David Schrader

Sure, Millennium Park is filled with delights for the eye. But music, let's not forget, is the reason the Jay Pritzker Pavilion was built. The Chicago Park District and Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs want folks to enjoy as much good music as...

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion, its majestic billowing steel sails embracing the cityscape that cradles Chicago's newest civic treasure, Millennium Park, opened at long last with an inaugural gala concert Friday night. Officials feared showers would rain on...

Variously described as a masque and a pastoral entertainment, Handel's "Acis and Galatea" remains one of that composer's most endearing works, full of musical felicity yoked to a story both blithe and serious. But "Acis," composed in 1718, presents...

This week, the Arts Watch page will feature the best and worst concerts of the year as chosen by Tribune freelancers and staff writers; today's offering is by classical music writer Ted Shen. To find the rest of the best and worst lists by staff critics...

While the Ravinia Festival in suburban Highland Park devotes much of its summer classical programming to an exploration of musical Vienna, the Grant Park Music Festival at the downtown lakefront is keeping the emphasis on American music and American...

Though Music of the Baroque has settled on the redoubtable Jane Glover as the next music director, its season, originally designed as a series of job tryouts, continues the salutary mission of introducing conductors. Making his Baroque (and local) debut...

Only a few blocks from the hubbub of Michigan Avenue on Sunday afternoon, where familiar carols greeted harried shoppers, the Newberry Consort held its own decidedly low-key Yuletide celebration at the Newberry Library. As has become a welcome tradition,...

Like many musicians, the Rembrandt Chamber Players relish the challenge of the new. So now and then, they have commissioned works from local composers. The latest recipient of such a request is Sebastian Huydts, a University of Chicago-trained composer-...

Symphonic conductors in the United States once fought to secure a place for American music in the concert hall. They won the battle, but apart from a small number of signature pieces, composers who once defined American music now are heard less often...

For nearly three decades, the Bach Week Festival in Evanston has been a welcome and reliable harbinger of spring. Friday evening's concert at the Church of St. Luke put the spotlight on the Baroque master's music, with a sprinkling of works representative...

The Rembrandt Chamber Players have been around for 12 years, which says much about the dedication, rapport and excellence of the group's seven members. These are busy freelancers about town, and all but two are affiliated with Lyric Opera's orchestra...

The mighty M.P. Moeller organ in Orchestra Hall was re-installed in the summer of 1998, concluding the renovation project that gave us Symphony Center. Since then, organist David Schrader has unfurled the sonic splendors of the overhauled organ several...