Solstice Mania

Forget that “extended lunch break” you were planning: You won’t have to play hooky this year to indulge in a bonanza of free classical and new music. Make Music Chicago, the Loop’s behemoth solstice celebration, falls on a Saturday (June 21) for the first time since its launch in 2011. The fest’s organizers (Rush Hour Concerts, a Chicago-based nonprofit) promise a mind-boggling 200 performances—some of them intriguingly wacky—across 80 locations in 12 hours. While the full schedule won’t be posted until the 11th hour (at makemusicchicago.com), here is a map of some of the events to put on your shortlist.

Organ Crawl: Between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. you can hear some of the largest and most impressive organs in the city—not that size matters—at St. James Cathedral, St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church, and Fourth Presbyterian Church.

 

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Christine Goerke
Christine Goerke Photo: Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune
You should know

Soprano Christine Goerke

Her voice: Big. Last year, the Sun-Times critic Andrew Patner compared the 45-year-old Long Island native, “with a voice that never shrieks but that can cut through any accompaniment,” to powerful Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson.

Her future star turn: Brünnhilde in Wagner’s Ring cycle at the Lyric from 2017 to 2020. She found out during last season’s run of Elektra that she got the part. “Anthony Freud [Lyric’s general director] caught me heading backstage. I burst into tears like a big sissy.”

Her mysterious schedule: “We aren’t allowed to announce appearances until the companies announce, so we’re constantly sitting on info we’re dying to scream from the rooftops. There’s a chance I might be back again before 2017…”

Goerke will perform at the Grant Park Music Festival on June 27 and 28.

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Planets Align

Three great classical programs under the stars

Mei-Ann Chen

Mei-Ann Chen

July 11 at 6:30 p.m. and July 12 at 8 p.m.
The sparkling conductor of the Chicago Sinfonietta leads the Grant Park Orchestra in Holst’s orchestral suite The Planets. choosechicago.com

Chicago Sympphony Orchestra

July 11 at 8 p.m.
At Ravinia, the CSO excerpts “Mars,” “Uranus,” and “Jupiter” from The Planets. ravinia.org

George Fenton

July 16 at 6:30 p.m.
The Composer and conductor leads the Grant Park Orchestra in his music from the BBC/Discovery series Blue Planet, as underwater images screen alongside. grantparkmusicfestival.com

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