Fulfilling the wish of England’s King George I, famed composer George Frideric Handel wrote special music for a 1717 outing on the River Thames from Whitehall Palace to Chelsea and back. About 50 musicians on a barge followed the royal party, with hundreds and perhaps thousands of onlookers gathered along the banks and on other boats to watch and hear the spectacle.
Conductor Jane Glover and the Chicago-based Music of the Baroque will attempt to at least partially re-create this milestone event Sept. 18 with a performance of excerpts from this work, known simply as “Water Music,” during a 7 to 8:30 p.m. boat excursion on the Chicago River (baroque.org/watermusic).
Either by chance or intent, workers, tourists, residents, diners and others on the Riverwalk or anywhere else along the boat’s itinerary will be able to enjoy the music at no cost as it floats from Odgen Slip in Streeterville to the Merchandise Mart and back.
“Chicago is a special city,” said Declan McGovern, Music of the Baroque’s executive director, “and we’re always eager to find ways to use the infrastructure of the city to celebrate our music and allow as many people as possible to enjoy what we do for free. In effect, this has a sense of being a civic event as well. It’s for the people of the city.”
McGovern conceived the idea as way to take advantage of one of the city’s best-known assets and to promote the organization and promulgate its music in an innovative way.
“We’re often asking ourselves,” he said, “‘How can we feel alive, engaged and really part of the city? We’re playing this beautiful music from the 17th and 18th centuries but how can we make it relevant to Chicago today?’”
The 30-member Music of the Baroque Orchestra and 18 members of its chorus will perform in the roving concert, which will also include three choral selections. Rounding out the performing contingent will be 35 young singers who take part in “Strong Voices,” the organization’s outreach program in seven Chicago public high schools.
While much of the music will be the same as what listeners heard in 1717, there will be one concession to modernity — amplification with speakers on the front and back of the boat so the singers and players can be heard better.
11 more classical music events
Here is a look at what else is worth considering this fall in the Chicago area:
Franz Joseph Haydn, “The Creation,” Sept. 15, Music of the Baroque Choir and Orchestra, Jane Glover, conductor. (North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie; and Sept. 17, Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph, baroque.org). Late in his career, Haydn wrote two great oratorios, including this vibrant, charming adaptation of the Book of Genesis, complete with musical evocations of nature, including a silver moon and nightingale. Three internationally known singers will be featured soloists — soprano Joélle Harvey, tenor Aaron Sheehan and baritone Brandon Cedel.
George Frideric Handel, “Tamerlano (Tamerlane),” Sept. 19, 21 and 22, Haymarket Opera Company, Craig Trompeter, conductor. (Jarvis Opera Hall, DePaul University, 800 W. Belden; haymarketopera.org/tamerlano). With reviews in publications like the New York Times and BBC Music Magazine, Haymarket is gaining increasing acclaim for its compelling, historically informed productions of baroque opera. With this offering, this small but mighty company marks the 300th anniversary of one Handel’s most oft-produced masterpieces, a tale of complicated love in the central Asian realm of the Tartars.
Ludwig van Beethoven, “Fidelio,” Sept. 26-Oct. 10, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Enrique Mazzola, conductor. (Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker; lyricopera.org); and Oct. 1-Oct. 6, Ferdinando Paër, “Leonora,” Chicago Opera Theater, Jane Glover, conductor (Studebaker Theater, Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan; chicagooperatheater.org). Jean-Nicolas Bouilly’s libretto for a 1798 opera known as “Leonore, or Marital Love ” inspired four subsequent works, including Paër’s “Leonora” and the much more famous and the slightly later “Fidelio.” Chicago audiences will have the unusual opportunity to see Paër’s and Beethoven’s operas side by side, with Chicago Opera Theater deliberately scheduling its performances of “Leonora” during the run of Lyric Opera’s “Fidelio.”
“Robeson,” Oct. 1, featuring bass-baritone Davóne Tines, The Truth and D-Composed. (Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolph; dcomposed.com). Tines, as much an artistic entrepreneur as a singer, has created a new hybrid work that probes the life and legacy of singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson. The offering premiered in June at New York City’s Little Island and a recording is set for release on Nonesuch Records on Sept. 13. Tines has collaborated with D-Composed, a local Black chamber-music collective, to create what is billed as a “Chicago-exclusive” version.
“Iberia and the Americas,” Oct. 5, Bella Voce, Andrew Lewis, conductor. (St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church, 1424 N Dearborn, and Oct. 6, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 939 Hinman St., Evanston; bellavoce.org/iberia-and-the-americas). Founded in 1983, this top-level chamber choir specializes in Renaissance and baroque music as well as contemporary works that draw on those traditions. This 16th- and 17th-century program highlights the musical world of New Spain, the Spanish Empire’s huge colonial holding in the Americas. Included will be works by Mexican composer Francisco López Capillas and Cristóbal de Morales, a well-known Spanish composer whose music was widely performed across the Atlantic Ocean.
Asian Sound Revolution, Oct. 13 (University of Chicago Presents, Performance Hall, Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago, 915 E. 60th Street; chicagopresents.uchicago.edu). Asian Sound Revolution expands the whole notion of what classical music is and on what instruments it can be played, drawing on a rich musical past and exploring new sound worlds. These virtuosic artists — Jin Hi Kim, Min Xiao-Fen and Susie Ibarra — employ stylized vocal techniques and perform on traditional Asian instruments like the Korean kŏmungo (a kind of zither) and Philippine kulingtang (a drum and gong ensemble).
“Celebration of America!,” Oct. 23, Dover Quartet, Nova Linea Musica. (Guarneri Hall, 11 E. Adams; novalineamusica.org). Chicago’s newest chamber-music series, Nova Linea Musica, hopes to make a name for itself by putting an emphasis on new music, including five world premieres during its inaugural four-concert line-up. The presenter’s opening concert will feature the much-touted Dover Quartet, which will perform works by three current composers who have generated considerable attention in this country and beyond — Mason Bates, Jessie Montgomery and George Walker.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Riccardo Muti, conductor, Oct. 31 and Nov. 2-3, and Nov. 8-9. (Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan; cso.org). Muti, the CSO’s music director emeritus for life, will continue to have a close relationship with the orchestra this coming season, leading four programs in Chicago and a two-week American tour in January 2025. His first appearances will come with these concerts, which include the Nov. 8-9 world premiere of “Megalopolis Suite,” a body of music Osvaldo Golijov compiled from his score for the sci-fi film epic released earlier this year.
“Sounds of the Cold War,” Nov. 7-9, (Guarneri Hall; guarnerihall.org). This intrepid downtown presenter will mark the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with three concerts of Cold War music by notable European composers who worked on both sides of the Iron Curtain. More than 15 musicians and singers from Chicago and beyond will perform chamber works by Hans Eisler, Sofia Gubaidulina, György Kurtág, György Ligeti and Dmitri Shostakovich.
Berlin Philharmonic, Kirill Petrenko, conductor, Nov. 26. (Symphony Center Presents, Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; cso.org). As one of the world’s most revered orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic needs little introduction. Since 2019, it has been led by chief conductor Kirill Petrenko, who has gained considerable acclaim by avoiding the marketing glitz of many contemporary conductors and taking a more old-fashioned approach that led the New York Times to dub him the “anti-anti-maestro.” This program will feature just one work — Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5.