The Evanston-based Symphony of the Shores is a lively little orchestra with a penchant for the unconventional; earlier in the season it gave a fairly traditional program then followed it with a pops concert. Now it has thrown caution to the winds for its season finale, a multimedia affair that juxtaposes opera’s past and present with the Windy City’s. In one number a video depicting the city’s architectural history will be accompanied by Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite. (Why this Norwegian music is appropriate, I don’t know.) Far more intriguing is Un Ballo di Butterfly: Verdi and Puccini Revisited, in which composers, Northwestern profs, and computer-music specialists Amnon Woiman and Michael Pisaro mingle motifs of Verdi’s and Puccini’s famous operas with more contemporary elements. The intended effect is a “musical conversation” between the composers and the two Italian masters on the subjects of music, politics, and life. Tradition-minded audience members can settle for two of Prokofiev’s finest and most extroverted works: the Classical Symphony (1917) and the Second Violin Concerto (1935). If its past performances under the baton of Steven Martyn Zike are an indication, the symphony will perform with lots of enthusiasm and style. The well-regarded violinist Benny Kim is the featured soloist. Sunday, 7 PM, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 1977 Sheridan, Evanston; 708-869-3133.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Roger Lewin.