Critic’s Choice

Thu Apr 25, 2019 at 2:02 pm

By Lawrence A. Johnson

COT music director Lidiya Yankovskaya conducts the Chicago premiere of Jake Heggie’s “Moby-Dick” tonight at the Harris Theater.

It’s taken nearly a decade, but Chicago will finally get a chance to experience the opera Moby-Dick, which opens tonight for a brief run, courtesy of Chicago Opera Theater.

The skillful adaptation of Herman Melville’s sprawling novel by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer has earned critical accolades and performances at most of the world’s leading opera houses since its debut at Dallas Opera in 2010.

Richard Cox leads the large cast in the role of the obsessed Captain Ahab, with COT music director Lidiya Yankovskaya conducting. Performances are 7:30 p.m, Thursday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Harris Theater. chicagoperatheater.org

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Two Bach events of note are also on tap this weekend.

On Friday night violinist Rachel Barton Pine and harpsichordist Jory Vinikour team up to perform music of Bach, together and singly, in the University of Chicago Present series. The program will include two sonatas for violin and harpsichord, the Solo Violin Sonata in B minor, and the Overture in the French Style. Concert time is 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Logan Center for the Arts. chicagopresents.uchicago.edu.

The Bach Week Festival also kicks off Friday night, running through May 3. Now in its 46th season, the venerable series will open with Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe, Concerto for Harpsichord and Viola da Gamba, and the “Wedding Cantata” (No. 210) as well as works by Soler and Vivaldi. Concert time is 7:30 p.m. Friday at Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston. bachweek.org

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