Music – Page 5 – Clef Notes Chicagoland Journal for the Arts

Music Summer 2020

LUMINARY: Q&A with Singer/Songwriter Camila Meza

October 23, 2020 Fred Cummings Camila Meza

Chilean jazz musician Camila Meza is well-known for her fresh improvizations and her intuitive blending of voice and instrument in a seamless outpouring of music. Ever since the musical upstart left Chile for New York in 2009 to attend the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, she has grown more and more influential as an artist of rank. Almost immediately, she became a regular at jazz clubs in the Big Apple, and as such etched out a reputation of superlative mastery of both voice and guitar, something rare in the jazz world. And as a composer and arranger, she’s developed a voice that embraces both jazz and Latin American traditions, something that is clearly expressed in her recordings for Chilean record label Vertice Records. Having performed in South American, Europe and the US, Meza is already becoming a veteran on the global circuit. She’s performed at the Blue Note of Poznan in Poland and the Swindnica Jazz Festival.

Architecture Classical Music Music

Architecture and Music Meld in New University of Chicago Series

October 23, 2020 Vickie Moore UChicago Presents, University of Chicago

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.

Music

Lyric Opera Names Sylvia Neil First Woman Board Chair

September 30, 2020 Vickie Moore Anthony Freud, Ardis Krainik, Carol Fox, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Sylvia Neil

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.”

Music

Bach Week Festival Announces 2020 Fundraiser

September 27, 2020 Vickie Moore Bach Week Festival, Black Oak Ensemble, Carl Grapentine, Richard Webster, WFMT Radio

Illinois-based Bach Week Festival’s 2020 Bachanalia, its fourth annual fall fundraiser featuring pairings of classical music with wines selected for the occasion by an advanced sommelier, will take place this season as a free, prerecorded online video presentation. The performance will premiere at 3 p.m. (CDT) on Sunday, October 18, via Facebook and YouTube. Links will be posted on the festival’s website, bachweek.org.

Classical Music Music

“For the Love of Lyric,” a Virtual Concert to Open Lyric Opera’s New “Reimagined” Season

August 11, 2020 Vickie Moore Lyric Opera of Chicago, Renee Fleming

Lyric Opera of Chicago will open the company’s reimagined fall season with “For the Love of Lyric,” a virtual concert from the stage of the Lyric Opera House, on Sunday, September 13, available for free streaming starting at 6:00 p.m. CDT.

“Lyric’s Opening Night Opera Ball has long been a signature project of Lyric’s Women’s Board,” says Lyric’s general director, president and CEO, Anthony Freud.

Music

August 7 RaviniaTV to Tribute Janis Joplin’s Festival Debut on its 50th Anniversary

July 31, 2020 Vickie Moore Janis Joplin, Ravinia Festival

The sixth episode of RaviniaTV airs this Friday, August 7, at 7 p.m. CDT on Ravinia’s YouTube channel and Facebook page. The latest episode of the new series is a special tribute to Janis Joplin for the 50th anniversary of her first and only show at Ravinia, on August 5, 1970.

Classical Music Music

Lyric Opera to Cancel Remainder of 2020 Programming

June 17, 2020 Vickie Moore COVID-19, Lyric Opera of Chicago

Based on guidance from the city, state, and federal agencies regarding the ongoing health crisis, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s general director, president, and CEO, Anthony Freud, has announced the decision to cancel performances in the Lyric Opera House from September to December in Lyric’s 2020/21 Season.

Classical Music Music

Elgin Symphony Names Erik Malmquist Executive Director

June 17, 2020 Vickie Moore Elgin Symphony Orchestra

The Elgin Symphony Orchestra has named Erik Malmquist to the post of executive director effective May 15th. Erik has been the ESO’s director of artistic planning and operations since January 2020. Prior to joining the ESO, he spent six years as artist manager and director of operations at Zemsky Green Artists Management in New York City, managing a roster of some of today’s most prominent operatic talents, and general manager of Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity on New York’s Upper West Side.

Classical Music Music

Ravinia Cancels 2020 Festival Season Due to COVID-19 Concerns

May 7, 2020 David Henley Grant Park Music Festival, Ravinia

In response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Ravinia, the oldest music festival in the country, has been forced to cancel its 2020 season. Ravinia has operated continually since its 1904 opening except for 1932–1935, when the park was silenced by the Great Depression. The not-for-profit festival was to have presented more than 120 events from June 12 through September 16, including the annual summer residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The festival’s summer conservatory, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, will also be closed this summer.

Classical Music Music

Spektral Quartet Posptones Summer World Premiere of Solar Eclipse Inspired Work ENIGMA at Adler Planetarium

April 28, 2020 Vickie Moore Adler Planetarium, Spektral Quartet

Out of an abundance of caution, and prioritizing the safety and wellbeing of its artists and guests, the Grammy-nominated Spektral Quartet has postponed its world premiere of the multimedia work ENIGMA, in partnership with the Adler Planetarium. The work was to be presented June 11 and 12 in the Adler’s Grainger Sky Theater. A new premiere date will be announced later this year.