Classical and jazz for summer 2025: From concert halls to the open air of Millennium Park
Classical and jazz programming alone is packed with blockbusters. Before the subscription arts season is out, Riccardo Muti is back at the Chicago Symphony, closing out the season with Verdi's Requiem, his calling card, and trumpeter Esteban Batallán as a featured soloist (June 12-24). After that, Giancarlo Guerrero begins his tenure as director of the Grant Park Music Festival, bringing with him a bevy of music by living and American composers (June 11-Aug. 16). Musicians and celebrity chefs team up for the Ravinia Festival's Breaking Barriers, with audiences taste-testing the results (July 25-27). Then, to close out the season, the Chicago Jazz Fest returns, this time with esperanza spalding, Monty Alexander, Kermit Ruffins and Eliades Ochoa as headliners (Aug. 28-31).
But with so much excitement afoot, it's all too easy for other cultural highlights to get lost. Here's a handful to keep on your radar well ahead of summer's dog days.
Before the boycott: Rosa Parks was just the most famous representative of a group of women who worked to desegregate Montgomery's public transit system in the 1950s. Chicago Opera Theater's 'She Who Dared' — with music by the talented young composer Jasmine Barnes and a libretto by Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton — foregrounds their overlooked story.
June 3, 6 and 8 at the Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave., tickets $60-$160, chicagooperatheater.org.
Price's precocious champion: Still in his 20s, Randall Goosby has become one of the leading interpreters of Florence Price's music. The violinist brings her music — specifically her second violin concerto — back to its home city alongside the CSO and conductor Sir Mark Elder.
June 5-7 at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave., tickets $39-$299, cso.org.
What happens to music never heard?: In the case of Oscar Peterson's 'Africa,' it gets resurrected. Peterson performed and recorded movements of the suite throughout his career, but never the entire thing. Thanks to bandleader and arranger John Clayton, the late jazz pianist's epic finally sees the light of day.
8 p.m. June 13 at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave., tickets $39-$299, cso.org.
Soundtrack to the 21st century: World-class soloists and contemporary classical music are both hallmarks of the Grant Park Music Festival, but they don't always converge. This summer is a refreshing change of pace, with several guest artists platforming pieces written in the new millennium. First among them: cellist Inbal Segev, who plays Mark Adamo's 'Last Year' (July 9) and Anna Clyne's 'Dance' (July 16) as this year's artist-in-residence.
Also on tap are trumpeter Pacho Flores in Arturo Márquez's Concierto de Otoño (June 20-21); the Imani Winds in a concerto grosso penned by former ensemble member Valerie Coleman (June 25); mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges in Peter Lieberson's 'Neruda Songs' (Aug. 1 and 2 at Harris Theater); and Glen Ellyn native Jennifer Koh in Jennifer Higdon's epic 'The Singing Rooms' for solo violin, orchestra and chorus (Aug. 8 and 9).
All at Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph St., free admission, grantparkmusicfestival.com.
Paired pipes: From 2018 to 2020, Camille Thurman — as alluring a singer as she is a tenor saxophonist — made history as the first woman to join the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra roster. But she's a commanding, charismatic bandleader in her own right, as this local run of shows will no doubt co-sign.
June 26-29 at the Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Court, tickets $25-$45, more information at jazzshowcase.com.
Big news for people who hit things: Chicago institution Third Coast Percussion is turning 20. The quartet rings in the milestone with 'Rhythm Fest,' an all-day bash with collaborators past and present.
Noon to 10 p.m. June 28 at Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 S. Ashland Ave., tickets $60-120 and $30 for students, thirdcoastpercussion.com.
Irakere at 50: The iconic Cuban ensemble technically celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. Then again, no celebration is big enough to capture its outsized mark on contemporary Latin jazz. Founder and bandleader Chucho Valdés is joined by former bandmates Paquito D'Rivera and Arturo Sandoval — a rare convening of the genre's elder statesmen — for this one-night-only Ravinia extravaganza.
7:30 p.m. July 9 at the Ravinia Pavilion, 201 Ravinia Park Road, Highland Park, tickets $29-$65, ravinia.org.
One day, two premieres: Slather on sunscreen if you must, because new music fans are advised to post up at the Ravinia grounds on July 20. Steans Institute musicians debut a string quartet by American composer Joel Thompson at Bennett Gordon Hall (1:30 p.m.). A few short hours later, the CSO gives the first performance of Malek Jandali's 'Rhapsody for Orchestra' (5 p.m.).
Both July 20 at Ravinia, 201 Ravinia Park Road, Highland Park, free admission for the Steans recital, tickets $15-$95 for the Pavilion concert, ravinia.org.
Early music everywhere: 'Baroque-and-before' need not mean 'boxed in.' Creative and unconventional early-music performances abound this summer, starting with 'Secret Byrd,' a theatricalized account of William Byrd's Mass for Five Voices devised by Bill Barclay. (Barclay was the mind behind 2023's excellent 'The Chevalier.')
Meanwhile, at Ravinia, Cleveland- and Chicago-based early music troupe Apollo's Fire presents a 'dueling double concerto' program — as do actual fencers, demonstrating the sport on the lawn. Haymarket Opera Company also makes its festival debut with a semi-staged 'Alcina'; soprano Nicole Cabell, who starred in the company's recent 'L'Amant anonyme,' sings the title role.
'Secret Byrd,' two shows each, 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., on July 20 and 21 at Salvage One, 1840 W. Hubbard St., tickets $65-$75, concerttheatreworks.com.
'Fencing Match' with Apollo's Fire, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 13 at Ravinia's Martin Theatre, tickets $15-$75, ravinia.org.
Handel's 'Alcina' with Haymarket Opera, 1 p.m. Aug. 24 at Ravinia's Martin Theatre, tickets $15-$75, ravinia.org.
Partitas na praia: Bach and Brazil meet in Plínio Fernandes. The São Paulo-born guitarist's 'Bacheando,' featuring Bach arrangements, was one of the illustrious Decca label's most striking 2023 releases. He picks up where the album left off with this Ravinia recital.
7:30 p.m. Aug. 26 at Ravinia's Bennett Gordon Hall, tickets $20, ravinia.org.
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