Deceptively Simple

When we wonder why more people don’t listen to classical music, or attend classical concerts, we generally start by talking about two things: the music being played, and the atmosphere the music is played in. On the first, there are barriers to enjoyment because people don’t know what to expect going in. With the second, [...]

Two major contemporary groups square off against each other starting tonight. Okay, okay, it’s really just that eighth blackbird plays tonight at the Harris Theater (capacity: 1,500), and the International Contemporary Ensemble (the only non-hip-hop group to go by ICE) plays at the downtown Museum of Contemporary Photography (capacity: How many chairs do you think [...]

One of those admirable coincidences in institutional programming happens in early March, when Fulcrum Point gives the Chicago premiere of George Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique, the same night the Chicago Symphony is performing Varèse’s Ionisation and Amériques, avec Pierre Boulez. An American in Paris creates sounds similar to those dreamt up by a Parisian in America. Listen and discuss. [...]

The weather has lightened up significantly in the past couple weeks (no more -17 wind chills for a while, I hope and pray and offer sacrifice for), but who knows? Here’s a picture of the bust of Sir Georg Solti across the street from Orchestra Hall and the Art Institute, in all its wintry glory. [...]

John Adams speaks out in Newsweek on the possibility of a cabinet-level position for an arts leader. Also gets into the state of contemporary music and this whole indie-crossover thing: “Some of the music that these composers are producing is so simple that it’s in danger of dumbing-down. Not necessarily Nico [Muhly] and Caleb [Burhans]. [...]