Critic’s Choice

Fri Aug 10, 2012 at 2:48 pm

By Lawrence A. Johnson

Chicago’s summer music season may be winding down but there is a cornucopia of worthy events over the next two weeks.

The Grant Park Music Festival will present Haydn’s The Seasons this weekend. Few oratorios are as well suited to al fresco music-making as this festive celebration of nature, the changing seasons and the rustic outdoors. Carlos Kalmar leads the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus joined by soprano Layla Claire, tenor Benjamin Butterfield and bass Ben Wager 6:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Pritzker Pavilion. grantparkmusicfestival.com

Also on Saturday night, The Thirsty Ear Festival will take place at The Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave.  Seth Boustead will host this evening of new music, which will be broadcast live on WFMT.  Participating groups are the Q Ensemble, Palomar and the MAVerick Ensemble and the lineup will include excerpts from Amy Wurtz’s String Quartet No. 1, Fjords by Kyle Vegter, James Falzoneā€™s Sighs Too Deep for Words and works by Xenakis, Shulamit Ran, Lansing McCloskey, Boustead and others.

Doors open at 4 p.m. and the concert starts at 5. Admission is $10 and $5 for those who can prove they rode a bike to the event.

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