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!

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.

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.

Strut Your Stuff!

River North Pup Crawl & Cat Walk

Experience the joy of animals as The River North Design District invites you to the inaugural River North Pup Crawl and Cat Walk on April 1 from 5-8 p.m. The walk features 9 locations and 9 designers, who will be creating unique auction items for pets, including dog beds, pet clothes, cat condos and more. The walk is partnered with PAWS Chicago, the city’s largest No Kill animal shelter, which will receive a portion of the proceeds. PAWS will also have animals available for adoption at each location. Each showroom will have signature cocktails and an amuse-bouche. Participants include Oscar Isberian and Studio 6f with Cambria, Bulthaup and Jessica Lagrange Interiors, TOTO and VF Interiors, Studio41 and Ilene Chase Design, Centaur Interiors and more. The event is not open to guest pets. Tickets are $35 at rivernorthdesigndistrict.com.

Tony-Award Winning!

'Into the Woods'

The Loyola University Department of Fine and Performing Arts presents “Into the Woods,” the Tony Awardwinning musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine that features an enticing fusion of fairy tale characters who all desire what they cannot have. A childless Baker and his wife, for example, embark on a quest to lift the Witch’s curse on their family. Directed by Mark E. Lococo, with music direction by Michael McBride, the production will feature Loyola’s first all-student pit orchestra, directed by Dr. Frederick Lowe. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday from March 31-April 10 in the Newhart Family Theatre, 1020 W. Sheridan Road. Proof of vaccination required. Tickets $15-$25 at artsevents.luc.edu

An Interactive Experience!

'What to Send Up When It Goes Down'

“By the time you read this, up to 20 Black and Brown men and women will have been killed by the hands of the police this week.” “W.hat To Send Up W.hen It Goes Down” is a play-pageant-ritual-homegoing celebration by award-winning playwright Aleshea Harris. The play responds to the gratuitous loss of Black lives and is intent on creating a space for catharsis, cleansing and healing. The performance is comprised of vignettes. Each performance will be enacted differently as members of the audience are invited to be part of the play itself, becoming the current that holds the story together. This interactive show will be running from March 31 to April 16 on the West Side at Gray Chicago, 2044 W. Carroll Ave.

Latin American Music!

Reverón Piano Trio

The Reverón Piano Trio celebrates the richness and diversity of classical repertoire by Latin-American composers, long underrepresented or unheard. Strings of Latin America and the Reverón Piano Trio have collaborated to produce a three-concert guest artist series with complementary community educational activities focused on Latin-American music. The opening series will begin at 7:30 p.m. April 1 with the Reverón Piano Trio, featuring violinist Simón Gollo, cellist Horacio Contreras, and pianist Ana María Otamendi performing works by Ricardo Lorenz, Manuel Ponce and Joaquín Turina. Two more series will follow: April 22 with KAIA String Quartet and May 13 with Venezuelan musicians Pacho Flores on trumpet and Elena Abend on piano. Performances will be at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave. in Evanston. Livestream will also be available. Tickets are $25 in advance at nicholsconcerthall.org and $30 at the door.

Underrated to Celebrated!

James Ehnes and Orion Weiss at Korngold Festival -> Folks Operetta

"Korngold Rediscovered" is a 125th anniversary celebration of the successful, yet underrecognized, 20th century composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold. From April 1-10, the festival sponsored by the University of Chicago and Folks Operetta will offer concerts, lectures, a film screening, a theater production reading, a scholarly symposium and Korngold’s last opera. Kicking off festivities at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St., at 7:30 p.m. on April 1 will be violinist James Ehnes and pianist Orion Weiss, with Korngold's "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Tanzlied" from his opera "Die tote Stadt." At 7:30 p.m. April 2, Folk Operetta will perform “Korngold in Song,” which explores his work in art song and operetta, featuring “So Gott und Papa will,” “Lieder des Abschieds, op. 14,” and “Sechs einfache Lieder, op. 9” and more. More information at korngoldfestival.org