Tag: music

Grant Park Music Festival

That was the last week of GPMF, and it was one of my favorite pieces (and to be honest, who doesn’t like Carmina Burana?!). I had two subscription tickets and an extra one, so my guests and I went. It was absolutely perfect, not to mention that I had a chance to showcase Chicago night lights! The photos are partially mine, partially my guests.

Guarneri Hall

One more “first time” this week – I went to a concert at the Guarneri Hall. It’s a shame I didn’t know about its existence until I heard the story on WBEZ. Since then, I have tried to find a concert that I would love to attend, that I could attend, and one that is not sold out! Finally, all stars aligned, and I was there on Thursday!

It is a former recording studio in the heart of the city, with only forty people’s capacity, that delivers an unmatched experience for any music lover. I can’t even describe the difference in the quality of the sound it makes. I sat with my mouth open for the duration of the concert!

It turned out that they have a reception after each concert; I didn’t stay because I didn’t feel right staying for just fifteen minutes and leaving, but I will definitely plan to stay next time.

Thursday was the day when they announced the next season and opened the sales, and I already got two tickets, and now I’m torn between wanting to purchase each and every concert and not wanting to risk wasting money if I won’t be able to attend. I will do one more swap :).

Two More CSO Concerts

We had a subscription for a series of three family matinees at the CSO, and due to the scheduling conflicts, we had to miss two of them. May 3 was not easier, but we all made an effort, even though Anna had to drive to the Loop and drop Nadia just in front of the Orchestra Hall, and had to leave immediately after the post-concert activities.

I was disappointed with a very low attendance, and I can’t even attribute it to anything except for general not-so-great people’s mood. it’s a pity because the concert was absolutely wonderful. Thomas WIlkings was absolutely magical – the way he spoke with the kids from the stage, how he introduced each piece, how he talked about building a community… As a CSO for Kids Ambassador, I (with the rest of the family) was invited to lunch in the Grainger Ballroom. that was a little bit overkill, because only two other families joined us, but as I said, the concert attendance was not great, so that was expected. I still think it’s a great idea to pre-order lunch for before or after the concert, and I hope that things will be better organized for the next season.

Then, there were the usual between-the-concerts activities, including “Mini Maestros” and the “instrument petting zoo,” which both Nadia and Kira thoroughly enjoyed. A new activity was creating some music with the large sticky notes:

The musicians actually played these two measures :).

***

On Sunday, I took my mom to another concert conducted by our Music Director Designate Klaus Makela (Brahms Piano Concerto No.2 and Dvorak’s 7th Symphony). That’s the second time I listen to him conducting; I didn’t hear him before his was appointed the CSO music director, so now I am just starting to get a “taste” of him. Both works are beautiful, and Brahms sounded very unusual, though in a good way.

Makela is so different from both Muti and Borenboim, the two Musical Directors I’ve experienced at the CSO that it will probably take me a while to take his style in.

Two CSO Concerts

Just to note that I had some life during the past two weeks, not just conferences, papers, submissions, and millions of other things.

The first one was on April 13, a joint CSO/Joffrey performance. The first part was just CSO, but both pieces were extra special. The first was Chevalier de Saint-George’s First Symphony (and I am all into him since I learned about his existence, which, I hate to admit, happened fairly recently). The second one was Hayden’s Farewell Symphony, which, again, I knew nothing about, and I just thought that all Haydn’s symphonies are the same. The musicians didn’t have the candles on their music stands as they technically should for this piece, but they were still walking away until the last two violins were left. Below is not the CSO performance, but just to show what it looks like:

Then, after the intermission, we had the Joffrey on stage! In fact, they were warming up during the intermission, and everyone in the audience started taking photos 🙂

I especially loved the last piece, Le Bouef sur le Toit, by Darius Milhaud. Of course, below is just the music, without the ballet, and trust me, that was something worth seeing!

The second concert was Mahler’s Seventh on April 17. My neighbor, with whom we usually go, didn’t know what it was going to be, and it was a surprise for her that we would be sitting for an hour and a half with no intermission. But then she was absolutely taken away by the music :). Some works sound especially good when you listen from up close, because you feel like you are surrounded by music, and Mahler’s Seventh is one of them.

Shostakovich’s 11th

It was definitely not the first time I heard Shostakovich’s 11th Symphony, but I guess it has been a while. Or it’s just how it feels these days. Usually, I leave the CSO uplifted, with the general feeling that “life is not so bad,” but the 11th Symphony left me feeling hopeless, especially the finale. Too many cultural references, plus too many parallels with today’s situations (more than one). After the last accord, when the audience exploded with applause, I felt almost insulted by this sound: how could anybody applause after hearing that?!

