A Late Spring Eve's Dream- Party in a Garden!

How do you raise some dough for a contemporary dance company? In this case River North Dance Chicago.

You marshal the collective resources of your urbane, artistic circle and host the Garden Party & Art Auction. This year I was delighted to be directly supporting the event promotions and recruitment of local artists. If you have a moment, I recommend you visit the pages of my peeps:

• Red Heidi - Jewelry- hand crafted, elegant designs. You can commission her directly or purchase at Avram Eisen Gallery or Women and Children First bookstore.
• Roberto Cabrera- Leading contemporary visual artist, graduate of and adjunct instructor at SAIC.
• Jennifer Kohnke- Award winning illustrator- her works appear often in the Chicago Tribune and if you ever check out the weather in the Trib then chances are you are looking at one of her meteorological maps.

Also pleased to have local blogger, (although he is still blogging on his recent Vancouver trip- he's a transplant) PH. 

So other than linking you to all of my friends who happen to have sites, what you may ask is the purpose of this post? Well to highlight a thoroughly enjoyable event, and to lend a social shout-out to how a arts organization leverages its connections to raise much needed dough. The answer is to make the experience as enjoyable as possible! That may well be the genius or motivator behind such labors of love. My good friend, and former client, MR has certainly poured much of himself into these events over the years. It was so nice to be able to bring together a few of my peeps, generate some exposure for their endeavors, and raise some green. Added bonus is to enhance and enrich the cultural landscape of our fair city. Richard Florida has long had much to say on this subject.

A worthy effort for a Saturday evening. I wonder if they'll ask me to collude on the annual benefit in November?

In the meantime, I urge you to visit the River North site where you can peruse videos of some of their performances.  Also that of Homey Gallery the gracious host of the event.

A dreamy late spring eve.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra- An Afternoon Matinee Review and Musings

It isn't often, although not unprecedented, that I score tickets to a Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Friday afternoon matinee. My dear friend, and fellow CSO lover, RGO was kind enough to give me her ticket. Thinking this indulgence was permissible provided I blogged, off I went.

What did I find? A salute to Trumpet Treasures with Ludovic Morlot conducting, and Christopher Martin on trumpet. Martin is a CSO Principal, and Friday's performance was an all-French program of 20th century works. Following is the featured program:

• Dutilleux- Symphony No 2 (Le Double)
• Jolivet- Concertino for Trumpet
• Tomasi- Trumpet Concerto
• Roussel- Suite No 2 from Bacchus and Ariadne, Op 43

Full disclosure, other than enjoying fine music and listening regularly (via local programmer WFMT), I am by no means knowledgeable in the top-tier sense. Maybe you know someone who can evaluate the quality of performances, recordings etc? Well, that's not me. That said, I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable concert. I am sure I was surrounded by some who are true fine music afficianados. But then again maybe they, like me were simply there to enjoy this lovely music on a Friday afternoon in May. While the quality of any CSO performance is unsurpassed- to this I can attest- it is always approachable and accessible.

On this afternoon I found myself enjoying the Tomasi works particularly. Henri Tomasi's first foray into composing was in the many movie houses of Marseilles, with a particular fondness for the films of Charlie Chaplin. During his years at the Paris Conservatory he continued to perform in cafes, hotels, cinemas and the occasional brothel to earn a living. This, I felt, evident in the music- with an almost jazz-like, melodic quality. It served to briefly transport me to the movie houses and cafes (if not a brothels) of Paris in the early to mid 20th century. Accessible music with a slightly bohemian pedigree.

I take any chance I can get to attend CSO. To the few who read this blog, I recommend a visit. It is a lovely way to spend an afternoon or evening. By doing so you are also supporting one of the cultural icons of Chicago. With that in mind I am looking forward to the summer, Sunday afternoon concerts at Ravinia Festival. Also, In Chicago we are fortunate to have classical programming from not only WFMT, but others like WNUR. Opportunity abounds if you seize it!