Frederica von Stade/Photo: Robert Miller

RECOMMENDED

During the early decades of the twentieth century, Ravinia was the summer opera capital of the United States. Concert opera was also the centerpiece of the twenty-two-year Ravinia music directorship of James Levine, music director of the Metropolitan Opera. That tradition stopped under Christoph Eschenbach but has continued on under James Conlon, who is also music director of the Los Angeles Opera and the Cincinnati May Festival.

There have been two alternating trajectories established to Conlon’s concert opera performances since his Ravinia music directorship began here five seasons ago: grand outdoor pavilion performances of Italian operas by Verdi and Puccini—which last year included “Rigoletto” and will pick up next season with “Tosca”—and intimate indoor Martin Theatre performances of  operas of Mozart, which two seasons ago included “Don Giovanni” and “The Abduction from the Seraglio” and this year picks up with “Cosi fan tutte” and “The Marriage of Figaro.”

Conlon is a master Mozartean, bringing lively tempos and wonderful balance and charm to chamber-music-sized ensembles made up of Chicago Symphony members. What a rare treat it is to hear Mozart operas in an 800-plus seat venue, close to the size of the theaters that Mozart had in mind when he wrote these works, rather than the too-large Harris Theater (Chicago Opera Theater) or the cavernous Civic Opera House (Lyric Opera) where nuance and subtlety are lost. Director David Lefkowich returns to direct both productions and English surtitles will be projected throughout both works. New this year is the participation of the stellar Chicago Symphony Chorus, which should be a real boost to the proceedings. (Ravinia had been using amateur choruses as a cost-saving measure but the quality differential became too jarring for that practice to continue.) Read the rest of this entry »

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Pearl Primus had originally planned on a career in biology but, as an African-American woman in the first half of the twentieth century, she ran into a lot of closed doors. Luckily for the artistic world, Primus went on to become a pioneer of traditional African and African-American concert dance, bringing academic rigor to her research and passion to the floor. Primus was among the first to present African dance to mainstream American audiences, performing original works informed by the black diaspora to academics, civil-rights fighters and Broadway theater-goers alike. In other words, Primus not only paved the way, but also graded the ground and invented the asphalt for companies like Muntu. This Saturday, Muntu will be the first African-American dance company to present Primus’ work, including “A Negro Speaks of Rivers,” her signature piece based on a Langston Hughes poem. The program includes a tribute to Michael Jackson and celebratory dances of the Yankadi, Kassa and Macru people; expect a high-energy, mixed program that will pull you right out of your seat. (Sharon Hoyer)

At the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph, (312)334-7777. Saturday, July 17, 7pm. $25-50.

Here’s the press release from Harris Theater:

PHILIP GLASS’ AMERICAN FOUR SEASONS, MARK MORRIS’ PROVOCATIVE NEW FULL-LENGTH DANCE OF ROMEO & JULIET, CHICAGO DEBUT OF SANKAI JUKU DIRECT FROM JAPAN, HARRIS DEBUTS BY GRAMMY® AWARD WINNERS BRITISH TENOR IAN BOSTRIDGE AND VIOLINIST GIDON KREMER,

RETURNS OF PERFORMANCE ARTIST LAURIE ANDERSON WITH CHICAGO PREMIERE, NATIONALLY ACCLAIMED SPHINX CHAMBER ORCHESTRA,

BALLET HISPANICO, AND SOLO PERFORMANCES BY ALAN CUMMING AND

JOHN WATERS AMONG HIGHLIGHTS

OF PREMIERE-PACKED HARRIS THEATER PRESENTS 2010-2011 SEASON Read the rest of this entry »

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If Winnetka native Christine Ebersole is not a household name, part of the reason may be that her range is so diverse and the genres she has conquered so unrelated that only someone paying close attention would notice it is all the same person.

Back in the late 1970s, the New Trier graduate went to New York City where her dramatic prowess was showcased as a regular on the soap opera “Ryan’s Hope”—and much later “One Life to Live”—before landing at “Saturday Night Live” where she co-anchored the “Weekend Update” desk and also revealed that she is a wicked comic and mimic.

As a character actress, Ebersole has been a constant in movies and television—my own favorite was her portrayal of the soprano who beats up Mozart in “Amadeus” when she learns he is engaged to someone else—but it is as a Broadway performer that Ebersole has most come into her own. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Hubbard Street’s Spring Program bursts with fresh material, showcasing the versatility and talent of the company. The program includes a world premiere by rehearsal director Terence Marling, punnily entitled “At’em (Atem) Adam”—references to the colloquialism “up and…”, the German word for breath and the Biblical first man. Marling provided the outline for the piece, but freed his cast to invent specific movements. His inviting score is comprised of music by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Edgar Meyer, amongst others.

