Grant Park Music Festival to offer a virtual summer season

Fri Jun 05, 2020 at 12:22 pm

By Lawrence A. Johnson

Carlos Kalmar conducts the Grant Park Orchestra in music of Shepherd, Rachmaninoff and Walton June 10 in the first program of “Festival Remixed” on WFMT. Photo: Norman Timonera

The Grant Park Music Festival will kick off “Festival Remixed,” a virtual season beginning June 10. The lakefront festival has been forced to cancel its 2020 summer season due to health concerns in the wake of Covid-19.  

The main component will be the launch of a new radio series in collaboration with WFMT-98.7. The ten-week series will span the full scheduled duration of the cancelled 2020 GPMF schedule through August. 

Opening Wednesday June 10—the festival’s slated opening night—performances will be broadcast on WFMT 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays. The series will mix repertoire and performances from various past live broadcasts. 

The opening installment will offer Carlos Kalmar leading the Grant Park Orchestra in Sean Shepherd’s Magiya, William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with the Grant Park Chorus, and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Stephen Hough as soloist. The June 12 broadcast brings Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1, performed by Benjamin Beilman.

“”Festival Remixed” will also offer three broadcasts from the Live in HD programs, live master classes and other events.

For more details, go to grantparkmusicfestival.com

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