Free Tuesdays on the Terrace are back for the summer at the Museum of Contemporary Art ( MCA ) . Between 5:30-8 p.m. each Tuesday, some of Chicago's best small jazz groups perform on the MCA terrace, which overlooks the museum's sculpture garden. Enjoy the vibes and views for free, then go on your merry way. Or order gourmet light food from Puck's and dine alfresco ( which means outdoors ) . Tuesdays on the Terrace runs through Sept. 26. Coming up in July: Alfonso Ponticelli Trio ( July 11 ) , Fred Lonberg-Holm Valentine Trio ( July 18 ) and the Corey Wilkes Trio ( July 25 ) . There's no program July 4 because, as everyone knows, jazz is unpatriotic. Just kidding.
The 21st annual Irish American Heritage Festival is scheduled for Fri.-Sun., July 7-9, on the grounds of the Irish American Heritage Center ( 4616 N. Knox ) , and it just wouldn't be Irish without some good music, ranging from toe-tapping Celtic dances to weepy ballads. The musical fare opens on July 7 with Chicagoan Michael McDermott singing both his own tunes and some traditional numbers. The festival headliner is Grammy Award winner Nanci Griffith, performing her own brand of country music with an Irish lilt with her Blue Moon Orchestra. She performs July 8.
Musical offerings on July 9 include the Makem and Spain Brothers at 4:30 p.m. and the band Gaelic Storm at 7 p.m., offering rock renditions of favorite Irish tunes that reportedly bring the house down every time. Many other musical performers are scattered through the Irish fest, among them the Chancey Brothers, Baal Tinne, Finbar Fagan and the Muck Brothers ( who sound like a mud-wrestling tag team ) . The festival also offers a variety of food and drink; arts and crafts; and family-friendly programs. Tickets: 773-282-7035, ext. 10; $12.
Just two weeks after wishing maestro Daniel Barenboim a rousing farewell at Symphony Center, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra ( CSO ) inaugurates its 70th season as the resident orchestra at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, under the baton of Ravinia music director James Conlon. They begin their summer season on Thurs., June 29, with Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 3 in D Minor, featuring women of the Apollo Chorus and the Chicago Children's Choir along with the CSO.
The next night, Conlon leads the CSO in works by Brahms, Hartmann and little-known 20th-century composer Erwin Schulhoff. A German Jew, Schulhoff's works were suppressed by the Nazis, and he died in a concentration camp. Schulhoff's Jazz Suite for Chamber Orchestra ( 1921 ) is presented as part of an ongoing Ravinia series, Breaking the Silence. Now in its second year, the series focuses on the music of composers victimized by the Holocaust.
On Saturday, July 1, Ravinia and the CSO welcome soprano Nicole Cabell in an evening of songs and orchestral works by Bernstein, Copland, Gershwin, Verdi and others. Verdi has been declared an honorary Jew for the night. ( Just kidding ) Ms. Cabell, by the by, was winner of the 2005 Singer of the World competition in Cardiff, Wales—and the Welsh famously know a thing or two about singing. Tickets: 847-266-5100; $20-$50 in the Pavilion ( seats sheltered from the weather ) ; $10 for lawn admission.
In the closing days of the 2005-2006 season a few weeks ago, the CSO announced the receipt of a $1 million gift from the Irving Harris Foundation in support of the orchestra's new music activities. The five-year grant is the second million-dollar gift from the Harris family ( who also were the naming patrons of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park ) . The grant will support the CSO's annual MusicNOW concert series of serious contemporary works, presented at the Harris Theater rather than the Symphony Center. The grant also will support, in part, the activities of the CSO's two recently-named composers in residence: Mark Anthony Turnage and Osvaldo Golijov, both of whom are fascinating thirtysomething composers who combine varied musical influences in their work. Among the family members guiding the foundation's work is super-patron Joan W. Harris, former commissioner of the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.