Tribute Oct. 5-6 to the late composer Gian Carlo Menotti ( pictured ) . Photo courtesy of Chamber Opera Chicago. Anoushka Shankar. Photo courtesy of the McAninch Arts Center.
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The big musical guns of autumn are firing—the seasons of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Lyric Opera of Chicago are well underway. But there are numerous other choices for lovers of serious instrumental music and opera, many of them produced on an intimate scale and at modest ticket prices.
One of the major opera events of October will be A Brilliant Life, A Brilliant Night!, a three-night Chamber Opera Chicago tribute to composer Gian Carlo Menotti, presented Oct. 5-6 at the Music Institute of Chicago ( in Evanston ) and Oct. 13 at the Oak Park Arts Center. The Italian-born Menotti ( a U.S. citizen most of his long life ) died last February at the age of 95. His longtime companion, composer Samuel Barber, died in 1981, the two having first met in 1928 while still adolescents.
The tribute program will feature highlights from 11 Menotti operas, among them his beloved Christmas classic Amahl and the Night Visitors, plus The Medium, The Consul, The Last Savage and The Saint of Bleecker Street, among others. The will be performed by a company of more than 30 singers plus a chamber orchestra, under the baton of Victoria Bond. The entire production will be staged by Menotti's adoptive son and artistic heir, Francis Menotti ( a grad of the old Goodman School of Drama, by the way ) .
Tickets for A Brilliant Life, A Brilliant Night! are a bargain at $25; 312-951-7944. But wait, there's more! Chamber Opera Chicago is giving away a free preview at 7 p.m., Oct. 1, at the Chicago Cultural Center, preceded by a 6:30 p.m. conversation with Menotti and Bond.
Another chamber vocal ensemble, VOX 3, offers an 8 p.m. program on Oct. 3 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church ( 1218 W. Addison; they'd better hope there isn't a Cubs playoff game that night ) at 8 p.m.. Under the title East versus West, a quartet of singers with piano accompaniment will offer a program of songs by Schoenberg, Weill, Carl Orff, Peter Ruzicka, Hanns Eisler and Paul Dessau. The concert is free, although donations are welcome.
In West Suburban Glen Ellen, the McAninch Arts Center ( the MAC ) at the College of DuPage offers a nearly non-stop roster of fine and popular performing arts including music, dance and theater. A few of the upcoming MAC events are: the New Philharmonic Orchestra playing works by Mahler and Tchaikovsky, Sept. 28-29, $33; star sitarist Anoushka Shankar ( daughter of Ravi Shankar ) in recital, Oct. 6, $34; and multiple Grammy winner Pat Metheny ( guitar ) with Christian McBride ( bass ) and Antonio Sanchez ( drums ) , Oct. 12, $75. Tickets: 630-942-4000 or www.AtTheMAC.org .
FYI: We don't claim to understand it, but on Sept. 25 'Weird Al' Yankovic completely sold out the MAC, with some tickets as high as $100.
The American Opera Group launches its 11th season in Oak Park with an Oct. 14 gala, the first annual Emerging International Artists Gala Evening, at the Oak Park Arts Center. There isn't a lot you need to know—there will be lots of music, hors d'oeuvres, cash bar, the usual—but you must know this: Those attending are requested to come costumed as their favorite operatic or Broadway musical character, and a prize will be awarded for the best costume. Come, now, all you opera queens—here's a chance to try out your Halloween outfit and see if it plays in Peoria, or at least Oak Park. Why, some smart cookie might come dressed as Gian Carlo Menotti or at least a Night Visitor! The musical entertainment will feature 16 artists under musical director J. David Stech. Tickets: www.americanoperagroup.org or 708-434-0485; $12-$60.
Up the lakeshore in Beer Town ( a.k.a. Milwaukee ) , Early Music Now begins its 21st season with a delightful concert of Spanish secular music featuring The King's Noyse, an ensemble of five viols, lute, percussion and four singers who will toss off a program entitled The Musical Salads of Mateo Flecha ( 1481-1553 ) , who was court composer to the Spanish royal family. We don't know what his music has to do with greens. The concert is Oct. 19 at the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Tickets: earlymusicnow.org or 414-225-3113; $20-$38.
Symphony Center will host its 11th annual free, marathon Day of Music on Oct. 13, sponsored by Macy's, the store you love to hate. Marathon, of course, is open to definition: The first couple of years Symphony Center held a Day of Music, they were 24-hour events. This year, the 'marathon' is only eight hours, 2-10p.m. Be that as it may, all events are free and will include performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Branford Marsalis as soloist, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, folk singer Ella Jenkins, the Lincoln Quarter, a punk marching band called Mucca Pazza and much more—truly something for everyone. For the complete rundown of performance times, call 312-294-3000 or www.cso.org/dayofmusic.