Weekend Picks: Cheap And Free Classical Music Options

By Alexander Hough in Arts & Entertainment on May 20, 2010 5:40PM

Why does there seem to always be several great concerts on Sundays at 3:00 p.m.? Seriously, help a classical music fan out. Anyhow, pick one of these, you can't go wrong.

Wild and Wulliman
Cellist Chris Wild and violinist Austin Wulliman, currently members of local new-music group dal niente but who go back to their undergraduate years together at the University of Michigan, have technical ability, musicianship, and an ear for adventurous music, a combination as pleasing as it is rare. Sunday's concert at Heaven Gallery in Wicker Park will include world premieres by Columbia College composition program director Marcos Balter, Chris Fisher-Lochhead, and Daniel Pesca, all of whom will be on hand for the event. Other music will include works by modern legends Iannis Xenakis and Roger Sessions, as well as a piece by young American Colin Tucker. dal niente members Mabel Kwan (piano) and Amanda DeBoer (soprano) will provide the reinforcements.
Sunday at 3:00 p.m., Heaven Gallery, 1550 N Milwaukee, 2nd Floor, $5

Chicago Chamber Musicians with Steven Stucky
It usually costs more than a few bucks to see the Chicago Chamber Musicians, so a free concert would get our seal approval even if it wasn't a part of the "Composer Perspectives" series. Sunday's concert will feature Steven Stucky, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for his Second Concerto for Orchestra, which he wrote for the Los Angeles Philarmonic where he was a composer-in-residence for an astonishing 21 years. Stucky has put together a program that includes his music, works by Witold Lutoslawski, a composer who strongly influenced Stucky's writing, and pieces by Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy, who in turn influenced Lutoslawski.
Sunday at 3:00 p.m., pre-concert discussion at 2:30 p.m., Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington, FREE