Two eminent pianists, Daniel Barenboim and Ursula Oppens, will join members of the Chicago Symphony and Vermeer Quartet for the final two concerts of the Brahms Centennial Chamber Music Festival by the Northwestern University School of Music this weekend in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.
Oppens and the Vermeers will collaborate in Brahms’ C-Minor Piano Quartet at 7:30 p.m. Friday on a program that also holds the Sonata in E-flat (version for viola) and Opus 111 String Quintet. Barenboim will team up with violinist/festival coordinator Blair Milton and other musicians for a performance of Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Horn Trio and F-Major Cello Sonata will complete that program. Phone 847-467-4000.
– The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under music director Kazimierz Kord will present works by Brahms (Variations on a Theme by Haydn) and Rimsky-Korsakov (“Scheherazade”) as part of its concert at 8 p.m. Friday in Orchestra Hall. Jon Kimura Parker is the soloist, playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467. 312-294-3000.
– The Civic Orchestra of Chicago under Cliff Colnot’s direction will present winning compositions from the orchestra’s Young American Composers competition in a public reading session at 8 p.m. Monday at Orchestra Hall. Works by Andrew Bishop, Eric Santos, Keith Fitch and Dorothy Chang are featured. Following the performance, Colnot and the composers will speak from the stage. Admission is free, but tickets are required; phone 312-294-3000.
— John von Rhein
THEATER
The Chicago Park District’s South Shore Cultural Center is inaugurating its first professional theater series.
The Paul Robeson Theatre Series begins with a revival of “The Meeting,” Jeff Stetson’s drama about an imaginary encounter between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, beginning Thursday and running through Feb. 2, starring Harry J. Lennix and Greg Alan Williams, two veteran Chicago stage actors who’ve gone on in recent years to roles in movies and TV.
The Chicago Theatre Company and the Goodman Theatre are teaming up to present the revival. The series continues with the Steppenwolf Theatre Arts Exchange Program’s production of “Nikki Giovanni: New Song for a New Day, adapted and directed by Leslie Holland, Feb. 21-March 16. For “Meeting” information, call 773-493-5360; for “Nikki” information, and more information about the series, call 312-747-2536.
– Steppenwolf Theatre will hold the final readings of four new works under development through its New Plays Lab Jan. 27-June 2 on its mainstage theater at 1650 N. Halsted St.
The dramas are Carrie Luft’s “Goodbye Stranger” Jan. 27; Kira Obolensky’s “The Abortionist” Feb. 17, Dominic Taylor’s “Personal History” March 24 and David VanMatre’s “Harumscarum” June 2. Admission is free, but must be reserved by calling 312-335-1888.
After the readings, Steppenwolf has the option to produce the plays or release them for production elsewhere.
Also, a $40,000 grant from the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation will help underwrite the New Plays Initiative, an extension of the lab. During this season, Steppenwolf plans to commission new works by two prominent mid-career dramatists.
— Sid Smith
DANCE
Gerald Arpino’s “Valentine,” on the schedule of works for the Tuesday through Jan. 31 portion of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago’s upcoming engagement at the Shubert Theatre, is a battle of the sexes for two dancers and a solo contrabassist.
For this revival, Joseph Guastafeste, principle bass player with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, will perform Jacob Druckman’s score. Beatriz Rodriguez and Pierre Lockett are set to dance the work. “Valentine” joins “Pas Des Deesses,” Pilobolus’ “Untitled,” and “Suite Saint-Saens.”
The engagement will continue with a different program Feb. 1 and 2. For ticket information: 312-902-1500.
— Sid Smith
JAZZ
The Marshall Vente Jazz Festival will run Thursday through Sunday at the Jazz Showcase, 59 W. Grand Ave. Here’s the lineup:
8 p.m. Thursday–Marshall Vente and Project 9+, Kelly Brand Sextet, Jose Valdex Orchestra.
8 p.m. Friday–Isidro Perez Quintet, Marshall Vente Quartet, Pat Mallinger Septet.
8 p.m Saturday–Bradley Parker-Sparrow Trio 3, Frank & Anna Dawson, Tropicale ’97.
2 p.m. Sunday–Bob Dogan Quintet, Jeff Newell & the New Trad Octet, Judy Roberts Quartet.
Phone 312-670-BIRD.
– Jeff Newell’s New Trad Octet plays at 9 p.m. Saturday, violinist Johnny Frigo’s Quartet performs at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Green Mill Jazz Club, 4802 N. Broadway. Phone 773-878-5552.
– The Peter Brotzmann Octet performs at 6 p.m. Sunday at Unity Temple, 875 Lake St., Oak Park. Phone 708-383-7473.
– The annual Jazz Fair, presented by the Jazz Institute of Chicago, runs 6 p.m. to midnight Monday in the Palmer House Hilton, 17 E. Monroe St.
The lineup: Hot Club of Chicago, 6 p.m.-9 p.m.; The Alternatives, 6:15 p.m.-9:15 p.m.; Havana, 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.; Famoudou Don Moye’s Sun Percussion Summit, 9:15 p.m.-11:30 p.m.; Jazz Masters Wilbur Campbell, Franz Jackson and Donald Walden, 9:30 p.m.-midnight; Magic Slim and the Teardrops, 9:45 p.m.-12:15 p.m. Phone the Jazz Institute at 312-427-1676.
— Howard Reich
ARCHITECTURE
Harry Weese Associates, the Chicago architectural firm responsible for such gems as the Metro subway system in Washington, D.C., is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Now 81, Weese is no longer with the firm, even though it still bears his name.
In a brochure sent out by Weese Associates, there’s a lyrical tribute to its founder penned by Chicago architect Jack Hartray, which bears repeating here:
“In the fifties and sixties, when (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) was leading most of Chicago’s young architects up the straight, gray road to perfection, Harry Weese provided a few of us with a meandering, sunlit detour.
“He taught us to follow our senses, even when our intellects objected, and to trust in the abundance of the material world rather than in the ideal systems which were distilled from it. If pure form became an obstruction, one simply sawed off its corners. . .
“Harry built to adorn human activity rather than to mold or direct it. He had a very light touch.”
— Blair Kamin
ART
Photo historian Jeff Rosen will give a talk on “The Transgressive Nudes of Rudolf Koppitz” at 11:45 a.m. Thursday at Northwestern University’s Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, 1967 South Campus Drive, Evanston. Admission is $2. The first American retrospective of the Austrian photographer’s work continues at the gallery through March 9. 847-491-4000.
– A tax and record-keeping workshop for artists will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday in the Edward Crown Center Auditorium of Loyola University, 6525 N. Sheridan Rd. Advance registration is $20; admission at the door, $25. For details, call the Chicago Artists’ Coalition at 312-670-2060.
– Art historian Kymberly Pinder will give a free lecture, “Testifyin’ Pictures: African-American Art and Religion,” at 6 p.m. Monday in the auditorium of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 280 S. Columbus Drive. An exhibition that explores approaches to the spiritual in contemporary African-American art continues at the school’s Betty Rymer Gallery through Feb. 26. 312-899-5100.
– Graduate degree candidate Betty Seid will give a talk on “Mughal Portraits at the Art Institute” at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Fullerton Auditorium of the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave. Free admission.
— Alan G. Artner
