Author Archives: Bryan Miller

THE FAIRY QUEEN Les Arts Florissants at the Civic Opera House May 13 DIOCLESIAN, OR THE PROPHETESS Music of the Baroque at Grace Lutheran Church May 22 The musical world owes Henry Purcell a huge debt of gratitude. To begin with, there’s the sheer, shining pleasure of his tunefulness and unfailing inventiveness. There’s his vocal […]

SYMPHONY II at Pick-Staiger Hall Compare symphonic apples to apples, and Symphony II, whose core consists of Lyric and Grant Park orchestra players, comes out very well. Just as Chicago Opera Theater should be compared not to the Lyric but to the regional opera companies, so Symphony II’s real peers are the regional orchestras, the […]

MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE at Grace Lutheran Church February 17 Along with Beethoven and Brahms, J.S. Bach has long been elevated to the status of musical deity, one of the classical-music trinity; even people who snoozed through Music Appreciation can usually name the three Bs. We tend to forget that, in his own time, Bach […]

ENSEMBLE D’ACCORD at the Academy of Movement and Music November 10 One of the great pleasures of chamber music lies in tracking the progress of a group of musicians from the stage of “Hey, let’s put on a recital!” to complete confidence in themselves. In the past two seasons the members of Ensemble d’Accord have […]