Accounting for absence
Surviving yet another unholy Tax Week
Happy Easter to all who celebrate.
I don’t myself, but I welcome any occasion to share the above painting, a new favorite for obvious reasons. I spotted it on holiday last month at the art and history museum of Évora, Portugal. It, and 12 other panels, were originally commissioned for the cathedral there.
I swear this isn’t a travel blog, though you might guess it was based on my recent installments. I’m not exactly beating the allegations: Work assignments in coming weeks bring me to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Amsterdam, the latter to trot after the CSO during Mahler Fest. More on that later.
I guess I cautioned that this newsletter wasn’t going to be a super regular thing from the jump. Still, a radio silence of more than two months (eek) is a pretty long time. I blame work (see below) and tax season, which, as it does all self-employed people and gig workers, chewed me up, spat me out, and tossed me back in its mouth to chew me up again like the sicko it is.
Not two days after toiling untold hours to figure that shit out, my phone pinged with news that Trump had just fired the interim head of the IRS — the third such head this week, and fifth this calendar year, for those keeping track. Lol. Lmao, even.
Work work work work work
In staunchly nonchronological order, with gift links wherever possible:
Season announcements galore, with Tribune summaries of the CSO’s and Ravinia’s.
Itzhak Perlman has often said his favorite sound is the sound of onions sizzling in a pan. So, it’s no surprise he turned to food metaphors in our first conversation, ahead of an appearance at the Chicago Theatre. (Chicago Tribune)
Employees at Chicago’s classical music radio station voted to unionize, placing their grievances at the feet of parent company Windows to the World Communications, Inc. (Chicago Tribune)
The National Public Housing Museum opened in Chicago this month, and it’s a must-see. (Chicago Tribune)
A look at which orchestras have adopted the Black Orchestral Network’s recommendations for hiring reform, and how. (VAN Magazine)
Farewell — and bittersweet congratulations — to Stefan Ragnar Höskuldsson, the CSO principal flutist departing for the Berlin Phil next season. (Chicago Tribune)
That means Klaus Mäkelä, the CSO’s music-director-to-be, has even more hiring to do. The orchestra will have around 20 vacancies by the end of this season. As I wrote in a recent review, those gaping absences are only becoming more and more untenable.
Saluting the joyfully out-of-the-box guitarist George Freeman, 97, who left us on April 1. (Chicago Tribune)
A very fine sendoff for the late Sir Andrew Davis, conducted by his son, Ed Frazier Davis. (Musical America)
Would you play a concert with your dad? Gabriel Kahane will, joining his father Jeffrey Kahane in recital tomorrow at Northwestern University. (Chicago Tribune)
Two intriguing pas de deux between the CSO and Joffrey Ballet and Third Coast Percussion and Twyla Tharp Dance — all in the span of a single weekend. (Musical America)
Missy Mazzoli’s The Listeners landed in Chicago earlier this month; I covered it in a preview (Chicago Tribune) and review (Musical America).
A rapturous — and rare — local recital by the Chicago-based, wanted-everywhere tenor Karim Sulayman. (Musical America)
A profile of, and paean to, Trupa Trupa, a Polish post-punk band whose anti-fascist anthems have been the defining music of my 2025 so far. (Chicago Tribune)
An exhibition at the Chicago Architecture Center spotlights the NGOs helping to rebuild Ukraine through ingenious design solutions. (Chicago Tribune)
A double-bill of Hiromi’s Sonicwonder and Brandee Younger Trio that was as rousing as rocket fuel. (Chicago Tribune)
An engrossing new clarinet concerto at the CSO, albeit one that didn’t always play to its soloist’s strengths. (Chicago Tribune)
Finally, some Boulez at Orchestra Hall — however fleeting — for his 100th birthday. (Chicago Tribune)
Highlights of the cultural calendar 🗓️
April 22: ~Nois Saxophone Quartet (7:30 p.m., Holtschneider Performance Center at DePaul University)
April 23: Katinka Kleijn’s Scratching (5 p.m., Chicago Athletic Association)
April 23: Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas release Tonality (8:30 p.m., Constellation)
April 24: Matt Ulery releases Mother Harp (9 p.m., Hungry Brain)
April 24–26: Klaus Mäkelä conducts the CSO in Mahler 3 (7:30 p.m., Symphony Center)
✈️ April 26–28: In Sioux Falls for a reporting trip
April 27: Cacie Miller & Missing Piece, Composing the Climate (3 p.m., Epiphany Center for the Arts)
May 1–4: Klaus Mäkelä and Daniil Trifonov at the CSO (various times, Symphony Center)
🖼️ May 2: Opening of The First Homosexuals, running through July 26 (Wrightwood 659)
May 2–4: Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha (various times, Harris Theater for Music and Dance)
May 4: Bella Voce’s semi-staged Dido & Aeneas (4 p.m., St. Luke’s Episcopal in Evanston)
May 7: Civitas Ensemble premiere Mischa Zupko’s In Sympathy, feat. saxophonist Tim McAllister (7:30 p.m., Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston)
May 8: Mycelium New Music, “Picture Whimsies” (7:30 p.m., Fulton Street Collective)
May 8 & 9: Jaap van Zweden conducts the CSO in Mahler 6 (one evening and one matinee, Symphony Center)
May 9 & 10: Chicago Sinfonietta gives Chicago premieres of Brittany J. Green’s In the Beginning and Adolphus Hailstork’s Alto Saxophone Concerto, also feat. saxophonist Tim McAllister (concerts at Wentz Hall in Naperville and Auditorium Theatre in downtown Chicago, both 7 p.m.)
May 9–11: Newberry Consort, “In the Realm of Osman” (various times, various venues)
May 9 & 11: Opera Festival of Chicago presents Italo Montemezzi's The Love of Three Kings (one evening and one matinee, Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture)
More than memey paintings
The Évora Cathedral was also the crucible for Portugal’s national school of polyphony. Its most notable exponents — Duarte Lobo, Manuel Cardoso, and Filipe de Magalhães — were all taught by the same guy: Manuel Mendes.
What precious little survives of Mendes’ output is gorgeous. Candidly, I prefer it to much of the music of his more famous disciples.
Some selections: