Serious music in June is dominated by the spectacular farewell concerts of Daniel Barenboim after 15 years as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra ( CSO ) . In his final weeks of residency, through June 17, he will lead the CSO and CSO Chorus; he will also appear as a soloist in much of his favorite repertory. Works by Beethoven, Mozart, Mahler, Webern, Wagner, Bach, Bruckner and Boulez are on the schedule. These are programs not to be missed if you love serious music, the CSO and/or Maestro Barenboim.
Barenboim will conduct Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 ( Eroica ) June 3 and Symphony No. 9 in his final concert, June 17. Various Mozart works are sprinkled throughout the final two weeks, with Barenboim acting as conductor and soloist in Piano Concertos 22 and 27 in concerts June 8 and 13. He will perform two all-Bach programs as solo piano recitalist June 4 ( The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I ) and June 11 ( The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II ) . On June 9, he will lead the CSO in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, on June 9 it's Mahler's Symphony No. 9, and on June 16 it's Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 ( plus Boulez's Notations for Orchestra ) .
In short, Barenboim will make prodigal with his prodigious talents in a series of brilliant and exhausting masterpiece concerts. Arguably, Chicago will be the very center of the musical universe for the next two weeks. You can find complete details and info on ticket availabilities online at www.cso.org . Ticket prices vary for each concert ( $17-$99 for one, $36-$114 for another ) and recital.
Following his June 4 recital, Maestro Barenboim will greet well-wishers and sign CDs at the Symphony Center Store beginning about 5 p.m.
The young American Opera Group has a great idea for presenting opera in a relaxed environment. The company has announced two summertime offerings under the umbrella of Building for Opera in Our Own Back Yard: Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Rossini's The Barber of Seville, both to be presented in a cabaret setting, with wine and hors d'oeuvres available. Madame Butterfly is first up, on June 2 and 4. It will be sung in the original Italian, with English narration, to the accompaniment of piano and string quartet. John Zajac is the director and J. David Stech the conductor. Performances are at The Arts Center, 200 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park. Info and tickets are available online at www.AmericanOperaGroup.org or at 708-434-0485; $25. Wine and nibbles may be ordered an hour before the performances. We wonder if they'll serve sake and sushi.
Even further west, in Glen Ellyn, they aren't offering food and wine but there's certain to be blood on the sand as DuPage Opera Theatre offers Bizet's Carmen in a fully-staged production, sung in French with English supertitles, on June 23, 25 ( matinee ) , 30 and July 1 at the McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. Tickets and info, are at www.AtTheMac.org or 630-942-4000; $35-$40.
The MAC, as the McAninch Arts Center is called, also begins a summertime Jazz at Sunset series this month, in conjunction with WDCN Public Radio ( 90.9 FM ) , a growing force in regional musical broadcasting. The Jazz at Sunset program—three hours of music—will launch June 18 in the MAC Courtyard beginning at 5 p.m. Performers include Tom Tallman and the Student Jazz All-Stars, BRM4 and the Willie Pickens Trio. Tickets are $10 each.
Both the Ravinia Festival and the Grant Park Music Festival launch their seasons this month, with Ravinia opening tonight ( May 31 ) with a week of dance and pop events. The serious music season gets underway out in Highland Park June 8-9 with Opera Africa and the Chicago Sinfonietta in South African Spectacular: uShaka. Then, pianist Garrick Ohlsson appears in solo recitals June 12-13 and June 19-20. The Atlantic Symphony Orchestra appears June 14 in the regional premiere of Fountain of Tears by European/Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov, who recently was named a composer in residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The CSO itself doesn't begin its Ravinia season until June 29.
The Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, under principal conductor Carlos Kalmar, begins June 14 and 16 with Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, continues June 21 with Symphony No. 2 by Chavez, and offers Richard Strauss' An Alpine Symphony June 28. In between those dates, the Grant Park Festival hosts a variety of dance, pop and jazz concerts. FYI: the Grant Park Festival now actually is in Millennium Park in the Pritzker Pavilion. Grant Park programs are free.
