Critic’s Choice

Thu Mar 15, 2018 at 9:10 am

By Lawrence A. Johnson

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Lyric Opera will close its opera opera season with the Chicago premiere of Fellow Travelers. Gregory Spears’ opera, which charts the dilemma of two gay lovers in Washington DC during the McCarthy era, has won widespread plaudits since its 2016 premiere in Cincinnati, including in its New York debut this past January.

Starring Jonas Hacker and Joseph Lattanzi, the Lyric Unlimited production opens 7:30 p.m. Saturday and runs through March 25 at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport Avenue. lyricopera.org

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As with many regular musical visitors to Chicago, there is sometimes a tendency to take Gil Shaham for granted. Yet the Illinois-born violinist is a consistently rewarding musician, always performing with fresh engagement and intelligence.

Shaham returns to Symphony Center on Sunday for a program with pianist Akira Eguchi that nicely mixes the familiar and the contemporary: Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E Major, Franck’s Sonata in A Major, Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro (“In the Style of Pugnani”) and two contemporary sonatas by Scott Wheeler (No. 2 “The Singing Turk”) and Avner Dorman (No. 3 “Ningunim”).

Concert time is 3 p.m. Sunday at Symphony Center. cso.org; 312-294-3000.

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