Author: Vickie Moore

ArtsTheater

Victory Gardens Theater Announces Plans for “Making a Scene: Gala 2021”

Victory Gardens Theater has announced plans for its annual premier fundraising event, Making A Scene: Gala 2021, on Saturday, October 23, 2021 in the Ivy Room at Tree Studios, 12 E. Ohio Street. It is an evening celebration in support of Victory Gardens Theater’s ground-breaking education department, new works programs, community outreach and impact work, and the ACCESS project.

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Classical Music

Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra Announces Public Phase of $5.1M Campaign for the Future

Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO), named 2020 Professional Orchestra of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras, recently announced the public phase of its $5.1 million Campaign for the Future. The Campaign is supported in large part by The Davee Foundation, which donated $3 million to IPO in March 2018, creating IPO’s first-ever endowment. Building on this transformational investment, IPO’s Executive Director Christina Salerno and Board of Directors sought to use the endowment as a launching pad to increase the overall financial stability of IPO while cementing artistic director Stilian Kirov’s vision for the orchestra’s artistic relevance and importance in Chicago’s Southland region.

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Dance

Hubbard Street Dance to Premiere Jonathan Fredrickson Film “The Sky Was Different”

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) continues its 2020-21 43rd season with a virtual premiere presentation of new work from former Hubbard Street dancer and acclaimed choreographer Jonathan Fredrickson, debuting on Thursday, December 3 at hubbardstreetdance.com. The film will be streamed again Saturday, December 5 and Sunday, December 6, and has been made free to the public.

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Autumn 2020BalletDance

Chronicling Chicago Dance

As the effects of the global pandemic have laid economic devastation to so many aspects of American social, economic and culture life, every individual, business, and institution has had to reimagine and reinterpret norms in order to survive. Like other industries that depend upon public attendance and participation, eight months of social distancing, mask mandates, and public gathering limitations have devastated Chicago’s arts venues. Bedrock cultural institutions like the Joffrey Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago have all had to shutter their stages as the pandemic has made enclosed, indoor audience participation all but impossible.

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Lyric Unlimited Announces Virtual Learning Programming for 2020

After recent announcements about Lyric’s upcoming programming for 2020, amidst ongoing public-health regulations, the Lyric Unlimited – Learning & Creative Engagement wing of Lyric Opera of Chicago has also announced its plan to continue in-school and out-of-school virtual education programs for the 2020-21 school year, as well as engaging virtual community programs. These programs include Lyric’s Opera Residencies; EmpowerYouth!, in partnership with the Chicago Urban League; and public programs inspired by the Chicago premiere of Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s Blue.

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ArchitectureClassical MusicMusic

Architecture and Music Meld in New University of Chicago Series

As one of the world’s leading institutions of higher learning, the University of Chicago is renowned for combining critical research and understanding of the past with free and open inquiry that drives new ways of thinking. The University’s campus reflects this duality with dramatic neogothic structures juxtaposed with provocative modern architecture conceived by some of the most forward-thinking designers in the world. In a new series called Sound Sites, the University of Chicago Department of Music and UChicago Presents will join past and present in music and architecture with performances by the Department’s performance faculty in some of the University’s most notable spaces.

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Music

Lyric Opera Names Sylvia Neil First Woman Board Chair

Anthony Freud, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s general director, president & CEO, has announced the election of Sylvia Neil as chair of Lyric’s Board of Directors, the first woman board chair in Lyric’s history. Neil was elected unanimously during Lyric’s Annual Meeting of members and the Board of Directors’ Annual Meeting in early September, after holding the position of board chair-elect for the last year. In her acceptance speech Neil said, “I am honored to be the first woman chair of Lyric, and am humbled and inspired by Carol Fox and Ardis Krainik, the extraordinary groundbreaking women general directors of our past. These are the folks that light my path forward.”

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