’s completely free. The showcase is held in MCA’s café, but as usual the museum is free on Tuesdays, so arrive a little early and wander the galleries beforehand. You may want to bring along a few dollars for a glass of wine or cup of coffee from Puck’s Café before you kick back and enjoy the show. Though Magical Musical Showcase is coming to an end as are the other free Tuesday night programs offered this season, Tuesday Evenings in the Café will start up again soon enough, offering more free events to break up that weekday monotony.

Magical Musical Showcase Featuring UnTwelve is Tonight, Tuesday, April 27 at MCA Cafe, 220 E Chicago, 6 p.m., FREE