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Chicago Tribune
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: Grant Park Music Festival opens with Latin dances and a multitasking conductor
Depending where you are, introducing oneself as American in Spanish — soy Americano — might set you up for some playful ribbing. To many, the descriptor is understood to refer to the Americas broadly, not the United States. On Wednesday, a very Americano opening night of the Grant Park Music Festival, led by guest conductor Andrew Litton, took that wide angle. Gabriela Lena Frank's 'Three Latin American Dances' references indigenous American and European sources alike, mixing — like so much Latin American music — in a fluid, unbroken tapestry. The Spanish dances in Manuel de Falla's 'The Three-Cornered Hat,' later in the program, hit home those Old World influences. Even 'Rhapsody in Blue,' the U.S.-of-American piece at the concert's heart, briefly shuffles atop Latin rhythms. Though studiously apolitical, the concert's Pan-American outlook took on added resonance this week amid demonstrations in Chicago and across the country over immigration raids targeting migrants from Latin America. Just a few short months ago, festival music director Giancarlo Guerrero — born in Nicaragua, raised in Costa Rica — placed 30-second ad spots for the festival on Spanish-language radio, a savvy marketing move for a city that is more than a fifth Spanish-speaking. But the festival has opened to a stark new political reality. Guerrero will arrive at the festival starting next week. In the meantime, Litton devised a sufficiently show-stopping opener by conducting and playing 'Rhapsody in Blue.' Doing double duty is doubtlessly a feat, but it's an entirely possible one, Litton told the audience: the solo piano part and orchestral backing more or less trade off throughout. There are about a million ways to tackle Gershwin's perennial, and local audiences have heard a few already in recent summers. On Wednesday, Litton and the Grant Parkers went for contrast: The orchestra's raucous, jazzy heft met the cool steel of Litton's primmer and ever-so-classical interpretation. Litton's necessary focus on the solo part often freed the Grant Park musicians — especially solo voices like clarinetist Trevor O'Riordan and trombonist Jeremy Moeller — to take inspiring interpretive risks. Likewise, Litton seemed more in his element than in the rest of the program. Lines ebbed and flowed with ease, and he briefly superimposed some swing on his cadenza halfway through the piece. However, Litton was less decisive when he recouped his baton. He appeared notably more reliant on the score to 'Dances,' written in 2004, than he did the Gershwin and de Falla's; unsurprisingly, a staid, mostly anonymous account followed. Grant Park's open-air setting is always a daunting container for atmospheric, hazily scored music like the opening of the second-movement 'Highland Harawi.' Here, though, it came off as detached rather than distant, draining the screeching-violin cataclysm a few minutes later of its drama. The lackadaisical tempo of the 'Mestizo Waltz' capper never reached liftoff, either. Overall, this was the rare Grant Park evening where the 21st century work got the short end of the stick. 'The Three-Cornered Hat' fared better. It still had its flat moments — the exposition felt a bit ushered along, as did the beginning of 'The Neighbors Dance' — but in this familiar repertoire, the ensemble did more to rise to the occasion. Cheeky pinprick staccatos from oboist Alex Liedtke and bassoonist Eric Hall enlivened the 'Dance of the Miller's Wife.' Later, the 'Jota' finale thrived in the delightful juxtaposition of grandiosity and mischief, represented by pulsing low voices and tiptoeing woodwinds. It tends to take a program or two for the Grant Parkers to readjust to playing together in the Pavilion. Wednesday was no exception, with several scattered moments. But this ever-flexible orchestra course-corrects quickly: It only took a bar or so for violins to brush themselves off after some disagreement at the top of Frank's 'Dances,' and again in harried moments in 'The Three-Cornered Hat.' But its sound was always gleaming and well-rounded, the instrumental balance impeccable all evening. From the curtain-raising 'Star-Spangled Banner' to the de Falla's hair-raising Jota, this was a banner night for the Grant Park brass in particular. Trombones converged cleanly and mightily for their soli in 'Rhapsody in Blue'; so did trumpets at the flamenco-y start of the 'Mestizo Waltz.' In an uncertain, ugly summer, what a gift it is to have Grant Park. The Grant Park Music Festival continues this Friday at 6:30 p.m. with Holst's 'The Planets,' conducted by festival chorus director Christopher Bell in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph St.; free,
CBS News
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Grant Park Music Festival begins 2025 season with "Rhapsody in Blue"
