With all the horror stories lately about performing arts groups fighting for survival, it’s comforting to hear of a local organization that is operating well into the black.
Such an organization is Music of the Baroque, the chorus and orchestra that for 22 seasons has served as Chicago’s primary champions of choral and orchestral works from the 16th to 18th Centuries, and sometimes beyond.
Music of the Baroque ended fiscal 1993 with a surplus of more than $50,000, according to chairman Jay Baylin. “Expanded development efforts resulted in some special and extraordinary grants from individuals this past year,” he said. “These generous gifts, along with many gifts of varying amounts, have enabled us to begin the new year with a high degree of confidence.”
That new year, 1993-94, will begin Oct. 24 with the first of four performances of Handel’s “Alcina,” receiving its Chicago premiere. This exquisite baroque opera will be sung in a concert version starring Linda Mabbs as the title enchantress, with Donna Bruno in the “trouser” role of Ruggiero.
Music director Thomas Wikman, who has given the local premieres of so many Handel oratorios and operas, will conduct all eight of the season’s programs.
Music of the Baroque’s 23d season will continue Nov. 15 and 17 with J.S. Bach cantatas and concertos. The annual holiday brass and choral concert will have performances Dec. 19-23. Wikman and friends will present an all-orchestral baroque program (Pachelbel, Mozart, Vivaldi and others) Jan. 9, 12, 16 and 17, 1994.
Purcell’s “King Arthur,” a Wikman signature piece, will be the winter’s major offering in four performances beginning Feb. 23; singers include Patrice Michaels Bedi, Patricia Mueller and William Watson. Wikman will display his talents as organist in a brass and organ concert March 23 and 25.
The season will continue April 26 and 27 with choral works by Heinrich Schuetz and Claudio Monteverdi. It will conclude May 12 in Orchestra Hall with Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, both works new to the MOB repertory. Janina Fialkowska will be piano soloist, and the vocal quartet in the Rossini will consist of Margaret Jane Wray, Nancy Maultsby, Frank Lopardo and Alistair Miles.
All MOB concerts except the May 12 performance will take place in various area churches. For locations and season ticket information, phone 312-986-3236.
Orchestra Hall, facelift and festivities: Never mind the ugly scaffolding that covers the Orchestra Hall facade from top to bottom. Party planners promise that the building will have a festive aura, nonetheless, on Sept. 17 when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra opens its 103d season with a nonsubscription performance of Verdi’s Requiem Mass.
Following the 7:30 p.m. concert will be dinner and dancing in a party tent on Michigan Avenue.
The Verdi work (which is also scheduled for subscription series performances Sept. 18, 23 and 25) will enlist the Chicago Symphony Chorus and vocal soloists Alessandra Marc, Waltraud Meier, Vincente Ombuena and Ferruccio Furlanetto.
Invitations will be mailed later this month and mail orders are being accepted for the concert. Concert tickets range from $21 to $150 for box seats; party tickets range from $103 to $250 per person. Proceeds will benefit the Musicians’ Pension Fund.
And the scaffolding? It’s there so workmen can repair portions of the facade of the venerable hall. Repairs and tuckpointing are expected to continue through the summer and into early autumn, with completion expected in November. A spokeswoman says that immediate repairs were needed and will not be redundant when the hall begins its $92 million renovation and expansion in 1995.
Ad lib: Baritone Kevin McMillan will replace Olaf Bar in recital at 8 p.m. Aug. 16 in the Ravinia Festival’s Murray Theatre.
The program, in which McMillan will be accompanied by pianist Martin Katz, will hold songs by Haydn, Schumann, Britten, Rachmaninoff and Bolcom. Bar encountered scheduling problems in Europe.
If you aren’t able to hear Alessandra Marc sing in the CSO performances of Verdi’s Requiem this fall, you should plan to catch her at 7 p.m. Wednesday and 8 p.m. July 23 at the Petrillo Music Shell, where the Grant Park Symphony and Chorus will present the same work under Maximiano Valdes’ direction.
