By Catey Sullivan
Summertime, and the music flows freely. 'Tis the season for Sondheim under the stars, Gershwin against a backdrop of fireflies and Tchaikovsky by the light of a silver slipper moon. At Highland Park's Ravinia Festival and in Millennium and Grant parks, the outdoor concert season is about to go into high gear.
FROM LABELLE TO LUPONE
The offerings this summer are an embarrassment eclectic riches. Ravinia will host everyone from the Patti LaBelle to Patti LuPone ( Aug. 11, 12, 13 ) to the Indigo Girls.
At Millennium and Grant Park ( where, wondrously, almost all the performances are free ) free performances include a full chorus and orchestral rendition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's magnificent, spine-tingling 'Requiem' ( June 23, 24 ) , with the Tibetan Buddhist Monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery serving as the chorus.
JAZZ, ROCK AND BROADWAY BABIES
There's also 'Sondheim in the Park' ( July 14, 15 ) , with conductor Kevin Stites overseeing the Grant Park Orchestra and a bevy of Broadway babies in performances of pieces by the man who brought us Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park With George, Into the Woods, and A Little Night Music.
In all, Ravinia, Grant and Millennium Parks will host close to 200 free concerts within the roughly 90-day span that stretches from now until the close of summer. Selecting what to hear and see from that wealth of classical, jazz, gospel, pop and world music performances as well as dance programs can be overwhelming.
Here are some of the events we're most eagerly anticipating. For a listing of performance, including ticket prices, times, locations and anything else you might need to know, see www.grantparkmusicfestival.com/schedule.shtml for the Grant and Millennium Parks concerts and www.ravinia.org for Ravinia.
RAVINIA
Aug. 11, 12, and 13 - Patti Lu Pone and the CSO perform Gypsy. LuPone, of course, plays the indomitable Mama Rose. And while we've got to admit that our all-time favorite Mama Rose is Alexandra Billings, we'd probably be willing to part with, oh, a kidney, to see Patti belting 'Rose's Turn' and 'Everything's Coming Up Roses.' $90 Pavilion seats; $50 for lawn seats.
July 14 - The Indigo Girls
Each day, a little closer to fine. Would that we were all resting on the soul of Galileo. Yes, it's a terribly crooked and painful line so often, but there's comfort and beauty and—dare we say it—transcendent poetry—in the words and music of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. Their music blends folk, ska, rock, and revolutionary activism. And guess what, they're touring. 8 p.m.
July 15 - Hershey Felder hosts 'Who Could Ask for Anything More?' with the CSO, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald
We once spent two years trying to master 'Rhapsody in Blue,' George Gershwin's prophetic masterpiece. The work is a freight train that you willingly, breathlessly place yourself in front of. It's a huge, driving, seismic emotional epic that hits you in tidal waves of exuberance, sorrow and hope. I was never able to capture even a tenth of its import. Felder? He nails it. Every tear, laugh and scream in the music roars and trembles to the surface. To hear his Gershwin is to hear the soul of 'Rhapsody.' Bonus: ( And we're adding this because deep down, we are profoundly superficial ) Felder's way hot. 7 p.m. $95-$50 Pavilion seats; $10 lawn.
GRANT AND MILLENNIUM PARKS
I don't care if Richard M. Daley's people do seem to be dropping like flies as the patronage scandal mushrooms to Richard J. Daley proportions. I love what he's done with the parks. Even if Millennium Park didn't contain my all-time favorite clandestine make-out bench, even if I didn't have that lovely memory of floating in Buckingham Fountain so many midnights ago, I'd still love the parks. The free concerts and dance performances abounding near Buckingham Fountain, Cloud Gate, and on lush Great Lawn by the Pritzker Pavilion are part of what makes this the city that works. ( Even if you do have to know somebody to work in it. Allegedly. )
June 26 - Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
You've heard of the Silk Road Theatre Project? ( No? Well look it up please see www.srtp.org ) . Well cellist Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Project ( www.silkroadproject.org ) has been around a bit longer. With Silk Road Chicago, Ma brings in musicians from Asia, the Middle East and the west to explore the cross-cultural ties and divergences between musical traditions. The concert June 26 is part of Silk Road Chicago ( www.silkroadchicago.org ) , a yearlong, citywide celebration inspired by the art and culture of the historic Silk Road. The concert is a lunching point for the cross-cultural collaboration, which runs this June to June, 2007 and is a joint effort among the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Office of Tourism. Chicago is the first city in the world to collaborate on a yearlong partnership with Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Project. 6:30 p.m., Pritzker Pavilion. Free.
June 16 ( 6:30 p.m. ) , June 17 ( 7:30 p.m. ) - The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago dances scenes from Prokofiev's 'Romeo and Juliet'
Shakespeare's text is sublime. The Joffrey's word-free interpretation of the tragic, timeless love story? It too is exquisite. In the dance and Prokofiev's lush score, the sorrow comes through with the sharp brilliance of tears frozen to a million piercing icicles. The heart-pounding, celebratory rush that comes when two bodies perfectly collide is unmistakable. The Joffrey will dance the balcony scene, through which the unspoken, universal query - 'Wherefore art thou?' - glows like a vanishing sunbeam. Also featured is the ball scene, wherein the mighty Capulets parade in a rigid wall of golden decadence. Shostakovich's 'Festival Overture' and Tchaikovsky's 'Symphony No. 5' are also on the program. The music comes courtesy of the Grant Park Orchestra. On June 17, the Joffrey will also perform to works by John Field and Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni. Pritzker Pavilion - Free.
July 3 - Independence Eve at Grant Park
Members of the Grant Park Orchestra perform the traditional ( 'Star Spangled Banner' ) the terrific ( Copland's 'Variations on a Shaker Melody from 'Appalachian Spring' ) and the unintentionally ironic ( Why is the Russian Anton Tchaikovsky's '1812 Overture' - written in praise of a totalitarian Tsar - always performed on Independence Day here? ) .
The fireworks will be accompanied by Sousa Marches, and other iconic bits of musical Americana.
7:30 p.m., Petrillo Music Shell
July 19 - Sing Out: Choral Concert
Is there some kind of international athletic competition coming here or something?
Oh yes, that would be the Gay Games ( www.gaygameschicago.org ) , which I think should have opening ceremonies twice—Once in Chicago as planned, and once in Crystal Lake as an educational outreach activity. The Games and the Grant Park Music Festival's 'Sing Out' concert will showcase a whopping 500 participants representing over 100 choruses from around the world. James Knapp, Artistic Director for the Bayou City Performing Arts, conducts. 8:30 p.m., Pritzker Pavilion. Free.
And on Tuesday, July 18, in a paid concert, don't miss the Gay Games VII band performance, featuring bands from around the world. See www.gaygameschicago.org .