The 101-year-old classic "Rhapsody in Blue" filled Chicago's front lawn Wednesday night, during the first performance of the year for the Grant Park Music Festival. The free concert was held at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. "Rhapsody in Blue" may make you think of United Airlines and the cascading neon lights of the Sky's the Limit installation at the United Terminal at O'Hare International Airport, or it may inspire you close your eyes imagine Jazz Age New York City. On Wednesday night, crowds enjoyed George Gershwin's groundbreaking 1924 fusion of classical and jazz to the sight of Chicago's majestic skyline — the Aon Center and One and Two Prudential Plaza to the north, the Diamond Building and the historic buildings of the Michigan Avenue Streetwall to the west. Conductor and pianist Andrew Litton led the Grant Park Orchestra in the performance of "Rhapsody in Blue" Wednesday night. The program also included "Three Latin Ameriacn Dances" by Gabriela Lena Frank, and Suites from "The Three-Cornered Hat," by Manuel de Falla. On Friday and Saturday evening this week, Christopher Bell leads the Grand Park Orchestra in Gustav Holst's "The Planets." On Wednesday of next week, newly appointed Grant Park Music Festival artistic director and principal conductor Giancarlo Guerrero leads the orchestra in a program headlined by Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, featuring Jeremy Black on violin. On Friday, June 20, and Saturday, June 21, Guerrero leads the orchestra in Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1. From classics to movie scores and more, the festival is putting on performances just about every week this summer. The full concert schedule for the summer can be found at the Grant Park Music Festival website.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
International Pride Orchestra plays outside DC in rebuff to Trump snub at Kennedy Center
An event by the International Pride Orchestra this week swung from classical Gershwin favorites to choral patriotism to high drag in a rebuff to Donald Trump's takeover of the Kennedy Center and its subsequent snub of the LBGTQ+ ensemble. The spirited celebration of WorldPride, the peripatetic biennial international festival in support of LGBTQ+ rights which kicks off this month and is taking place in Washington DC, was staged instead at the Strathmore Music Center in Maryland, just north of the capital. Related: Four queer business owners on Pride under Trump: 'Our joy is resistance' Sequin-clad drag queen Peaches Christ acted as host and New York drag queen Thorgy Thor played a violin solo to Beyoncé's Crazy in Love to an audience of 1,166 people. The orchestra had hoped to play at the Kennedy Center, Washington's premier performing arts center, but shortly after returning to the White House, Donald Trump pledged on social media that there would be, in all-caps: 'No more drag shows, or other anti-American propaganda' at the public-private arts space. The Trump administration has issued executive orders limiting transgender rights, banned transgender people from serving in the armed forces, and rescinded anti-discrimination policies for LGBTQ+ people as part of a campaign to repeal diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Michael Roest, conductor and founder of the International Pride Orchestra, a non-profit, reminded the audience that 'people don't feel safe to live and love openly'. 'That is the reason why we have this orchestra,' he said. During the event, the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington sang American the Beautiful, and a pianist, Sara Davis Buechner, who is transgender, dazzled while leading the orchestra on grand piano in the Gershwin favorite Rhapsody in Blue. Both Stars and Stripes and rainbow flags were hoisted at the close. Trump in February fired the leadership of the Kennedy Center, named himself chair and put a loyalist in charge. The center then sent Roest a message that said: 'We are not in a position at this time to advance a contract,' according to an email chain seen by Reuters, after months of prior negotiations. Considering themselves 'disinvited', event organizers began looking for alternative venues and the Strathmore offered its space, an orchestra spokesperson said. A Kennedy Center spokesperson referred Reuters to an X post from leadership saying it had not actually canceled any shows.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Band to perform 175th anniversary concert at Bolton Parish Church
Eagley Band will celebrate its 175th anniversary with a summer concert at Bolton Parish Church. The concert will include the community choir and community band, led by Chris Wormald. The event, on Saturday, July 5, at 7.30pm, will be attended by the new Mayor and Mayoress of Bolton. The concert will include a range of musical pieces, featuring selections from West Side Story, Mission Impossible and Procession to the Minster, along with works by Gershwin, Rutter, Waespi, Toto, and Mike and the Mechanics, among others. Tickets are priced at £5 and can be purchased from Booth's Music Shop in Churchgate, online at or at the door on the night of the event. READ MORE: Bolton's top 10 chippies voted by YOU – now it's time to pick your favourite Entrepreneur and partners unite to help people with 'bravest step you can take' Meet Nya -the newest recruit for TransPennine Express Similar to previous years, interval refreshments will include a selection of wines, hot and cold drinks, and biscuits. Cllr John Walsh OBE, the former mayor of Bolton, has announced that this year, for the first time, beer will also be available during the interval. The church has three car parks within its grounds, all offering flat access with no need for stairs, ramps or lifts, and situated next to all church entrances. Free overflow parking will be available on all nearby side streets after 6pm.
Washington Post
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
At WNO, ‘Porgy and Bess' wins the heart by sticking to the script
Awash in the hard light of a summer afternoon in South Carolina, the opening scene of Washington National Opera's 'Porgy and Bess' bears the muted sepia glow of an old photograph — one that springs to life once the curtain goes up. It's a moment of stillness that conveys much about director Francesca Zambello's vision for George Gershwin's enduring 1935 'folk opera,' one she first realized in 2005 at the Glimmerglass Festival. Free of conceptual frills and narrative alterations (apart from a slight bump of the setting from the 1920s to the '40s), this is a revival that takes the reviving part seriously.
