Critic’s Choice

Wed Feb 04, 2015 at 7:32 pm

By Lawrence A. Johnson

"Tannhäuser and Venus" by Otto Knille (1873).
“Tannhäuser and Venus” by Otto Knille (1873).

Tannhäuser will return to the Lyric Opera boards Monday night. Continuing his Wagner cycle, Sir Andrew Davis for the first time will tackle the tale of the melancholy minstrel knight, with Johan Botha in the title role, Amber Wagner as his pure beloved Elisabeth and Michaela Schuster as the temptress Venus. Gerald Finley as Wolfram and John Relyea as the Landgraf round out the cast. Tannhäuser opens 6 p.m. Monday and continues through March 6. lyricopera.org; 312-827-5600.

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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is back from their weekend stand at Carnegie Hall. (See complete coverage at New York Classical Review.) Beethoven’s not unfamiliar Symphony No. 5 is the box-office bait in this week’s program, led by Jaap van Zweden, but the real attraction is the unique lineup of German songs performed by Matthias Goerne. The German baritone is the leading lieder exponent of our day, and will offer a variety of Schubert and Strauss settings, many in rarely heard orchestral versions. Performances are 8 p.m. Thursday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. cso.org; 312-294-3000.

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