Publications & Sites 
Orchestras tuning up for busy season
Francesco Milioto
Updated: September 12, 2012 3:34PM
Summer is winding down, but things are just warming up for area orchestras. Here is a look at the upcoming classical music season.
Ars Viva Symphony
Orchestra opens its season Sunday, Sept. 23 with Khachaturian’s “Masquerade” Suite; the Brahms Double Concerto with soloists David Taylor, violin, and Richard Hirschl, cello, and Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 8. Season concerts feature Brahms, Sibelius and Shostakovich on Nov. 4; Vaughan Williams, Mahler and Beethoven on Jan. 13; Diamond, Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Schubert/Mahler on March 3; and Corigliano, Sibelius and a concerto played by the winner of the Music Institute of Chicago Concerto and Aria competition on April 28, all at 3 p.m. at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. Visit www.arsviva.org.
Bella Voce
presents its opening concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20. Program includes William Byrd’s “Mass for Four Voices,” and Frank Ferko’s “Stabat Mater.” Soloist is soprano Patrice Michaels. Season concerts include Handel’s “Messiah” at 7 p.m. Nov. 16; “Holiday Delights” at 4 p.m. Dec. 9, and “The Sweetness of Spring” at 7:30 p.m. April 27, all at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 939 Hinman, Evanston. Visit www.bellavoce.org.
Chicago a cappella
opens its season with “Genius in the Synagogue: A Musical Portrait of Max Janowski,” with songs by the Chicago composer of Jewish music, on Saturday, Oct. 20. Upcoming concerts include “Navidad en Mexico” Dec. 1; “Spirit/Breath/Voice” Feb. 15, and The A Cappella American Songbook and April 20, all at 8 p.m. in Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston. Visit www.chicagoacappella.org.
Chicago Chamber Musicians
opens with “Italian Passion:” Franceschini’s Sonata for two trumpets, strings and continuo, with soloists Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer, plus music by Vivaldi, Respighi and Verdi at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30 at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston. Future programs include “Debussy’s France” at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern campus in Evanston, plus “Austrian Elegance” at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11; “Russian Heartbreak” at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2; “Revolutionary Czechoslovakia” at 7:30 p.m. March 17; “American Spirit” at 7:30 p.m. May 5, all performed at Nichols. Visit www.chicagochambermusic.org.
Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra
opens its season with “Bravo Brazil.” Alex Klein conducts and is soloist in Osvaldo Lacerda’s Oboe Concerto. The program also includes Overture to the opera “Il Guarany” by Antonio Carlos Gomes, Seresta No. 7 by Liduino Pitombeira, and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto with Arnaldo Cohen as soloist, on Sunday, Sept. 30. Additional concerts include music by Beethoven and Mozart conducted by Joel Smirnoff Nov. 4; “Nordic Romance” with music by Grieg, Sibelius, and Svendsen, with violinist David Perry as leader on April 21, and music by Leonard Bernstein and Schubert, conducted by Larry Rachleff with soprano Susan Lorette Dunn on May 24. All concerts at 7 p.m. Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern campus in Evanston. Visit www.chicagophilmarmonic.org
Evanston Symphony Orchestra
begins its season Sunday, Oct. 21, “Viennese Masterworks,” featuring Mozart’s Overture to “The Magic Flute,” Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, with Matthew Hagle soloist, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2. Concerts continue with “Slavic Favorites” March 3; “Music from the English Countryside” May 5, and “From the City of Light to Eternal Rome” June 16. All concerts at 2:30 p.m. in Pick-Stiager Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, Northwestern campus, Evanston. Visit www.evanstonbymphony.org.
Music of the Baroque
opens its season with orchestra and chorus performing Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. Also on the program will be Mozart’s Divertimento in F Major and Symphony No. 38 “Prague.” Additional concerts include “Bravura Bach,” conducted by Nicholas Kraemer, at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18 at First Presbyterian Church, 1427 Chicago Ave., Evanston; “Holiday Brass & Choral Concerts,” conducted by William Jon Gray, at 3 p.m. Dec. 15-16, Divine Word Chapel, 2001 Waukegan Road, Techny; “Mozart Celebration,” conducted by Glover, at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 27 at the North Shore Center in Skokie; “The Water Music and More,” conducted by Kraemer, with music by Handel and Haydn at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at the North Shore Center in Skokie; Handel’s “Israel in Egypt” with orchestra and chorus conducted by Glover, at 7:30 p.m. April 7 at the North Shore Center in Skokie, and Bach’s “St. John Passion,” conducted by Glover, at 7:30 p.m. May 19 at First Presbyterian Church in Evanston. Visit baroque.org.
Rembrandt Chamber Players
presents “Jazzy and Mellow Cellos” with Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella Suite,” arranged by Peter LaBella; Eugene Friesen’s “Low Fives for viola and two cellos,” and Schubert’s String Quartet. Sunday, Sept. 30 at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston. This is followed by a holiday program of Bach and Mozart on Dec. 9 in Alice Millar Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Road, Evanston; a program titled “Lyrical Dvorak” on March 10 in Evanston (venue TBA), and “Rhythm and Song” on May 12 in Nichols Concert Hall, Evanston. Program times to be announced. Visit www.rembrandtchamberplayers.org.
Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra
begins is 51st season with Brahms Violin Concerto, with soloist Gallia Kastner, first prize winner of the Young Artist Competition, and Taneyev’s Symphony No. 4 on Sunday, Oct. 28 . Additional concerts include Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dances,” and Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 on Dec. 2; “The American Symphonists,” with music by Ives, Elgar and Schuman on Feb. 10; a pops concert, titled “Space Cowboys” with music about outer space and the wild West on April 14, plus a benefit presentation of Verdi’s “La Traviata,” on May 5. All concerts are at 3 p.m. in the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. Visit www.svso.org.
