Concerts in Chicago
Elektra by the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Photo credit: Cory Weaver
"In this operatic take on Elektra, the women are the electrifying forces, and they set the stage on fire." - WTTW Chicago PBS
You owe it to yourself to experience the vocal grandeur and blazing drama of this passionate heroine, played by Nina Stemme in her Lyric Opera of Chicago debut. She’s the Mycenaean princess whose father, Agamemnon, was murdered by her mother, Klytemnestra, leaving Elektra hell-bent on revenge.
As Richard Strauss’s staggeringly powerful orchestra moves inexorably toward the opera’s hair-raising finale, the music gives you a composer at his zenith—magnificently theatrical and devastatingly moving.
Lyric Opera of Chicago: Elektra
7 p.m. Thursday, February 14; Monday, February 18; and Friday, February 22
20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606
Nina Stemme, Elza van den Heever, Michaela Martens; Donald Runnicles, conductor
Chicago Symphony: Rachmaninov & Tchaikovsky
Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado leads a program of Russian masterworks including Tchaikovsky's First Symphony, which showcases the composer's sense of drama, orchestral color and melody. Pianist Simon Trpčeski brings his virtuosity to Rachmaninov’s formidable Third Piano Concerto.
8 p.m. Thursday, February 14, and Saturday, February 16; 3 p.m. Sunday, February 17
Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60604
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pablo Heras-Casado conductor; Simon Trpčeski, piano
Music Institute of Chicago: Rembrandt Chamber Musicians
Hindemith and Messiaen plumb the deepest corners of human experience in two of their most powerful works. Composed during his time as a soldier in WWI, Hindemith’s viola sonata blends the Romantic and Impressionistic styles of Brahms and Debussy with his own adventurous harmonic language. Inspired by the Book of Revelation, Messiaen wrote his quartet while a prisoner of war in WWII, premiering the work on dilapidated instruments to an audience of guards and fellow prisoners. The title for this concert is appropriate: Quartet for the End of Time.
3 p.m. Sunday, February 17
Nichols Concert Hall – Music Institute of Chicago, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston, IL 60201
Rembrandt Chamber Musicians; Steve Cohen, clarinet; Daniel Schlosberg, piano
Rembrandt Chamber Musicians