Music of the Baroque (MOB) completes February 2022 programming with “McGill Plays Mozart” at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27 and at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 28. This concert is sponsored by the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.
For this concert, Mozart scholar and MOB Music Director Jane Glover joins forces with Chicago native and New York Philharmonic principal clarinet and first African-American principal player Anthony McGill. The program will include:
• Mozart’s Concerto for Clarinet in A Major. Written shortly before Mozart’s death, it is considered one of his greatest concertos. As stated by McGill in an interview in the Times Argus: “It’s the standard (by) which we judge everything on our instrument…It’s hard to put into words how important it is as a clarinetist, because we play it our entire lives. It never gets old, and it always gets more and more beautiful. I absolutely love it.”
• Mozart’s haunting Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, one of Mozart’s most frequently performed works.
• Overture to “Lucio Silla,” which Mozart wrote when he was only 15.
Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character” (The New York Times), as well as for his “exquisite combination of technical refinement and expressive radiance” (The Baltimore Sun), McGill also serves as an ardent advocate for helping music education reach underserved communities and for addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in classical music
“McGill Plays Mozart” also marks the first time Music of the Baroque is participating in Project Inclusion. Inspired by Chicago Sinfonietta founder Paul Freeman, Project Inclusion is a unique development opportunity aimed at increasing diversity and inclusion, ultimately guiding young professionals toward successful careers in music. In 2013, The Grant Park Music Festival forged a partnership with Sinfonietta to launch its own Project Inclusion program.
The Music of the Baroque Orchestra will feature four Project Inclusion Fellows: Grant Park Symphony Orchestra Fellows Audrey Lee (violin) and Edwardo Rojas (viola); and Chicago Sinfonietta Fellows Lindsey Sharpe (cello) and Alexandria Hill (violin). All four musicians will have the opportunity to work closely with Dame Jane Glover and the ensemble in this important learning and professional performance experience:
“McGill Plays Mozart” follows Bill Barclay’s “The Chevalier,” a new concert theater work written about the life and music of 18th-century Black composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a master composer, virtuoso violinist, a friend of Mozart’s, music teacher to Marie Antoinette, the finest fencer in Europe, general of Europe’s first Black regiment and a crusader for the abolishment of slavery. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18 at the Kehrein Center for the Arts; 5628 W. Washington Blvd.; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, at the North Shore Center in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd. and 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 20, at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Individual concert tickets are $25-$100 and are available now through the box offices of the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts (northshorecenter.org) and Symphony Center (cso.org). Tickets for the Feb. 18 performance at the Kehrein Center for the Arts are free, but reservations are required. For tickets or more information, visit baroque.org/chevalier-austin.
Tickets
Music of the Baroque presents “McGill Plays Mozart,” conducted by Dame Jane Glover, with guest clarinetist Anthony McGill
• 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27, The North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, Ill.
• 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28, The Harris Theater in Millennium Park, 205 E. Randolph Dr., Chicago.
Tickets: $25-$95. For tickets or more info, including COVID-19 protocol updates, visit baroque.org/mcgill.
Students are able to attend any of Music of the Baroque’s performances at the Harris Theater during the 2021-2022 season free of charge. Students can reserve up to two complimentary tickets per valid student ID by visiting baroque.org or calling 312.551.1414. Student tickets will also be available at the Harris Theater box office starting two hours prior to the performance.
“McGill Plays Mozart” will also be offered On Demand beginning March 4 through April 4. Viewing passes are $25 and are available at baroque.org/mcgill.
COVID-19 Protocols:
Both the North Shore Center and the Harris require wearing of masks and proof of vaccination. For more information, visit northshorecenter.org and harristheaterchicago.org respectively.
About Music of the Baroque
Under the direction of internationally acclaimed British conductor Dame Jane Glover, Music of the Baroque occupies a special place in the rich cultural life of Chicago. Long recognized as one of the region’s top classical groups, Music of the Baroque’s professional chorus and orchestra is one of the leading ensembles in the country devoted to the performance of eighteenth-century works.
Over the past five decades, Music of the Baroque has presented premiere performances of many early masterpieces, including Monteverdi’s operas and 1610 Vespers, Georg Philipp Telemann’s “Day of Judgment,” Mozart’s “Idomeneo,” and numerous Handel operas and oratorios. The ensemble has drawn particular praise throughout its history for its performances of the major choral and orchestral works of J. S. Bach and Handel, Mozart, and Haydn.
Opera News calls Music of the Baroque “one of Chicago’s musical glories” and the Chicago Sun-Times writes, “Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra may be the big guys on the local classical music scene, but in terms of sheer quality of performance…Music of the Baroque inhabits the same stratosphere.”
Music of the Baroque draws audiences from across the Chicago metropolitan area, performing regularly at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago and the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, as well as at intimate Chicago and suburban churches. Listeners across the country enjoy the work of Music of the Baroque through radio broadcasts and recordings on 98.7 WFMT Radio.
Through its "Strong Voices" program, Music of the Baroque conducts arts education to support and enhance music education programs at Chicago public high schools. Music of the Baroque is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. For more information about Music of Baroque visit baroque.org.
Biographies
Anthony McGill, Clarinetist
McGill is one of classical music’s most recognizable and brilliantly multifaceted figures. He serves as the principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, that orchestra’s first African-American principal player. Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character” (The New York Times), as well as for his “exquisite combination of technical refinement and expressive radiance” (The Baltimore Sun), McGill also serves as an ardent advocate for helping music education reach underserved communities. McGill was honored to take part in the inauguration of President Obama, premiering a piece by John Williams alongside violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianist Gabriela Montero.
McGill appears regularly as a soloist with top orchestras around North America including the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Kansas City Symphony, and is a favorite collaborator of the Brentano, Daedalus, Guarneri, JACK, Miró, Pacifica, Shanghai, Takacs, and Tokyo Quartets, as well as Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Mitsuko Uchida, and Lang Lang. A graduate of the Curtis Institute, McGill previously served as the principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera. He serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music, Bard College’s Conservatory of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music.
Dame Jane Glover, Music of the Baroque Music Director
Acclaimed British conductor Glover has been Music of the Baroque’s music director since 2002. She made her professional debut at the Wexford Festival in 1975, conducting her own edition of Cavalli’s “L’Eritrea.” She joined Glyndebourne in 1979 and was music director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera from 1981 until 1985. She was artistic director of the London Mozart Players from 1984 to 1991 and has also held principal conductorships of both the Huddersfield and the London