Suburban soprano Ailyn Perez finds Lyric’s ‘Faust’ role ‘too good to pass up’
With the best opera singers booked years in advance, getting soprano Ailyn Pérez for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s new production of Gounod’s “Faust” — just weeks before it opened — proved challenging. Pérez, who grew up in Elk Grove Village and now lives in Bloomingdale, had to cancel engagements in Munich and Hamburg to take […]
Former White House Correspondent Frank Sesno moderates Critical Conversations: “You’re responsible for the safety of your teachers and the students”
Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership will host its first Critical Conversations event March 18. Moderator Frank Sesno discusses the program with WGN Radio’s John Williams here.
A chat with opera great Lawrence Brownlee
“When you grow up in the Black community, you learn to “rep your ’hood.” In I Puritani my duty and honor is to rep my ’hood and I’m not going to let something happen to somebody from my ’hood. In that moment, that feeling overrides my commitment to love. Like, if I have to take a […]
Job opening: Digital and PR Coordinator
The Silverman Group, Inc. (TSG) has provided expert public relations counsel and strategy for Chicago arts, lifestyle, education and civic clients for nearly 20 years. From world-class cultural institutions to touring productions, chambers of commerce and trade shows, our team of authentic and passionate senior-level PR professionals knows how to get each story to the […]
Puzzling paintings of Gertrude Abercrombie are now on display in Elmhurst
“You could Google Gertrude Abercrombie, I suppose, or you could visit the Elmhurst Art Museum (elmhurstartmuseum.org) where many of her works — “I like to paint simple things that are a little strange,” she told a reporter when she was in her painting prime, which was the 1940s and 1950s […]
Chicago Sinfonietta presents Laura Karpman’s three-time Grammy nominated masterpiece Ask Your Mama
“What makes this piece so interesting is that Langston Hughes wrote notes about the music he imagined would accompany his words in the margins of the poem,” said Jim Hirsch, Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Sinfonietta. “Laura Karpman used these notes and created a one-hundred-five-minute work in twelve movements that encompasses different musical genres, spoken […]
2017 Company of the Year: American Theater Company
PerformInk named American Theater Company the 2017 Company of the year. “If this season is any indication, Chicago is incredibly lucky to have Davis, and hopefully his impact will radiate across the community from rehearsal room to rehearsal room. Three exquisite productions and a thrilling new exploratory aesthetic, led by a new artistic director with […]
Illinois Holocaust Museum Preserves Survivors’ Stories — As Holograms
Holocaust survivor Sam Harris has told the story of how he survived the Holocaust hundreds of times. He’s talked about his experience in the Nazis’ concentration camps with school groups and in videos for oral history archives. He even wrote a children’s book. But when he sat down to tell his story in Los Angeles […]
Why an opera singer has to train like an athlete to hit every note
“Never missing a workout means he [Brandon Jovanovich] can do this death perfectly seven times over the month of November. He knows his trips to the gym keep him sharp — just as they did when he was a football player — and allow him to perform each night regardless of how he’s feeling. “Every […]