Chicago Sun-Times

Renee Fleming keeps Lyric’s ‘Streetcar’ on course

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:54:00 -0500

In Lyric Opera’s semi-staged “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Renee Fleming’s intense commitment, Brad Dalton’s direction, a largely strong cast, Duane Schuler’s lighting wizardry, Johann Stegmeir’s effective period costuming and a good connection between American conductor Evan Rogister and the score and orchestra, create surprisingly moving performance, but it’s one much more of the theater than the opera.

Marc-Andre Hamelin positively buoyant in recital at Symphony Center

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:18:00 -0500

Everything about pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin’s concert Sunday afternoon at Symphony Center was refreshing. The sparkling watery imagery that bubbled up in some of the repertoire featuring sonatas by Berg and Rachmaninoff and pieces by Faure, Ravel, Debussy and Hamelin himself fit nicely with Symphony Center’s ongoing Rivers Festival theme.

Chicago River runs through Orbert Davis’ new musical creation

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:53:48 -0500

A book of historical photos chronicling the waterway’s reversal helps steer the composer as he prepares for the work’s premiere by the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic.

Chicago Opera Theater to launch 2014 season with an Ellington rarity

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:11:40 -0500

In announcing its 2014 season, Chicago Opera Theater continues to move in different directions from its recent past while building on its strong bond with its general director’s Southern California company. Duke Ellington’s “Queenie Pie,” inspired by the life of black entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker, will launch the season Feb. 15-23.

Rivers run through the CSO’s stellar program

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:59:02 -0500

Not one but three rivers ran through the Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert Thursday night at Symphony Center. Four, if you count the babbling brook in the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (“Pastoral”). Led by Spanish guest conductor Juanjo Mena, this week’s subscription concerts are an intriguing installment in the CSO’s monthlong Rivers festival.

Tate Stevens proving he has staying power

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:54:59 -0500

It’s been more than five months since up-and-coming country crooner Tate Stevens heard his name announced as the winner of season two of FOX’s “The X Factor.” From sharing the stage with country music icons such as Alan Jackson to recording his first self-titled album with a handful of his country music heroes, 38-year-old Stevens has been living a reality show champ’s whirlwind. Heck, he even had a 160-foot-tall water tower named after him in his hometown of Belton, Missouri. Yet, on the day Stevens found out his debut album had found its way toward the top of the Billboard …

Yo-Yo Ma, CSO players offer a robust program of chamber music

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:30:00 -0500

Sometimes when superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma comes to Chicago, he flies well below the public’s radar. As creative consultant to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, he often works behind the scenes, helping the CSO develop program ideas and make contact with Chicagoans who don’t necessarily spend much time at Symphony Center, the CSO’s home base. This week, however, Ma has been in the Symphony Center spotlight. On Monday, he appeared with the Civic Orchestra, the CSO’s training ensemble. On Wednesday, he returned to Orchestra Hall with a small band of CSO and Civic members in chamber works by Bach, Dvorak and …

Amina Figarova in a New York state of mind

Fri, 17 May 2013 02:27:25 -0500

A thick mane of black hair often thrown back as she gazes upward with closed eyes, Amina Figarova from Azerbaijan cuts a striking figure at the piano, but it’s far from show. Her empathy for the world around her has lead to a flood of compositions over a dozen recordings. Her originals channel people, places and things but with rare equilibrium, given her hectic life in New York City. Figarova, usually in the company of a sextet, presents her new trio with bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Justin Brown, May 17 at Mayne Stage. We caught up with her at …

Dwight Twilley perfectly content to churn out CDs

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:55:06 -0500

A documentary is in the works about Dwight Twilley, and in addition to featuring songs from the pop-rocker’s four-decade career (including his pair of No. 16 hits, “I’m on Fire” in 1975 and “Girls” in 1984) the film features several new autobiographical songs Twilley wrote and recorded for the occasion. But you know how film projects go — slowly. With no wrap date in sight for the film, Twilley went ahead and released the songs last year as “Soundtrack.” “This film doesn’t seem to be speeding down the track, that’s for sure,” Twilley says. “I have no control over it. …

Mei-Ann Chen makes an auspicious debut on the CSO podium

Fri, 10 May 2013 17:16:00 -0500

Mei-Ann Chen has been a terrific match as music director for the Chicago Sinfonietta. She has connected strongly with audiences and scoured the world for new and neglected scores. Those achievements were reflected in the centerpiece of her CSO subscription-concert debut Thursday at Symphony Center, “The Mississippi River” by unsung black composer Florence Price.

Cassie Taylor, daughter of Otis, sings her own blues

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:15:13 -0500

Blues songstress Cassie Taylor spent years traveling the world and jamming alongside her multitalented pop, prominent Chicago-born blues artist father, Otis Taylor. Now 26, Cassie is cultivating a solo career and touring to promote a new album called “Out of My Mind.” “I love artists like Madonna who did sex really well,” she says. “It was always very provocative, it was always very edgy, but it was never slutty. And that’s really what I go for — striking that balance between femininity and sexuality and being strong and independent.” Q. You played music with your father for eight years. What …

Chicago band Kids These Days confirms breakup

Fri, 10 May 2013 16:11:16 -0500

“It was definitely a creative thing,” Liam Cunningham told the Sun-Times. “When we started the band, we were all 15 years old, and we’ve all grown musically since then. I think everybody felt a bit suffocated.”

Rapper Ja Rule leaves upstate New York federal prison

Tue, 07 May 2013 12:30:01 -0500

ALBANY, N.Y. — Federal authorities say platinum-selling rapper Ja Rule has left federal prison. The 36-year-old rapper, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, left a state prison in central New York in February after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession, going straight into federal custody in a tax evasion case. The Federal Bureau of Prisons says he left a correctional facility in the central Adirondacks on Tuesday, though time remains on his sentence. The bureau says his release date technically remains July 28, with possible community-based supervision for the balance. TMZ reports his wife picked him …

Hip-hop producer AraabMUZIK is shot, hospitalized

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:26:36 -0500

Abraham Orellana, the hip-hop producer known as AraabMUZIK, has been shot and is hospitalized. Orellana’s publicist said in a statement late Thursday that he is “currently alive and well” after being shot Wednesday night, noting he was in the wrong place at the wrong time while hanging out with friends. Police are investigating. The statement said he was in his neighborhood when he was shot, but didn’t specify a city. Orellana’s hometown is Providence, R.I. The producer’s manager, George Moore, a record label executive and producer known as DukeDaGod posted on Twitter a picture of Orellana in a hospital bed …

CSO’s ‘Spanish Passion’ program lacks genuine fire

Sat, 04 May 2013 02:14:09 -0500

Rising conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, in his house debut, shows promise but put no stamp on any of the works that he played Thursday night with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Center.

Let the ideas flow in CSO’s monthlong study of rivers

Thu, 02 May 2013 21:56:00 -0500

Rivers curve and flow across continents, quench thirsty farmlands and serve as thoroughfares of commerce and culture. They define the character of cities great and small, and they inspire poets, novelists, composers and everyday dreamers. The many facets of these essential waterways will be highlighted Thursday through June 9, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra presents a multidisciplinary festival titled, “Rivers: Nature. Power. Culture.” In addition to festival-related performances by the symphony itself, its related ensembles and performance series will present programs tied to the theme, and there will be such special events as a symposium on May 18, with historians, …