Carlos Kalmar conducts the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus at Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Grant Park, in a photo taken before the pandemic. Photo by Patrick Pyszka
“The Grant Park Music Festival announced Tuesday its 2021 season will return to the Pritzker Pavilion, for a season of live music and in-person audiences,” writes Miriam Di Nunzio in Wednesday’s (5/5) Chicago Sun-Times. “The season will kick off July 2 and run through Aug. 21 and will operate at 25% capacity … with reserved seats for all concertgoers…. The lawn will, for the first time, feature socially distanced ‘pods’ for small groups. Artistic director and principal conductor Carlos Kalmar will return to lead the Grant Park Orchestra, with Christopher Bell directing the Grant Park Chorus…. All concerts are free…. [The] maximum number of orchestra and/or chorus is capped at 63 to 65 for any single performance…. Some highlights … include the world premieres of a viola concerto, ‘L.E.S. Characters,’ by violinist and composer Jessie Montgomery; ‘Blow, Fly, Pop!!’ by Korean-American composer Texu Kim; ‘Sound and Fury’ by Anna Clyne; ‘The Passing of the Year’ by Jonathan Dove, and ‘Entr’acte’ by Caroline Shaw. In addition, the annual GPMF Classical Campers program for kids 6-12 … has pivoted to a mobile model; the retooled program will this year head out to parks across the city.”
