“The Grant Park Music Festival will stretch out this summer with a range of innovative offerings, including master classes and recitals, four commissioned world premieres and experimentation with the Pritzker Pavilion’s LED screen,” writes Howard Reich in Tuesday’s (1/8) Chicago Tribune. “This is in addition to a 10-week season of concerts featuring the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus, plus high-profile debuts and return appearances. All this activity has been designed to celebrate three milestones: the festival’s 85th season, artistic director and principal conductor Carlos Kalmar’s 20th year with the festival, and Millennium Park’s 15th anniversary. ‘When we looked at what we were doing, we actually thought about expanding our footprint,’ explains Kalmar…. As festival president and CEO Paul Winberg puts it, ‘It’s about deepening our engagement with our audiences, but also deepening our engagement with the city as a whole.’ The new programs will come under the umbrella of the first Festival Next, fashioned to bring fresh dimensions to the Grant Park Music Festival, which runs June 12 through August 17.… Festival Next will feature several elements, most notably world premieres commissioned from” composers Stacy Garrop, Kareem Roustom, Lori Laitman, and Joel Thompson.
Posted January 14, 2019
