Cameron Carpenter:
The popular, boundary-busting organist performs selections from his upcoming Telarc recording.
8 p.m. Friday at First United Methodist Church, 516 Church St., Evanston. $25-$50, $10 for seniors; 847-864-6181
Chicago Early Music Festival:
The city’s first such celebration of medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music runs through Sunday. The performers include Ensemble Lipzodes, harpsichordist Jory Vinikour (replacing Mitzi Meyerson), dancer Paige Whitley-Bauguess, Bach and Beethoven Ensemble, Liber Ensemble and Trio Settecento. Venues include Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park (100 N. Michigan Ave.), and Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St.).
312-742-1938,
chicagoearlymusicfest.org
Chicago a cappella:
The versatile vocal ensemble welcomes spring with “The Birds and the Bees,” a program ranging from Renaissance madrigals to Cole Porter to 1970s pop.
8 p.m. Saturday at Wentz Concert Hall, North Central College, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville; and 4 p.m. Sunday at Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake St., Oak Park. $28-$35, $22 for seniors; 773-755-1628,
chicagoacappella.org
Chicago Chamber Musicians:
The second in a series of “Sounds and Spaces” concerts matches musical masterworks with apposite architecture and acoustics — in this case, the sanctuaries of one of the area’s most striking synagogues. The program holds a Mozart string quintet along with early music for brass and organ.
2:30 p.m. Sunday at North Shore Congregation Israel, 1185 Sheridan Road, Glencoe. $50, advance purchase required; 312-225-5226,
chicagochambermusic.org
Chicago Opera Theater — Cavalli’s ‘Giasone’ (Jason):
COT’s three-year survey of Baroque operas based on the Medea legend begins with this 17th century mixture of myth and farce. Director Justin Way dolls up this first Chicago professional performance with James Bond-style trappings, circa 1965. Early music specialist Christian Curnyn leads the Chicago period instrument ensemble Baroque Band.
Opens 7:30 p.m. Saturday and continues through May 2 at Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St. $30-$120; 312-704-8414,
chicagooperatheater.org
Chicago Opera Theater — Rossini’s ‘Mose in Egitto’ (‘Moses in Egypt’):
The company launches its 2010 spring festival season with a genuine rarity, one of the composer’s great
opere seria
(serious operas), chosen in a “People’s Opera” poll two years ago. Leonardo Vordoni conducts and Andrew Eggert directs.
7:30 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Sunday at Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph St. $30-$120; 312-704-8414,
chicagooperatheater.org
Chicago Symphony Orchestra:
Jaap van Zweden, music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, returns to the subscription series for a program of Brahms (Violin Concerto, with Christian Tetzlaff as soloist) and Rachmaninov (Symphony No. 2); 1:30 p.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The respected British early music specialist Trevor Pinnock, longtime director of the English Concert, makes his CSO podium debut with a program of Mozart, Faure and Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C. Russian cellist Pavel Gomziakov is the soloist; 8 p.m. Thursday (repeated April 30-May 4).
Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave. $18-$199; 312-294-3000,
cso.org
Connie Chou, piano:
12:15 p.m. Monday at Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. Free; 312-744-6630
‘Fair Orianna’:
The classic silent film, starring Sarah Bernhardt as Queen Elizabeth I, is screened with live musical accompaniment by the Newberry Consort.
Noon Saturday at Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave. $25; 312-255-3610,
newberryconsort.org
Richard Goode:
One of America’s great pianists returns to Orchestra Hall with a program that includes three Haydn sonatas along with Schumann’s formidably difficult “Kreisleriana.” 3 p.m. Sunday at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave. Preceded at 1:30 p.m. by a Haydn lecture-demonstration for subscribers only. $21-$87; 312-294-3000, cso.org.
Ivan Ilic, piano:
12:15 p.m. Wednesday in Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. Free; 312-744-6630
Liber Ensemble:
In works by Petrarch, Sacchetti, Boccaccio and others (replaces originally scheduled Trio Mediaeval concert; tickets will be honored for this performance).
7:30 p.m. Friday at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave. $32; 773-702-8068
Matan Porat, piano:
3 p.m. Saturday at PianoForte, 410 S. Michigan Ave., suite 825. $10-$15; 312-291-0291
Musical Offering a la Mode:
With Victoria Holland and Susan Payne, sopranos; Jesse Langen, guitar; Susan Crandall, flute; Rebekah Cope, violin; Karen Schulz-Harmon, cello; Rick Ferguson, piano, in works by Debussy, Ravel, Duparc, Roussel.
3 p.m. Sunday at SPACE, 1245 Chicago Ave., Evanston. $8-$15; 847-492-8860
New Philharmonic:
Music director Kirk Muspratt conducts Beethoven’s mighty “Eroica” Symphony and Chopin’s lyrical Piano Concerto No. 2, with Tanya Bannister as soloist.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. $35, $33 for seniors; 630-942-4000,
atthemac.org
Newberry Consort:
Groups of viols and voices join harpsichordist David Schrader in a program of songs, madrigals, fantasies and anthems by the great Elizabethan composer William Byrd.
8 p.m. Friday at Lutkin Hall, Northwestern University, 700 University Place, Evanston; 8 p.m. Saturday at Rockefeller Chapel, 5850 S. University Ave.; and 7 p.m. Sunday at Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut St. $25; 312-255-3610,
newberryconsort.org
Oak Park Concert Chorale:
In works by Mozart, Durufle, Bruckner, Weelkes, Mendelssohn, Holmboe, Hillert.
4 p.m. Sunday at Our Lady of Sorrows Basilica, 3121 W. Jackson Blvd. $10-$18; 708-383-4742
Park Ridge Civic Orchestra and Chorus:
The ensemble closes its season with Haydn’s noble and stirring oratorio, “The Creation.” The vocal soloists are Sarah Hibbard, Kurt Hanson and Peter Van De Graaff.
2:30 p.m. Sunday at Pickwick Theatre, 5 S. Prospect Ave., Park Ridge. $25, $20 for seniors; 847-692-7726
Prairie Winds:
7:30 p.m. Saturday at Unity Temple, 875 Lake St., Oak Park. $15-$30; 708-445-8955
Rising Stars at Ravinia:
Violinist Dan Zhu is joined by pianist Renana Gutman for a program of Tartini, Stravinsky and Busoni.
8 p.m. Friday at Bennett-Gordon Hall, Ravinia, 200-231 Ravinia Park Road, Highland Park. $20; 847-266-5100,
ravinia.org
Rockford Symphony Orchestra:
A photographic display will accompany music director Steven Larsen’s program, which includes Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 2 (“The Four Temperaments”) and the Mussorgsky-Ravel “Pictures at an Exhibition.”
7:30 p.m. Saturday at Coronado Theater, 314 Main St., Rockford. $18-$54; 815-965-0049,
rockfordsymphony.com
Trio Settecento:
3 p.m. Sunday at Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. Free; 312-744-6630
Vox 3:
The Chicago vocal music collective reprises its 2007 program of “Myths and Fairytales,” including works by Schubert, Ravel, Vaughan Williams, Rorem and Hoiby.
3 p.m. Saturday at People’s Music School, 931 W. Eastwood Ave. Free; 773-784-0425,
vox3.org
