More free music!
Thursday evening was the first in what will (I hope) become a regular series at the Chicago Cultural Center: Chicago under the Dome. Preston Bradley Hall is often used for concerts, but these events have some cabaret seating in addition to the regular rows of chairs, and beer and wine! This concert was Jim Gailloreto's Jazz String Quintet, with Patricia Barber sitting in on a few numbers. She was the big draw, of course, and the room was full.
Also full, on Friday night, was Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion, for the Stars of Lyric Opera concert, which has become a yearly event and is always packed. I got there around two hours before the concert began, and got a decent enough spot on the lawn. There is a seating area, which opened right about the time I got there, and people were already lined up all around the lawn to get seats. The first half featured singers from the Ryan Opera Center, the artist development program run by Lyric. The big guns (Deborah Voight, Vladimir Galouzine and James Morris) were in the second half. Morris had my favorite piece of the night: a very shiver-making "Credo" from Verdi's Otello.
There was at least one diehard Wagnerite in the crowd:
Today I had a couple of meetings. An Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers board meeting in the morning, followed by a member tea of a new chapter of the AAUW (American Association of University Women) that I have been sucked into. That was at a very hotsy-totsy place, the Women's Athletic Association, which is situated in a landmark building on Michigan Avenue that may have the last elevators in Chicago that actually have elevator operators!
Also full, on Friday night, was Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion, for the Stars of Lyric Opera concert, which has become a yearly event and is always packed. I got there around two hours before the concert began, and got a decent enough spot on the lawn. There is a seating area, which opened right about the time I got there, and people were already lined up all around the lawn to get seats. The first half featured singers from the Ryan Opera Center, the artist development program run by Lyric. The big guns (Deborah Voight, Vladimir Galouzine and James Morris) were in the second half. Morris had my favorite piece of the night: a very shiver-making "Credo" from Verdi's Otello.
There was at least one diehard Wagnerite in the crowd:
Today I had a couple of meetings. An Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers board meeting in the morning, followed by a member tea of a new chapter of the AAUW (American Association of University Women) that I have been sucked into. That was at a very hotsy-totsy place, the Women's Athletic Association, which is situated in a landmark building on Michigan Avenue that may have the last elevators in Chicago that actually have elevator operators!