In Tuesday’s (10/15) Musical America, Wynne Delacoma writes, “It was not orchestral music as usual last week in downtown Chicago. Yes, the Chicago Symphony was in residence at Symphony Center Thursday and Friday with repertoire including a Chopin piano concerto and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony conducted by Marin Alsop. But Friday also offered two radically different kinds of symphony concerts. At the 1,499-seat Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Chicago Philharmonic teamed up with Ryan O’Neal, a nationally recognized, locally based pop singer/songwriter who performs under the name Sleeping at Last. The program included a world premiere by Jonathan Bingham, one of the orchestra’s three composers-in-residence; Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture; and more than a dozen Sleeping at Last songs accompanied by orchestra. Scott Speck, the Philharmonic’s artistic director and principal conductor, was on the podium. A few blocks away, the Illharmonic, an orchestra of classically trained musicians with a distinctly hip-hop vibe, played the 3,875-seat Auditorium Theatre. Founded by Philadelphia hip-hop artist Thee Phantom, the orchestra performed with a live DJ, MC, and vocalists. The opening act was D-Composed, an adventurous Chicago-based chamber ensemble of Black musicians that recently performed with Davóne Tines.”
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