125 Years of Music of American Composers Heard at Grant Park Music Festival July 2

Classical mission brings radio host out of the studio
By John von Rhein | Chicago Tribune music critic
July 4, 2008
“Bill McGlaughlin's folksy but informed manner as host of the popular radio series 'Exploring Music' has pulled thousands of listeners into the classical experience. But that brings up a question: Why should he confine his missionary work to the studio when there are potentially thousands more to be reached in a live concert version of his program? Operating on that perfectly sensible theory, the Grant Park Music Festival brought McGlaughlin and his "Exploring Music" to the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park on Wednesday night, with the Grant Park Orchestra under Carlos Kalmar to help him survey 125 years of American symphonic music. *** Along with short works from the first half of the 20th Century by William Grant Still, Leonard Bernstein and Ron Nelson, there were solid newer pieces by Tomas Svoboda (the dancing, celebratory "Overture of the Season") and Chicago composer Stacy Garrop ("Shadow," lambent lyricism offset by boldly dramatic strife). McGlaughlin at ease at Grant Park Chicago Sun-Times CONCERT | WFMT host runs through 125 years of music July 4, 2008 BY BRYANT MANNING Wednesday night at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, WFMT aired a live narrated presentation with the Grant Park Orchestra that sprinted through 125 years of American orchestral music. McGlaughlin handled the 2½-hour program -- which included an extended 30-minute intermission -- with all the familiar ease of his intimate radio broadcasts. *** McGlaughlin's aim was to get to the heart of what American music is, and by sitting at the piano, he played excerpts from Leonard Bernstein's "Lonely Town" and asked, "What's an F doing there? That's the blues and that isn't European." He also spent a considerable time meandering through the orchestra and handing the mike over to the ensemble's unsung contributors. Additional selections from George Whitefield Chadwick, William Grant Still, Tomas Svoboda and John Adams nicely framed the century of a country in search of its musical voice. Bryant Manning is the classical music editor for Time Out Chicago. Full Post