Classical Music

The Illinois Symphony's popular "Holiday Pops in the Heartland" comes to Illinois State University's Concert Hall Saturday with a combined orchestra, joining players from Bloomington-Normal Youth Symphony, Springfield Choral Society and more.

With a third work, Jacques Ibert’s 1956 “Hommage a Mozart,” Saturday evening's concert creates a chronology of three generations of canonical composers.

Guest conductor Rei Hotoda leads the Illinois Symphony in “Virtuosic Voices,” kicking off the 2022-23 season Oct. 15 at Illinois State University’s Center for the Performing Arts. The engagement is the first since Ken Lam's departure and a move to Illinois State University after nearly two decades in downtown Bloomington.

Normal First United Methodist Church music director Nander Novaes will play a solo recital of classical guitar works, starting at 7 p.m. Friday. The concert features Brazilian composers — with cookies to follow.

A major central Illinois cultural institution is losing its music director. Ken Lam has left his conducting post with the Symphony of Illinois.

The early music group Schola Antiqua makes its Twin City debut March 19 with a special Women’s History Month program. Not just any women, though: “Music in Secret: Sounds from the Early Modern Convent” is dedicated to music written almost exclusively by nuns.

The Illinois Symphony returns to the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 28 with its latest concert, “Incredibly Italian.” The program features works by Mendelssohn, Mozart and Schumann, three composers who weren’t exactly Italian but drew inspiration from the bel paese.

MIOpera had great success earlier this year with a live production of the "The Barber of Seville," a classic comic opera. Now, the company that brings a sometimes hard-to-find artform to Bloomington-Normal is putting on Guiseppe Verdi's "La Traviata," a very different work.

It's not clear whether a series of socially distanced concerts in Bloomington-Normal lifts the spirits of the musicians or the audience more.Sharon Chung…

As the economic effects of the coronavirus ripple around the globe, the arts have been hit especially hard. The creative class is vulnerable to financial…