ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT RECOMMENDATIONS Compiled by Cora Saddler
A New Kind of Opera!
Fire Shut Up In My Bones Experience this coming-of-age story that follows New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow’s traumatic youth in Louisiana as a boy of peculiar grace who doesn’t quite fit into his community. This bold and affecting opera, based on his acclaimed memoir, asks the audience to contemplate topics of race, spirituality and sexuality. With its jazz-rooted music, “Fire Shut Up In My Bones” distinguishes itself from many traditional operas and reveals the Black experience in America. The composer is Terence Blanchard, one of the most influential figures in American Jazz, and the librettist is Kasi Lemmons, accompanied by a cast of some of America's most brilliant singing actors. Performances are 7 p.m. March 29, 7:30 p.m. April 2, 2 p.m. April 6 and 7 p.m. April 8 at Lyric Opera of Chicago, 20 N. Wacker Drive. Tickets are $39+ at lyricopera.org.
Classical Lunch Hour!
Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts: Maya Buchanan, Violin & Milana Pavchinskaya, Piano For a quick lunch break accompanied by the sounds of music, visit the Seventeenth Church of Christ Scientist, 55 E. Wacker Drive, for another weekly performance in the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert series. The concerts are staged by the International Music Foundation and showcase emerging classical performers. From 12:15 - 1 p.m. on March 30, Maya Buchanan (pictured), violin, and Milana Pavchinskaya, piano, will perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24 “Spring” and Jeno Hubay’s “Carmen Fantasie Brillante.” The concert will be available live, online, and at radio station 98.7 WFMT. FREE.
Love Takes Time!
ENTERTAINMENT
Mammalian Diving Reflex/Darren O’Donnell: All the Sex I’ve Ever Had Love is hard, but you don’t have to experience it alone. Head over to the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., for an artistic intervention panel dedicated to the topics of relationship, love and sexuality in “All the Sex I’ve Ever Had,” put on by Mammalian Diving Reflex Aristic Director Darren O’Donnell. Mammalian is a research-art atelier that views discussion as a way to trigger and investigate generosity and equity in our social sphere. “All the Sex I’ve Ever Had” emphasizes the wisdom and experience of six everyday Chicagoans over age 65 from all walks of life. The panelists will open up about their personal lives, their first crushes, turbulent affairs, unexpected pregnancies and the deaths of loved ones. The panel runs 8-9:30 p.m. nightly through March 31. $10 at mcachicago.org.
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Natural Beauty!
Katherine Lampert: 'Pattern in Nature' There are patterns all around us. Katherine Lampert isolates and repeats the minute pattern found on a single, 200-millionyear-old ammonite fossil from the Chicago Academy of Sciences in "Pattern in Nature," her seven original works on the second floor gallery of the Peggy Notebaert Museum. Lampert manipulates the motif to unpack and reveal a hidden aqueous origin story. On display through October, her work also examines texture, color, entropy, and the evolving relationship between nature and technology. Located at 2430 N. Cannon Drive, the Peggy Notebaert Museum is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursdays-Mondays. General tickets are $9. For more information, please see naturemuseum.org or katherinelampert.com.
