Not all the pianists worth catching in area concerts are the big-name ones who can afford to book Orchestra Hall. Consider Muza Rubackyte, for example. The Lithuanian piano virtuoso, laureate of international piano competitions in St. Petersburg, Paris and Budapest, will make her area recital debut at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Lithuanian Youth Center, 5620 S. Claremont. A professor at the Lithuanian National Academy of Music, she will perform Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata along with works by Bach-Busoni, Liszt and Ciurlionis. Phone 773-476-2655.
– Soprano Catherine Malfitano, soon to portray the title role in Richard Strauss’ “Salome” at Lyric Opera, will sing songs and arias by Satie, Rodrigo, Puccini and Barber as part of a benefit concert at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in Quigley Seminary Chapel, Rush and Pearson streets. Also performing will be Jennifer Koh, violin, Jeffrey Pankow and Robert Tweten, pianos. Proceeds will go toward restoring the famous chapel windows. Phone 773-337-5550.
– The 16th Chamber Music at North Park series will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday with a program of piano trios by Beethoven, Turina and Arensky performed by the Pressenda Trio–David Taylor, violin; Gary Stucka, cello; and Andrea Swan, piano. The concert will be given in Anderson Chapel, North Park College, 3225 W. Foster Ave. Phone 773-244-5630.
– Itzhak Perlman will play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach conducting, as part of the annual benefit concert for the Jewish Community Centers of Chicago at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Orchestra Hall. The agenda also holds Tchaikovsky’s “Francesca da Rimini,” the Meditation from Massenet’s “Thais” and Berlioz’s “Roman Carnival Overture.” Phone 312-357-4700.
– Mezzo-soprano Robynne Redmon, an alumna of the Lyric Opera Center, will replace Olga Borodina as Adalgisa in Lyric Opera’s production of Bellini’s “Norma.” The new production, concluding the 1996-97 Lyric season, will open Feb. 6 at the Civic Opera House. Borodina, who was to have made her house debut, has withdrawn the role from her repertory, according to her management.
– John von Rhein
ART
James Rosenquist’s “F-111,” one of the key works of American Pop art, has been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The massive 10- by 86-foot painting was completed in 1965 and juxtaposes an array of images ranging from consumer products to nuclear war.
The work recently entered the museum’s permanent collection along with Andy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup Cans” (1962) and “White Plaque: Bridge Arch and Reflection” (1951-5), two other classics of postwar American painting.
– “Tahiti: Contemporary Art in an Age of Uncertainty,” the 1996 publication of the Hirsch Farm Project, is now available for $30 plus $3 shipping from the project, 450 Skokie Blvd., Suite 703, Northbrook, Ill. 60062. The 32-page book includes new work by artists Alexis Rockman, Mariko Mori, Gregory Green, John Currin, Judie Bamber and Mitchell Kane.
– Gerald Arpino, artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, will give a free lecture with dance demonstration on “Degas and the Dance” at 12:15 p.m. Monday in Rubloff Auditorium of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbus Drive near Monroe Street. An exhibition of Edgar Degas’ late works continues at the museum through Jan. 5.
– Chicago photographer Laura Letinsky will speak about her work exploring male-female relations at 5 p.m. Monday in the University of Illinois’ Gallery 400, 400 S. Peoria St. Free admission. An exhibition of Letinsky’s work continues at the Ehlers Caudill Gallery through Nov. 16.
– Sound sculptor Barry Schwartz will speak about his “electro-punk” performances that combine electric current with such elements as dripping oil and the strings of a piano at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the auditorium of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 280 S. Columbus Dr. Admission is $3.
– Alan G. Artner
BOOKS
Winner of a National Book Award for his three-volume life of Andrew Jackson, Robert V. Remini will preview his forthcoming biography of Daniel Webster at the Friends of Literature luncheon at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Wedgwood Room of Marshall Field’s State Street store. For information about the luncheon, call 847-492-7635.
– John Blades
ARCHITECTURE
Los Angeles architect Eric Owen Moss speaks at the Art Institute’s Fullerton Auditorium about his recent work on Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. The lecture is sponsored the museum’s Architecture and Design Society.
The cost is $5 for society members, $10 for museum members, $12 for the public, $4 for students with identification. Call 312-857-7166 for information.
Also at the Art Institute, C.W. Fentress, architect of the new Denver International Airport, speaks at the museum’s Rubloff Auditorium at 6 p.m. Tuesday about his recent airport projects. The free lecture is being held in conjunction with the Institute’s “Building for Air Travel” exhibition, which runs through Jan. 5.
– What should be the future of downtown Chicago? What is the best way to plan that future? Several speakers address those questions on Nov. 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the annual lecture series of the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
They include Chicago developer Robert Belcaster; Elizabeth Hollander, executive director of the Egan Urban Center at DePaul University; and Gregory Hummel, a partner of the Chicago law firm of Rudnick & Wolfe. The free event is at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St., second floor theater. Call 312-670-7770.
– Author and journalist Michael Cullen discusses the new architecture of Berlin at 6:45 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan Ave. Admission is $5 for foundation members, $7.50 for non-members. The Chicago Society of Architectural Historians event begins with a wine and cheese reception at 6 p.m.
– “Public Housing Transformed: Creating Complete Communities” is the topic when Women in Planning & Development holds a program at the Chicago Athletic Association, 12 S. Michigan Ave., at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 3. Speakers include Susan Campell, principal at Wendell Campbell Associates; and Eileen Rhodes of the Chicago Housing Authority. 312-357-3333.
– Blair Kamin
