Chicago Chamber Musicians to premiere Wright-inspired work this weekend

Thu Sep 24, 2009 at 9:50 am

By Lawrence A. Johnson

 Peter Lieberson, composer of the Neruda Songs—the finest song-cycle since Richard Strauss—- will have a new vocal work, The Coming of Light, premiered this weekend by Chicago Chamber Musicians at the Unity Temple in Oak Park. Commissioned by the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation and CCM to mark the centennial of Wright’s celebrated edifice, Lieberson’s cycle sets six poems by Shakespeare, John Ashbery and Mark Strand, in music for vocal soloist, oboe and strings. The new work will be heard 6 p.m. Saturday in a gala fundraiser at $150 a ticket. The Coming of Light will be repeated 7 p.m. Sunday as part of the Unity Temple Concert Series ($15-$30) on a program that also features Barber’s String Quartet and Dover Beach, Beethoven’s String Quartet in F major, Op, 18, no. 1, and Cimarosa’s Quartetto No. 6. 800-838-3006;
http://www.chicagochambermusic.org/concerts/0910/CCMUnityTempleSept09.htm

The Lyric Opera of Chicago opens its 55th season 6 p.m. Saturday with Puccini’s Tosca in a starry cast featuring Deborah Voigt, Vladimir Galouzine and James Morris. The Lyric’s production of Puccini’s “shabby little shocker,” conducted by music director Sir Andrew Davis, runs through Oct. 13, returning with a different cast in January. www.lyricopera.org;  312-332-2244.

The Civic Orchestra kicks off its season 8:30 p.m. Monday at Symphony Center with Cliff Colnot leading the young musicians in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 and Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber. Admission is free but tickets are required. http://www.cso.org/main.taf?p=3,11,6,1&EventID=3110; 312-294-3000.

Posted in News


Leave a Comment