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Jan 21, 2025 | 
wbez.org | Cianna Greaves |Sofie Hernandez-Simeonidis |Graham Meyer |Anna Savchenko
🎧 Click the red listen button to hear WBEZ’s interview with Antawan Byrd. The Art Institute of Chicago’s Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica is massive, featuring 350 works of art, with paintings, sculpture, video and audio, as well as historical objects and ephemera spanning a century. As you travel room to room, the seldom-heard voice of Marcus Garvey and soothing contemplations of Audre Lorde wash over you.
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Jan 17, 2025 | 
wbez.org | Graham Meyer |Anna Savchenko |Morgan Ciocca |Sasha-Ann Simons
For some classical music lovers, nothing can compare to a well-executed baroque opera, with the machine of the orchestra clicking along and the singers filigreeing their da capo ornaments on top. It’s a precise niche inside the already niche-y world of classical music, and like all niches, it has fierce devotees. Operas from before 1750, however, have not been a priority for the Lyric Opera of Chicago or its mid-major neighbor at Chicago Opera Theater, even with the genre’s vocal proponents.
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Dec 14, 2024 | 
chicago.suntimes.com | Graham Meyer
Well, it’s been a year in Chicago news. We’ve seen a wreck of the Wienermobile on the Tri-State and a wreck of a baseball team on the South Side. We’ve seen Riot Fest first here, then there, and Pitchfork here, then nowhere. We’ve seen the Chicago Symphony Orchestra appoint a new music director who was not yet born when Jordan unretired (the first time).
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Dec 12, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Graham Meyer
Well, it’s been a year in Chicago news. We’ve seen a wreck of the Wienermobile on the Tri-State and a wreck of a baseball team on the South Side. We’ve seen Riot Fest first here, then there, and Pitchfork here, then nowhere. We’ve seen the Chicago Symphony Orchestra appoint a new music director who was not yet born when Jordan unretired (the first time).
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Maggie Hennessy |Erica Thompson |Sophie Sherry |Graham Meyer
I’d barely crossed the threshold of Lake View’s Diner Grill when the brackish aroma of sizzling bacon enveloped my whole being like a mini weather system. I grabbed a wobbly red stool. “What’ll you have?” a cook called without turning around. “Coffee with cream and a menu,” I replied, knowing full well what I was getting: baked ham and eggs over medium with extra crispy hash browns and toast.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Maggie Hennessy |Erica Thompson |Sophie Sherry |Graham Meyer
I’ve been wondering what constitutes a diner anymore, when the word gets casually thrown around by chef-driven brunch spots cosplaying as diners. I’ve noticed lately a proliferation of spots featuring $20 French toast and retro decor. Which made me think: What makes a great diner in 2024? To help me in pursuit of the answer, I called Richard Gutman, a Massachusetts-based diner expert and author of American Diner Then and Now.
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Erica Thompson |Sophie Sherry |Graham Meyer |Morgan Ciocca
When Ben Shabad decided to enter a Jeremy Allen White look-alike contest in Chicago, he was expecting to compete against a few other contestants in front of a few dozen people.
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Sophie Sherry |Graham Meyer |Morgan Ciocca |Stefano Esposito
Two Chicago-based arts non-profits have announced new leaders, both promoting women who hope to build on the legacies of their organization while finding new ways to support and uplift local artists. Hyde Park Arts Center and 3Arts Chicago will both have new leadership in 2025. 3Arts Chicago, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting artists — specifically women artists, artists of color, and Deaf or disabled artists — has promoted Cat Tager to the role of Executive Director.
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Nov 11, 2024 | 
bachtrack.com | Graham Meyer
It’s hard not to see a Parthian shot in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s revival of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, which opened this past Saturday night. The production, original to Lyric in 2015, was that season’s opener and the first opera conceived, planned and executed by recently retired general director and CEO Anthony Freud. The most critically divisive theme in Freud’s tenure was productions with strong directorial takes, seen by proponents as fresh viewpoints and by detractors as excesses.
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Oct 23, 2024 | 
wbez.org | Ambar Colón |Hannah Edgar |Courtney Kueppers |Graham Meyer |Amber Colón
A group started in 1994 by two immigrant musicians has become a staple of Mexican culture and music in the city. Sones de Mexico, a five-person Mexican folk ensemble formed and based in Chicago, specializes in son mexicano, a type of music that encompasses several regional genres. Sones is celebrating 30 years of music with an interactive concert this week to celebrate Day of the Dead, or Día de Muertos.
