Critic’s Choice for 2024-25
Haydn: The Creation
Music of the Baroque/Dame Jane Glover
September 15-18
The music of Franz Joseph Haydn continues to be neglected in most places considering both the magnitude and excellence of his legacy. Music of the Baroque has consistently carried the banner for Papa Haydn and will so once again, opening its 54th season in September with his oratorio, The Creation. Dame Jane Glover leads the MOB forces with a strong trio of soloists featuring Joélle Harvey, Brandon Cedel and Aaron Sheehan in his MOB debut. baroque.org
Symphonies of David Diamond, William Grant Still and John Vincent
Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra/Stilian Kirov
September 21
In a packed September weekend, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra—in collaboration with the American Music Project—will open its season with three terrific homegrown symphonies. The program of American rarities offers John Vincent’s spirited Symphony in D, William Grant Still’s “Sunday Symphony” (not heard locally in 30 years) and the belated Midwestern premiere of David Diamond’s Symphony No. 2—an epic work that can lay claim to being one of the finest American works in the genre. ipomusic.org
Piano music of American composers
American Music Project
Emiko Edwards, pianist
November 3
In the third and final concert presented by the American Music Project in its 10th anniversary season, pianist Emiko Edwards will present a smorgasbord of piano rarities by American composers at Roosevelt University’s Ganz Hall. The wide-ranging program will offer Aaron Copland’s Piano Variations and Leon Kirchner’s Piano Sonata No. 1 alongside works of Meredith Monk, George Rochberg, Leo Ornstein, Paul Creston, William Grant Still and Jennifer Higdon. (Full disclosure: AMP was founded and is directed by the present writer.) americanmusicproject.net
Jeanine Tesori: Blue
Lyric Opera of Chicago
November 16-December 1
The Covid-delayed Chicago premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s acclaimed opera tells of the family and social conflicts that ensue when a Harlem family’s teenage son is shot by a police officer The cast includes Kenneth Kellogg (Lyric debut), Zoie Reams and Norman Garrett. lyricopera.org
Bartok: Bluebeard’s Castle
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen
Feb 6-8, 2025
In this first of three official transitional seasons between music directors, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s most intriguing programs will mostly take place in 2025. Of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s two winter weeks, most promising is his rescheduled concert performances of Bartok’s extraordinary one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle with Ekaterina Gubanova and Christian Van Horn. cso.org
Handel’s Theodora
Music of the Baroque/Nicholas Kraemer
March 2-3
It’s a good season for large-scale Handel works other than Messiah in Chicago with Haymarket Opera presenting Tamerlano in September and Nicholas Kraemer leading Music of the Baroque in Theodora in March. The drama tells of the tragedy of the title Christian martyr and was Handel’s favorite among all his oratorios. The worthy lineup of soloists includes Sherezade Panthaki, Iestyn Davies, Allyson McHardy, David Portillo and Jonathan Woody. baroque.org
Haydn: Mass in Time of War
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck
March 13-15
Anytime Manfred Honeck comes to town, it’s an event to mark on your concert calendar. In March the Austrian conductor will return to lead the CSO in a rare performance of a Haydn mass, the extraordinary and, sadly, always timely Mass in Time of War. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 and James Macmillan’s Larghetto fill out the program. cso.org
Mazzoli: The Listeners
Lyric Opera of Chicago
March 30-April 11
The most intriguing item on the Lyric Opera menu this season is Missy Mazzoli’s opera, The Listeners. The American composer has won plaudits with her previous operas, most notably the acclaimed Breaking the Waves. The Listeners tells of a neighborhood community in the American Southwest that is driven to distraction by a mysterious and persistent low-frequency hum and how the community reaction leads to tragedy. lyricopera.org
Music of Mahler, Dvořák, Brahms and Boulez
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Klaus Mäkelä
April 24-May 4
Klaus Mäkelä will return for two weeks in late spring, in his only CSO dates of the season. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s youthful music director designate will lead the orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3—the composer’s longest work—April 24-26. The Finnish conductor’s second week will bring a deftly balanced program of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7, Pierre Boulez’s Indices and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with soloist Daniil Trifonov. cso.org
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