Howard Reich

Tenor Matthew Dean sits inside the back porch of his Oak Park home while singing the famous "Hallelujah" chorus from Handel's "Messiah."

How do we cope without the soaring melodies and communal experience of Handel’s ‘Messiah’?

November 24, 2020 at 4:47 p.m.

Imagine a Christmas season without Santa. Or Christmas trees. Or mistletoe. The vicious coronavirus pandemic can't stop any of these. But, unfortunately, it's robbing us of something similarly essential to...

Opera review: Chicago Opera Theater’s ‘Rimsky Rebooted’ a testament to the company’s refusal to surrender

November 22, 2020 at 3:50 p.m.

If all had gone according to plan, Chicago Opera Theater would have presented a rare performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Kashchej the Immortal" over the weekend. But the coronavirus pandemic has forced...

Give these gifts that also benefit Chicago’s artists

December 1, 2020 at 4:15 p.m.

If you're a Chicago arts lover, you can give twice this holiday season by choosing a gift that's fun to give and receive and also that helps support Chicago's artists,...

A revelatory new recording of Gershwin’s landmark Concerto in F

November 18, 2020 at 3:01 p.m.

In 1949, pianist Oscar Levant released an LP of the most famous extended work for piano and orchestra ever penned by an American composer: George Gershwin's Concerto in F (1925)....

A deep dive into the world of ‘The Bowmakers’

November 17, 2020 at 2:20 p.m.

Everyone knows that a great violin can be worth a fortune, that instruments made by Stradivari, Amati and Guarneri are works of art unto themselves. But what of the bows,...

Review: Winter’s Jazz Club celebrates a virtual 4th anniversary: ‘We need music in our lives now more than ever’

November 15, 2020 at 3:53 p.m.

Jazz musicians often become quite attached to a particular club, taking the stage so frequently that it becomes a kind of artistic home. That truism was apparent again on Saturday...

Lyric Opera and musicians union reach modified labor agreement

November 11, 2020 at 5:50 p.m.

Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Federation of Musicians have agreed to modify their current labor agreement, which extends through the 2020-21 season. "Our goals are the same; to...

Augusta Read Thomas addresses the audience before a performance of the Grossman Ensemble at the Logan Center Performance Hall in December 2018.

(John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Amid pandemic, Grossman Ensemble makes recording debut

November 11, 2020 at 12:51 p.m.

Arts organizations have devised various ways of dealing with the pandemic, and one of the most tangibly satisfying comes from the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition (at the University of...

Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which released its annual report.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association posts $4.4 million deficit amid pandemic

November 10, 2020 at 11:30 p.m.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association announced a $4.4 million operating deficit for the fiscal year 2020 at its annual meeting, held online Nov. 10. That period – which ran from...

The American flag was lowered to half-staff on Sept. 18, 2020, in Washington, after the Supreme Court announced that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died.

Remembering Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in song, with help from her Chicago family

November 10, 2020 at 4:40 p.m.

The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sept. 18, at age 87, prompted tributes from around the world. But none more touching than the one that will...

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