Reviews
July 30, 2010
Lintu Brings Bracing Energy 
A program that began with adapted Tchaikovsky ended with authentic Tchaikovsky, his tone poem "Capriccio italien." If nothing else, Lintu proved there's life in this pops potboiler yet. more...
July 30, 2010
A Rare Stravinsky Kiss
In the case of the Grant Park Music Festival this summer, there has rarely been that one sure bet for comfort-food programming. Instead, each week is more like a collective civic discovery, and such was the case more...
July 26, 2010
Bell Leads Deep Reading of 'A Child of Our Time'
Conductors often have treated the spirituals as abstract meditations on the living drama of the story of Kristallnacht, one of the worst pogroms in history; Bell did not. With strength and sweep... more...
July 26, 2010
Bell Carries Grant Park Musicians Through Downpour
Astonishingly, Bell and his forces -- a chorus of 175 or so, full orchestra, and four major vocal soloists -- kept going along. Those who stayed seemed spellbound equally by the alternately powerful and hypnotic work and by the musicians' imperviousness to distraction... more...
July 19, 2010
Grant Park Debut Smacks of Child's Play
It generally succeeded in entertaining a contemporary audience in a way that was common a half century or more ago. more...
July 17, 2010
Grant Park Orchestra Offers Taste of Sophisticated Whimsy
Young families thronged to Millennium Park's Great Lawn as the Grant Park Orchestra performed whimsical works by Respighi, Britten and Brahms....the Grant Park Music Festival has engaged its mass audiences without forsaking creativity. more...
July 15, 2010
Cellist Gerhardt Sparks Russian Program at Grant Park
There was outstanding playing by the Grant Park musicians throughout with especially inspired work from trumpeter David Gordon, pianist Andrea Swan, and flutist Mary Stolper. more...
July 11, 2010
A Woman Conductor on The Grant Park Podium? Yes, and A Most Talented One
The gifted Chinese-American conductor, Xian Zhang, made an impressive debut with the Grant Park Orchestra at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park more...
July 10, 2010
Xian Zhang Sharp with Buoyant Music
The dynamic young Chinese conductor Xian Zhang on the podium meant that things moved quickly and with precision and excitement as well...Second Symphony of Sibelius, was perhaps pushed too briskly, but still served as a showcase for the excellence of the Grant Park Orchestra including the extended parts for strings, horns, brass, and percussion. more...