There was one interesting episode at DevOps Day. I met one person at the beginning of the day (he was a partner of one of the speakers). He approached me later in the day, asking my opinion about some abstract situation (and he told me that he was constructing this situation based on the previous responder’s feedback). After several clarifying questions, I finally realized which moral dilemma he was trying to solve. I told him: you do not need to ask me about the hypothetical situation; I have been in a similar situation for the past three years. And I hate myself for not doing enough years before. I hate myself for not doing enough now, for having my spoon being too small to scoop the water out before the people drown. And I feel guilty for “living a life” and worrying about a million non-critical things while some seriously evil things are happening all over the world…

At the end of our conversation, that person thanked me for sharing my opinion and said that he was sure I would have something to say. I asked him why he was so sure, and he said that he listened to my talk and knew I had opinions.

I don’t know why I feel this conversation is related to Shostakovich’s 11th, but somehow, in my mind, it is!

Last Week In Review

I had some events to attend every day of that week, plus trying to get six hours of sleep every day (hopeless), plus everything else.

Out of the six cultural events I attended last week, one was “above categorization” (the screening of the “20 Days in Mariupol), two were in the category “OK, but I won’t lose much if I didn’t attend,” and three were great.

The two were “The Fat Ham” in Goodman

and “Clue” at the CIBC theater.

The audience was ecstatic at both shows, so I guess I should attribute my ambivalence to “I am not in the mood for “just funny” things” these days.

The ones I loved.

Continue reading “Last Week In Review” →

CSO Concert – Stella Chen

She is brilliant! It was so special to see her so close from our first-row seats, to see how the CSO musicians looked at her during her amazing solos, and to see David Chen nodding approvingly. And she enjoys what she is doing so much!

Classic Encounter At The CSO

Still filling in the blanks for last week :). On Thursday, my neighbor and I went to the CSO. The program featured four pieces related to the sea: Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest, and Korngold’s Suite from The Sea Hawk. A real gift, each piece is a gem.

That was also the only time this season when we had tickets for a pre-concert Classic Encounter with Terry Hemmert.

As usual, it was a great discussion, this time with Clarinet John Yen, and they played the sciences from the Sea Hawk on the screen. A side note – as a part of the cost cuts, I guess, they stopped serving food and only served wine and cookies (and they gave you a drink token at the entrance). Just to know for the future to eat before going there 🙂

You Can’t Plan Anything With This Weather

It’s a very hot week! Boris tried to choose a week with less chance of a heat wave when we planned his coming, but it ended up being a week with several extremely hot and humid days.

I had three good-seat tickets for a “Broadway Rocks!” concert at Millennium Park, and Boris and I agreed we could go (the tickets were originally for my French friend and her daughter, who were going to visit me but had to cancel). Retrospectively, I should have returned these tickets and gone to the indoor Bruckner concert on Friday, but it was hard to tell in advance: even when you know the weather forecast, it’s hard to say how it will feel.

It was definitely too hot, and also the music was not what I was hoping for (and not Boris’ thing) so it was almost a disaster. My neighbor to whom I gave the third ticket said she enjoyed it, but maybe she was just polite. I felt like I ruined the evening for all of us, but I finally agreed with Boris that it was impossible to tell in advance.

For this visit, I tried to minimize the outings and just come home after work – partially because of the weather and partially because I felt like we were not doing it enough – just two of us being together, not on a mission.

On the other hand, we had one unexpectedly positive experience: going swimming in the evening. I never went to Fargo Beach to swim before (technically speaking, it is not allowed 🤷🏻‍♀️), but it is a three-minute walk from our building, and – well, it’s the same lake, and it’s getting deep pretty fast.

Another Chicago Weekend

I love having Lena in Chicago because she likes the same things that I like, so her favorite weekend is also my favorite. If she had a mini-vacation (which I hope she did), I also had it!

She arrived on Friday, and we even had some time to talk, but I was too tired to stay up late (on Thursday evening, my Amazon Fresh order was delayed, and I had to wait until 11:30PM!). But the next two days, we had a blast!

I made salmon and broccoli quiche for breakfast. My balcony is in the middle of repair, but they allowed us to but the furniture back during the non-working hours
Millenium Park had only two entrances open because of the 20-years celebration, and some parts were permanently closed, so we had to go through security multiple times
We were the first to enter the Art Institute on Saturday, and it was my third time to see the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit.
We also saw the Christina Ramber retrospective, but I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would.
Then we went to the Member’s Lounge Bar
… and took tons of pictures of ourselves. BTW, Lena talked me into wearing a dress that day, saying that her only opportunity to wear a dress was when she visited me in Chicago.
Continue reading “Another Chicago Weekend” →