The evening opens with a much-anticipated world premiere by the very gifted Alejandro Cerrudo—Hubbard Street’s first choreographic fellow—set to a piano transcription of Philip Glass’ opera “Orphee.” The piece was created for Hubbard Street 2—the company’s junior-varsity league, comprised of dancers between the ages of 17 and 25. Cerrudo’s new work explores contrasts of darkness and light, with emphasis on partnering work of the HS2 dancers. Read the rest of this entry »

"Suppose"/Photo: Erika Dufour

RECOMMENDED

Once again River North gives ticket buyers their money’s worth in its annual V-Day engagement, packing the program with two world premieres, two pieces that premiered last fall and four popular works from the company’s repertory. Brand new works include a driving three-way dance battle by, coincidentally enough, New York choreographer Robert Battle, and a look into the tension between group creativity and individual expression by commissioned choreographer Lauri Stallings. Frank Chaves, River North’s artistic director, restages “Forbidden Boundaries,” his intensely personal, athletically rigorous premiere from last fall that seeks quite literally to strip away the protective layers of self-doubt and inhibition keeping us from success. Romantic, valentines-y pieces on the program include Chaves’ stormy duet “Sentir em Nos,” set to the über-sexy vocals of Andrea Bocelli, and Battle’s “Ella,” a physical scat that sets pace with formidable vocal dancing of Ms. Fitzgerald’s “Air Mail Special.” (Sharon Hoyer)

At the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph, (312)334-7777. February 12 and 13, 8pm. $30-$65.

"Moon Water"/Photo: Liu Chen-hsiang

By Sharon Hoyer

“Everything goes spiral. The spiral is the DNA of Tai Chi.”

I’m talking with Lee Ching-chun, the associate artistic director of Cloud Gate Theatre of Taiwan, about their celebrated piece “Moon Water,” coming to the Harris Theater this weekend. It’s 9pm Taiwan time and the sun is not yet up in Chicago—what better time than daybreak to discuss a dance form derived from the ancient martial art, exercise and meditation form Tai Chi Tao Yin.

Tai Chi training inspired Lin Hwai-min, artistic director of Cloud Gate and the choreographer of the company’s signature work. “He wanted to create a piece based on this energy training, to make it into a dance movement,” Lee says. The movement originated, as with any meditative practice, with the breath. Read the rest of this entry »

RECOMMENDED

The boys are back and on point with another lighthearted tribute to the oft-stodgy world of ballet. The all-male Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo take a somewhat Elizabethan approach to dance: all the roles are performed, and quite competently too, by men—professionals who finally get to strap on the toe shoes and tutus and give the daintier Giselles a run for their money. The one-night program at the Harris salutes dance both classical (no Trock performance would feel complete without the action-packed second-act battle from “Swan Lake”) and modern; this show includes a riff on Merce Cunningham’s “Points in Space.” Also on the program is “La Vivandiere Pas de Six” inspired by Arthur Saint Leon and Majisimas, staged with choreography by Raffaele Morra. (Sharon Hoyer)

At the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph (312)334-7777. January 27, 7:30pm. $45-$75.

RECOMMENDED

Certainly nothing compares to a Hubbard Street Dance premiere, but this year’s Winter Series is doing everything it can to top itself. When this fantastically dexterous beast of a company crawls onto this Harris Theater stage this month, it will dig into its pocket to bring with it some of its most dynamic work. It is hard to decide what to get the most excited about. We can be thankful the company will bring back Israeli choreographer Ohand Naharin’s “Tabula Rasa.” Smooth and technical and melancholy and dynamic, there is a reason Naharin is one of the most respected dance makers in the world. Quickly taking his own place on that list is Hubbard Street’s own Alejandro Cerrudo. His “Off Screen” is a testament to his deliciously wiggly aesthetic. But more important, it is a testament to his ability to make us laugh. Johan Inger’s “Walking Mad” will continue that smile’s creep across your face. Set to Ravel’s  ”Boléro,” this theatrical piece elicits laughs and audible gasps out of the audience every time. Apparently Hubbard Street knows that as the dark days of a Chicago winter approach, we all need a little something we can smile about. (William Scott)

At the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph (312)334-7777. December 3-6; Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. $25-$90.

RECOMMENDED

It’s impossible to have too much Fosse. The legendary choreographer is responsible for aesthetically defining generations of movement on stage and film. Thodos Dance Chicago agrees, and with the company’s Fall Concert they give us a trilogy of Fosse’s work staged by one of the dancemaker’s greatest talents, Anne Reinking. “Cool Hand Luke,” “Mexican Breakfast” and “Tijuana Shuffle” form the bones of the trio with Reinking contributing world-premiere transitional choreography. Awesome. And if there is any doubt that Fosse is still relevant, see the video mash-up of “Mexican Breakfast” and rapper Unk’s “Walk It Out” on YouTube that inspired Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” video. Also on stage will be the Chicago premiere of Artistic Director Melissa Thodos’ “Driven” and three company premieres by  Wade Schaaf, Jessica Miller Tomlinson, and the team of Mollie Mock and Jeremy Blair, all from the company’s New Dances 2009 choreography performance series. Plus two other Thodos audience favorites. Sounds like a program well worth the money, and you can catch it at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie or later in the month downtown at the Harris Theater. (William Scott)

November 13, 8pm at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 North Skokie Boulevard, Skokie, (847) 673-6300, $38. November 28, 8 pm at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 East Randolph Drive, Chicago, (312)334-7777, $25-$60.